German Chocolate Cake Cookies

I found this recipe in a mystery I was reading and decided we needed to have them. The cookies come out of the oven very poofed up--and much bigger than when they went in--but they flatten out as they cool. The recipe uses melted butter, instead of room temperature, which leaves them chewy and delicious. I go chomp chomp chomp chomp chomp.... like clahm chowdah! These cookies are superyummalicious!!! I shall eat them and they shall be my eatables and I shall call them eaties! - Umm, my blog was momentarily taken over by a crazed teenager, but apparently she liked the cookies. The recipe is from Joanne Fluke's Peach Cobbler Murder. I used semisweet chocolate chips instead of milk chocolate. German Chocolate Cake Cookies (based on the recipe from Joanne Fluke) Yield six dozen tasty cookies 2 sticks unsalted butter 2 c semisweet chips (one bag) 2 c sugar 2 eggs ½ tsp baking powder ½ tsp baking soda ½ tsp salt 2-3 tsp vanilla 3 c flour ½ c firmly packed brown sugar ¾ c tightly packed flaked coconut ½ c chopped pecans 4 oz butter, cold 2 egg yolks, lightly mixed 1. In a small pan on the stove, melt the chocolate chips and butter. Set aside to cool somewhat. 2. In a large bowl, blend together the sugar and the 2 whole eggs until well mixed. Then add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and vanilla. Add in the melted chocolate-butter mixture. 3. Then add the flour and blend well. The dough will be very stiff, but this is how you want it. Cover the dough til you're ready to use it (to keep it from drying out.) 4. Meanwhile in a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the sugar, coconut, and pecans and pulse until they are all in small pieces. Add the butter and pulse a few more times. Then add the egg yolks and process until well mixed. Chill this mixture--the frosting--until you're done forming the cookies. 5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 6. Using your fingers, roll the dough into one-inch balls. Place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, 12 per pan. Make a deep dent with your thumb in the center of each ball. The dough might crumble a bit as you do this, but a) it's pretty forgiving and b) the frosting doesn't travel much when it bakes, so just press together any big cracks and continue on. 7. Form the frosting into 1/2-inch balls, to fit into each indentation. 8. Bake for about 12 min. The cookies will have spread a lot, and they will be very puffy. Take them out of the oven and let them cool on the cookie sheets for about 2 min.--they will flatten out but still be soft, which is how you want them. Place on a wire rack to finish cooling. Enjoy!