big box impulse buy magazine chocolate cookies
Costco is our big box store of choice. We're card carrying members ever since
we had that flat tire in Lancaster county doing the Amish tourism day trip with
Donato from Rome and they saved us with great service even though we were not
yet members. We have to restrain ourselves in shopping mode there since we are
just two, but there are plenty of things we can buy for that number. However,
ani has a way of disappearing in supermarkets the moment bob fixes his attention
on one thing or another. Then it is usually a tedious search trying to relocate
the spouse. So sometimes bob just kills time hoping she will just turn up on her
own.
This time he was not far from the discount magazine rack, so he went for
straight for the cooking magazines. The Better Homes and Gardens special edition
Chocolate: rich dark and decadent jumped right off the rack into bob's
hands. The chocolate-espresso tiramisu was the deal sealer. It went home with
the other groceries, waiting for excuses to explore its tempting pages.
Meanwhile the Armenian Sister's Academy attended by our nephews was doing an
election day bake sale at our polling place (a fund raiser preying on the heavy
foot traffic) so we
were elected to contribute. The triple chocolate cookies and sesame chocolate
cookies on the same page both seemed appropriate. One more traditional including
the Middle Eastern touch of tahini and sesame seeds, not super sweet, the other
chocolate crack. Let's not think about the calories involved. This is just an
occasional treat. But after some sampling we only had a total of 3 dozen little
cellophane bagged cookie pairs, to be sold for a buck apiece. Not very much
profit yield for all this work on our part, but every little bit helps...?
Of course now that we've previewed the two recipes, you can be sure we will
find other occasions to repeat their execution. Even though bob is kind of a
traditional cookie guy, usually not straying far from chocolate chip or
chocolate chocolate chip.
ingredients: triple chocolate cookies
-
7 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
-
5 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
-
1/2 c butter
-
1/3 c all-purpose flour
-
1/4 t baking powder
-
1/4 t salt
-
1 c granulated sugar
-
3/4 c packed brown sugar
-
4 eggs
-
1/4 c finely chopped pecans, toasted
[can be substituted by walnuts or omitted]
-
Chocolate Drizzle:
- 1
c semisweet chocolate pieces
- 4 teaspoons shortening
instructions
- Melt the chocolates and butter together stirring on low heat until blended
smooth. Remove from the heat and let cool about 10 minutes.
- Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set
aside.
- Beat together the sugars and eggs in a large mixing bowl with an
electric beater on medium to high about 2 to 3 minutes until the mixture
lightens in color slightly.
- Beat in the chocolate until combined, then add the dry mixture and beat
until combined.
- Stir in the finely chopped pecans/nuts.
- Cover the surface tightly with plastic wrap and let stand 20 minutes as
the dough thickens.
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Line the cookie sheets with parchment paper
or aluminum foil and drop rounded balls of dough about 2 inches apart on
them.
- Bake about 9 minutes or until the tops are
set, then cool about 1 minutes and transfer to cookie racks to cool.
- Makes about 60 cookies.
- If doing the chocolate drizzle option,
combine the chocolate and shortening in a small nonstick pan and melt
together, stirring until smooth, then remove from the heat.
- Drizzle on the cooled baked cookies sitting
on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and if you can manage, place the
whole sheet in the freezer 4 to 5 minutes until the chocolate firms up.
ingredients: sesame-chocolate cookies
- 8 oz semisweet chocolate
- 2 T butter
- 3 T tahini (sesame seed paste)
- 2/3 c all-purpose flour
- 1/2 t baking powder
- 1/2 t salt
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 c packed brown sugar
- 1 t vanilla
- 1/2 c sesame seeds, toasted
instructions
- Melt the chocolate and butter in a small nonstick saucepan over low heat,
then remove from the heat and stir in the tahini. Set aside.
- Stir together the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set
aside.
- In a large mixing bowl beat the eggs with an electric mixer until
frothy. Add the brown sugar and vanilla and beat until combined. Beat in
chocolate mixture and then the
flour mixture until combined.
- Cover and chill about 30 minutes or until the dough is easy to handle
(?)
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Place sesame seeds in a small bowl. Shape
dough into 1 inch diameter balls, and roll them in the sesame seeds to coat.
Place 2 in apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the
cookies puff up and the bottoms are set.
- Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and
cool. Should make about 40 cookies.
notes
- Better Homes and Gardens Special Publications:
Chocolate: rich dark and
decadent (2012), p. 18.
Triple chocolate cookies (ours were only double
since we blew off the drizzle addon) and
chocolate-sesame cookies.
We forgot about this incomplete recipe pair for a whole year till the next
Thanksgiving when ani remembered the sesame chocolate cookies and bob could
not find the magazine with the ingredients and instructions in our cookbook
bookcase to insert them here. Ani's sister found it in plain site exactly
where bob had looked. Then bob refound the recipes at the BHG website.
- Illustrations available.