12 days of cookies … The Chocolate Edition

For the last several years, I’ve done a series of 12 Days of Cookies posts built around a basic butter cookie dough. Divide that base dough up in two, four or eight pieces and flavor each a different way. With a minimal amount of extra effort, you’ll have a whole variety of delicious cookies in different flavors, textures and colors. It’s an easy and incredibly efficient way to approach your holiday baking. In these weird times, maybe you need a bit of normalcy so I’d encourage you to bake some cookies and gift them to friends and family. Particularly your single friends and those that live alone. They’ve spent 8 months quarantining solo and now are likely going to spend the holidays alone too. It’s rough. Bake them some cookies.

In three years’ worth of December posts, I’ve given you one basic butter cookie dough and 36 different variations; something for everyone – fruit, spice, nuts, holiday classics and new fangled recipes. Well, hold up … last year I did savory crackers – 3 doughs, 12 different crackers. Same idea, different application. With that, I thought I was done. After 36 cookie recipes and 12 more for crackers I didn’t think I had any ideas left in me. Until I went to make some cookies a few weeks ago and thought … chocolate. I’d made several chocolate variations of that basic butter dough. What if I started with a chocolate dough? Surely I had 12 more chocolate ideas in me? I sure did. 

So this year, in the midst of this pandemic shitstorm when we need stress baking more than ever, prepare yourselves for the 12 Days of Chocolate Cookies. Same basic butter dough we’ve been using all along but with the addition of cocoa and a few other things. Get ready. 

First up, and this may seem obvious, you need cocoa powder. This is not as simple as it initially seems as there are a few different types out there. There are three general options:

• Natural/Unalkalized: The most commonly found natural cocoa is your standard Hershey’s cocoa powder. Best used when there’s some type of acidic leavener in your recipe, such as baking soda. Some think natural cocoa tastes more “chocolatey” but I often find the results, when tasted side by side, to be neglible. For me, it’s more of a color consideration as it tends to bake up a bit lighter than a dutched cocoa.
• Dutch Process/Dutched/Alkalized: sometimes also referred to “European style”. A lower acidity than natural cocoa, dutched cocoa tends to give baked goods a richer, darker color. It is my standard cocoa powder. The Hershey’s version is called “Special Dark”, Droste has won a Cooks Illustrated taste test or two and Cocoa Barry Plein d’Arome is a pastry chef standard. 
• Black/Super Dark: an almost black dutch-processed cocoa with an intense, dark color. Think Oreo dark. This one is a little harder to come by but is available via various online sources. Makes gorgeous cookies though I like to combine it, about 60/40, with a dutched cocoa for best flavor. King Arthur has both dark and “double dutched”, a black/dutch blend. 

So … which one should you use? That depends on both the recipe and frankly, you. Dutch-processed cocoa is natural cocoa that’s been treated with an alkalizing agent to lower its acidity, thus allowing more of its pure chocolate flavor to shine through. It has been my go-to cocoa for years and I’ve used it in all kinds of recipes to great success but if you want to get technical, here’s the deal: if you’re preparing a recipe that uses baking soda as a leavener and there’s nothing else acidic in the recipe, then natural/undutched cocoa is ideal. Its acidity neutralizes baking soda’s potentially strong, “soapy” flavor; and because natural cocoa is acidic, and baking soda is a “base”, when the two get together they produce a reaction – CO2 – which makes cakes, brownies and cookies rise in the oven. For every recipe I’m posting, there’s some added baking soda or baking powder so a natural cocoa would be great. I just happen to like the deeper, richer colors that dutched cocoa brings to the table. For some cookies, particularly a sandwich cookie, that extra dark is quite spectacular. If you like dark Oreo-like cookies, black cocoa is an excellent choice. I’m currently sitting on a lot of samples of all three types, I used them all so you can see the difference. All the cookies were delicious so I think the decision comes down to how you’d like your cookies to look and/or what cocoas you can get your hands on.

The rest of the recipe is very straight forward – the usual butter, sugar, flour, eggs with the addition of a little espresso powder to boost that deep chocolate flavor. Make the dough and divide into pieces – 2, 4 or 8. Then decide how soon you’ll use it. If the same or next day, leave at room temperature. If within the next 3 days, refrigerate and let come to room temperature before proceeding. If within the next 2-3 months, freeze and let come to room temperature before proceeding. I like to break up the tasks so I’ll flavor the dough then freeze it in whatever shape my cookie will be – logs for slice and bake, rolled into balls or rolled into sheets and cut into rounds or squares and frozen between sheets of parchment paper. When I need a few cookies, I can bake off as many as I need; two or twenty.

So round up your ingredients. Decide what cocoa you want to use. Find some instant espresso or coffee. Make your base dough, maybe peruse the past recipes and get ready. I’ll post a new recipe every other day starting tomorrow.

12 Days of Cookies from years past:

Fruity: Jam Thumbprints, Jam Streusel Tarts, Raspberry Linzer Squares, Lemon Poppyseed Buttons, Orange Sesame Crisps, Cranberry Pistachio Coins, Almond Raspberry Strips, Orange Sandwich Cookies, Apricot Rosemary Shortbread, Coconut Lime Sticks, Bourbon Glazed Fruitcake Buttons, Lemon Cornmeal Biscotti, Blueberry Lime Buttons, Date Swirls

Nutty: Mexican Wedding Cookies, Russian Tea Cakes, Pecan Tassies, Maple Black Walnut Cookies, PB&J Sandwich Cookies, Pecan Triangles, 

Spiced: Cinnamon Sugar Pinwheels, Candied Ginger Spice Buttons, Cardamom Rose Coins, Brown Sugar Wafers with Lemon Lavender Glaze

Chocolate: Mexican Chocolate Crinkles, Chocolate Cocoa Nib Wafers, Raspberry Chocolate Drops, Chocolate Hazelnut Buttons, Dark Mocha Sandwich Cookies, Espresso Crinkles, 

Bars: Rum Butter Bars, Peppermint Brownie Bars, Banana Walnut Bars

Holiday Classics: Cream Cheese Wreaths, Classic Molasses Cookies, Peppermint Candy Canes

BASIC CHOCOLATE BUTTER COOKIE DOUGH

Makes dough for 2 or 4 or 8 batches of cookies and will be the base dough for the next twelve posts

If vanilla is out of your price range right now, bourbon or dark rum makes a nice if not quite as flavorful substitution.

1. In a standing mixture fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar and salt until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
2. Scrape the bowl and with the mixer running on medium-low, add the yolks one at a time, then vanilla and espresso mixture and beat until incorporated.  Scrape the bowl.
3. With the mixer on low, gradually mix in the flour and cocoa until combined.  Scrape a final time and turn the dough onto a work surface and gently knead to incorporate all remaining flour.
4. Divide the dough into two, four or eight equal pieces and use as is for a delicious butter cookie or proceed with one or several of the variations that will follow in the next twelve posts (or the twelve posts from last year). If you have a scale, use it to divide the dough into precise measures.

Tips:

• Dough can be made ahead and refrigerated, tightly wrapped, for 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.  Let return to room temperature before continuing.
• If using salted butter rather than unsalted, decrease the salt in the recipe to ¾ teaspoon.

So, OK. I’m going to throw a little wrinkle in here. Maybe you don’t want to make all your cookies chocolate this year. So here’s what you do: make a full batch of butter cookie dough, like we’ve done in years past, and make half or even a quarter chocolate. Then you can make any of the recipes from the past years that use plain dough and/or any of the chocolate recipes this month. Options. The holidays are about options.

BASIC BUTTER COOKIE DOUGH – Makes dough for 2 or 4 or 8 batches of cookies

BASIC CHOCOLATE BUTTER COOKIE DOUGH VARIATION

1. For the base dough: In a standing mixture fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar and salt until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
2. Scrape the bowl and with the mixer running on medium-low, add the yolks one at a time, then vanilla and beat until incorporated.  Scrape the bowl.
3. With the mixer on low, gradually mix in the flour until combined.  Scrape a final time and turn the dough onto a work surface and gently knead to incorporate all remaining flour.
4. Divide the dough into two, four or eight equal pieces and use as is for a delicious butter cookie or proceed with one or several of the variations that will follow in the next twelve posts (or the twelve posts from last year). If you have a scale, use it to divide the dough into precise measures.
5. For the chocolate dough: choose your dough piece (½ or ¼ batch), break it up and place in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment along with the sugar and baking soda.
6. In a small bowl, combine the espresso and water and stir until dissolved. Then add to the mixing bowl.
7. Mix on medium-low – medium until well combined. Divide into smaller pieces and wrap tightly until needed. If making other recipes, proceed with room temperature dough; if not refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze up to 3 months. Let come to room temperature before proceeding.

Advertisement