Monday, August 9, 2010

Chocolate Crackle Cookies

Yesterday, I went into Jerusalem to see my friend A who is getting married in a couple of weeks. She was moving into her beautiful new apartment in Katamon and it was nice to catch up before the big day. I brought her these cookies that I made specifically for her. You see, last week was her bridal shower, and like any good friend I was supposed to attend. I had even baked these cookies for her the morning of. So what happened? Well, I had just come down with the nastiest cold whose symptoms involved bad headache, toothache.. I could go on and on. It was really unpleasant and I could barely move I was so sluggish and unwell. Thankfully, A understood and although I am still recovering from it, I decided to deliver these cookies and her wedding gift. What would I do with an enormous amount of cookies sitting around the house? A loved them, thought they were amazing. After eating a few, she decided they must be stashed in the freezer for fear she wouldn't fit into her wedding dress. All that said, let me tell you about the recipe. The recipe comes from Shirley O Corriher's Bakewise, a book that I own but have mostly consulted for the science and haven't yet used for the recipes. Again, glad to fix that. She recommends that the dough be made the night before, which I did for the sake of convenience. Her recipe calls for oil, a plus, and corn syrup to keep them nice and chewy after baking. Her recommended technique for coating the cookies is to first roll in granulated sugar and then powdered sugar, stating that the first granulated sugar helps the powdered sugar adhere better. Well, I decided to test this, and the results were identical. I continued doing it her way just because I already had the sugar out in a bowl and decided not to waste it. Next time, I might do without that step. This recipe makes a boatload if you use a smaller scoop.


Chocolate Crackle Cookies
adapted from Bakewise

1 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 3/4 cups sugar, divided
1/3 cup canola oil
2 tbsp corn syrup
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar


Place the dry ingredients in a bowl. Whisk to blend and set aside.
Place the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and melt. Set aside.

Place the oil , corn syrup and 2 1/2 cups of sugar in the bowl of your mixer and beat to blend.
Beat in the eggs and vanilla and blend.

Here is what I had.
Add the melted chocolate,

and blend to combine.

Add the dry ingredients,

and blend until a nice batter is formed. It will be a bit loose.
Chill the batter overnight.
The next day take your batter out of the fridge to soften a bit. Preheat your oven to 325 and line baking sheets with parchment or greased foil. Set up two bowls, one with the remaining sugar and the other with the powdered sugar. Scoop balls of dough first into the granulated sugar then into the powdered sugar, rolling to coat.

Place the coated dough on the lined baking sheet, leaving about two inches between each. Bake for about 13 minutes, taking care not to overbake.

Cool on the sheets two minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

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