(Part two of Serial Experiments Cookie.)
Encouraged by my initial results, my second attempt at recipe-crafting was a bit more adventurous than the first. I decided to keep on playing with the tangy/savory-sweet contrast in a way that might satisfy the raging chocoholic that lies within us all. After a quick scan of E2's many cookie recipes, (and, uh, a really bad Adam Sandler movie), for inspiration, I settled on creating a peppermint schnapps-laden, decadent chocolate heart attack on a plate.
The process this time around was much less involved. There were no nuts to blanch or chop. I had chocolate bits to spare. And the cookies didn't stick to the tinfoil. For the most part, everything turned out beautifully. But the amount of sheer chocolate power these cookies contain should not be taken lightly.
This time, the frosting is not optional.
Double mint chocolate chunk cookies
Warning: As before, these things cannot and should not be considered healthy in any way whatsoever. Of course, that's probably what makes them so mouthwateringly delicious.
What you'll need:
- three and a half cups of flour. Generic, white, and bleached? That's the stuff.
- one cup of granulated sugar. Mmm, processed...
- three quarters of a cup of brown sugar, lightly packed.
- one teaspoon of baking soda.
- half a teaspoon of salt. (I used sea salt again. The texture this time was a pleasant addition.)
- between one half to three quarters of a cup of unsweetened cocoa powder, depending on how strong you want your chocolate kick to be.
- about one and a half sticks (a hundred eighty-ish grams) of salted butter, softened to room temperature. Please don't use margarine, or you'll make Andro cry.
- two tablespoons of shortening. I use lard. Mm-mm, lard. Again, you can probably get by with Crisco. Your arteries will probably thank you.
- two eggs.
- about two teaspoons of vanilla extract. (If you have either mint extract or essence of peppermint, feel free to substitute that for the vanilla.)
- about two shots of peppermint schnapps. Creme de menthe should also work, and perhaps give a richer flavor to the mix. But you'll probably want to stay away from substituting Scope.
- about
half a cup each of both mint and milk chocolate chunks. Use high-quality chocolate, chopped up into squares, instead of chocolate chips. Andes Mints might be a good option here.
- about three hours of spare time.
And for the now-mandatory cream cheese frosting:
As per usual practices and standards, preheat your oven to about
425º F (220ºC).
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder. It's fairly important that you blend these well, as it can affect the taste of the finished cookies. There should be no obvious chunks of flour or cocoa visible, and the end result should resemble pre-processed, pre-sweetened, "chocolate-flavor" drink mix. (And probably taste like it, too.)
In a second, larger, bowl, cream the butter, the shortening, and both types of sugar together until everything is a pleasant shade of tan. Add in the eggs, the schnapps, and the extract(s) and continue mixing. Your arms may not be used to all this wrist action, so you may want to consider using an electronic mixer set on medium for this step. You should wind up with a squishy but smooth, greenish-brown mass when you're done.
Slowly add the chocolaty goodness into the mix, about a quarter of the bowl at a time. By the time everything is fully blended, it should look like something in between chocolate pudding and pre-made devil's food cake mix.
Now would be a good time to fold in that chocolate. (I'm just saying.)
Dough == Done.
It'd probably be a good idea to make the frosting right about now.
Beat the powdered sugar, your minty booze of choice, and the cream cheese together, probably in the newly-empty smaller mixing bowl. Don't be alarmed if it turns bright green. Be alarmed if it doesn't turn bright green.
Drop tablespoon-sized lumps of dough onto your cookie sheets, which have hopefully been covered in tinfoil for this purpose. These will spread out a bit, but you'll probably be okay keeping them about an inch and a half to two inches apart. Bake for roughly ten minutes. Your kitchen will smell of chocolate. And mint. But mostly chocolate. (Did I mention the chocolate?) Let them cool off for a few minutes.
Apply the frosting carefully over the warm cookies. (With a brush, not your fingers. Just an idea.)
Chocolate brown + spring green = pretty, no?
Let the icing harden and the cookies cool before you whisk them away from ravenous family members and into tins and tupperware containers.
And end. This recipe makes about four dozen cookies, give or take a few. As usual, it may be possible to convert this into either kosher or vegan eating though clever use of ingredient swapping, but I can't vouch for the results. Also... as I said before, these cookies may be too much for some people to handle "as is". You may want to consider serving them with a glass of milk or (as recommended by Ycky) vanilla ice cream to avoid chocolate overload. As before, enjoy this recipe, and please let me know if you decide to try these.