Cookies are my favorite dessert; they always have been and, I
suspect, they always will be. I like the variety of tastes - buttery,
spicy, chocolaty, nutty - variance of sizes and shapes, the many different
textures - crisp, crunchy, chewy - and, best of all, the portability. I can
slip a cookie, or two, or ten (if you must know) into my purse, and no one is
the wiser (unless you’re talking the stray dogs that sometimes follow me).
Genius! One might argue that the cookie is the perfect food, and by “one” I mean “I,” but feel free to join me in the debate.
My favorite cookie is the pressed butter cookie. Years ago, and I am talking decades, there was an Italian bakery a couple of miles from my house that made the most wonderful butter cookies. Pressed and beautiful, they looked like a circle of stars all joined together, the tip of each star was a golden brown, the edges similarly colored, and the cookie itself a nice buttery yellow. I loved those cookies, and still search for a similar recipe to this day.
My second favorite cookie is the sugar cookie, and my own recipe tops the list as my number one favorite (And apparently yours too, as it is my most popular blog post of all time!). As a cookie purist, I tend to balk at alterations to things I consider perfect in their natural state, but was willing to hedge a bit when I found this recipe for chocolate sugar cookies. Hmmm, I thought to myself, chocolate + sugar cookies must equal a crunchy dark deliciousness.
Yes, indeed! Here is the recipe that I found on Mel's Kitchen Cafe, with a couple of caveats. First of all, this is one sticky dough. I did not find it at all easy to roll into balls, so I chilled the dough in the fridge for fifteen minutes. Then I thought, why mess with the whole dough ball rolling thing, so I just used my cookie scoop, scooped up dough and released it into a deep bowl of sugar where I knocked it around for a bit to cover it with sugar, and then plopped it onto a Silpat-lined baking sheet. Perfect!
CHOCOLATE SUGAR COOKIES
My favorite cookie is the pressed butter cookie. Years ago, and I am talking decades, there was an Italian bakery a couple of miles from my house that made the most wonderful butter cookies. Pressed and beautiful, they looked like a circle of stars all joined together, the tip of each star was a golden brown, the edges similarly colored, and the cookie itself a nice buttery yellow. I loved those cookies, and still search for a similar recipe to this day.
My second favorite cookie is the sugar cookie, and my own recipe tops the list as my number one favorite (And apparently yours too, as it is my most popular blog post of all time!). As a cookie purist, I tend to balk at alterations to things I consider perfect in their natural state, but was willing to hedge a bit when I found this recipe for chocolate sugar cookies. Hmmm, I thought to myself, chocolate + sugar cookies must equal a crunchy dark deliciousness.
Yes, indeed! Here is the recipe that I found on Mel's Kitchen Cafe, with a couple of caveats. First of all, this is one sticky dough. I did not find it at all easy to roll into balls, so I chilled the dough in the fridge for fifteen minutes. Then I thought, why mess with the whole dough ball rolling thing, so I just used my cookie scoop, scooped up dough and released it into a deep bowl of sugar where I knocked it around for a bit to cover it with sugar, and then plopped it onto a Silpat-lined baking sheet. Perfect!
CHOCOLATE SUGAR COOKIES
Slightly adapted
from Mel's Kitchen Cafe
1/3 cup granulated sugar (for dipping)
1/3 cup granulated sugar (for dipping)
1-1/2 cups plus 2 Tbsp. flour
3/4 cup unsweetened DARK cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
14 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1-3/4 cups dark brown sugar (packed)
1 Tbsp. Madagascar vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Place granulated sugar in a deep bowl; set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and baking powder.
In a small saucepan over low heat, melt butter. Remove from burner and allow to cool slightly
(10-15 minutes).
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together brown sugar, vanilla, and salt, then whisk in egg and egg yolk until smooth. In a steady stream, slowly pour in melted butter, stirring all the while. Add flour mixture, and stir until just combined.
Roll dough into balls -- 2 Tbsp. for each cookie. Roll balls in white sugar and place on lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheets. (Or use the refrigerate, scoop, and dump method as mentioned above).
Sprinkle cookies with more white sugar.
Bake 12-14 minutes. Do not over bake. Transfer to wire rack to cool.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together brown sugar, vanilla, and salt, then whisk in egg and egg yolk until smooth. In a steady stream, slowly pour in melted butter, stirring all the while. Add flour mixture, and stir until just combined.
Roll dough into balls -- 2 Tbsp. for each cookie. Roll balls in white sugar and place on lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheets. (Or use the refrigerate, scoop, and dump method as mentioned above).
Sprinkle cookies with more white sugar.
Bake 12-14 minutes. Do not over bake. Transfer to wire rack to cool.
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