Fudgie Brownie Cookies

Now these are some cookies. The type of cookie you make when you are craving chocolate and nothing but chocolate. These cookies offer the best of both worlds -- the texture and flavor of the best sorts of fudgie brownies in an easy to eat and carry cookie form. The only thing that might possibly make these better in my mind is adding some toasted walnuts or pecans, but even without those crunchy additions these are pretty damn great. Actually, in some ways these are even better than regular brownies because with a big pan of brownies you almost always end up with slightly overdone edges and slightly underdone middles. It's not the end of the world of course, but it can get annoying.

I found the recipe from my King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion while looking for a particular Polish Cookie called Chrusciki that a friend had recently requested, which happens to be near the back of the book in a section that I don't spend much time flipping through. In fact, I had never even noticed the recipe for these Fudgies before which is pretty surprising considering my chocolate addiction and my love for cookies in almost all forms.

The book suggests using these cookies as ice cream sandwich cookies and filling them with coffee flavored ice cream. It's not a bad suggestion, but since the cookies did not spread at all while baking I would suggest flattening them out a bit before popping them in the oven if you decide to go that route.


Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups (8 0z) chopped bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup sugar (I originally forgot to add this line to the recipe... sorry about that!)
3 large eggs
1 tsp espresso powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

In a double boiler gently melt together the chocolate and butter, stirring until the chocolate has melted.

In a separate bowl beat together the eggs and sugar until they're thoroughly combined. Add this mixture to the melted chocolate, then stir in the remaining ingredients. The mixture will be liquid, like brownie batter. Cover and refrigerate for an hour or until it becomes stiff enough to handle.

Preheat the oven to 325. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silpats.

Drop the batter by round blobs onto the baking sheets and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the tops are shiny and cracked and the edges are set. You don't want to overbake them. Remove them from the oven and let them cool completely on the baking sheets before attempting to move them.

Chocolate Cookies with Cherry Chips

One of my coworkers had some baking supplies that she wasn't planning to use, so she gave them to me, knowing that they would be used up, and quite likely the results of the baking would end up back at work anyway. I already had coconut, graham cracker crumbs, and peanut butter chips, but with how often I bake I can always use more of all of those things, but there was also a bag of cherry chips which instantly intrigued me.

As soon as I saw those cherry-flavored morsels, I knew that they would be perfect in a chocolate cookie. I was a little nervous about them when I tasted one by itself since there was a fairly strong artificial flavor them, but they worked perfectly in soft and chewy dark chocolate cookies.

The cookie recipe itself is the one on the back of the bag of Hershey's peanut butter chips. It's quite good, although the cookies do flatten out quite a lot and would have turned out a bit better if I had used my smallest cookie scoop instead of my medium-sized one. My only other caveat is to use the darkest, richest cocoa powder you can -- I used the Hershey's Special Dark for these, which is my default for most baked goods.


Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, soft
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsps vanilla
1 2/3 cups chips --peanut butter or cherry both work well

Preheat oven to 350.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.

Cream the butter and the sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer until soft and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture until the flour disappears. Then add the chips.

Portion the cookie dough onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or silpats -- smaller cookies are better because they will cook more evenly.

Bake for 8-10 minutes until set on the edges. Leave on the cookie sheets until they are totally cooled off because they are very soft and fragile while still warm.

Triple Threat Chocolate Cookies

I can't believe it took me this long to make these cookies. I have had my Pastry Queen book for years now and I have always looked at this recipe, but then picked something else to bake. The only reason I picked them this time was that I was out of light brown sugar and needed a recipe that didn't call for any.

These are deep, dark chocolaty cookies with lots and lots of walnuts and pecans for crunch and flavor. The middles are soft, but not cake-like, moist and chewy with the glossy/cracky top of a really good brownie. These are the types of cookies that tempt me the most and are hard for me to keep my hands off of. With all that chocolate -- unsweetened and bittersweet melted into the batter and then chocolate chips stirred into the finished product -- and all of those crunchy walnuts and pecans.... perfection.


Ingredients:
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup chopped walnuts
6 tbsp butter
8 oz bittersweet chocolate chopped
3 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Toast the walnuts and pecans on a baking sheet in a single layer for 5-8 minutes. Watch them carefully because they burn quickly. Cool completely.

Line a baking sheet with parchment or silpats.

Melt the butter, bittersweet chocolate and unsweetened chocolate in a small saucepan set over low heat. Stir occasionally to make sure the chocolate does not burn. Remove the pan from the heat to cool.

Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the eggs and sugar in a large bowl on medium speed about 3 minutes until fluffy. Add the vanilla and melted chocolate. Beat on medium speed about 2 minutes, until the dough is thick and glossy. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt to the chocolate mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Stir in the nuts and chocolate chips. Let the dough rest 20 minutes, which makes it easier to scoop.

Drop spoonfuls of dough on the baking sheet and gently press them them a bit, until the hump is gone. Bake 10-12 minutes or until set on the edges and the tops begin to crack and look glossy.

Chocolate Crinkles

I saw several versions of these cookies on Tastespotting several weeks back and instantly wanted to make them but of course never quite got around to it. Today I didn't really have much in mind to bake beyond cookies but when I saw this recipe in my KAF cookies book I knew it was the one.

I have to say, it wasn't as good as I was hoping for. As far as I was concerned there wasn't nearly enough chocolate flavor in these. They are soft and brownie-like, but like many cocoa brownie recipes, a little light on the chocolate flavor. On the other hand, they are cool looking and pretty quick to make, although next time I would use my smallest cookie scoop because they spread out quite a lot, and I think they would be much more dramatic looking if they hadn't spread so much.





Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup cocoa powder
3 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup powdered sugar for coating

Preheat oven to 350 and line two cookie sheets with parchment or silpats.

In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a medium sized bowl melt the butter, then add the cocoa powder and stir until a paste forms. Let that cool a bit, then add the eggs one at a time, whisking after each addition, and then the vanilla.

Scrape the egg/butter mixture into the flour mixture and stir to combine. It will look very dry and will seem like the flour will not mix in, but the flour will be absorbed eventually and does not need extra liquid.

Use a cookie scoop or tablespoon to scoop portions of dough and roll the dough into powdered sugar before placing on the cookie sheets.

Bake for 12-14 minutes until the cookies are set on the edges, but still soft. Remove them from the oven and leave them on the cookie sheets for at least 5 minutes to give them time to set.

Mocha Mudslides

I give these cookies a resounding "eh." They just aren't that good. They're not horrible of course, but they just don't taste like much. They definitely need way more chocolate than a 1/3 of a cup and I would say they need the chocolate chips -- either in addition to the other chips or instead of. And actually, the coffee flavor isn't that pronounced either. In fact, the Kahlua Spiked Cookies I made (and didn't blog about -- but based on this recipe from the sameKing Arthur Flour Cookie book that today's recipe came from) were much better with a rich chocolate flavor and a pronounced coffee presence. If you added cinnamon chips to those cookies I think you would get what this recipe was trying to become.

Those other cookies were met with cries of "best cookies ever" while these cookies will be eaten of course, but only because they're cookies, not because they are anything special.



3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 to 5 tsps espresso powder
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup chocolate chips or cinnamon chips
1 cup cappuccino chips

Preheat oven to 375 and line baking sheets (I prefer insulated) with silpats or parchment paper.

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the espresso powder, baking soda, salt and vanilla extract and blend until well combined. Add the eggs one at a time mixing well after each addition. Add the flour and cocoa powder and stir until combined, then add the chips.

Scoop onto the prepared baking sheets a tablespoonful at a time and bake for 8-10 minutes -- they should be beginning to set on the edges, but still fairly soft in the middle. These should be soft cookies, not crispy.

Chocolate Chipotle Cookies

I saw this recipe on tastespotting a few weeks back and new I wanted to try it, however, when I followed the link to the Oatmeal Cookie Blog and saw the recipe I knew I would have to wait for a while because I didn't have cinnamon chips. An order of cinnamon chips (and a few other things) from the King Arthur Flour website solved that problem and I set about making these cookies as soon as the cinnamon chips were out of the shipping box.

I think it's pretty well documented on this site that despite all the baking I do I'm actually fairly lazy about the whole thing. With that in mind I ended up skipping a few things in the recipe as it was written... I'm sure that the original was very good, and probably better than mine, but it was just so much work for cookies. I went through with grinding the oatmeal in the food processor, but I ended up skipping the whole grated chocolate thing. He wanted grated unsweetened chocolate and grated milk chocolate added to the dough -- but grating chocolate? talk about a mess... and time consuming... and I never get away with something like that without taking off skin from the grater. So I skipped that part and just added extra bittersweet chocolate chips.

Maybe next time I'll just add the chocolate chunks to the oatmeal in the food processor... I could see that working out well. The other problem I ran into with this recipe was cinnamon. The recipe calls for 4 tablespoons of cinnamon as well as a teaspoon and a half of cinnamon extract. It turned out that I didn't have the extract and I was just short of having enough cinnamon. oops.

In the end the final cookies were quite good, but probably not for most consumers. In my version (and yes, I realize it's because I skipped things) there wasn't quite enough chocolate to satisfy my chocolate urges. The cinnamon flavor was very nice as it was, but I'm interested in trying it with cinnamon extract (which I now have) to kick up the flavor even more. The cookies finish with an interesting spicy, smoky bite from the chipotle powder and from my taste tests the level of spice seems to vary from cookie to cookie, but it has gotten uniformly stronger as the cookies sit in a tupperware container.

If/when I make them again I will almost certainly tweak the recipe a bit -- increasing the chocolate by a lot and adding the extract like it called for. Good cookies for sure, and definitely different, but I wouldn't make them for kids and from my experience they're a bit harder to get rid of than most cookies.



Creamables
2 sticks butter
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tablespoons cinnamon

Wet Ingredients
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon extract
1 teaspoon vanilla

Dry Ingredients
2 1/2 cups finely ground oatmeal
1 cup finely ground graham crackers
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup cinnamon chips
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
2.5 oz milk chocolate, microplaned
1 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, microplaned
2 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping
turbinado sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. In your Kitchen Aid or a large mixing bowl, cream together the creamables.
3. In a small bowl, combine the wet ingredients and whisk together until smooth.
4. Add the combined wet ingredients to the creamables. Mix together until well incorporated.
5. In a large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold together until evenly distributed.
6. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the combined creamables and wet ingredients. Mix until evenly combined.
7. Shape dough into balls--about 2 tablespoons each.
8. Roll each dough ball evenly in turbinado sugar
9. Place dough balls about 2 inches apart on Silpat- or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.
10. Bake at 350º for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let stand for 2 minutes. Then place cookies on wire racks to cool.

Spiked Cookies

These were supposed to be spiked coffee cookies, but it turned out that I didn't have any kahlua in the house so I used the Caramel Irish Cream I had on hand instead. They were also only supposed to have a 1/4 cup of liqueur in them, but I misread the amount and used 1/2 a cup. And last, they were supposed to have a chocolate liqueur glaze on them, but I skipped that part because they looked perfect fresh from the oven.

Despite all of these things, these were very good cookies with a great soft and chewy texture. While they are still warm from the oven the Irish Cream smell and flavor is almost overwhelming -- in fact, Chris didn't even like them that much since he's not a huge fan of Irish Cream. However, once they cooled completely and sat for a few hours, the smell and flavor of the Irish Cream settled down and melded perfectly with the chocolate in the cookies.

One day I might get around to using kahlua in these, but in the meantime Irish Cream works great in them too. I think I would also continue to skip the glaze, but if I decided not to glaze them, I would definitely roll the cookie dough in sugar before baking them -- making them more like an Irish Cream Chocolate Snap -- only soft and chewy of course. I'm not sure how much of a difference the extra 1/4 cup of liqueur made in the texture and flavor, but it worked out okay with the extra in there, so I would be highly tempted to add the extra the second time around too.





Ingredients:
3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup coffee liqueur (or Irish Cream, Godiva?, ???)
1 large egg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp espresso powder
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour

Glaze
1 cup chocolate chips
6 tbsps heavy cream
1 tbsp coffee liqueur

Preheat the oven to 350 and line baking sheets (I used insulated sheets) with parchment or silpats.

Cream the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat until well combined and fluffy. Add the liqueur and blend well.

In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients, then add them to the wet, blending just until the flour disappears into the liquid.

Bake 12 minutes until the cookies have spread and look done in the middle. Remove from the oven and let cool on the cookie sheets until then move to a cooling rack.

To make the glaze, melt the chocolate chips in the microwave for a minute, then stir until the lumps are gone. Stir in the heavy cream and liqueur and spread on the cooled cookies.

Peanut Butter Oreos

The original homemade oreo recipe that I got from Smitten Kitchen and made yesterday are amazing. They look like oreos and taste like oreos -- only better. One person today did not know that I was the one who made them, and as she took her first bite she said "these are just as good -- no these are better than oreos" and I have to agree. They have all the great oreo flavors, with none of the preservatives and other strange ingredients that are added to make them shelf-stable.

With the great success of those cookies I immediately started wondering about variations. Chocolate cookies with chocolate frosting? Vanilla cookies with chocolate frosting? Chocolate cookies with peanut butter frosting? I opted to start experimenting with the chocolate peanut butter combination since I have a thing for chocolate peanut butter sandwich cookies anyway and the chocolate peanut butter combination in general. (see here , here and here for sandwich cookies, and here,and here for other peanut butter chocolate combos.)

I made the peanut butter versions two ways. The first time I just added 1/2 cup of peanut butter chips to the dry ingredients and pulsed until they were mostly broken up. The problem with that was that the flavor was very subtle -- almost unnoticeable. With the second batch I decreased the butter down to 1/2 cup (1 stick) and added 3 tbsps of peanut butter (crunchy 'cause that's all I ever have). The second variation was definitely an improvement flavor-wise, but I think if I made them again I would simply add 3 tbsps of peanut butter to the regular recipe instead of cutting back on the butter. I'm not quite sure how it would affect the texture, but I think they would be okay.

I had Chris and our friend Wade give both versions a taste though and they agreed that the version with the peanut butter chips ground up in there were the better option. To make those instead, just add the chips to the dry ingredients and leave everything else alone.

Oh, and just to give them an extra peanut butter kick, I added 3 tbsps of peanut butter to the frosting... just for that little extra something.



1¼ cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa (I use Hershey's Special Dark)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (1¼ sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
3 -4 tbsp peanut butter
1 large egg

For the filling:
¼ cup (½ stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
¼ cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3-4 tbsp peanut butter to taste

1. Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375 degrees.
2. In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, peanut butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
3. Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately 2 inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.
4. To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Add the peanut butter, then turn the mixer on high and beat for 2-3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.
5. To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream. Dunk generously in a large glass of milk.

Homemade Oreos

I was going to blog about the Rum Ginger Cake I made the other night and totally loved, but I made these homemade oreos (from Smitten Kitchen) tonight and they were so good, and so easy I just couldn't resist blogging about them instead. The dry cookie ingredients went into the food processor for some mixing, then I added the butter and pulsed a few times, then the egg and mixed until the whole thing came together in a clump.

Seriously, the hardest thing about these cookies was dividing them up onto the cookie sheet. I happened to have some buttercream frosting sitting around the house, which is why I made these cookies tonight in the first place, but buttercream is really easy to make too -- so even if you have to make the buttercream from scratch, these are totally easy cookies.

I don't even like buttercream that much, and I thought they were perfect in these cookies. That's how good the whole thing was. I will admit though, oreo cookies are one of my few weaknesses when it comes to commercially produced sweets -- most other things I can walk right by without blinking an eye, but show me a plate of oreos and a glass of milk and I have a problem.

Therefore, these cookies are totally dangerous for me. Totally easy to make and just as good, if not better, than store-bought oreos... uh oh... I'm going to have a problem....

Homemade Oreos
Retro Desserts, Wayne Brachman

Makes 25 to 30 sandwich cookies

For the chocolate wafers:
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (1¼ sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg

For the filling:
¼ cup (½ stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
¼ cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375 degrees.
2. In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
3. Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately 2 inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.
4. To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2-3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.
5. To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream. Dunk generously in a large glass of milk.

Rocky Road Garganchewas

Yay! My internet connection is working again! Two and a half days without being able to check my email or post to my blog or google directions that we needed -- which we actually did need this weekend. We drove up to PA to have lunch with Chris' sister and boyfriend and Chris' parents. It wasn't that big of a deal except that without the internet we didn't really have directions. Sure, we could have bought a map somewhere... but maps are so retro...

I couldn't drive all the way to PA to have lunch with people empty handed though, which meant baking. And since I was a bit short of time on Friday afternoon I decided to go with cookies since they mix up quick, bake in batches and are easy to distribute. The cookies that caught my eye were the huge rocky road cookies in my Carole Walters book. I actually saw these cookies several weeks ago on Cookie Madness -- I was so excited about them when I first saw them that I printed the recipe and put them on my short to-bake list. Except even the short to-bake list is still fairly long so I didn't quite get to them as quickly as I wanted.

After I bought the Great Cookies book by Carole Walter I recognized the picture in the book and the cookie went back near the top of the to-bake list. They seemed perfect for Friday since they made huge cookies and were chock full of stuff that Chris' parents like -- chocolate, pecans, marshmallows, more chocolate...

The cookies are very good, soft and chewy and chocolaty. Gooey from the marshmallows, a nice crunch from the pecans, super sweet and indulgent and big enough to really sink you're teeth into.



Dough Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned in and leveled
2/3 cup strained cocoa powder, spooned in and leveled (I used Hershey's Special Dark)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly firm
1 ½ cups sugar
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 ½ cups broken toasted pecans
1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 to 2 ½ cups mini-marshmallows

Glaze Ingredients:
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons boiling water

Position the shelves in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Heat the oven to 350°. Dab the corners of the cookie sheets lightly with butter and line with baking parchment.

Make the Cookies Strain together 3 times the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy and lightened in color, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar in a steady stream and beat 1 minute longer. Add the eggs and mix until combined. Mix in the sour cream and the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients in two additions, mixing just until blended. Using a large rubber spatula, fold in the pecans and chocolate chips.

Using a #16 ice cream scoop, portion six mounds of dough 3 inches apart onto the cookie sheets. Bake for 12 minutes or until just starting to set on top. Remove from the oven and press nine or ten mini-marshmallows at random onto the tops. Return the cookies to the oven and bake for another 2 minutes or just until the marshmallows start to soften. WATCH CAREFULLY. Do not allow the marshmallows to become too hot or they will melt. These cookies are best slightly underbaked.

Let rest on the cookie sheets for 5 minutes or until firm enough to handle before loosening with a large metal spatula. Remove to a wire cooling rack set over a jelly roll pan or a sheet of wax paper.

Glaze the Cookies Combine the chocolate chips and the butter in a medium bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Melt together, stirring occasionally. [Or microwave for 30 seconds or so] Add the boiling water, ½ teaspoon at a time, to thin to a pouring consistency. Using a spoon or a fork, drizzle the glaze over each cookie. Let stand on the cooling racks until the glaze sets. Storage:

Store in an airtight container, layered between strips of wax paper, for up to 5 days. These cookies may be frozen.

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

Another birthday, another chance to bake something for someone. At first Adam said he didn't want anything since he didn't like cake. He persisted after I said it didn't have to be cake and he just told me to bake whatever I was going to bake anyway, and just give him some extra. Well, that's no fun. So I asked if he had any favorite flavor combinations like chocolate and coconut or chocolate and peanut butter. His eyes lit up at chocolate and peanut butter so the hard part was done.

With those flavors I had a couple of recipes instantly in mind. One of them was for the Dorie Greenspan fudgy brownies with peanut butter frosting and chocolate ganache -- and I still might do that tomorrow -- but the other was a variation on the Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies I was so disappointed in before. I had recently seen a recipe that called for peanut butter cookies with chocolate chunks that had a chocolate and peanut butter frosting for a filling -- but I couldn't find it for the life of me and I have no idea where I saw it. I still had that combo in my head though so I decided to make my own variation.

The cookie base is one of my favorite chocolate/peanut butter cookie recipes and I have been making it for years now. The recipe is in my Gourmet's Quick Kitchen book that was the first cookbook I bought when I was young and first married. The marriage has since broken up, but the book stayed with me. One of the great things about the recipe is that it makes a very small batch -- only a dozen cookies -- but it's also very easy to double the recipe if you want to make more cookies. It's also incredibly quick to throw together and uses ingredients that most people have on their shelves (well, as long as they bake every now and again.)

The cookies bake up rich and dark and chocolaty but with a lot of peanut butter flavor and some crunch from the crunchy peanut butter. I used Hershey's Special Dark for the cocoa powder which is why my cookies turn out so dark, and I added some peanut butter chips to the batter along with the chocolate chips since I had some on hand.

For the frosting I stuck with the tried and true Peanut Butter Frosting from the Dorie Greenspan brownie recipe that I mentioned above. It's quick, easy and incredibly good. Combined with the ultra-chocolate, ultra-peanut butter cookies it turned a regular old cookie recipe into an amazingly decadent treat. My only advice -- have a cold glass of milk ready when you eat one. :)



Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup chunky style peanut butter
1 large egg
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

In a bowl with an electric mixer beat together butter, sugar, and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Then beat in egg until smooth. Into mixture sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt, beating until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips until evenly distributed.

Drop cookie dough by heaping teaspoons about 1 inch apart on an ungreased large baking sheet and bake in middle of oven 10 minutes or until just firm to the touch. Transfer cookies with a metal spatula to racks to cool.

Frosting:

1 cup chunky peanut butter (do not use natural or old-fashioned)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided, room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To make the frosting:

Using electric mixer, beat peanut butter and 1/4 cup butter in medium bowl to blend. Beat in powdered sugar, salt, and nutmeg, then milk and vanilla. Spread frosting over cakes. If you are conservative with the frosting between the cake layers, there should be just enough to frost the sides of the cake. If you want a lot of frosting, double the recipe and go to town.

Carlton's Chocolate Chewies

Chris picked this recipe from the Pastry Queen Christmas book and I suspect that part of his motivation was that it is a very easy recipe to make. Considering that I was pretty grumpy tonight for no apparent reason, an easy cookie recipe was probably the right choice. Unfortunately, I ended up having more problems with these silly cookies than either of us could have anticipated.

The recipe is very quick and easy to mix up. Lightly beat some egg whites for a few minutes, throw in all the other ingredients -- pecans, powdered sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, vanilla and salt, mix and bake. Nothing could be easier, or so I thought.

I think part of the problem is that I made the cookies too big. The recipe says 1-inch diameter scoop and I eye-balled a tablespoon or so. It also says that the cookies would bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Well, I baked the first set 11 minutes, took them out to let them set-up, realized they were still impossibly gooey and threw them back in the oven for a few more minutes.

In the end, the cookies that finally set-up the most, baked for probably a total of 20 minutes. They are slightly crispy around the edges, but still soft and gooey in the center. The cookies that didn't get the repeated trips to the oven are horribly gooey -- so soft that you can't even pick them up really without them oozing and goozing down your fingers. The good news is that they taste fantastic -- but what a freaking mess. I was impossibly frustrated by the whole thing, and not even the fantastic chocolatey goodness of the cookies could snap me totally out of my foul mood. *shrug* Can't win them all.

In her notes section of this recipe the Pastry Queen mentions that the cookies can handle a couple of additional add-ins. The base cookie is chocolate and pecans, but I also added coconut and chocolate chips to give them an extra kick. They are wonderfully chocolatey and good -- no question about it, just be aware if you try to make them yourself that they might take a wee bit longer than 8 minutes to bake. I suspect most of the problems I have stem from the fact that these cookies don't have any flour -- so if you know anyone who is into gluten-free cooking, but can still have eggs -- these would be an excellent choice.

Ingredients:
2 cups whole pecans
3 large egg whites
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
6 tbsp good-quality unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Scharfen-berger)
pinch of kosher salt
1/2 tsp vanilla exract

Preheat oven to 350. Arrange pecans on a baking sheet and toast for 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from the oven, let cool and coarsely chop. Reduce the oven temp to 300. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.

In a large bowl whisk the egg whites until foamy, about 30 seconds. Stir in the powdered sugar, cocoa, salt, vanilla, pecans, and if you want -- an additional 2 cups of add-ins such as coconut, chocolate chips, or dried fruit. Using a 1-inch diameter scoop, drop spoonfuls of dough 1 1/2 inches apart on the prepared pans. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes (HA!), until set and shiny with zigzag cracks on the top. Remove from the oven and let cool on the pans for 5 to 10 minutes. Using a metal spatula, transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Chocolate Oatmeal Drops

I have to admit, I like cookies, but I love cookie dough. I usually have very few problems only tasting half or even less of one of the cookies I bake once they come out of the oven. Usually just a quality control bite out of a cookie shortly after coming out of the oven (while they're still warm and gooey) and then another small bite the next morning to see how they hold up once they've cooled down.

There are a few cookies that are more challenging (the salted oatmeal cookies come to mind) but I will likely have no trouble resisting these chocolate oatmeal cookies. It's not that they're bad -- far from it -- it's just that the cookie dough was so much better to me. I had a lot of trouble resisting the dough as I was making it -- a nibble here, a glop on my finger, the spatula, the bowl, the spoon... all covered in yummy, chocolaty goop. In fact, the cookie dough reminded me a lot of no-bake chocolate cookies before they set up. Actually, truth be told, every single time I have made no-bake cookies, the cookies have never set-up properly, always leaving me with lumps of gooey, chocolaty goodness. Which is actually fine, because I never really like no-bake oatmeal cookies much to begin with... but I digress.

These cookies are pretty good -- rich chocolate with a hint of cinnamon and a slightly chewy texture from the brown sugar. They are a bit of a pain to make, but that's only because you have to chop the chocolate and then heat it with the brown sugar and butter over the double boiler which is a little time consuming. Dorie Greenspan gives rather specific directions for adding the ingredients to the double boiler bowl (first the butter, then sprinkle the water over that before adding the brown sugar and the chocolate) -- I'm not exactly sure why she wanted it done that way, and I didn't do it that way. I kind of threw things into the bowl as I got to them and as far as I can tell the cookies turned out fine. Any ideas? Other than that they are actually a cinch to make. Mix everything up and throw them in the oven.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter cut into pieces
1 tbsp water
1 1/2 cups (packed) light brown sugar
9 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats

Preheat oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Put the butter in the bowl and sprinkle over th 1 tablespoon of water, then add the brown sugar, followed by the chocolate. Stir occasionally until everything is just melted. Don't let the ingredients get so hot that the butter separates from the sugar and chocolate, and don't be concerned if the mixture looks grainy.

Remove from the heat and whisk in the eggs, one at a time; the mixture will look shiny. Whisk in the dry ingredients, stirring only until they disappear into the dough. Stir in the oats. Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between each spoonful.

Bake for about 12 minutes, rotating the sheets from the top to bottom and front to back at the midway point, until the cookies are dark around the edges and just slightly soft in the middle. Using a wide metal spatula, transfer the cookies to a rack to cool to room temp. (if the cookies are difficult to lift from the baking sheet, wait a minute and try again.)

Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.