cocoa powder Archives • The Traveling Epicurean

Chocolate Crackle Cookies

These homemade chocolate crackle cookies will make you feel like a baker of fine cookies. The snowy white confectioners sugar and the chocolaty brown cookie dough make a beautiful contrast when the cookies bake in the oven and make all those crackle lines. Now the inside is some what of a surprise when you first bite into it. By the looks you might think its a crunchy cookie. Then you sink your teeth in and that velvety texture hits your tongue, feeling lighter then you thought and then the chocolaty silkiness just melts away.

I have been baking these incredible chocolate crackle cookies for at least ten years and for the life of me I can’t remember where I got this recipe from. All my life I have always written down recipes that looked irresistible whenever I was in a waiting room with an assortment food or cooking magazines. So I unfortunately cannot give credit where credit is due. I did of course change the recipe a pinch with the baking time and chocolate used. It originally said 12-15 minutes but I only bake them for eight minutes with a five minute waiting period before I move them off the cookie sheet to a cooling rack this way they can solidify a bit more. Shortening the cooking time gives them softer, gooier center that melts in your mouth rather then a slightly firmer cookie. I use the confection on my oven because the bottom of my oven runs really hot on “bake” not being conducive for even cooking. The hot air circulates in confection mode in my oven giving a more consistent outcome. As for the chocolate, the recipe had called for Verona chocolate which might be difficult to find last minute so I have been using my Ghiradelli bittersweet or Perugina chocolate bars and those are both scrumptious!

This homemade gourmet chocolate crackle cookie just may become a holiday tradition for you and your family too. Easy to make, oh so chocolaty and melts in your mouth! What more could you ask for in a cookie? Hope you enjoy the show 🙂

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

1 stick of butter softened to room temp

1 1/3 cup light brown sugar

1/3 cup milk

2 lg eggs

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

8 oz. bag of a bittersweet chocolate chips- Ghiradeli

Directions – Pre-heat oven to 350º to bake cookies :

Sift flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt and set aside

Place bitterswewet chips in a pan over double boiler and melt – you can use a microwave – heat 20 seconds and stir and 10 more seconds and stir but be very careful not to burn the chocolate in the microwave

Cream room temperature butter with light brown sugar in your Kitchen Aid mixer

Add in 2 eggs, one at a time and beat well after each addition

Add vanilla and melted chocolate and beat briefly til combined

Alternatively, begin to add dry sifted ingredients and 1/3 cup of milk all awhile mixing

When completely mixed turn out dough onto 3 pieces of saran wrap

Fold up in saran wrap and shape dough into disks, chill at least 2 hrs. – overnight

You can also freeze at this point for a later date

Take dough out and cut into 1″ pieces

Roll each of the pieces into balls

As you shape the dough into balls place them into a bowl full of confectioners sugar and roll around to completely coat

After the balls are coated place them onto cookie sheet 2″ apart

You will need to periodically rinse you hands to remove the dough accumulating on them

NOTE: The dough rolls into balls the easiest when your hands are rinsed and a little damp

Bake for 8 minutes on 350º

Remove and let cool on the cookie tray for 5 minutes before you transfer the cookies to a cooling rack

Let cool completely before to stacking on serving plate

Chocolate-Avocado Mousse

You will be amazed how this fruit can be transformed into a creamy, chocolatey mousse! Yes, an avocado is actually a fruit from an avocado tree. I read through so many recipes that it took a bit to figure out which chef inspired me here but I finally got it done. Some recipes have you grinding chia seeds to thicken the mousse but the avocado is already thick and creamy so I find that step unnecessary. Others have honey or a man-made “all natural” sweetener added in but I think the agave nectar is the best option.

This recipe is from Giada De Laurentis’ team except I change it up by adding a little more chocolate and by using Perugina “milk“ chocolate bars (Italian) or Ghirdelli milk chocolate chips instead of the Ghiradelli semi sweet chips. This mousse is pretty rich so using the creamy milk chocolate bars lightens it up a bit and another reason being I wanted to get my two children to eat the mousse …they love the milk chocolate. Yes, that would be the kids who don’t eat anything green. I told you I would get them to eat something green sooner or later. I just left out the part that one of their favorite desserts, chocolate mousse, was made with avocado’s when serving it up to them…needless to say they LOVED it! They will thank me some day.

Make sure to watch my YouTube cooking show that goes with this recipe and don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE on my YouTube channel so that you can receive my latest cooking show releases!

Ingredients:

4 VERY RIPE-California avocado’s (SOFT not TOO MUSHY because they get brown inside)
7 oz. Perugina milk chocolate bars chopped up ( 2- 3.5 oz bars)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Hershey)
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/3 cup almond milk
2 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 Tsp fine salt
fresh raspberries and whipped cream for garnish-optional
Fresh mint

Directions:

Chop up all the avocado’s and put them into the food processor.
In a small bowl melt the chocolate chips or chopped up chocolate bar in the microwave for 30 seconds x3 stirring at each interval…..WATCH so as not to BURN the chocolate (everyone’s microwave is a little different).
Add the melted chocolate, and the next 5 ingredients to the food processor and purée for 30 seconds, stop to scrape the sides, then purée for 1-2 minutes, stop to scrape the sides and purée for 10-20 seconds more.
Scoop out the avocado mousse into your favorite glasses or bowls.
The mousse will be slightly warm from the food processor so put the glasses or bowls into the refrigerator for 2 hours to chill before serving.
Garnish with whipped cream and raspberries…Yum!

TIP: There is an easy way to get the pit out of a avocado which I have displayed in the pictures above. After running the knife around the flesh of the avocado against the edges of the inside pit… put the knife down and twist the avocado halves and pull apart. Then stick the knife into the pit and do the same thing holding on to the knife with one hand and carefully twist the avocado pit and it will pop right out. Then knock the pit off onto the board away from your hands. This can be a little tricky the first time so I would advise that this would be for an adult to try. Finally, Insert a large spoon and scoop the avocado along the edge of the avocado skin to remove avocado flesh.

TIP: VERY IMPORTANT….it is wise to remove this end stem off the avocado because it would taste extremely bitter if it were to accidentally get into the mousse.