Who knew? It seems I’ve become a little cookie bitch –
complete with a cute frilly apron and a wooden spoon.
It all started innocently enough with a simple batch of
chocolate chip cookies, from the recipe on the back of bag Nestle chips. But
one batch leads to another. What followed in no particular order were: my Aunt Betty’s
famous oatmeal cookies; beautiful lemon cookies with a coarse Turbinado sugar
finish; chewy molasses cookies, coconut macaroons; and others.
All innocent enough by themselves, but it’s where these
things inevitably lead – and who knew. I think my journey into cookie bitchdom
reached the point of no return when I entered the local baking paraphernalia shop,
(and who would have thought such stores existed,) and bought a miniature cookie
scoop. And these come in several different sizes. Again who would have thought?
In time it got to point where commercial store bought
cookies wouldn’t do and worse I began thinking maybe the standard cookie
recipes could be improved upon, and maybe for example, malted milk powder might
be a fine addition to Toll House chocolate chip recipe. (It is.)
Now often, late at night for hours on end, I’m obsessively
glued to my computer searching cookie recipes – both for varieties I’ve never
made and comparing various recipes in a quiet quest for perfection.
It’s gotten to the point where in social settings no longer
capable of engaging in pleasant manly conversation. While the other guys are
happily talking about the NFL draft or the NBA playoffs, I’m apt to spout off
at great length about the magnificent recipe for double chocolate, cherry
cookies I created.
This isn’t jest. Here’s the recipe and it turned out better
than even in my dreams. It’s an adaptation of a Martha Steward recipe.
2 Cups all-purpose flour
½ Cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 Cup zested bakers chocolate
¼ Cup malted milk powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup, (two sticks), unsalted butter at room temperature
1 ¼ cups of granulated sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 table spoons of heavy cream
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 5 oz. Bags of sweetened dried tart cherries
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Put on frilly apron.
In a mixer whip the butter then add the sugars, add the
malt, chocolate zest and cocoa powder. Beat in the egg, vanilla extract and
cream. Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda and gradually add it to
the mix.
Add the cherries when the dough is thoroughly mixed. This
will require some hand mixing with a wooden spoon so that the cherries are
evenly distributed in the dough.
Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Scoop rounded table
spoon size portions to the sheet pan spaced about three inches apart. (A cookie
scoop works well for this if you have one.)
Bake 12 to 15 minutes until the tops begin to crack and
transfer to wax paper or parchment paper to cool.
