Chocolate Truffle Cookies

My brother-in-law recently sent me this recipe. He had a cookie baking contest at work and this was the cookie that he made. While I agree that he probably should have won, we talked about how this recipe could be the basis for other cookies. I think that’s a great idea, but first I wanted to try the original cookies.

I made a flourless cookie that was somewhat similar to these cookies, but they are much more complex! This recipe calls for a lot of ingredients, including 20 ounces of chocolate and 10 ounces of chocolate chunks, as well as 6 eggs and a lot of sugar. I thought that the cookies needed to refrigerate for some time, but it’s just the opposite. You have to bake these cookies just as soon as the dough comes together.

While this makes a decent amount of dough, since the cookies are so large, it only makes about 3 dozen cookies. I used a 3-tablespoon scoop for these cookies, where I typically only use a 1 tablespoon scoop (or less). Had a made these smaller, I would have been baking forever. The original recipe said to bake for 14 minutes. I baked the first batch for that long, but I think they did better at 13 minutes. These cookies are quite huge, and very chocolatey. I love a good chocolate cookie, and these are no exception. My husband, not the biggest fan of chocolate cookies, said that these were very addictive. He was certainly right!

Chocolate Truffle Cookies

205 grams flour

20 grams cocoa powder

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

567 grams (20 ounces) bittersweet chocolate

140 grams butter, room temperature

460 grams sugar

6 eggs, room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla

10 ounces dark chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In the top of a double boiler, or in a microwave-safe bowl, melt the chocolate. Allow the chocolate to cool for 5 minutes before proceeding.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the mixture is pale yellow. Add the melted chocolate and the vanilla and mix to combine. Remove from the mixer and fold in the flour mixture. When the dough has almost come together, add the chocolate chunks and fold to combine.

Using a 3-tablespoon scoop, scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, placing 8 cookies per sheet. Bake for 13-15 minutes, rotating the baking sheet half-way through the baking time, until set. Allow the cookies to set on the baking sheet for 15 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Recipe from The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook

Cinnamon Toast Marshmallow Cookies

My husband works shorter hours on Fridays, and I don’t work on Fridays during the summer. Typically, he comes home and we get brunch, and then we have most of the day left. Recently, we decided to hit a local walk-up coffee stand for coffee, which is always nice as those folks work so hard. While we were there, I mentioned that we should wander through the local dollar store. Our dollar store used to be a grocery store, and I hadn’t visited since the change. I don’t often go into dollar stores, but there are some useful things there.

While I picked up a couple of little containers and that sort of thing, in the grocery section I noticed that they have small bags of cereal. Well, they are a dollar! Now for most cereal-eating activity, a small bag is not what I want. I did note the bag of cinnamon toast crunch cereal, and I recalled pinning a recipe that called for a small amount. I got the bag and hoped it would work. It did, as the cookies call for just 1 cup of cereal, so I even have a little bit left.

These cookies are somewhat similar to chocolate chip cookies, in that the call for butter, sugar, flour and that sort of thing. The marshmallows and cereal set these apart. It is challenging to bake with marshmallows as they tend to melt in the oven, if left for more than a couple minutes. These cookies try to avoid that by shaping and then refrigerating the dough. This helped and I only had a couple of strangely shaped cookies. This is a small batch, I made just under two dozen, but they are very good and you can clearly taste the cereal. I could have baked mine maybe a minute less, as you can’t really see the marshmallows, but that’s ok!

Cinnamon Toast Marshmallow Cookies

½ cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

1 cup Cinnamon Toast Crunch, crushed

½ cup mini marshmallows

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium until creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and stir to combine. Add the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and cream of tartar and mix on low until a dough almost forms. Add the Cinnamon Toast Crunch and the marshmallows and mix on low until the dough comes together.

Shape the cookies into 1-1/2” balls and place on a large dinner plate. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and place on the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes until set.

When the cookies come out of the oven, reshape with a plain butter knife if they are misshaped. Cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Beyond Frosting

Coconut Sandwich Cookies

I never know what to bake in the summer. This summer hasn’t been too hot, which I really appreciate. We’ve had a couple of warm days and I have made a no-bake recipe or two, but it’s still been ok in the house to bake. With me working limited hours in the summer, I don’t want to make a large batch of anything. I have made a lot of bar cookies in 9” pans, but I also thought about making sandwich cookies, as those recipes don’t typically yield a large batch.

I had pinned this recipe quite a long time ago, and it doesn’t call for any strange ingredients. I checked to make sure that I had coconut extract, and I didn’t, which surprised me. I could have sworn I had some, but who knows. I picked up some new extract, the only coconut extract that the store had (despite having seriously 20 different types of vanilla extract). These were also quick to make, as but the time the cookies are out of the oven and you make the frosting, they are ready to be made into sandwiches.

Like all sandwich cookie recipes, this only makes about 15 sandwiches. I had more frosting than I needed, but I prefer it that way. Sandwich cookies aren’t usually large, but when you put two cookies together and add frosting, you have a very substantial cookie. The original recipe didn’t call for coconut in the cookie dough, so I added a little extract to the dough. I think that was the right call, as these cookies have a wonderful coconut flavor. I realize that not everyone likes coconut, but if you do, this is a terrific recipe!

Coconut Sandwich Cookies

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon coconut extract

1 egg

1/4 cup butter, room temperature

2 cups powdered sugar

1-2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon coconut extract

1 cup shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Mix on medium until light. Add the extracts and the egg and stir again on medium to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and place on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until lightly browned. While the cookies are warm, flatten slightly with a metal spatula. Cool completely.

Make the frosting: in a mixer bowl beat the butter until smooth. Gradually add the powdered sugar, mixing until crumbly. Add 1 tablespoon milk and coconut extract, mixing on medium until smooth. Stir in the coconut. If the mixture is too dry to sandwich cookies together, add additional milk, 1 teaspoon at a time.

Sandwich the cookies together with the coconut frosting.

Recipe from Crazy for Crust