Taste of Sweetness Saturday: Chocolate Crinkles

Truth?  I've never made truffles.  There's something about the chocolate gooey experience that doesn't appeal to me.  I liken it to making meatloaf: it's something that I enjoy but don't want to touch in the unfinished stages.  Sure, you can call me a wimp, but it doesn't change anything about the way I'm feeling!!

Well, I thought I'd try to make Chocolate Crinkles last year, not realizing how truffle-like they really were.  It's a recipe that takes time, you get extremely chocolatey, and you produce very few cookies for the effort.

Worth it?  Absolutely.  Especially if you know, or are married to, a chocolate lover like I am.  The recipe I followed can be found here.  It claims to make 3 dozen, but I was pressed to make two, and they're small any way.  Regardless, give them a try.  They really are a taste of sweetness.

Now, this year?  Have I mentioned my party for 200 at work called Cookies with Santa??  We're in the midst of making 64+ dozen cookies for the event.  I wanted to make something similar to crinkles, but I was hoping for something a bit less...messy.  Luckily, now I have assistants that can do the work that bothers me, and I can just reap the rewards!

This year, I decided to turn to the Brown Eyed Baker.  A cousin of a college friend who has served as my inspiration a few times in the kitchen.  If she can come up with Irish Car Bomb cupcakes, she has my vote of confidence!  So, I picked her Better Than Brownies Chocolate Cookies and they are amazing!  The only thing I took from my Crinkles recipe was to roll the cookies in powdered sugar before baking them.  They look almost the same, but the recipe makes a ton, they grow exponentially in the oven, and they are sinfully heaven.

Truth? You could choose either recipe for a decadent chocolate cookie.  They're both awesome.  However, I think the Better Than Brownies are easier, and I like that the decadence is just as great as the crinkles.  Give them both a try.  You won't regret either, I swear!

I cooked them on parchment to ensure they wouldn't stick.  I didn't want to use any grease on these.
Worked like a charm!

Taste of Sweetness Saturday: Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies

Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE HOLIDAYS?  Doesn't matter which one, or why we're celebrating, but themed food is (obviously) something I adore, and it reminds me of my family and happy times together.  My family's big holiday together is Thanksgiving, which makes me cry being 2000 miles away from them on the big day.  My mother's (huge-ish) family all comes together and makes miraculous food!  The one holiday that my mother does in a big bad way, however, is Christmas.  There is cooking and baking galore, parties, get-togethers, and gorge-athons to melt my heart.  My folks are coming to California to join me this year, and I'm so excited.  So... as part of my preparation, I'll be sharing my favorite cookie recipes that I've taken from my mom, from friends, family, random websites, etc., because if there's one thing I love to do during the fall and winter, it's bake!

First up - from my mom - Chocolate Pistachio Thumbprints!  Be forewarned, this recipe takes a sizeable chunk out of your day, but it's extremely worth it in the long run!

Cookie Ingredients:

1/3C Powdered Sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 3 1/2 oz pkg. Instant pistachio pudding mix, 2 C flour, 3/4 C finely chopped nuts, 1 C softened butter, 3/4 tsp almond extract, 1 egg, and 1/2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips.

To start, heat your oven to 350 and lightly grease your cookie sheets.

Next, cream together the powdered sugar, margarine/butter, vanilla and almond extracts, pudding mix, and egg until well blended.  Then, by hand, stir in flour and chocolate chips until well blended. 

Shape dough into 1 inch balls, and roll in the nuts.  Then, place 2 inches a part on your cookie sheet an place a thumbprint to indent the center of each cookie.  Bake 10-14 minutes, or until the edges start to turn a light golden brown.  Let cool one minute before removing from the cookie sheet.

 

Filing ingredients: 1 1/2 C powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 2 T softened margarine/butter, and 1 to 3 T of milk.

As the cookies are cooling, combine all filling ingredients in a small bowl and mix until smooth.  Then, place a scant teaspoonful of the filling into each cooled cookie thumbprint.  Be careful not to overflow!

Glaze ingredients: 1/2 C chocolate chips and 2 tsp shortening.

Melt the glaze ingredients together in the microwave or in a small saucepan over low heat.  Then, drizzle about 1/2 tsp of chocolate glaze over each of your cookies.  Allow your filling and glaze to set completely before storing your cookies, otherwise you'll have to store them side by side, and not stacked with wax paper.