This winter has been rough for those of us living in New England. My kids and I have cabin fever big time, and are constantly trying to find more fun things to do inside.
One thing that always brings us out of a winter funk is baking. I never thought of myself as a baker, because I love to cook food so much, but having kids has quickly made it a top five hobby of mine.
The following recipe we made on a snowy day with the only baking ingredients we had left in the pantry.
This easy recipe was adapted from the Chocolate Crinkle Cookies found on williams-sonoma.com.
As these chocolate cookies bake, they puff up and crackle, so they are called crinkle cookies.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
***Optional
Chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat an oven to 350°F. Grease 2 baking sheets with butter.
Put the confectioners’ sugar into a bowl and set aside.
Mix the ingredients
In another bowl, using a wooden spoon, stir together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add 1 egg and beat on medium speed until blended. Add the other egg and vanilla and beat until blended.
Turn off the mixer and add the flour mixture. Beat on low speed just until blended.
Form the cookies
Using a tablespoon, scoop up a rounded spoonful of dough. Scrape the dough off the spoon into the palm of your other hand. Roll the dough into a ball. Roll the ball in the confectioners’ sugar until covered. Place the balls on a prepared baking sheet. Repeat, spacing the balls about 2 inches apart.
If you’d like to add more chocolate, press a couple of chocolate chips into each cookie. This adds a nice, ooey goodness to each cookie.
Bake the cookies
When 1 baking sheet is full, put it in the oven and bake the cookies until they are crackled and puffed, 10 to 12 minutes. Using oven mitts, remove the baking sheet from the oven and set it on a wire rack for 15 minutes.
Using a metal spatula, move the cookies onto the rack and let cool completely. Repeat with the rest of the cookies. Makes about 24 cookies.
This recipe reminds me of Christmas and is perfect to add in next year’s cookie swap or on your holiday table.
***Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Kids Baking, by Abigail Johnson Dodge (Oxmoor House, 2003).
What is your favorite cookie to make?
