My oldest son came home from college on Friday and I had anticipated baking for his arrival. I like everything to be fresh baked; I’m not a bake and freeze it kind of girl. Sometimes that doesn’t always work out in my favor. With baseball season still going on, I was very limited in time for baking so I ended up picking up some of his favorite ice cream to say welcome home! He didn’t mind and we planned to bake together over the weekend.
Last night I made a plan before I went to sleep so that this morning I could bake early and so that I would have time to exercise and then get on with the day. I woke up and baked 2 banana breads (check out that recipe on my site) which came out delicious, but then felt like I needed something chocolate. Originally I was going to make my mother’s mandel brodt (Jewish biscotti) recipe which he loves but I wanted to try something new. I came across this recipe a couple of weeks ago in Susie Fishbein’s cookbook Kosher by Design Teens and 20-Somethings. If you haven’t read any of her cookbooks, you must. Whether you keep kosher or not, they are absolutely beautiful and her recipes are easy, and always a crowd pleaser. I just ordered her book entitled Cooking Coach and can’t wait till it arrives! I have a girlfriend that cooks a lot of her recipes and I’m lucky enough to enjoy them when she does! Anyway, her title was chocolate chocolate chip sticks. She said they are a cross between a brownie and biscotti. My son described it by saying the outside was like a biscotti and the inside like a brownie, pretty much a win-win!. Since I changed some ingredients, I also changed the name.
I renamed it (of course!) with what it tasted like to us and added my own splash to it with vanilla extract, espresso powder and by sprinkling it with coarse sanding sugar to give it a sparkle and crunch! I have to tell you, they are amazing. However, I wish I had used white chips and added walnuts or even almonds to it, I think they would have enhanced the cookie (if that’s even possible!). I needed two hands for this dough and couldn’t photograph the process. However, I will definitely make them again so will plan ahead for that and since my son is home recruit him as photographer.
I will say that shaping the logs was a little difficult but I came up with a good way to do it. In the book it says to use parchment paper but I found that didn’t work for me. When I make my mother’s mandel bread, I use plastic wrap to mold the dough into logs. That worked very well here too. It’s very crumbly, so heads up on that. But very much worth the effort so don’t let that stop you. Enjoy!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Dutch processed cocoa*
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt (I used pink Himalayan sea salt)
3/4 cup canola oil (I used light olive oil)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar (I used dark brown)
1 extra large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon instant coffee
1/2 cup white chocolate chips, or semi-sweet (or combination)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
In a medium bowl, mix the first four ingredients with a whisk.
In a larger mixing bowl, mix the oil, sugars, instant coffee and egg very well. Add the vanilla extract and incorporate.
Mix the dry ingredients into the wet 1/2 at a time. Add the chocolate chips and or nuts. The dough was very crumbly. Susie Fishbein says to knead the dough at this point but I found it difficult to do. At this point I put on rubber gloves and started mixing it by hand. When I was able to get it to hold somewhat of a shape, I split it into two.
I put out plastic wrap on the counter and transferred half the dough on top. I formed a log about 2 to 3 inches wide by about 8 inches in length. I then transferred it to the cookie sheet by sliding it off the plastic wrap. Some of the pieces crumbled off so I pushed them back together. Leave at least 2 to 3 inches between the loaves as they spread.
Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes. Using a serrated knife, cut into 3/4″ slices.
Yield about 24 cookies
*What’s the difference between Dutch processed cocoa and regular cocoa powder? I believe David Lebovitz explains it best. Check out his blog:
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2010/02/cocoa-powder-faq-dutch-process-v/
