(Gluten-Free!) Über Chocolate Cookies

A few haiku for you:

Chocolate glistening
melting gooily beneath
shiny, crackled crust

Whipped eggs and sugar
Chocolates and butter, folding
folding into you

Globs of sticky dough
hit the oven's heat, slumping
into crinkled discs

Crispy, chewy goo
bittersweet and earthy
and
flecked with cacao nibs

How can these cookies
taste so good and yet, surprise!
still be gluten-free?

The answer is here:
whipped eggs, sticky dark chocolate
a touch of rice flour

Chocolate cookies and
a glass of milk make you smile
on a rainy day

Chocophilia:
Triple Chocolate Chile Cookies
(Gluten-Free) Flourless Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
(Gluten-Free) Bittersweet Whiskey Brownies

One year ago:
White Bean, Kale and Farro Soup
Two years ago:
Chocolate Cherry Breakfast Bars
Banana Brown-Sugar Pecan Scones

(Gluten-Free) Über Chocolate Cookies

Adapted from Cook's Country

It's ok to omit the cacao nibs if you don't have any, but do use high quality chocolate that you like the flavor of on its own. Scharffenberger, Guittard, and Valrhona are all good brands. If gluten isn't an issue for you, use all-purpose flour in place of the rice flour. Sticky rice flour, sometimes called "sweet" or "glutinous," is available at most well-stocked grocers. I usually use Mochiko brand, available here. Regular rice flour will leave your cookies less chewy and more crumbly; if that's all you've got, try adding 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum.

All ounce measurements are by weight.

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen 2" cookies

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped (about 1/3 cup)
4 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate (60-70% cacao mass – 1 cup wafers or chopped chocolate)
2 1/2 ounces (5 tablespoons) unsalted butter

1 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 large eggs, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/3 cup (1 3/4 ounces) fine, sweet white rice flour (see headnote)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

4 1/2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (1 cup)
2 tablespoons cacao nibs

Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350º. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Place the unsweetened chocolate, 1 cup bittersweet chocolate and butter in a medium-sized metal bowl, and place the bowl over a pot of barely simmering water. Stir occasionally until the chocolate and butter are melted together. Remove the bowl from the pot to cool slightly.

In a small cup or bowl, stir together the espresso powder and vanilla to dissolve the granules. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip together the eggs, sugar and salt on medium-high speed until tripled in volume, pale, and fluffy. Reduce the speed to low, and stir in the vanilla mixture, beating until incorporated, about 20 seconds. Stir in the melted chocolate mixture, beating until incorporated, about 30 seconds.

Whisk or sift together the flour and baking powder, then stir them into the batter. Remove the bowl from the mixer, and fold in the chopped chocolate and cacao nibs until evenly distributed. Let the batter stand at room temperature for 10-15 minutes to firm it up slightly and make it easier to scoop. It will look more like a gooey brownie batter than a cookie dough.

Scoop heaping tablespoons of dough (I use a #40 purple-handled, spring-loaded ice cream scoop) onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2-3 inches apart. Bake the cookies until puffed, shiny, and cracked on top, 10-14 minutes, rotating the pans front to back and top to bottom halfway through baking. Let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheets.

The cookies keep well in an air-tight container for up to 4 days.