Baking Friday - Cookie # 11

Hey everyone!  I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  About the best word to describe ours was "odd." 

Odd? 

Yea...odd.  I know that doesn't sound all happy and warm and fuzzy like a good blog poster is supposed to sound, but give me a moment to explain.

First...Ferguson.  Last week.  Need I say more?  The whole lot of events made it seem like it wasn't the week of Thanksgiving.

Then J-man was sick as was his Nana, so we missed her.  And then finally I had to log into work for about two hours due to some system maintenance.  Not bad, ya understand, but the sum total was just odd - not exactly your Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving, if you know what I mean. 

Don't get me wrong!  It was great to be with family, and the food was great, it just didn't quite feel like a normal Thanksgiving.  I hope yours was great!

Since Thanksgiving, I didn't post a cookie last week, so I'm making up for it this week.  I actually served four cookies plus this week's cake at the office on Thursday to get me all caught up! 

But I will only share the cookie recipe today!  Well, really two cookie recipes and then the cake one on the next post.  (Please note that I am making no promises on when that post will be posted, cause I can't seem to keep to a blog schedule well lately!  Sigh...)

But enough about me.  Let's talk cookies and cake!  What are these things you see up there?  Well, I will tell ya cause I like ya!  Ha!  Ha!

In the upper left-hand corner and in the lower right-hand corner above you see chocolate cookies.  If you are familiar with the old-fashioned chocolate crinkle, that is what these are.  Except they aren't your old standard chocolate crinkle recipe.  These are the America's Test Kitchen chocolate crinkle!

What does an America's Test Kitchen recipe get an ! you ask?  Because I was so excited to run across this recipe, that's why!  See, I had given away boxes of chocolate crinkles as a "chocolate crinkle tasting" a few years back to coworkers.  If you were reading last year, you would have seen that I did a mint theme last year.  It's just sort of what I do with little Christmas treats for coworkers each year.  Well a few years ago I chose three different varieties of chocolate crinkles and had a little tasting for  my friends.  Based on that little story, I thought that I would feature chocolate crinkles on this here blog!

What's that?  What were the three versions you ask?  Oh, I will be happy to tell you!  The first was the standard, tried and true chocolate crinkle, as in the one you may remember from being a kid.  The second was a mocha version with just a hint of espresso for a bit more grown-up taste.  But the third?  Oh, the third!  Definitely my favorite of the three!!  The third one was a cappuccino crinkle that not only had the espresso  but also had just a touch of cinnamon and spice.  Talk about layers of flavor and taking chocolate to the next level!  Think Mexican hot chocolate in soft powdered sugary form!  

However - and here is the plot twist! - I recently got the 2015 Season America's Test Kitchen cookbook in the mail - and lo and behold!  They had a tested recipe for chocolate crinkles that they said had the deepest chocolaty flavor and bakes up with the prettiest powdered sugar crackles.  So I HAD to try this version!!!  I have to say that I like America's Test Kitchen.  They do all of the things I would like to try with a recipe if I had the time to do it.  But I don't, and they do, so I like to take advantage of what they have tried and tested and researched and tasted and decided is the best that they can make something in a home kitchen at that point in time.  In addition, they have the humility to keep pursuing the best of something, and if they find a better way, they share that later.  What is not to love about that?

Wow!  I just realized that I spent 4 paragraphs talking about only two of the four cookies in the pic.  Have you forgotten all about that pic by now?  Ok, here it is again...

Alright - so the corner cookies are both chocolate crinkles, but they are slightly different.  The one at the top is the cappuccino version while the one on the bottom is the mocha version.  They baked up so easy and really are the prettiest chocolate crinkles I ever baked.  They live up to their billing by the ATK cookbook - deep chocolate flavor with lots of pretty powdered sugar cracks!  (PS:  ATK doesn't have the cappuccino version.  I just did that cause I love them so!)

Now for the other two cookies and the cake.  On the upper platter with the cappuccino crinkles, we have apple butter snicker-doodles.  The only reason they are on the platter is because I needed a way to tell the cappuccino crinkles from the mocha ones.  They look exactly alike even though I tried to use sparkling sugar on the cappuccino ones to tell them apart!  <insert smiley face here!>  The apple butter snicker-doodles are ok, but nothing really to write homo about...er...blog about.

On the lower platter with the mocha crinkles are Italian Walnut Pillows.  These are a keeper.  I made some for our Thanksgiving, but then had some dough leftover so made more for this here blog post and taste testers.  They nutty flavor improve with age, which is such a "Win-Win!!" for any baker!  I found the recipe on Brown Eyed Baker and will share pics of shaping, baking and glazing these.  If you want the recipe, just click on that link, and it will take you to her story of how her grandmother made them every year for their large family Thanksgiving celebrations.  I LOVE stories like that.  I want to create stories like that for my grandkids!  But back to the cookies - see below for how I put these together, simply following BEB's recipe above.

Now for that cake!  What is that cake in the middle?  Well the details on that cake will be in the next post, but suffice it to say that this is a Buche de Noel aka a Yule Log.  The classic version will be a rolled chocolate sponge cake filled with whipped cream and covered in chocolate icing and decorated to look like a Christmas log.  I went a little crazy and filled this one with something special, but more on that later!

Let's start with the pics of shaping and baking the Italian Walnut Pillows and then I will share the full recipe and pics of making the Chocolate Crinkles.  Deal?

These cookies really do bake up soft like pillows, especially after they have mellowed for a couple of days after baking.  BEB says to split the dough into 4 parts and roll each part into a rectangle about 6" x 18".  I rolled two at the same time and then spread the walnut filling almost to the edges.

I will tell you this.  The dough rolls very easy on a floured surface, but can tend to tear a bit when the walnut filling is being spread on.  It patches back together just fine, but sliding in on to a cookie sheet and into the fridge may be helpful if the dough gets too soft.

BEB then instructs us to roll the dough up tightly from the long edge rather like cinnamon rolls.

You can see that the dough cracks a bit.  I didn't let that scare me none.  I just moved ahead and sliced those rolls up!

I laid them cut side down on parchment lined cookie sheets...

...and then baked them at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.  That seems like a long time for a cookie to bake, but they just get light golden brown and spread out a bit.

Once they cool, then they get glazed in a simple powdered sugar glaze icing.  (I added a few red and green sprinkles cause Christmas!)

Try these!  Especially since they can be made ahead and improve with age.  Great with a cup of tea or coffee.  (They are even good for breakfast!  Not that I speak from experience or anything...ahem..)

Are you still with me?  Are you ready for the chocolate crinkle recipe?  I hope so, because here it is!  Santa would like these if you make them, I promise!

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda (yes, only 1/4 teaspoon - not much but ATK tried it multiple ways and the combo baked best)
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
4 t. espresso powder (optional, but I like it!)
Splash of vanilla
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
4 T. butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar (not usually done in most chocolate crinkle recipes but makes the pretty cracks happen!)
1/2 cup powdered sugar

I melted the chopped chocolate and butter in the microwave...

...until smooth and glistening!  So shiny, glossy and pretty!

I added the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt into my sifter after putting them together on a sheet of waxed paper.

You may notice that the cocoa powder is very dark.  That is because I used some black cocoa powder that I picked up at an Amish store in Branson.  Regular cocoa will work just fine, but obviously the cookies won't bake up quite as dark.  I don't always sift dry ingredients together, but I needed to for these to remove all lumps from the cocoa and completely mix it altogether.

I actually sifted it about 4 times before I had a truly cohesive mix.  Notice how you can still see the flour distinct from the cocoa?  Repeated sifting will fix that.

The only difference for the cappuccino crinkles was to add cinnamon with the dry ingredients in the sifter.  It still took 4 sifting times to combine them all.

So that was the butter and chocolate mixture plus the dry ingredients ready to go.  Now it was time to attend to the wet ingredients.  I didn't use my mixer for this.  I simply used bowls and whisks and my spatulas.  No need for a heavy mixer for these, baby!

I whisked together the brown sugar and the eggs, espresso powder and vanilla until smooth.  Then I poured in the butter and chocolate mixture.

Finally I folded in the dry ingredients.

Now this next step is one of the places where ATK does something way different than the standard.  In the classic recipe, we are told to chill the dough for at least an hour.  ATK says to let it rest for 10 minutes.  On the counter.  10 minutes.  That's it.  So that's what I did.  Doing so helps the dough hold together for shaping into balls but keeps it from being too cold when baking which can cause uneven baking.  So 10 minutes it was.

10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1.  Ready!

And that takes us to the other place where this recipe is very different from the classic.  ATK says to shape into balls and then roll each ball into granulated sugar before rolling in the powdered sugar and baking.  Doing so is what helps the cracks form prettier.  I like pretty cookies!

So I'm trying this!  (And yes, I WILL do this step again with any crinkle cookie recipe I ever try in the future but my guess is that I won't find a better one than this one!)

Rolling in the regular sugar....and then in the powdered sugar bowl before landing on parchment lined cookie sheets.

Have I ever mentioned that I reuse parchment until it falls apart?  Well I do, cause I can.  So that's why my parchment paper pics aren't all shiny white and pretty like other bloggers.  Call me cool, hip and green if you like, or you can call me thrifty and frugal.  I'm good either way!

Now...these bake at 325 degrees for about 12 minutes before cooling completely on the cookie sheets.  And look how pretty!

All those beautiful cracks while the powdered sugar stays pretty and white on the outside!  These are truly the prettiest chocolate crinkles I have ever baked!  And those who like dark chocolate a lot were big fans of these.  Those who like a little less chocolate coffee flavor pronounced but enjoy some spice along the way too enjoyed the cappuccino ones.

I hope you'll give these a try!  Santa would like you to try them.  He can only take so many chocolate chip and sugar cookies after all!  He needs a bit of chocolate and coffee to help him stay awake all night, too!

Thanks for stopping by!  We are almost finished with our Baking Friday 2014 adventure together!!!