Bready or Not Original: “Coal” Double Chocolate Cookies
For about a decade, I had it in my head that I wanted to surprise my husband’s co-workers at the nuclear plant with coal cookies as a holiday surprise. I wasn’t sure how to go about it until I saw a brownie-style cookie recipe and decided evolve it with some modifications and a coating of sparkly black sugar. The result: “Coal” Double Chocolate Cookies.
These still taste like crunchy-chewy brownies. The black sugar adds a sweetly crisp outer layer… and in my case, it also turned tongues blue! I didn’t expect that, and it made the gag cookies even funnier to me. I don’t know if all black sugar brands will do that, so if you actually want that effect, you may need to do some testing.
These cookies were a hit at the nuclear plant, a delicious joke that everyone got. Do note that if you want to stick these in stockings, use small baggies–most of the sugar stays put, but some will come off. That’s the way the (coal) cookies crumble.
Bready or Not Original: “Coal” Double Chocolate Cookies
Equipment
- baking sheet
- parchment paper
- teaspoon scoop or spoon
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1/3 cup baking cocoa sifted
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder optional, for deeper chocolate flavor
- 2 Tablespoons milk or half & half
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup walnuts chopped
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1 cup black sugar crystals for topping
Instructions
- Cream together butter, sugars, and vanilla. Beat in the egg. Add the cocoa, espresso powder (if using), and milk. Gradually add in the flour and baking powder, scraping the bottom of the bowl to incorporate everything. Fold in the walnuts and chocolate chips. Wrap dough with plastic wrap and set in fridge to firm up for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place black sugar in a small bowl.
- Use a teaspoon scoop or spoon to create a lump of dough. Roll it in black sugar to coat. Place spaced out on cookie sheet.
- Bake for 9 to 11 minutes. Watch for the cookies to look set; it will otherwise be difficult to gauge doneness because of the cookies’ dark color. Let sit on sheet a few minutes, then move to a cooling rack. Pack cooled cookies in a sealed container at room temperature.
OM NOM NOM
Giftmas 2023: Winter Light to benefit the Edmonton Food Bank
Giftmas is an annual tradition here on my site. Rhonda Parrish organizes the event to benefit the Edmonton Food Bank, and each year (knock on wood), it has funded. The goal this year is $1,000 CAD. The Food Bank can make 3,000 meals out of that. Wow. (For the Americans reading, note that the current exchange rate is about 1 USD = 1.29974 CAD. That means there’s a lot of bang in that American buck.)
If you want to avoid my wall o’ text below, click here and donate right now! And hey, we’re all fancy this year. There’s a QR code!
Our theme this year is “Winter Light.” Those words can be interpreted many ways. Considering what to say feels a bit overwhelming, to be honest. Therefore, I’ll go ahead and babble to work out my thoughts.
I’ve spent the past 16 winters in Arizona. There is very little winter to be experienced there, and that’s how a lot of people like it. You get maybe a month and a half of “cold” weather, and maybe there’s a week in there where the nightly lows dip near freezing and threaten to kill sensitive desert plants. Overall, though, the experience is quite mild, and likely has little rain, too.
I’m now residing in southeastern Minnesota. I’m starting to experience winter as I never have before. I’ve seen it snow maybe, oh, five times in my life prior to moving here, and all of these instances were when I lived in Washington state, where the mere hint of forecasted snow creates panic and mayhem. Minnesotans are made of stronger stuff. Me, I’m the newbie. California-born. I grew up with cold weather and fog, not snow, and definitely not below-zero temperatures. I’m learning to layer clothes in new ways.
The weather forecasters here keep mentioning “Alberta clippers” that bring cold fronts this way. Mentions of Alberta make me think of Rhonda (the organizer of Giftmas) up there in Edmonton, every time, because she’s the person I’ve known there for ages. So, the brutally cold weather I’m experiencing and will soon be experiencing more fully is coming here courtesy of Alberta, home of the Edmonton Food Bank.
People, it’s been cold here in Minnesota. Two days ago, it hit 1-degree here, with a wind chill below zero. That means it’s surely colder up in Edmonton. And darker. And scarier. I’m finding this winter change daunting as I shelter in my house with a (mostly) working thermostat and a stockpile of cheese in the fridge. How much worse is it for people who don’t have food? If there’s no money for food, there may not be much for heating a house or apartment, either. As my grandpa used to say, speaking about his impoverished barefoot youth in Arkansas, “It’s much harder being poor when it’s cold.”
People need food. Heat. Light. HOPE. Please, please, spare what you can and give the Edmonton Food Bank some help for this winter, so they can help others in turn.
Bready or Not: Snickerdoodle Sables
If you love Snickerdoodles but want a fresh take that feels a bit fancier, try these Snickerdoodle Sables.
Sables are, essentially, French shortbread cookies. They tend to be lighter in texture than the traditional British and Scottish versions, and also are usually cut from a log and hence are round in shape.
For these cookies, plan on making the dough ahead of time. It needs time to chill (don’t we all?). That ends up making the actual baking process so quickly. Slice, brush on some yolk, dip in cinnamon-sugar, set on pan, repeat.
I modified this from the Bake from Scratch July/August 2018 issue.
Bready or Not: Snickerdoodle Sables
Equipment
- plastic wrap
- pastry brush
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup white sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) room temperature
- 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 large egg yolk for brushing atop the cookies
Instructions
- Mix the white sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat butter until creamy. Add 1/3 cup of the cinnamon sugar mix followed by the confectioners’ sugar and salt. Beat to incorporate. Add 1 egg yolk along with the vanilla. Gradually add the flour, pausing to scrape the bottom of the bowl a few times.
- Using hands, knead the dough until it fully comes together. Lay out two long stretches of plastic wrap. Roughly divide the dough in half and form it into tube shapes of the same size on each sheet of plastic wrap. Encase the dough in plastic, rolling it to smooth the edges and compress the dough. Chill the dough in the fridge for least 4 hours or as long as a few days. Save the remaining cinnamon-sugar mix.
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Place the remaining egg yolk in a bowl. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Use a sharp knife or bench knife to slice the dough into 1/2-inch coins. Brush the top of each round with egg yolk, then dip coated surface into the cinnamon-sugar to coat. Place rounds spaced out on parchment.
- Bake for 16 to 18 minutes, until cookies are set. Let cool on pan a few minutes before moving them to a cooling rack. Store in a sealed container at room temperature.
OM NOM NOM!
Recent Poetry Publications
… And by recent, I mean the latter half of 2023. These updates have really fallen through the cracks as I’ve worked on other big projects since the move. I am now, however, temporarily caught up. Huzzah!
- “The Permanence of Stone” (co-written with Rhonda Parrish) and “Bottom of the Jar,” Star*Line 46.4 Fall 2023
- “Just a Girl and Her Stuffed Animals,” Worlds of Possibility (October 2023)
- “Wherein I Assess Viscount Pettigrew and Find Him an Inadequate Match,” Kaleidotrope (October 2023)
- “Persuasive Argument Essay by Mackenzie, Age 8,” Penumbric (June 2023)
- “More Than Big,” Daikaijuzine #4
- “Music” and reprinted “The Bookstore” and “A Sip of Starlight,” Cosmic Muse: Best of NewMyths Volume 4
- “Welcoming the New Girl,” Penumbric (October 2023)
- “As Does the Crow,” Uncanny Magazine issue 53
- “How Magic Will Help You Take the Bastards Down,” The Future Fire issue 2023.67
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