Day 6: Grammy’s Chocolate Cookies

Whew! We’re half way through the journey. Day 6 out of 12 is complete. Now that all the simple cookies are out of the way, the last half of my twelve days of cookies will be a bit more elaborate and unique. I have 10 days left to bake 6 types of cookies. Wish me luck!

Day 6 of my twelve days of cookies: This recipe comes from Martha Stewart Living, Feb 2000. Oh Martha, how you’ve done it again. Your cookies never cease to amaze me. These cookies were delicious for the chocolate lover. I didn’t have any Dutch cocoa powder on hand (where the heck do I even buy that besides online?), so I substituted regular cocoa for it. They turned out just fine to me. The only thing that I would change is to down the sugar a little bit or omit the final stage of rolling the dough in sugar because they were a bit on the sweet side. They would have been better as plain ol’ jane.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup Dutch cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar, plus more for dipping
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, 2 cups sugar, and eggs on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla, and mix to combine. Gradually add dry ingredients, and combine with mixer on low speed. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, and chill until dough is firm, about 1 hour.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with Silpat baking mats. Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Dip top of each ball into sugar. Place on prepared baking sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake until set, about 8 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.