I guess I feel that when your pantry is fully stocked with the goodies to make chocolate cookies and there is a competition at work, even if you said you would take the day off, it’s just too easy to melt some chocolate and turn on the oven to duck out. Right?

Well, that’s exactly what happened. And since I will be missing the Anti-Valentine’s Day Party at the Eastern Standard in Boston for I believe the third year, I needed some chocolate to console myself. It’s not that I’m Anti Valentine’s, it’s just that I am Pro the Anti-Valentine’s Day Party at the Eastern Standard. It’s simply a decadent evening with bubbly rose and bubbly people.

So here is my final entry in the cookie competition. They are based very loosely on a recipe I found on Epicurious, but spun and twisted to my taste. Be warned, these are extremely rich, but if you like chocolate, they could become your new best friends.

Coffee Toffee Chocolate Cookies

1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar

4 eggs

3 tbsp strong coffee

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 1b bag semi-sweetened chocolate chips (preferably Ghirardelli or something similar)

1/4 cup unsalted butter

8 oz. toffee bits or crushed toffee bars

1/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts

Over a double boiler, combine butter and chocolate chips. Melt slowly, stirring often to prevent the chocolate from seizing. Once melted, cool slightly.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.

Combine sugar, eggs, coffee, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the wire whisk. Beat on medium for 5 minutes until thick and gooey. After 5 minutes, add melted chocolate and mix until fully combined. Add dry ingredients slowly. Stir in toffee and nuts. Cover and chill batter for 45 minutes to an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with wax paper and grease paper. Drop batter by 2 tbsp measurements onto sheets. Bake 12-14 minutes. Cookies should still look underdone. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet at least 2 minutes before removing them to a cooling rack.

I love a spur of the moment dinner party. Even more, I love friends that I can try my recipes out on. Thank goodness Jorge and Jamie enjoy being guinea pigs. A little Southern or as Jorge put it, Peruvian, this is a nice homey meal that you can prepare in under an hour.

I threw together a Flourless Chocolate Cake with Coconut Lime Sorbet (which because of the lack of freezing time, was more like a creme) for a sweet bite at the end. My mom had given me her recipe about a year ago and I’m not so sure why it took me so long to make something so perfect sounding. I’ll probably be having sorbet for breakfast. So much for limiting my sugar intake. I figure this week, with the cookie contest, I am already a lost cause…

Juiciest Chicken with Tri-Pepper Succotash

6 chicken drumsticks

6 chicken thighs (trimmed of excess fat)

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup white wine (sweet, such as Riesling)

1 red pepper, diced

1/2 orange pepper, diced

1/2 yellow pepper, diced

1/2 small onion, diced

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

2 1/2 cups frozen lima beans

1 can unsalted corn kernels

1/2 tsp paprika

1/8 cup flour

1/4 cup fresh basil, cut into ribbons

Salt

Pepper

Place a pot of hot water on the stove. Boil lima beans for 10 minutes until almost softened, but still slightly underdone. Strain.

Liberally salt and pepper both sides of the chicken. Heat oil in a dutch oven. Brown the chicken on both sides, working in batches. Remove browned chicken to a plate. After all chicken has been browned, use a paper towel to soak excess chicken fat from the dutch oven by blotting. Leave some juices.

Add the onion and turn the heat to medium. Add the peppers and corn and sauté until translucent. Add lima beans, paprika, wine, and chicken stock and using a spoon, scrape up any chicken bits from the pan. Bring to a boil and season with salt and pepper. Add the chicken back to the pot, reduce heat to low and cover. Let simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. After the 30 minutes, remove chicken from the dutch oven and place in a baking dish. Cover with tinfoil and place in the oven for 15 minutes. Scoop about 1 cup of the juice from the succotash into a bowl. Add the flour and whisk well to form a roux. Add the roux back into the rest of the mixture and allow to boil, uncovered for the 15 minutes that the chicken is cooking. Garnish with basil. Serve with warmed bread.

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Coconut Lime Sorbet and Ripe Mango

Adapted from Epicurious

4 oz. fine quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped (such as Ghirardelli)

1 stick unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

powdered sugar or cocoa for sprinkling

1 ripe mango, diced

raspberries for garnish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter 8” baking round. Line with wax paper and butter paper. Chop chocolate. In a double boiler, melt chocolate with the butter, stirring until completely melted. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar. Add eggs, whisk well. Sift in the cocoa powder until fully combined. Pour batter into pan. Bake for 25 minutes, until top has a thin crust. Remove from pan and allow to cool 5-10 minutes. Dust with cocoa or powdered sugar.

Coconut Lime Sorbet (or if 1/2 frozen, Creme)

15-20 oz. cream of coconut (such a Coco Lopez. This can be found in the “mixer” section in the liquor department of a supermarket)

3/4 cup water

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

Whisk together and freeze in an airtight container overnight, or 1 hour for creme.