Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Cookie Carnival: Chocolate Roll-Out Cookies


Hey folks, I haven't baked since before Christmas (for which my thighs are thankful). But I do have some posts to catch up on.

The first is for Cookie Carnival. In the spirit of the holidays, our leader Kate, from the Clean Plate Club, chose roll-out cookies in our choice of chocolate or vanilla. I had been wanting to find a chocolate roll-out cookie for some time, so that's the one I chose. The Chocolate Roll-Out Cookie recipe is from Dorie Greenspan and can be found----> here.

Let me tell you what happened with these cookies, it's kind of funny. In a moment of supreme pre-holiday organization, I decided to mix up all of the cookie dough for my Operation Baking Gals care package (more on that later), as well as my Cookie Carnival entry on one day. I think it was 4 or 5 recipes worth. My plan was to bake all of these cookies the next day. Well, you know the old "best laid plans of mice and men"... I got my Baking Gals cookies baked, but not the Cookie Carnival cookies. So I had this bowl of yummy, sandy, salty, chocolatey dough in my fridge for almost a week.

I'm sure you can see where this is headed.

Over that week, I kept snacking on the dough and by the time I went to bake them, there were only a few cookies worth of dough left (I had made 1/2 a batch). It actually turned out perfect because I needed some cookies for Santa. So anyway, here are all 4 cookies I made for Cookie Carnival, minimally decorated.


And how were they, you ask? Very good! They kind of reminded me of sables, in that they were a more sandy textured cookie. I would definitely make these again. I like the look of the dark chocolate cookie with the bright white cookie icing.

I used an icing recipe I picked up a long time ago during my cake and cookie decorating days. It's a modified royal icing. It sets up hard, but isn't cloyingly sweet and hard like regular royal icing.

Alice's Modified Royal Icing

1lb sifted powdered sugar
3 Tbl. Meringue Powder
5-6 Tbls water
1/2 cup butter, softened
pinch of salt

Mix meringue powder and water in a bowl using a stand mixer or hand mixer. Add the powdered sugar and mix for a few minutes. Add butter and salt and mix until well blended, several minutes.

11 comments:

NKP said...

Love the Christmas trees! Very creative.
I never got around to the CC this month, oh well..
Have a wonderful New Year!

Bunny said...

I've always wanted to make chocolate roll out cookies, because you said you liked them I'm gonna bookmark these and the icing. Would'nt these dark cookies look nice as Valentine Cookies decorated red! Have a Happy New Year!

Pamela said...

They look great and obviously the dough was good. :o) I didn't have time to Carnival this month! Oh, well...there's always next time.

Jin Hooi said...

you are so good honey!!!
I didn't have time for the CC this month .. yours love great !!
Have a happy new year !!

grace said...

awesome, jacque! the contrast made by that luscious frosting is beautiful. happy 2009!

Nancy/n.o.e said...

Wow, your "minimal" decorations are stunning! Glad to read a review of the chocolate roll out cookies. I tried one from Gourmet that was interesting but quite different. Will be blogged eventually!
Nancy

AmyRuth said...

I've had good luck with Collette's (spelling?) royal icing recipe. Thanks so much for a good recipe. Your trees look so cute in the photos. Yumm Yumm.
AmyRuth

Anonymous said...

Looks nice.. Is meringue powder the same as powdered egg whites?

Anonymous said...

I loved the taste and texture of these cookies. Your decorating look like what I wanted mine to look like. Great job!

Snooky doodle said...

these look cute !!

Aspiring Mom2three said...

Isn't this the most important part in making cookie dough - eating it? These cookies are absolutely too pretty to eat, which is why you should eat them before they are baked! I've not made rolled chocolate cookies. I'll have to try this. I like Bunny's suggestion about Valentines Cookies!