Music and Cats

This month, the food blogging events Is My Blog Burning? and Sugar High Friday are teaming up for a pre-holiday Virtual Cookie Swap. I’ll have little time for baking during the next few weeks, and even less need to eat cookies, so virtual seems like a great way to go.

12/02/05: The holiday cookie swap round-up is posted in two parts, with participating blogs listed alphabetically: A-K, at Domestic Goddess, and L-Z (W really) at Il Forno.

As I’ve written before, I first experimented with baking serious chocolate cakes (my favorite type) using Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Chocolate Desserts. (I also have her Best Dessert Book Ever, which comes in handy when preparing dessert for someone allergic to chocolate.) I’m a fan of both Ms. Heatter’s recipes and her writing. These cookbooks did not see a bookshelf until several months after I bought them; instead, they moved back and forth from my kitchen counter to my bedside table.

When I thought about choosing a favorite cookie for holiday baking, Ms. Heatter’s Mexican Chocolate Icebox Cookies immediately came to mind. I like my chocolate dark and straight up; these cookies are that and more. Plain and crisp, their bittersweet flavor is enhanced, but not overpowered, by the traditional (we’re talking pre-Columbian, Meso-American traditional) seasonings of pepper and cinnamon. Although these cookies are at home on Fiestaware and Guatemalan cotton, they are elegant enough for china and white linen. Teething babies will happily gum them; their older siblings will slip a third or fourth off the plate when they think noone’s looking. Come to think of it, their parents will do that, too.

Mexican Chocolate Icebox Cookies
About 40 cookies

1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (Ms. Heatter calls for Dutch process, but I like ScharffenBerger, which is not Dutch processed)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Generous pinch finely ground black pepper
Generous pinch of cayenne
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract (Mexican double-strength, if you can get it)
1 cup sugar (or 1/2 cup white and 1/2 cup brown)
1 egg (large or extra-large)

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, salt, pepper, cayenne and cinnamon and set aside.

Cream the butter. Add vanilla and sugar and beat to mix thoroughly. Beat in the egg, then gradually add the sifted dry ingredients, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula and beating only until mixed.

Lightly flour your preferred dough-working surface. Turn dough out onto said surface, and shape into a cylinder, 10″ long by 2″ in diameter. Wrap the dough log in wax paper, and freeze until firm. You may keep the dough log in the freezer for up to two months. (I, however, am unable to do this.)

When you’re ready to bake the cookies, preheat your oven to 375 degrees. If you plan to bake two sheets of cookies together, adjust your oven racks to divide oven in thirds. Unwrap the dough, and use a sharp, heavy knife to cut 1/4″ thick slices. Place the slices 1 1/2″ - 2″ apart on unbuttered cookie sheets.

Bake 10-11 minutes. Halfway through baking, reverse the sheets front to back (and top to bottom, if baking two sheets) so that they brown evenly. When done, the cookies will still feel slightly soft - but only slightly - in the middle. (Pay attention; they go from perfect to burnt quickly!) Let them cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes.

These cookies keep well for a day or two in an airtight container. They may last longer, but you couldn’t prove it by me.

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