Black Forest... Cookies!?

Last week a coworker who knows I like to bake offered me a challenge. Black Forest Cake. In a cookie.

Chocolate, cherries, cream. Holy crap yes. So, I started searching. Initially I’d figured I’d make a chocolate sugar cookie and sandwich two together with something cherry-ish between them. Maybe top it with some kind of creamy glaze or icing… Seemed like a lot of steps, particularly if I was making some of it up as I went. And I’d have to present these to the people at work who come by my desk and say “Cookie?” Not something I want to do with a complicated recipe that I’ve never tried before.

And then I came across a thumbprint cookie that was freaking perfect. A minor adjustment to incorporate the cherries and I had it! And holy crap do they look fancy. And holy crap did people ever keep coming back to my desk looking for more. Too bad the recipe only makes 28. I definitely need to do a double batch next time.

Black Forest Cookies

What you need:

For the cookie part:

• ½  cup butter
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg, separated 
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder (regular, not dutch process)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup sugar, for coating the cookies

For the gooey filling:

• ½ c cream cheese
• 3 tbsp dried cherries, chopped (if you don’t have or can’t find dried, I suppose you could use some other kind but really, look for the dried ones, they’re awesome)
• ¼ c icing sugar

To make them look super fancy:

• ½ c semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

What you gotta do:

As usual, have all the ingredients waiting for you on the counter. It’s best if everything is the same temperature: room temperature. But don’t bother preheating the oven quite yet.

As with nearly all cookie recipes, you start by creaming the butter and sugar.

Separate the egg, set the white aside, and add the yolk to the butter/sugar along with the vanilla and milk.

Sift the flour and cocoa together. I use a sieve over a bowl.

I recommend a bowl wider than the sieve.

I just dumped all the dry stuff in with the wet and started stirring. And panicking. It looks really dry at first. Like way too dry.

But I kept stirring and eventually it all mixed in and formed a really soft dough.

That’s why I wrapped it up and put it in the fridge for an hour. I totally did the dishes while it chilled. Totally did. Okay, yeah, total bullshit. But I thought about doing them.

Once it firms up a little, roll it all into balls. Yup, do all of them first. (Actually, preheat the oven to 350 first).

You get a better idea of how many there are, get a chance to make sure they’re all about the same size, and you won’t be constantly wiping egg white off your hands to roll the next one.

Yup, egg white. Dip each ball in the egg white.

Actually, best to dip only half of it, then roll it in your palm to spread it around. A bit too much egg white isn’t terrible. It comes off looking and tasting kinda meringue-like, but if you’re aiming to make these look fancy, less egg white is better.

Roll the whited balls in sugar and place them on a cookie sheet. With your thumb, a bottle cap, or a half teaspoon measure, press the balls down and make a dent.

Bake about 10-12 minutes, and then while they’re taking a minute to cool on the pan, use that measuring spoon to refresh the dent in the middle. You could probably skip this step if the dent stays, or if you’re okay with a slightly shallower dent.

Put them all on a rack to cool completely. You can make the filling while they cool.

Combine the cream cheese, icing sugar and chopped cherries in a bowl, then transfer it to a sammich bag.

Cut the corner off the bag and squeeze a bit of the filling into each cookie.

Resist the urge to poke at them or eat them. They’re not done yet and yes they really need the last step.

(Note the white-ish meringuey coating. It's actually kinda crispy and tasty, but has a slightly different aesthetic.)

Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave on medium heat. Seriously, everything in the microwave should be done on medium heat unless it’s water you’re trying to boil. The radiation is just too intense; you’ll scorch the chocolate.

Once it’s all melted, put in into a sammich bag as well, and trim a tiny bit off the corner.

Back and forth across the top of the cookies and the decorating is done. They’ll need a minute or two in  the freezer to set before you can pack them into the magic cookie tin to take to work. Keep them in the fridge though, there's cream cheese in them.

So, there we go. Black Forest Cookies.

Alright folks, here's your chance. Challenge me.

What kind of cookie do you want me to make?

Carrot Spam (not what it sounds like)

A few weeks ago I signed up for a veggie delivery service. Organic and / or local veggies delivered right to my door at the same time every week. Sounded pretty convenient and the amounts seemed like a week's worth, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Besides, since I buy my meat at the butcher once a month, and bread at the bakery that's on the way home from work... Veggies was really the only grocery shopping I had left. One less thing for me to do and laziness reigns supreme!

In theory, this system is a good one, but in practice I'm finding that it just doesn't work for me. Here's what was in this week's box:

Most of the fruit is super-ripe when it arrives, so I end up eating half of it on the day it's delivered - kiwi, bananas and melon for dinner. Really freaking tasty kiwis, but nothing left to take in my lunches since I ate the apples and orange on the weekend. That means shopping. This is not conforming to my plan of ultimate laziness.

Plus, I'm not a fan of potatoes which are on the menu every week. Yes, they let me do substitutions but they rarely "substitute", they just increase the amounts of the things already in the box. (I felt kinda like a picky kid as I was writing out my "veggies I don't like" list). So, last week, because I had potatoes on the list, I got an extra helping of carrots. Just like the week before.

I'm being spammed with carrots.

I don't mind carrots, I just can't eat 2 pounds of them every week.

So, I've made carrot soup, and I'm going to make carrot-laden salad rolls tomorrow. I may even resort to putting grated carrots in mac & cheese. What? It's all orange. I'm really running out of ideas here.

Fortunately, exam season is almost over. Work has started to ramp up, and that means my co-workers have been making pastry demands.

Last summer, I indulged my baking habit on a weekly basis and foisted the results on the guys in the construction trailer. When I started running out of ideas, I started baking to order (grown men who want cookies with gumdrops in them, srsly). This created a strange sense of ... entitlement amongst my coworkers. I've been hounded for the last two weeks, not only about when I'm going to be available full time, but also when I'm going to give them some sugar....

(um, if you don't get that joke, you really need to watch Army of Darkness. And it's prequels, Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 - which is really just Evil Dead with a bigger budget. But srsly watch them, they are fucking awesome movies. Genius.)

So, with a construction trailer full of guys who want sugar, and a fridge full of carrots, I came up with this:

Carrot Chocolate Chip Cookies

What you need:

1-1/2 cups grated carrots
1/4 c oil
1 egg
3/4 cup sugar
1-1/2 tsp vanilla
1-1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1-1/2 cups flour
~1 cup chocolate chips (really, who measures those?)

What you gotta do:

Peel and grate the carrots. I used my food processor because, well, I'm lazy. Plus, I'm clumsy and likely to grate my fingertips into the bowl. Food processors have safety features for klutzes like me.

Start with the carrots in a large bowl.

Add the oil and mix.

Add the egg and mix.

Add the sugar and mix.

Add the cinnamon and vanilla and mix. (Ha! Bet you thought I was just going to say cinnamon)

Now the baking soda. Don't forget to mix!

And finally the flour.

It's going to feel like you've got way too much flour and you'll think it'll never mix in.

But it will. Trust me.

Drop by spoonful onto a cookie sheet. You should get just about 3 dozen.

Bake at 375 for about 12 - 14 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Now, you could stop here if you feel like it. These are some tasty little morsels as they are.

Or you could decorate them! Make them pretty!

Melt ~1/2 c white chocolate chips over warm water, or in the microwave for 1 minute on half power.

I wish I could have managed some pictures of the decorating process, but it's hard enough to take a picture as I'm pouring baking soda into the bowl. Drizzling melted chocolate decoratively with a fork while focussing with the camera in the other hand... guaranteed chocolate in places you do not want to wash chocolate off of.

So, you'll have to make do with my amazing instructions instead.

With a fork, scoop up a bit of melted chocolate. Hold the fork upright (chocolate side down) and gently flick it back and forth over top of the cookies. Gently. Cleaning white chocolate off of white kitchen walls is not as easy as it sounds. Do the same thing but 90 degrees in the other direction so you get a bit of cross hatching. Don't worry if it looks a little blobby in places and thin in others. These are misshapen little mounds of cookie, a little asymmetry in the finishing touch is not out of place here.

Oh yeah, if you line the cookie sheet with parchment, you won't have to wash it. And you can use the same parchment under the cooled cookies as you're drizzling.

If it's getting late and you want to harden the chocolate so you can pack the cookies up and put them next to your steel toed boots by the door so you don't forget them, you can put them in the freezer for 5-10 minutes to harden the chocolate.

So, that's what I did with one quarter of my carrot surplus. What do you suggest I do with the other pound and a half?