These cookies develop an attractive shiny, cracked top surface as they bake. Be sure to allow them to cool before moving them off the baking sheet, as they're very delicate while hot. Our immediate thought when sampling them was that they'd be dynamite as the cookie part of an ice cream sandwich. Our flavor of choice would be something in the coffee family, to complement the faint espresso flavor in the cookies.8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate*
3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) butter
1 cup (7 1/4 ounces) sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup (4 1/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (6 ounces) chocolate chips, optional
*You may use regular chocolate chips (1 1/3 cups = 8 ounces), but we prefer the flavor of bittersweet chips, or any of our bittersweet chocolates. If you're using bar chocolate (as opposed to chips), chop it into irregular 1/2 to 3/4-inch chunks.
In a double boiler, or in the microwave, gently melt together the chocolate and butter. To avoid heating the chocolate too much and possibly burning it, the best method is to heat till the butter is melted and the chocolate has partially melted, then remove from the heat. Stir till all the chocolate melts.
In a separate bowl, beat together the sugar and eggs till they're thoroughly combined. Add the melted chocolate, then stir in the remaining ingredients, including the chocolate chips, if you're using them. Refrigerate the batter-like dough for 1 hour, to make it easier to handle.
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets, three if you have them.
Drop the cookie dough by tablespoonfuls (about the size of a small ping pong ball) onto the prepared baking sheets. A tablespoon cookie scoop makes this task extremely simple. Leave about 2" between the dough balls, as they'll spread as they bake.
Bake the cookies for 11 to 12 minutes, until their tops are shiny and cracked. They won't crack until the very end, so keep a close eye on them; when they're cracked all the way across the top surface, they're just about done. The point is, you want these baked all the way through, but just barely; additional baking will make them crisp rather than chewy. Remove the cookies from the oven, and top each with a kiss-shaped chocolate, a nonpareil, or a bittersweet chocolate wafer, if desired. Wait 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack to cool. Yield: about 26 cookies without chips, 30 cookies with chips.
©2007 The King Arthur Flour Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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These look really yummy (but I'm allergic to chocolate).
ReplyDeleteI made the best polenta today. I cooked the polenta in a frying pan (without oil) this morning and let it set covered on the stove.
Then I made sauce with lots of mushrooms and garlic, fried the polenta and served it with the sauce--yummy and actually pretty easy. Good with cheese or meat and also with olives.
You probably know all this, but I am thinking about chocolate drops and thought I'd better think of something I could eat! LOL!
Oh, and about those pictures, the book I got for my birthday was 90 cold pressed water color paper in a spiral notebook called an all media sketchbook or something like that--makes a nice presentation--I think the results using colored water color pencil look much nicer on water color paper.
that should say 90 pound paper.
ReplyDeletethe heavier paper doesn't wrinkle as much when you get it wet.
Water color pencils are an easy way to start.
That book I got is really nice too. (Keeping a Nature Journal by Clare Walker etc)
The very best way to learn to draw is to DO it--just draw.
ReplyDeleteBut . . . if you are interested, there are tons of books about it.
And I like to talk about it.