Every cookie season —(meaning right now) — I make my usual stuff: Fannies (butter thumbprint cookies), Grand Finales, Peanut Butter, Jan Hagels. This year I’m also including Swiss Chocolate Almond cookies and Brownie cookies and this new addition to my cookie repertoire: Dark Chocolate cookies.
I got into the habit of baking cookies for Hanukkah and Christmas many years ago when newspaper columnists like me would deliver their articles by hand, typed on paper, to our editors. Back then we could actually develop a relationship with the editor and any other journalists sitting nearby.
That was back in the 1980s.
After some years the hard copy was replaced by a floppy disk and then a hard disk and then a thumb drive. But still, for most of us, whatever we wrote was delivered in person.
So I baked cookies and made up holiday baskets for everyone I knew in the various newsrooms of the various newspapers and magazines I wrote for.
Hundreds of cookies, every year.
The internet changed everything. No more deliveries. No more interactive relationships, although I do see (did see, before the pandemic) a few of the editors I submit work to, but of course, not everyone lives close enough.
And of course this means —- no more cookie baskets.
But that hasn’t stopped my baking habits. True, I don’t make as many cookies as I used to, but cookie season is cookie season, after all. So, thanks to a large freezer, I still bake plenty and cookie season baking means I will have a supply for a while.
I do give lots of cookies away to friends and neighbors and any people who might be stopping by like the plumber or UPS deliveryman. But mostly my family gets to eat them, plus my cousins who come for New Years and my brother and sister-in-law who live nearby.
Reason enough. And my house smells wonderful.
Dark Chocolate Cookies
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Confectioners’ sugar
Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and cinnamon together until thoroughly combined. Set aside. Place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat at medium speed for about 2 minutes or until soft and smooth. Add the brown sugar, sugar and vanilla extract and beat for 2-3 minutes or until the mixture is light and a uniform color. Add the dry ingredients and blend the ingredients to form a dough. Shape the dough into two logs with a diameter of about 1-1/2 inches. Wrap the logs and chill for at least one hour or until firm. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut the logs into disks about 1/2” thick. Pace the disks on the parchment leaving about 1” space between each disk. Bake for about 15 minutes or until set. Remove from the oven and let cool. Sprinkle confectioners’ sugar on top.
Makes about 40