Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts (32 page)

Form the dough into a ball and flatten it slightly.

Flour a pastry cloth, rubbing the flour in well, and a rolling pin. Place the dough on the cloth and turn it over to flour both sides. With the floured rolling pin (reflour it as necessary) roll the dough until it is ½ inch thick (no thinner). It is important to make it the same thickness all over.

Use a plain round cookie cutter 1½ inches in diameter. Before cutting each cookie, dip the cutter in flour and tap it to shake off excess. Cut the cookies as close to each other as possible. Place the cookies 1 inch apart on unbuttered cookie sheets.

Press together leftover scraps of dough, reflour the cloth lightly if necessary, and reroll the dough.

Now each cookie should be pierced three times in a vertical row in the middle with the tines of a four-pronged fork, piercing all the way through the cookie each time. If the dough sticks to the fork, or if removing the fork causes the cookies to lose their shape, transfer the sheets of cookies to the refrigerator or freezer only until the dough becomes slightly firm—do not let it freeze or become too firm or the fork will crack the cookies.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the cookies are firm to the touch, reversing the sheets top to bottom and front to back once during baking to insure even baking. Watch these carefully—they could burn and become bitter before you know it unless you check them often. If you bake only one sheet, bake it on the higher rack; one sheet will bake in less time.

With a wide metal spatula transfer the cookies to racks to cool.

NOTE
:
If you make this in a food processor, the butter should be firm and cold, right out of the refrigerator. If you make it in an electric mixer, the butter should be removed from the refrigerator about 20 or 30 minutes before using.

VARIATIONS
:
While working on this recipe I tried many variations and they were all good. Many of our friends like it better with the addition of 1 teaspoon of dry instant espresso or any other powdered (not granular) instant coffee. And it may be made without salt and/or vanilla. Some authorities claim that the chocolate flavor is stronger without vanilla.

Stamped Shortbread

If you have a ceramic or wooden cookie stamp, or a little wooden form for stamping butter, use it to make stamped shortbread cookies. Follow the above recipe up to the direction for piercing the cookies with a fork. Do not pierce these. Instead, press the stamp onto each cookie, pressing firmly enough to imprint the design and, at the same time, to flatten the cookies slightly. Bake as above.

Chocolate Wafers

36 2¾-inch Cookies

Wonderful thin, crisp, plain cookies, the dough is rolled out and cut with a cookie cutter. The recipe can easily be doubled if you wish.

2 ounces (2 squares) unsweetened chocolate

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sifted all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

2 ounces (½ stick) sweet butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup granulated sugar

1½ teaspoons light cream or milk

1 egg (graded large)

Place the chocolate in the top of a small double boiler over hot water on moderate heat. Cover until partially melted, then uncover and stir until smooth. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool slightly.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter. Add the vanilla and sugar and beat to mix well. Add the melted chocolate and beat until incorporated. Then add the light cream or milk and the egg and beat to mix well. On low speed add the sifted dry ingredients, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula and beating only until incorporated.

Place the dough on a piece of wax paper, fold the sides of the paper over the dough and press down on the paper to flatten the dough to a scant 1-inch thickness, wrap in the paper and refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes—no longer or the dough will crack
when you roll it out. (However, if you do refrigerate it for longer—even overnight—let it stand at room temperature for about an hour before rolling it out.)

Adjust two racks to divide oven into thirds and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line cookie sheets with aluminum foil.

Flour a pastry cloth and place the dough on it. (If you have doubled the recipe, roll only half of the dough at a time.) With a floured rolling pin—which should be refloured frequently to avoid sticking—roll the dough out until it is only ⅛ inch thick (thin).

I use a round cookie cutter that is 2¾ inches in diameter—use any size you like, and cut the cookies as close to each other as possible.

Place the cookies ½ inch apart on the aluminum foil. (It might be necessary to transfer the cookies from the pastry cloth to the foil with a wide metal spatula—handle them carefully in order to keep them perfectly round and flat.)

Leftover pieces of the dough should be pressed together and rerolled.

Bake two sheets at a time for 7 to 8 minutes, reversing the sheets top to bottom and front to back once to insure even baking. Bake until the cookies feel almost firm to the touch. These are supposed to be crisp (they will become more crisp as they cool) and they should not be underbaked, but watch them carefully to be sure they do not burn. (If you bake one sheet at a time, bake it on the upper rack.)

With a wide metal spatula, transfer the cookies to racks to cool.

Store airtight.

NOTE
:
These cookies may be crumbled to make a delicious chocolate-cookie crumb crust. If you make them for that purpose roll out the dough and then just cut it with a long knife into large squares; don’t bother to use a cookie cutter.

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Sugar Cookies

28 3
-I
NCH
C
OOKIES

These are extremely crisp/crunchy cookie-jar cookies with a bit of optional mace flavoring—it is not a strong flavor and is delicious with chocolate. (Mace and nutmeg come from the same fruit seed—the seed is nutmeg and the outside membrane is mace—they resemble each other in taste but mace is more pungent.) The dough is rolled with a rolling pin and cut with a cookie cutter, but if you wish it may be handled as ice-box cookies (see Notes). Either way, the dough has to be well chilled before it is baked.

2 ounces (2 squares) unsweetened chocolate

1½ cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1/16 teaspoon baking soda (see Notes)

Optional: ¼ teaspoon mace

¼ pound (1 stick) sweet butter

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg (graded large)

Optional: additional granulated sugar or crystal sugar (see page 7), for sprinkling on the tops of the cookies

Place the chocolate in the top of a small double boiler over hot water on moderate heat, cover until partially melted, then uncover and stir until completely melted. Remove the top of the double boiler and set aside, uncovered, to cool slightly.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and optional mace and set aside.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter. Add the vanilla and the sugar and beat to mix well. Beat in the egg and then the chocolate. On low speed gradually add the sifted dry ingredients, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula and beating only until everything is incorporated.

Transfer the dough to a large piece of wax paper or plastic wrap, flatten slightly, wrap airtight, and refrigerate for a few hours.

Before rolling, cutting, and baking the cookies, adjust two racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Line cookie sheets with aluminum foil.

Flour a pastry cloth and a rolling pin. Work with half of the dough at a time (the other half may stand at room temperature unless the kitchen is very warm). Place the dough on the cloth and turn it over to flour both sides. If it is too stiff to roll, pound it with the rolling pin to soften slightly and/or let it stand at room temperature for awhile. Roll the dough until it is ⅛ inch thick and very even—reflour the rolling pin as necessary.

This dough may be rolled to a scant
inch to make extra-thin cookies. When it is that thin it is rather fragile; roll it slowly and carefully and keep the rolling pin floured. Bake less time and keep an eye on the cookies in order not to burn.

Using any cookie cutter you wish (I use a round 3-inch one) start cutting the cookies at the outer edge of the rolled dough and cut them touching each other in order not to have any more scraps than necessary. (Reserve the scraps and roll them all together—if the kitchen is warm it might be necessary to rechill them before rolling.)

With a wide metal spatula transfer the cookies to the aluminum foil, placing them 1 to 1½ inches apart.

Sprinkle the tops with the optional additional granulated sugar or crystal sugar.

Bake two sheets at a time for about 15 minutes or until the cookies feel semi-firm to the touch. Reverse the sheets top to bottom and front to back once to insure even baking. They may begin to turn a slightly darker color on the edges, but watch them carefully—don’t let them burn. (If you bake only one sheet at a time, bake it on the upper rack. When baking only one sheet it will take a bit less time.)

With a wide metal spatula transfer the cookies to racks to cool.

NOTES
:
1. To measure
teaspoon baking soda, fill and level ¼ teaspoon, then with a small metal spatula or a table knife mark it into equal quarters, cut away three quarters (return it to the box) and use the remaining quarter.

2. To use this dough for icebox cookies, after it is mixed transfer it to a large piece of wax paper, placing it by large spoonfuls touching each other down the middle of the paper. Bring up the sides of the paper and with your hands form the dough into a smooth roll, either rounded or squared, about 2 inches in diameter. Wrap in the paper and refrigerate or freeze until very firm (the dough can be sliced when it is frozen). Unwrap and cut into even slices ⅛ inch thick. Place them on the aluminum foil and bake as above.

Checkerboards