Double Chocolate Cookies

Last week I made a cheesecake and I dropped it. Lately I keep dropping things. I made these cookies for a friend, I put them on cooling racks, and when I picked up the cooling rack I don't know how it happened but all the cookies ended up on the floor. I should have just picked them up and given them to her anyway haha. I like these cookies because they're almost like brownies. I saw this recipe on Martha Stewart.

Double Chocolate Cookies

Makes about 3 dozen

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 pound good-quality milk chocolate, 4 ounces coarsely chopped and 4 ounces cut into 1/4-inch chunks
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. Melt 4 ounces coarsely chopped chocolate with the butter in a small heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water; let cool slightly.
2. Put chocolate mixture, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until combined. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chunks.
3. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop (it looks much prettier when you use a 1 1/2 inch scoop. the 1 inch scoop makes them look kinda awkward), drop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies are flat and surfaces crack, about 15 minutes (Check at 10 minutes and remove them as soon as they crack on top. I overbaked them). Let cool on parchment on wire racks. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

Thin Mints

I tried two Thin Mints recipes. The one I liked more was from Moms Who Think. I would still change something about it though to make it taste ... more like a cookie if that makes any sense at all.

The one on the right is the one from Moms Who Think and the one on the left is from the other site.

Ingredients

8 ounces butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup flour

Chocolate Peppermint Coating:

1 pound semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 teaspoon plus a couple drops of natural peppermint extract

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Put all the ingredients in a food processor and process it. If it is seems like it's too dry, add a bit of vodka to it to get it to come together. Adding vodka helps it come together and will evaporate while it's baking so it won't affect the final texture of the cookie too much. This works on pie crusts as well.

3. Flatten the dough into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, and set it in the refrigerator for around 1/2 an hour.

4. Roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness.

5. Place cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 7-10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on the cookie sheet. I tried lifting it up while it was hot and this is what happened.

6. Melt the chocolate and add the extract.

7. Dip the cookies in the chocolate...



Or you could just put some chocolate on the bottom of 2 cookies and put them together.

Onion Rings

Ingredients
2 large onions, peeled, sliced into 1/4 inch slices, separated into rings
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs (by Progresso)
25 Club Cracker crumbs
1/2 cup potato chips
3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Oil

1. Put the flour, salt, and pepper in resealable bag and shake it up a bit before putting in the onions. Make sure the onions are evenly coated in flour.
2. Mix the egg and milk together.
3. Put the crackers and chips in the food processor and process them until they look like bread crumbs.
4. Coat the onions in the egg mixture. Then coat the onions with the crumbs and set them on a baking sheet. Drizzle a bit of oil on the onions.
5. Bake them at 350 degrees for around 25 minutes.