Peppermint Mocha Crinkle Cookies

15 Dec

A couple of weeks ago, my brother very helpfully (and forcefully) pointed out that there seems to be a tragic lack of cookie recipes on this site.  Among all the cakes and tarts and pies aplenty, thus far I’ve logged a sad total of a mere two cookie recipes.  How is this even possible?  Cookies are divine.  I love cookies.  Everyone loves cookies.  But is it somehow even imaginable that, of all the baked goods available to my baking whims, maybe cookies reside at the bottom of my list of preferred baked goods?

No.  Not true.  As proven by my excitement over the discovery of the magic that is the cookie exchange, I think it’s fair to say that cookies and I, we get along just fine.  Thus, choosing to classify the sore absence of cookies on Savory Salty Sweet as a mere oversight, and certainly not a deliberate snub, it’s high time I remedied the problem.

I love a good chocolate crinkle cookie, which is oftentimes a shame, as it seems as though I’ve eaten a lot of really bad chocolate crinkle cookies.  Cookies with tooth-aching sweetness, no chocolate punch, or a decidedly sandy texture are not fine representations of a chocolate crinkle cookie (or any other cookie, for that matter), but that’s frequently what one gets when trying to indulge in such.  Determined to alter the trajectory of what seems to be the downward spiral of a cookie that used to be—and should be—held in such fine regard, I set to work trying to make a chocolate crinkle cookie that would have all the elements I loved most about the cookie: deep chocolate flavor, perfectly moist texture, and a satisfying sweetness that never fell to the side of cloying.

The good news is, I made some very fine cookies.  The bad news is, I don’t know if anyone who was looking for a traditional chocolate crinkle cookie would eat one of these and declare it the final destination of their search.  Believe me, these cookies are fantastic—rich, moist, and completely satisfying—but they are a long way away from what I started out intending to make.  First of all, when I was deciding how much to punch up the chocolate flavor in this cookie, I very suddenly figured that if I was going to add a bit of espresso powder to the dough to make the chocolate shine, maybe I’d actually just add a whole bunch of espresso powder.  Why?  Why not?  And while I was at it, why not add a bit of peppermint extract to the mix, for no other reason than, hey, here’s a bottle of peppermint extract sitting right next to the bottle of espresso powder, why not throw in some of that as well?

Though I generally would not condone this haphazard method of recipe creation (imagine what might have happened if there was a bottle of zucchini relish or hot mustard next to the espresso powder), in some cases, when you decide to improvise, things turn out in your favor.  And, incidentally, the favor of those around you who happen to enjoy eating cookies as much as you like making them.  Deemed supremely acceptable by the original requester of cookies, these cookies made for some mighty delicious treats, suitable for anyone and everyone you know who adores cookies with a perfectly soft and chewy bite, intense chocolate flavor, and a hint of peppermint.  You know: all humans.

Peppermint Mocha Crinkle Cookies

The peppermint flavor in these cookies is meant to serve as one of many elements going on in terms of flavor.  Because of that, the amount of peppermint extract I list here will produce a cookie with a nice mint tone, but not a brisk slap of mint.  If you want to make a cookie that is more mint-forward, increase the amount of mint extract to a full teaspoon.

Note: This cookie dough will need to be chilled for at least four hours, so plan ahead accordingly.  Be even more ahead of the game by chilling this dough overnight and then baking the cookies at your leisure when you wish to eat them.

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup Dutch process cocoa powder

¾ cup white sugar

¼ cup dark brown sugar

½ cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon espresso powder

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

¾ teaspoon peppermint extract

¼ cup powdered sugar (for rolling the cookies)

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt, then set aside.  In a large bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together the cocoa powder, sugars, oil, and espresso powder until combined.  One at a time, beat in the eggs, thoroughly mixing in between each one.  Stir in the vanilla and peppermint extracts.  Add the flour mixture to the cocoa mixture, stirring to thoroughly combine.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

When you are ready to bake your cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Pour the powdered sugar onto a small plate or into a shallow bowl.  Using a tablespoon measure or a cookie scoop, form 1 tablespoon of dough into a ball by rolling it in between your palms.  Dip half of the dough ball into the powdered sugar, then place the ball onto the prepared cookie sheet, powdered sugar-side up.  Place the dough balls at least 1 inch apart on the cookie sheet.  When you have filled a cookie sheet, very lightly and gently press down on each ball, ever-so-slightly flattening the ball just a tad.

Bake the cookies on the center rack of the oven for 8-9 minutes, until the cookies begin to crack on top, and the visible insides of the cookies still appear to be quite wet.  Do not overbake the cookies, as they will become very dry.  Remove cookies from baking sheet to cool on a wire rack.

Makes roughly 6 dozen cookies.

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Ginger Almond Toffee

12 Dec

It’s not tough to find a specialty chocolate shop in Portland, or in most any other city, I suppose, but it is certainly not easy to find a shop that is not only staffed by some of the friendliest, most knowledgeable chocolate fans around (sidenote: I once knew someone who worked in a chocolate shop and was allergic to chocolate, which is just absurd when you think about it, because wouldn’t you think, and hope, that a chocolate shop, selling chocolate and all, would want to hire people who could, you know, readily sample and talk honestly about  their product without breaking out in a rash?) but also offers a truly creative selection of chocolate treats.  Alma Chocolate, in Northeast Portland, is that chocolate shop.  Sure, everyone makes salted caramels nowadays, but how about habanero caramels?  Or a Thai peanut butter cup, a dream of a chocolate confection that layers your mouth with hits of lime, chili, and ginger?  How about a chevre and black pepper truffle?  Do you see what I mean?  It’s chocolate taken just a step further, from pleasingly creative to utterly inspired.

Though not their most unusual of offerings, Alma’s ginger almond toffee bark is a great example of the way their take on confections can be given a bit of a lift.  The toffee is perfectly melt-in-your-mouth, enveloping large chunks of spicy candied ginger and toasted almonds.  Most people take the timid route with this type of toffee, unfortunately, peppering it only moderately with tiny little bits of ginger, and pulverizing the almonds into an almost powdery layer that only hints at its presence.  But Alma knows better, and they know that if someone wants to eat ginger almond toffee, they want to eat ginger, and almonds, and toffee, each component standing front and center.

It might seem odd to wax rhapsodic about a chocolatier and then immediately turn around and attempt to make their product at home instead of heading out and buying something to support that chocolatier, but, when I have an affection for something, this is how I show it.  If I am truly enamored of something, I like to make it a part of my life, and a toffee of this caliber is most certainly worthy of being part of my life, and the lives of other people I know who happen to be partial to smooth chocolate, rich toffee, snappy ginger, and crisp almonds.

Ginger Almond Toffee

Inspired by Alma Chocolate

1 cup toasted whole almonds

heaping ¼ cup crystallized candied ginger

1 ¼ cups white sugar

¼ cup light brown sugar

3 tablespoons water

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 teaspoon molasses

¼ teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon baking soda

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Separate the almonds into ¾ cup and ¼ cup piles.  Chop the ¾ cup pile very roughly, basically just chopping each almond roughly in half (you want these almonds to maintain a good bite).  Chop the remaining ¼ cup pile into a medium-fine dice and set aside.

Coarsely chop the heaping ¼ cup of crystallized ginger.  Line the bottom of an 8”x13” baking pan with a sheet of parchment paper, and evenly scatter the ¾ cup of almond chunks and the chopped crystallized ginger over the parchment.

In a large, heavy saucepan, combine the white sugar, brown sugar, water, butter, molasses, and sea salt.  Over medium heat, cook the mixture, stirring occasionally with a heatproof spoon or spatula, until it turns a rich, dark golden brown and just reaches a heat of 300 degrees.  (This process can take anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the heat of your stove’s burner and the heating capabilities of the saucepan you are using.)  Immediately remove the pan from the heat and quickly stir in the vanilla and baking soda.  The mixture will bubble up when the baking soda is added, so be sure to stir carefully but thoroughly.

Quickly pour the mixture evenly over the almonds and ginger.  When the toffee is still hot but just starting to set (about 2 minutes later), sprinkle the chopped chocolate over the surface of the toffee.  Allow the chocolate to melt from the heat of the toffee, then spread the chocolate evenly over the toffee.  Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup chopped almonds over the chocolate.

Allow the toffee to cool completely before breaking into pieces.  If you want to speed up the cooling process, you can place the toffee in either the refrigerator (more patience) or the freezer (less patience).

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Chocolate-Dipped Lime Shortbread

8 Dec

It seems somehow unbelievable, but up until last year, I had never before heard of a holiday cookie exchange.  Then I was invited to one, and it was like someone had thrown open the door to a whole new world of crisp, buttery delights.  If you’ve never heard of a cookie exchange either, the basics are thus:

-You make a bunch of cookies.

-Other people make a bunch of cookies.

-You and those other people gather at a predetermined location to exchange a handful of each cookie in attendance.

-You leave with as many cookies as you came with, only now your cookies are made up of a glorious mix of several different types of cookies.

And I went most of my life without knowing about this magnificent event?  Unfathomable.  Thankfully, this year I was invited to yet another cookie exchange, and it seems as though we somehow lucked into the greatest, most creative group of cookie makers for which anyone could ever hope.  When we left that cookie exchange, we had been blessed with extra-spicy ginger cookies, peanut butter Nutella cookies (how I’ve never been exposed to those little miracles before, I’ll never know), tiny little pecan pies, anise butter cookies, and something called an espresso crunch bar that I eventually had to get rid of after I found myself unable to resist its charms for the tenth time in one evening, leading me to stand in front of it whilst pointing angrily and yelling in a stern voice, “You are not the boss of me!”

A success all around, it seems.

Of course, in order to partake in a cookie exchange, one must bring along a selection of cookies, and I dutifully did my part.  I’ve always been a big fan of shortbreads that have been heightened with a bit of citrus, so my choice of cookie was easily made.  As an added bonus, choosing to shape the dough into logs and cut them later made for a great, simple method of breaking up my cookie preparation into a couple of laid-back evenings.  One night I made the dough and shaped it, the next night I baked the cookies.  The morning of the cookie exchange, I dipped the cookies in just a bit of melted chocolate, giving them a touch of something extra.  It might be debatable if we really need to add extras during the holiday cookie season, but why go down that road?  Make some cookies, then exchange them, gift them, or, if you are brave, leave them in your house to be enjoyed over the remaining weeks.  Okay, days.  Okay, day, singular.  You know what?  Just send the cookies to work with your spouse.  It’s safer that way.

Chocolate-Dipped Lime Shortbread

Keen eyes may notice that these pictures show two types of shortbread.  Because the cookie exchange I attended require each person to make 7 dozen cookies, and this recipe makes 4 dozen cookies, I doubled the recipe and made one batch of lime shortbread and one batch of ginger shortbread.  To make ginger shortbread, simply add two tablespoons of finely chopped candied ginger in place of the two tablespoons of lime zest.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar

1 egg yolk

2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

½ cup cornstarch

2 tablespoons finely grated lime zest

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into smallish chunks

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the egg yolk and blend well.  Add the flour and cornstarch and beat until well mixed.  Add lime zest and mix until combined.

Dive the dough into 2 batches.  Shape each batch into a log roughly 12 inches long.  Wrap each log tightly in plastic wrap, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until firm (tightly wrapped, dough can be left refrigerated for up to a week).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cut dough into ¼-inch slices.  Bake the cookies on parchment-lined baking sheets for 10 to 13 minutes, or until the cookies are mostly set in the middle and just starting to turn light golden brown at the edges.  Prick tops of cookies with a fork (to allow steam to escape and ensure a crisp cookie), then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

When cookies have cooled, heat the chocolate on top of a double boiler until it is smooth and glossy.  Alternately, you can melt the chocolate in the microwave by heating the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl in 20-second increments, stirring in between each session, until the chocolate is mostly melted.  Let the chocolate sit for a minute or so to melt completely, then stir to make it smooth.

Line several baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.  Dip each cookie into the melted chocolate, coating it halfway.  I ended up dipping each cookie by tipping the top into the chocolate and leaving the bottom mostly uncovered, because I found this method to be the easiest.  Place each dipped cookie on the parchment paper and allow to the chocolate to harden completely before packing up or transporting.

Makes 4 dozen cookies.

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