Saturday, June 24, 2006
Black Gold Cookies, Part II
Okay so I said tomorrow but really I meant Saturday. In any case, I profoundly apologize for not being on the baking ball this week. My convenient excuse is the birth of my niece on Monday. Owing to my excitement and joy I neglected my baking. But fear not! This weekend is cookie weekend here at the baking fool's homestead. Starting with the cookies I so rudely left you wondering about: Black Gold Cookies.
First off, I was trolling the web for some new recipes spots besides Epicurious and I came across this ugly, but interesting site that features recipes from B&Bs from all over. And that is where I found this recipe for Black Gold Cookies and at least one other of the cookie recipes I will try this weekend.
Black Gold Cookies
From the Covered Bridge House
About this recipe: This recipe is one I would call intermediate, simply because of the double-boiler method of melting the chocolate and butter together and then adding it to the butter mixture. I really liked that they were very specific regarding how long to beat each step. This took a lot of the guess work out of a recipe I was trying for the first time.
The batter was fudge-like and had a beautiful sheen. I got 2 dozen cookies from this batch, but I probably dropped my cookies on the tray a bit too generously.
The cookies, as you can see, spread out and turned out pretty flat. In fact, given the mere 6 tablespoons of flour in this recipe I was worried that this would happen. I suggest if you make these you might try adding 2 more tablespoons to help prevent this. Also, the finished consistency is extremely fragile and cake-like. I made the mistake of storing these cookies in a ziploc bag and they all kind of stuck together and broke apart. Again, I think adding some more flour will help.
The taste was good, it would have been better if I'd followed the instructions to use semi-sweet chocolate. I used bitter sweet and I felt the finished product had an unpleasantly tart after taste. My roomie liked it, though. I think a 1/2 semisweet 1/2 bitter sweet would work better.
The chocolate chunks simply melted into the cookie so they weren't that noticeable. I think this recipe could stand some more texture to balance out the soft, cakey cookie. Walnuts would be great.
While making this batter, I thought that, slightly altered, this would make a nice molten chocolate cake. I may try my hand at actually creating something original, starting with this recipe.
First off, I was trolling the web for some new recipes spots besides Epicurious and I came across this ugly, but interesting site that features recipes from B&Bs from all over. And that is where I found this recipe for Black Gold Cookies and at least one other of the cookie recipes I will try this weekend.
Black Gold Cookies
From the Covered Bridge House
- 6 tablespoons flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 10 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped into 1/4 inch pieces
- 2 ounces un-sweetened chocolate, chopped into 1/4 inch pieces
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 325.
- Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
- Melt 6 ounces Semisweet chocolate, un-sweetened chocolate and butter in double boiler, stirring until smooth (about 6 min.)
- Place eggs, sugar & vanilla in bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle.
- Beat on medium 4 minutes, scrape sides, then beat 2 minutes.
- Add the melted chocolate and beat for 1 more minute.
- Add dry ingredients and remaining chocolate pieces and mix until thoroughly combined.
- Use a heaping tablespoon of dough for each cookie.
- Bake on middle rack for 9 - 10 minutes.
- Cool on baking sheet until set, then transfer to wire rack.
About this recipe: This recipe is one I would call intermediate, simply because of the double-boiler method of melting the chocolate and butter together and then adding it to the butter mixture. I really liked that they were very specific regarding how long to beat each step. This took a lot of the guess work out of a recipe I was trying for the first time.
The batter was fudge-like and had a beautiful sheen. I got 2 dozen cookies from this batch, but I probably dropped my cookies on the tray a bit too generously.
The cookies, as you can see, spread out and turned out pretty flat. In fact, given the mere 6 tablespoons of flour in this recipe I was worried that this would happen. I suggest if you make these you might try adding 2 more tablespoons to help prevent this. Also, the finished consistency is extremely fragile and cake-like. I made the mistake of storing these cookies in a ziploc bag and they all kind of stuck together and broke apart. Again, I think adding some more flour will help.
The taste was good, it would have been better if I'd followed the instructions to use semi-sweet chocolate. I used bitter sweet and I felt the finished product had an unpleasantly tart after taste. My roomie liked it, though. I think a 1/2 semisweet 1/2 bitter sweet would work better.
The chocolate chunks simply melted into the cookie so they weren't that noticeable. I think this recipe could stand some more texture to balance out the soft, cakey cookie. Walnuts would be great.
While making this batter, I thought that, slightly altered, this would make a nice molten chocolate cake. I may try my hand at actually creating something original, starting with this recipe.
# posted by Baking Fool @ 6:45 PM 
