You can make these oreo or fudgee-o style, depending on how you fill them. Buttercream icing with a splash of Kahlua or peppermint extract is yummy. I love a little chocolate truffle filling with a splash or Grand Marnier best personally. I’ve made large batches of these and filled them with various flavoured fillings. They’ve been very popular…
Chocolate Cookie Dough:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cups Dutch process cocoa powder (fair trade)
Flavoured Buttercream:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup (plus a tablespoon or two) icing sugar
1 tbsp liquor (Kahlua, peppermint, etc)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Truffle filling: I can’t remember my exact measurements for this, but it shouldn’t be a problem since it’s so simple. Chop your chocolate up into small pieces and add hot cream while stirring until it is a spreadable consistency. Add a splash of liquor, such as Grand Marnier, for flavour and to lengthen it’s shelf life. Delicious.
Method: The dough:
- Whisk together the flour and salt, set aside.
- Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the egg and vanilla blend just until combined.
- Stir in the cocoa. Next this stir in the flour mixture gradually.
- Divide the dough into two pieces, flatten these into disks and chill them in the fridge until firm (1-2 hrs). This will make the dough much easier to roll out
- The icing is simple, just add everything to the bowl and cream it. Make sure your cookies are completely cool before icing them.
Driving back from checking out the Leonid Meteor Shower…
The last of the goldenrod is drying out on the counter in my bathroom.
Winter is close.
Snickerdoodles have the strangest name, but the cookies themselves are very simple. There seems to be a lot of debate over where the origins of this particular cookie and it’s fanciful name. Some say it’s name comes from Germany or the Netherlands while others claim it’s from New England.
The cookie itself is such a classic combination of vanilla cookie and cinnamon sugar, I would imagine it could crop up in more than a few places independently. I think the story I like best is that it comes from the German words Schneckennudeln, which means “snail dumpling.” It sounds like something from a fairy tale, like it should be served as a teeny treat at a tea party for small beings and magical creatures.
Theses are made by rolling soft vanilla cookie dough in cinnamon sugar. I’ve been making this particular recipe since I was a little kid and I am always happy with them. The trick to making snickerdoodles, like most cookies, is to be careful not to overcook them. They should be soft (but not gooey) with a cracked surface when you remove them from the oven, as they cool they will firm up quite a bit.
Snickerdoodles:
1/2 cup of butter or margarine (at room temp’)
3/4 cups of sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract (or 1/2 pod)
1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp of cinnamon
2 tsp sugar
- Preheat oven to 375f (if you have a dark pan 325f).
- Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla on high until it turns light and fluffy. If you don’t have a mixer you can do this with a small whisk. Mix in the egg just until blended. Use a large spoon to stir in the baking powder, baking soda, salt and flour.
- Shape the dough into balls about the size of a walnut, roll in cinnamon sugar until the are well coated. place them on cookie sheets approximately 2 inches apart from one another.
- They take between 8- 12 minutes to bake, depending on your oven. The best thing to do is turn your oven light on and keep an eye on them. Makes about 32 cookies.
I had a memorable Halloween with my lady friends Karyn, Amy and Genevieve. We spent the evening running around in the streets, drinking wine, kicking leaves and howling at the moon. The next day we were all feeling a bit hungover, so Amy and I decided to clear our heads by going for an afternoon breakfast and post-Halloween walk. Here are a few photos from our adventure.
