Martha Stewart's Giant Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Giant Chocolate Sugar Cookies. Bottom pic is for size reference.

My boys and I visited the Urbandale Library last weekend, and I checked out the book Martha Stewart's Cookies. The book is organized in one of the cleverest ways: the beginning of the book has eleven pages of cookie photographs, with about 20 cookies pictured on each page. The cookies are organized into seven categories: "light and delicate," "soft and chewy," "crumbly and sandy," "chunky and nutty," cakey and tender," "crisp and crunchy," and "rich and dense." I love it. I haven't had the time to look through it the way I'd like to yet, but I looked far enough to hone in on this recipe here. 
I tried making these last weekend, for Superbowl Sunday, but they didn't turn out right because I was that baker who tried to substitute what I had for what was called for. It bugs me a little bit when people will criticize recipes when they've made so many alterations that the end product is clearly never what was intended by the recipe's author. Therefore, I've waited until I had the time and ingredients to do it right, and I'm glad I went to the effort. I must confess, though, that I low-balled it and used a relatively inexpensive brand of Dutch process cocoa, but I definitely will try them again with better cocoa. Hopefully that will produce a richer chocolate flavor than the cheaper brand.
They're delicious as they are. They look like Martha's photo in her book, they taste like chocolate sugar cookies, and they are "sandy" in texture, particularly around the edges. My first batch baked a little too long, so the edges got a little too done, but the center was chewy. I took the next batch out a couple of minutes earlier, and when I get around to feeling that I can eat another one without too much guilt (these cookies are 4" in diameter), then maybe I'll try another one. 
Martha's original recipe yields eight cookies, and when I used my 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop the cookies, I ended up with 11. Perfect. I've adjusted the time from her recipe to account for the slightly smaller size of my cookies.
There you go. If you don't try these cookies, at least try to check out Martha's book. Lots of great recipes to explore.

Giant Chocolate Sugar Cookies
     --Adapted from MarthaStewart.com

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt by either whisking them together in a small bowl or shaking it through a sieve. Set aside.
Place room temperature butter and sugar in a bowl and mix on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add melted & cooled butter and mix until combined. Add egg and vanilla and beat until creamy. Add dry ingredients and mix on low (pulsing at first if you're using a stand mixer) until dry ingredients are just incorporated. Do not overmix.
Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop a level 1/4 cup of dough. Using a small silicone spatula, scrape dough out onto parchment lined baking sheet and pat a little to get it back into a sort of ball shape. I fit 5 cookies onto my AirBake baking sheet, and I left about 2.5 inches between dough mounds. 
Bake cookies at 375 degrees for about 16-17 minutes, or until edges are set. Remove from oven and slide parchment with cookies onto a wire cooling rack. Allow to cool before enjoying with some milk.
Makes about 11 4" cookies.