Hello, again!  It’s been a while since I’ve posted.  I’ve been distracted with visitors and still cooking and baking, I just didn’t always photograph or write about it.

I have shared with you every recipe I’ve tried even if they weren’t as good as expected or even failed.  This recipe wasn’t bad but it definitely needs some fixin’.  I’m not sure that I will spend the time to better it.  I am not a big fan of eating or baking cookies.  Mind you, I will never say no to a home baked chocolate chip cookie, or really any homemade cookie.  Bakery cookies are not always up to par.  Then, there are the classics:  Chips Ahoy, Oreos, Anna’s Ginger Thins, those are yummy on occasion, but don’t read the ingredient label.  I find baking cookies to be a tedious job unless they are bars, like brownies, or chocolate chip cookies that you just spoon on the tray.  The ones you have to roll out and use a cookie cutter are too fussy for me.  It doesn’t mean I never make them but they aren’t my favorite.

Growing up we didn’t have a lot of cookies in the house.  My mom was an excellent pastry baker.  She would make palmiers, croissants, things like that from scratch.  I do have one cookie memory.  When I was 7 or 8 years old, my family went on a short vacation to Yosemite.  My family consisted of my father, mother and me.  We never went on vacations together because my mom and I would frequently travel to Argentina and spend 4 to 6 weeks there.  Airfare was not cheap and we would go every other year or so.  Family vacations never happened.  Back to the cookie part, my breakfast would usually consist of a cup with a little coffee and a lot of milk and toast or a pastry.  There was snow on the ground in Yosemite and we stayed in the cute cabins.  For breakfast, we would get in the car, our two-toned VW bus, and drive to the store where Dad would get coffee and cookies for us.  We ate in the car.  My dad was funny about restaurants and movies and, well, anything outside of the house.  I have these strong memories of my two mornings there because Dad would get me a cup of black coffee. Yikes!  No matter how much sugar I put in the coffee, I couldn’t get it to taste right.  For some reason, he would never get me cream or milk and made me drink it black.  Yuck!  The only thing that would save me were the Mother’s Striped Shortcake Cookies that he bought me to eat.  I would dunk them in the coffee, melt some of the chocolate in the cup and that was the only way I could get that coffee down.

I found this recipe in a magazine.  The idea of recreating an iconic cookie, cupcake or cake appeals to me.  I figure it will taste better if it’s homemade even if it’s not totally from scratch.  I baked this cookie from scratch but it wasn’t satisfying.  The chocolate cookie needed to have more chocolate taste and the cream filling was made mostly from shortening.  That kind of grossed me out.  I think the filling needs to be sweeter and thicker because when you bit into it, it oozed out from the sides.  Another issue was the size of the cookie.  I must admit that that was my fault.  It called for a 2 inch round cookie cutter and I used a 2 1/2 inch one.  It was too big.  Also, I would roll them out even thinner than I did this time.

So, I’m going to post the recipe and you are welcome to try it.  Maybe you can make the adjustments according to my critique.  It’s not a complete failure but when I make something from scratch, I want it to be spectacular.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups Unbleached Flour

1/2 cup Unsweetened Baking Cocoa

1 tsp. Baking Powder

1/4 tsp. Salt

1/2 cup Butter, softened

3/4 cup Sugar

2 Eggs

Filling

1/2 cup Shortening

1 Tbl. Vanilla

2 Tbls. Milk

3 cups Powdered Sugar

In a small bowl, thoroughly combine Flour, Cocoa, Baking Powder and Salt.

In a large bowl, cream together Butter, Sugar and Eggs with an electric mixer.

Fold Flour mixture into wet ingredients until dough forms a ball.

Roll dough out onto a generously floured surface to 3/16″ thickness.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Using a 2 inch cookie cutter and a thin spatula, place cookies on silicone or parchment-lined baking sheet about 1/2 inch apart.

Brush flour off the tops of cookies with a pastry brush.  Paint the tops with warm water.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Let cool.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, with an electric mixer, cream Shortening, Vanilla and Milk.  Add Powdered Sugar and mix well.

Put a spoonful of filling onto center of one cookie.  Place another cookie on top and lightly press together.

That’s it!  I hope you enjoy them.

 

Remember to eat well, drink well and live well.  Until next time.