Hey guys, my baby boy is 25 days old today and I just can’t believe it! He’s already so much bigger than he was when he was born. He’s getting chubbier every day! I’m so happy 🙂
I have to say, I’m loving motherhood. Sure, it took some time to get used to getting up at night every two hours to feed my little man and to feel okay with the fact that as a new mom you really don’t have time for things like baking, blogging, or anything else for that matter anymore, but it’s so worth it! And yes, I know I sound like a cliche… But cliches are cliches because they are true.
So no, I didn’t bake these Chocolate Crackle Cookies (adapted from Martha Stewart!) recently. I guess I made them somewhere in September, when I was working ahead for the blog. They are perfect for Christmas! They are soft and super chocolatey, and the powdered sugar on the outside reminds me of a snowy Christmas night and the Little Match Girl. Anyway, since Christmas is only about ten days away, let’s take a look at how you can make these!
To give these cookies an intense chocolate flavor, both melted dark chocolate and cocoa powder are used.
Start by beating together brown sugar and butter. Mix in an egg and the melted chocolate. Next, sift together cocoa powder, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt and add it to the bowl along with some milk and vanilla. Mix, mix, mix, and the dough should look something like this.
As you can see, the dough for these cookies is a very soft dough, so you need to chill it thoroughly (at least an hour in the fridge) before you can roll it into balls.
Once the dough has firmed up a bit, start rolling. The dough will stick to your hands like crazy, but if you wash your hands with cold water after every few balls (once the dough starts to stick too much) really helps! Once all the dough balls are rolled, first roll them into granulated sugar, then powdered sugar to give the cookies a Christmasy, snowy look.
As the cookies bake, they spread out a bit, so don’t place the dough balls too close together. The powdered sugar also splits, creating those beautiful crackles!
Tip of the day: don’t bake the cookies for longer than 12 minutes if you like the cookies to be soft on the inside and a bit crunchy on the outside. The cookies will seem underbaked when you pull them out of the oven, but they firm up as they cool.
Of course, you can also bake them a bit longer if you like the entire cookie to be crunchy, but I think the soft/crunchy combination is delicious!
Enjoy guys! I’m off to cuddle with my little baby boy some more 🙂
- 110g (or 4 ounces) bittersweet chocolate
- 55g (2 ounces, or ½ stick) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- 145g (or ½ cup + 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons, packed) light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 80g (or ½ cup + 2 tablespoons) all-purpose flour
- 30g (or ¼ cup) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch of table salt
- 40ml (or 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons) milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 100g (or ½ cup) granulated sugar for rolling
- 60g (o ½ cup) powdered sugar for rolling
- In the bowl of a double boiler, melt the chocolate. Set aside to cool.
- In a medium-sized bowl, beat butter until pale and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add the light brown sugar and beat again until combined and light and fluffy, another minute.
- Add the egg and mix until thoroughly combined. Add the melted, cooled chocolate (test the temperature with your finger first; the chocolate cannot be hot!) and mix it in.
- In a small bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture, along with the milk and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, mix until just combined. The dough will be very soft.
- Plop the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Cover with another sheet of plastic wrap and press down into a flat rectangle. This makes dividing the dough into even portions easier. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill for about 1 hour, or until firm.
- In the meantime, preheat the oven to 175°C/350°F (standard oven setting) and line a baking sheet with baking parchment.
- Once the dough is firm, cut it into 24 pieces. Using your hands, quickly roll each piece of dough into a ball shape. Roll each of the dough balls first into granulated sugar, then into powdered sugar to coat completely.
- Place the dough balls 5-cm/2-inches apart on the prepared baking sheet (you may need to bake in batches) and bake for 12-15 minutes in the middle of the oven.
- Once done, remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
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