We are wrapping up the second annual Cookie Exchange at our table. Today Shaina is joining us! Shaina learned her way around the kitchen on the apron strings of her grandmother. Her blog Food for My Family is a place where you will find treasured family favorites and tips and techniques, with a focus on family. Today she is sharing one of her family favorite with us, Chocolate Crack Cookies.
Please join us and link up your favorite recipe HERE. The more the merrier!~ Chris Ann & Kristin
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Each year near Christmas my sister and I get together to watch sappy holiday movies (Home for the Holidays is a favorite) and recreate the magic that happened in my grandma’s kitchen so many years ago.
I try to have the futsy cookie dough ready and waiting in the refrigerator in balls, just waiting to be rolled out. You know, the one that requires 8 egg yolks, lemon zest, a bit of rum… That is the cookie that makes my heart sing, but she always wants to take grandma’s recipe and stick it in the toilet because she doesn’t love the act of cookie baking as much as I do.
So, while I turn to the rolling, the filling and the painstakingly delicate cookies, I generally give my kids and my sister the more “fun” cookies to bake, the ones that whirl in a mixer, get rolled in bright white powdered sugar and then turn into brownie-like goodness in the oven. These are the cookies that capture their attention and make them feel sentimental about the holidays and the cookies baking in the oven.
One of our favorite cookies for the holiday season, these powdered sugar snowballs crack slightly during baking to reveal their dark chocolate interior, rich and luscious and perfect for Christmas. Grab a cup of eggnog and you’ll be in a sugar shock in no time. It’s no wonder they call these Chocolate Crack Cookies. Highly addictive. Consider yourself warned. For a Christmastime twist, add in peppermint extract and turn this into a chocolate and peppermint delight.
- 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup powdered sugar (for rolling the cookies)
- In a double boiler, melt together chopped chocolate and butter. Allow to cool slightly. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, beat eggs and granulated sugar until pale yellow and thick and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla to the chocolate and stir to combine. Stir in the flour mixture and stir just until incorporated. Refrigerate until firm.
- Preheat oven to 350º F. Roll chocolate dough into 2" balls and then roll in the powdered sugar to coat completely. Bake 2" apart on a parchment-lined cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes or until the centers are just firm. Allow to cool slightly on the baking sheet before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Thank you to Shaina from Food for My Family for sharing your Chocolate Crack recipe at our table! ~Chris Ann & Kristin
Shaina Olmanson is the voice and photographer behind Food for My Family. She is a freelance writer, recipe developer and photographer in Minnesota and “Mom” to four young kids, ages 11, 7, 5 and 3, striving to teach her children to cook and prepare real food in a day and age where many people have turned to convenience foods because they are so readily available. She hopes to encourage others to do the same. You can find her doing just that as a daily contributor to Babble.com’s Family Kitchen Blog and as the editor of the food channel for Lifetime Moms. Shaina’s first cookbook, Desserts in Jars, will be published through Harvard Common Press in May of 2012.
