Chocolate Sugar Cookies

2 1/4 cups white, all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
Powdered sugar

~ Place the flour on your work space and make a well in it. Add all the other ingredients and kneed the mixture with your hands until it forms a ball of dough.

~ Divide the dough in two equal parts. Place the first half on a sheet of parchment paper and roll it out with a rolling pin until it’s less than 1/2 inch thick. Cut the dough with cookie cutters. Repeat with second half of dough.

~ Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or until done. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

These would also be great with a basic buttercream frosting, or some melted, drizzled white chocolate and sprinkles.

[image: flickr]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

This year, while perusing other Christmas cookie ideas, I came across a similar cookie that uses chocolate and is iced instead of rolled in powdered sugar. Though it’s not a shortbread cookie like the snowballs, the similar shape would make it fit in well with some snowballs in a treat tin.

Iced Chocolate Christmas Cookies
from nytimes.com

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 ounces (about 2 cups) chopped walnuts
1 cup solid vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Icing:

2 cups confectioners’ sugar
3 to 5 tablespoons milk, as needed
1/2 cup decorative sprinkles

…..

For the cookies:

~ Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Thoroughly mix flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, allspice, cinnamon, cloves and salt in a mixing bowl, add walnuts, and mix again.

~ In a small saucepan, combine shortening and milk. Place over low heat until shortening melts. Remove from heat, add vanilla, and stir to blend.

~ Add milk mixture to flour mixture and stir until well blended.

~ While warm, roll dough into 1- to 1 1/2-inch balls. Place about 1 1/2 inches apart on one or two baking sheets, and bake until surface is no longer shiny, 10 to 12 minutes. Allow to cool completely.

For icing and decorating:

~ Place confectioners’ sugar in a bowl and mix in enough milk to make icing just thick enough to coat the top of a cookie. Dip top of each cookie into icing, then into sprinkles, and set aside to dry. When cookies are completely dry, store in an airtight container.

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

~ Chunky Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies with Chocolate Drizzle from Kacey’s Kitchen

~ Egg-Free Double Chocolate Chip Cookies at Art of Dessert

~ Toffee S’mores Candy Cup from Timeless Gourmet

~ Cocoa Meringue Cookies at Inn Cuisine

~ Nanaimo Bars from Playing House

~ Just Fudge at Inside the Kaganoff Kitchen

~ Chocolate Peanut Butter Torte from Pennies on a Platter

~ Spicy Chocolate Bacon at Culinary Escapade

~ Tart Chocolat from Fresh New England

~ Chocolate and Candied Ginger Cake at Flagrante Delicia

~ Chili-Choco Sweets from Green Kitchen Stories

~ Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake at Mike Lesiuk

[image: flickr]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

These would be a great project to do a day or so before Thanksgiving and then use them to prop up some cute, handmade place cards for your guests. See the final product here.

Chocolate Marshmallow Pilgrim Hats
from Family Fun magazine

24 chocolate-striped shortbread cookies
12-ounce package of chocolate chips
24 marshmallows
tube of yellow decorators’ frosting

~ Set the chocolate-striped cookies stripes down on a wax-paper-covered tray, spacing them apart.

~ Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave or double boiler.

~ One at a time, stick a wooden toothpick into a marshmallow, dip the marshmallow into the melted chocolate, and promptly center it atop a cookie.

~ Using a second toothpick to lightly hold down the marshmallow, carefully pull out the first toothpick.

~ Chill the hats until the chocolate sets, then pipe a yellow decorators’ frosting buckle on the front of each hat.

[image: flickr]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

I’ve actually found conflicting dates for National Chocolate Day — some say it’s today, October 28th, others claim it’s December 24th, and there are even random dates in September and July thrown into the mix. However, there seems to be more info for the October date, but I see nothing wrong with celebrating several times throughout the year anyway.

If you’re in a make-your-own chocolate kind of mood (which I always am at this time of year), you could celebrate by making your own truffles (they’re easy, I promise!), some holiday themed chocolate pops, or just some good, standard cookies.

~ 50 Easy Chocolate Snacks to Make
~ How to make Chocolate Truffles
~ Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Truffles
~ Almond Truffles
~ Halloween Chocolate Pops
~ Chewy Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
~ Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

[image: flickr]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

I found this recipe from My Baking Addiction, one of my favorite food blogs, and was very happy to realize that I had all the ingredients on hand.

In her post, Jamie explains how the creation of the cookies came from a need to clean out her pantry, something I can totally relate to! I had pecans that needed to be used up, half a bag of shredded coconut that was about to end up in the garbage, and several “odds and ends” bags of chocolate chips in the freezer.

When I make these again (it probably goes without saying that they were a hit), I’m actually going to pare down the chocolate chips and pecans just a tad, but everything else was perfect. I used 3/4 of a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips, and 3/4 cup of milk chocolate chips. I also got about 26 cookies out of the batch.

Coconut Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies
from My Baking Addiction

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup packed brown sugar (light or dark)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk, from a large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (semi-sweet, milk chocolate or any combination)
1 cup of chopped pecans
3/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut

~ Pre-heat oven to 325°F

~ Cover 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper

~ Mix flour, baking powder & salt in a bowl or bag and set aside

~ Mix butter and sugars with with a mixer until blended and smooth, add egg, yolk & vanilla; mix until incorporated

~ Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined

~ Stir in chips, pecans and coconut

~ Divide into 18 equal balls, a 2″ cookie scoop works just about perfectly, (about 2.1 ounces)

~ Evenly space 9 on each cookie sheet

~ Bake for 12-18 minutes, rotating front to back and top to bottom after 8 minutes. (I did mine for 13 minutes.)

~ Cool on sheets to maintain chewy texture

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

On Thursday, October 1st, the popular cookie chain will be handing out one free chocolate chip cookie at each participating location across the United States between 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

“Cookies are a fun way to honor many different occasions in people’s lives, so it only seems natural to join in the celebration that pays tribute to cookies,” says Steve Willes, Mrs. Fields’ Director of Marketing. “We believe that part of our business is putting smiles on people’s faces and we hope that our Free Cookie Day, as well as the frequent cookie card and coupon, will provide plenty of reason for people to celebrate and keep smiling.”

The chain is also said to be promoting other events and giveaways, but a lot of them are specific to each location, so you need to double check with yours!

[image: flickr]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

Making chocolate portable isn’t easy, even with a cooler pack chances are things will be kept luke warm at best. So, I’ve been on the lookout for lunchbox treats for the last week or so. A few of the links below might qualify!

~ Mint Oreo Brownies at Une Gamine dans la Cuisine

~ Chocolate Crostata with Walnuts from Citron and Vanille

~ Peanut Butter Blondies at Spoonful of Sugar

~ Spiced Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding from Citrus and Candy

~ Chocolate Cherry Cream Puffs at Stick To Your Hips

~ Chocolate Marble Cheesecake from Home Cooking Rocks

~ Oreo Cheesecake Balls at Maple N Cornbread

~ Almund Joye Ice Cream from Just Making Noise

~ Dark Chocolate Cookies with Sour Cherries at Every Last Cookie

~ Cappuccino Brownies from Sugar Cooking

~ Chocolate Chip & Pretzel Cookie Bars at Brown Eyed Baker

~ Coconut-Almond Candy from The Cookie Shop

~ Death by Monkey Bars at You Know What You Oughta Do

~ Oreo Cookie Cookies from Nosh and Tell

[image: flickr]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

~ Soft and Delicious Double Chocolate Chip Cookies at My Baking Addiction

~ Fudge Drops from Artichokes and Garlic

~ Sugar Free Chocolate Chunk Cookies at Sweet Tooth

~ Peanut Butter Cups with Cayenne and Cinnamon from Macheesmo

~ Peanut Butter Blondies with Chocolate Chunks and Ganache at Happy Love Strawberry

~ White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies from Sugar High

~ Chocolate Chip Pretzel Bars at The Cutting Edge of Ordinary

~ Magic Cookie Bars from Chocolate Chip Trips

~ Orange and White Chocolate Petit Fours at The Foreign Kitchen

~ Chocolate Chestnut Torte from The Gypsy Chef

~ Chocolate Spiral Pastry with Mung Bean Filling at J’s Kitchen

~ Dark Chocolate Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting from Unpredictable Kitchen

~ Dark Muscovado Brownies at Epicurean Escapism

~ Black Forest Trifle from Cherrapeno

~ Chocolate and Orange Crèmes at Citrus and Candy

~ Milk Chocolate Ice Cream with Reese’s Whoppers from What’s Cooking in the Orange Kitchen

[image: flickr]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

Patriotic Red, White and Blue Cookies
adapted from allrecipes.com

2/3 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cups dried cranberries
3/4 cup dried blueberries
2/3 cup white chocolate chips

~ Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

~ In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Combine oats, flour, salt, and baking soda; stir into butter mixture one cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in dried cranberries and white chocolate. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets.

~ Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in preheated oven, or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

[image: flickr]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes