Soho Globs

Testing out these Soho Globs warm from the oven, Dan called the first one “more of an event than a cookie,” and his second “a challenge.” These fudgy cookies may look like brownies, with their deep color and crinkly shiny crust. But watch out. They pack an intense, bittersweet triple-chocolate punch that can send you spinning if you don’t brace yourself.

If you’re from around Boston, you may recognize these objects of desire from the display case at the iconic Rosie’s Bakery. With its happy pink sign outside and sweet indulgences inside, Rosie’s spread the joys of butter, sugar and especially chocolate from its Cambridge, Boston and Chestnut Hill stores.

After a run of more than 40 years, the bakeries closed and Rosie’s founder Judy Rosenberg retired. But Rosie’s brand lives on. You can even order Soho Globs online if you’d rather use your credit card than the electric mixer. But you’d miss out on all the fun of playing with melted chocolate.  

So why, you may ask, are they called “Soho Globs”? That’s New York, not Boston.

A natural-born baker with a lust for chocolate, Judy grew up in Manhattan. She moved to Cambridge after college and dove into the baking business in the early 70s. Finding inspiration everywhere, she bit into what she called an “ideal combination of a bittersweet chocolate flavor and chewy consistency” at New York’s trendy Soho Charcuterie. So she grabbed the recipe from the store’s cookbook, brought it to Boston to fiddle with, and the rest is history.

Judy shared this recipe in her cookbook, Rosie’s All-Butter Fresh Cream Sugar-Packed No Holds Barred Baking Book. She said she can’t remember if that French-style deli called them “Soho Globs” or if she came up with the name. She couldn’t call them “Chocolate Orgasms” because she’d already used that for Rosie’s brownies.

Self-taught and without a fancy culinary degree, Judy views baking the way many of us hobbyists do. It’s fun, therapeutic, and the results make people happy.

And with Judy’s recipe for her ideal chocolate cookie, we can all bake like pros.

Find Judy’s recipe for Soho Globs and other delights on her post-retirement blog, “Baking After Rosie’s.”

Soho Globs

Adapted from Judy Rosenberg’s Rosie’s All-Butter Fresh Cream Sugar-Packed No Holds Barred Baking Book (1991)

Makes about 20 cookies

Suggested equipment:
Tablespoon cookie scoop (such as the Zeroll 2040, 1 9/16 inch, for producing 2-inch cookies)

• 5 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate or chocolate chips
• 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
• ⅓ cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 2-3 teaspoons instant espresso or coffee powder
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¾ cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
• ⅓ cup chopped pecans
• ⅓ cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 325° and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. For rimless sheets, attach paper with a dab of oil to keep it from sliding off.
2. Combine the 5 ounces of semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, the 3 ounces of unsweetened chocolate, and the butter in a small bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds, then stir. Microwave again until chocolate almost melts, maybe another 30 seconds, but this can vary according to your appliance. Stir until the mixture is smooth. Set aside while it cools slightly. (You can also melt it using a double boiler on the stove.)
3. Place the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl, stir with a fork or small whisk, and set aside.
4. In a medium bowl and with an electric mixer, beat eggs, vanilla and espresso or coffee powder on medium until they are combined, about 10 seconds.
5. Add sugar to the egg mixture and beat on medium until thick, about 1 minute.
6. Add the melted chocolate mixture and beat on medium 1 minute more. Scrape the bowl with a silicone spatula.
7. Add the flour mixture and beat on low until blended, about 10 seconds. Fold in the ¾ cup of chocolate chips and the nuts.
8. Drop dough by generously rounded tablespoons (preferably using a cookie scoop) about 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake until cookies rise slightly and form a thin crust, about 13 minutes.
9. Immediately slide the parchment paper with the hot cookies onto racks. Let cookies firm up for a couple of minutes, then remove them from the paper to cool completely on racks. These freeze well and, like most baked goodies, taste great eaten right from the freezer.