Double Chocolate Icebox Cookies Recipe

I wish that I were young enough to not even know what a real icebox is, but I'm not. I even had a grandmother who must have used the real deal herself because she only referred to her fridge as an icebox. Her vintage electric Frigidaire was modeled after a real icebox—you had to open the main fridge door to access the tiny freezer compartment (and I meantiny). It was cute, but terrible. The inside of the little freezer box constantly leaked water. And it would completely ice up, causing ice cube trays and boxes of frozen veggies to become wedged in for life.

Invented in that bygone era,icebox cookiesare nothing more than cookies baked from a dough that's been chilled. The dough is usually rolled up into a cylinder, chilled until firm, then sliced and baked. Even after all these years, the name has stuck. That's fine with me. The name "refrigerator cookie" reminds me of unpleasant refrigerator smell.

I love icebox cookies because they're an awesome make-ahead cookie dough. If the dough is rolled into a neatly shaped cylinder, the cookies bake up perfectly round. I have a particular affection for these double chocolate icebox cookies because they're wicked chocolatey (1:2 ratio of cocoa to flour). I'll stand at the counter shoving dough into my mouth to get my chocolate fix right then and there if I'm not careful. The only thing that stops me is knowing that the baked cookie is even better: tender, slightly crisp, and with a mound of chocolate chips baked into the top.