Grammy's Chocolate Cookies

My son has an affinity for the old-timey soft chocolate cookies made by Archway that I find in the grocery store. They are pretty delish. 

But, I thought I could do better with a homemade variety. And I was totally correct. Grammy's Chocolate Cookies by Martha Stewart are soft, intense and chocolatey good. The flavor is so much deeper than those I buy at the grocery store.

These use a lot of sanding sugar. Definitely plan for a cup, but I probably used even more. The recipe doesn't have a measurement for the sanding sugar. I would have a few bottles on standby. I made mine blue and red. I thought they were fun colors to celebrate the Phillies returning to play! 

Be sure to chill the dough, but expect it to be very soft. Rolling is a messy process but just go with it. I used a small cookie scoop so that my balls of dough were consistent in size. 

I only baked 8 at a time on each baking sheet. I thought they needed a lot of space to spread out.

I brought these cookies to a pool party, and they were definitely a hit. I feel like they would be amazing with a scoop of ice cream.

Grammy's Chocolate Cookies

Makes about 3 1/2 dozen

From "Martha Stewart's Cookies"

By Martha Stewart

2 cups plus 2 Tbsp. all purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Sanding sugar, for rolling

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat to combine. Reduce speed to low, and gradually add flour mixture; beat to combine. Form dough into a flattened disk, wrap with plastic wrap, and chill until firm, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Roll each ball into sanding sugar. Place on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake until set, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating halfway through. Transfer to a rack to cool for 5 minutes. Transfer cookies from baking sheet to wire rack. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

Nigella Christmas Chocolate Cookies

I've been wanting to make Nigella Christmas Chocolate Cookies for years. But this time of year is always so hectic, and each December would come and go and I just cranked out my cookie standbys: pizzelles, biscotti, ricotta, chocolate chips.

So this week, I changed all that and made a point to get to it already. Afterall, procrastination and putting tasks off is not how I roll.

These are like a chocolate shortbread drizzled with a chocolate glaze and sprinkled with your favorite Christmas sparkles or confetti.

I'm glad I made them. They are a nice surprise.

My batch made closer to 30 than the 24 listed in the recipe.

The recipe is featured in the Nigella Christmas cookbook. Nigella Lawson is one of my fave celebrity chefs and I collect all of her books. If you are not an avid reader of Nigella Lawson recipes, you may be surprised by her style as it is quite colorful and she adds a bit of her own commentary. I have listed her recipe exactly as it is written in the book.

My tips for the cookies that may have differed from her recipe are as follows:
1. I did not wear rubber gloves to roll out the dough. And it was totally just fine.
2. I did not remove my cookie sheet from the oven to place on a cold a surface. I don't even know what that means. Ha. Maybe her fancy kitchen has ice cold marble surfaces on which hot cookie sheets can be placed? I used a standard cooling rack on my common man formica.
3. My yield was greater than 24, so you may want to have 3 cookie sheets prepared.
4. Just in case it's not clear for you in her recipe, please bake each sheet one at a time.

Christmas Chocolate Cookies
From "Nigella Christmas"
By Nigella Lawson
Makes approximately 24

2 1/4 sticks (18 Tbsp.) soft unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder

For the Festive Topping:
2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup boiling water, from a kettle
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Christmas sprinkles

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and line  2  cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl and when you have a light, soft, whipped mixture, beat in the 1/3 cup cocoa powder (sifting if it is lumpy) and, when that's mixed in, beat in the flour with the baking soda and baking powder. Or just put everything in the processor and blitz, if you prefer.

This mixture is very soft and sticky and I find it easiest to form the cookies wearing my disposable vinyl gloves, so pinch off pieces about 1 Tbsp. in size, roll them into balls, then slightly flatten into fat discs as you place them well spaced on your cookie sheet. You should get about 12 on at a time.

Bake each batch for 15 minutes; even though the cookies won't feel as if they've had enough time, they will continue to cook as they cool. They will look slightly cracked on top, and it's this cozy, homespun look that I love.

Remove the cookie sheet to a cold surface and let it sit for 15 minutes before transferring the cookies to a wire rack, with a sheet of newspaper under it to catch drips while topping them.

To make the topping, put the cocoa powder, confectioners' sugar, water and vanilla extract into a small saucepan and whisk over a low heat until everything's smoothly combined. Take off the heat for 10 minutes.

When the cookies are cool, drizzle each with a tablespoonful of chocolate glaze - to glue the sprinkles on in a minute - using the back of the spoon to help spread the mixture, though an uneven dribbly look is part of their charm. After you've iced 6 cookies, scatter with some of the Christmas sprinkles, and continue thus until all the cookies are topped. If you ice them all before sprinkling, you will find the cocoa "glue" has dried and the sprinkles won't stick on.