As I mentioned in the last post, we had ice cream cookie sandwiches for dessert last Sunday. The cookies for the sandwich are thick and chewy chocolate chunk cookies. The cookies on their own are absolutely delicious with a glass of milk or coffee. Our friends have enjoyed the chocolate chunk cookies many times, so we decided to add a new twist and treat them to ice cream too.

The thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies recipe can be found in Cook's Illustrated's The New Best Recipe cookbook. We really like this recipe because it produces cookies that have a great chewy texture. Another reason why we like the recipe is the butter is melted as opposed to softened, so there's no pre-planning required to make the cookies.

On our last visit to the Scharffen Berger factory, we picked up a cookbook by the founders of Scharffen Berger, The Essence of Chocolate - Recipes for Baking and Cooking with Fine Chocolate. The recipes in the book are arranged by chocolate intensity and are contributed by the founders and chefs including Michael Chiarello, Elizabeth Falkner, Thomas Keller and Jacques Pepin.

In addition to sweet and savory recipes, there's also a brief history of Scharffen Berger and the chocolate making process. A few recipes that immediately caught my eye were chocolate pudding cakes, chocolate chocolate cupcakes, cakey brownies, chocolate chunk cheesecake and chili-marinated flank steak (with cocoa powder).

The first dessert I made from the cookbook was baked hot chocolate contributed by Heidi Friedlander, which she developed for Moxie, a popular Cleveland restaurant. I chose this recipe because it was simple to make with only four ingredients and the description in the book made me crave it.

"Baked hot chocolate is almost like having three desserts in one -- the top layer has just a hint of crispness, the center has the texture of warm chocolate pudding, and the bottom layer is just a shade thicker than the thickest hot chocolate you can imagine."