Three years ago, I found the recipe for the perfect chocolate cookie. Thin, crisp, and deeply, darkly chocolaty, with a hit of heat from black pepper, cayenne and cinnamon, Maida Heatter’s Mexican chocolate icebox cookies are among the best cookies I’ve ever eaten. I’ve made them regularly the past several years; when I’m particularly organized, I keep a log of the dough in my freezer so that I can bake fresh cookies for friends in a matter of minutes.
When I read the recipe for Cocoa wafers in Alice Medrich’s beautiful new book Pure Dessert, I wondered how they might differ from Heatter’s icebox cookies. Could they possibly be better? The amounts of flour, cocoa powder and salt are the same; Medrich’s recipe has slightly more butter and sugar than Heatter’s. Medrich’s recipe has no spices, and less vanilla, but a little baking soda. The big difference in ingredients is that of eggs versus milk. While Heatter’s recipe includes a large egg, Medrich has omitted the egg, included in her earlier version of this recipe, and replaced it with a small amount of whole milk. This change, Medrich writes, results in a purer chocolate flavor and a more shattery crispness.
The other difference is in technique. The icebox cookie recipe calls for creaming together the butter, sugar, vanilla and egg prior to adding the dry ingredients. The recipe in Pure Dessert is made in a food processor, the butter is cut into the combined dry ingredients, with the milk added at the end to bring the dough together.
Both cookie doughs are shaped into logs, chilled, sliced thin, and baked.
While the ingredient lists for these two cookies is similar, the results are strikingly different. Without the egg to bind it, the cocoa wafer dough spreads out as the cookies bake. The resulting cookies are both thinner and crisper than the icebox cookies (though that could be in part because I bake the icebox cookies for a slightly shorter time than Heatter’s recipe indicates). The chocolate flavor really shines in the wafers, but I miss the pepper/cinnamon spiciness of the icebox cookies.
Perhaps I haven’t yet found the perfect chocolate cookie… but if I add those Mexican spices to the next batch of cocoa wafers that I bake, I might just have a new winner.
To open the Advent calendar window for Day 22 (and see the cocoa wafer recipe), click here:
Why, look at that! There’s another type of cookie on the plate with the cocoa wafers! Also from Pure Dessert, these emmer hazelnut sables are a sandy, buttery treat.
Cocoa Wafers
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/8 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter, slightly softened
3 tablespoons whole milk (or, 7 teaspoons 1% milk plus 2 teaspoons sour cream)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, cocoa, sugar, salt and baking soda. Pulse to combine thoroughly. Cut the butter into tablespoons, and add to the bowl. Pulse several times. Combine the milk and vanilla in a cup. With the food processor running, pour in the milk mixture and blend until the dough clumps together on the blade of the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a cutting board, and knead a few times until dough is smooth and well blended.
Shape the dough into a log, 14″ long. Wrap tightly in foil and refrigerate at least 1 hour. (If you make your log cylindrical, it will be about 1-3/4″ in diameter. I shaped my log into a rectangular section by pressing it flat against the cutting board on all four sides after I’d wrapped it in foil.)
Position oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven, and preheat oven to 350F. Line the baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into scant 1/4″ thick slices. Arrange on parchment-lined sheets, leaving 1″ between cookies.
Bake the cookies for 6-7 minutes. Rotate the baking sheets top to bottom and front to back, then bake another 6-8 minutes. The cookies puff in the oven, then flatten; they’ll be done about 1 1/2 minutes after deflating. Slide the parchment onto racks and allow cookies to cool completely.
Emmer hazelnut sables
1 cup all-purpose flour
7/8 cup emmer (or whole wheat) flour
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup hazelnuts, toasted and chopped
Whisk together flours and set aside. Beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Stir in the hazelnuts. Add the flours and mix until just incorporated.
Turn the dough out onto a bread board, gather into a mass, and if necessary, knead by hand just until smooth. Shape the dough into a log, about 12″ x 2″. Wrap tightly and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
Position oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven, and preheat oven to 350F. Using a sharp knife, slice the dough into 1/4″ thick rounds. Arrange on ungreased baking sheets, leaving at least 1 1/2″ between cookies.
Bake the cookies for 6-7 minutes. Rotate the baking sheets top to bottom and front to back, then bake another 6-7 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are lightly browned. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for at least a minute, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
Tags: 3 Comments
3 responses so far ↓
Ever since getting my food processor, I’ve been looking for more ways to use it (it mostly just sits there begging for something to do). And I’m always up for something chocolate! I like the idea of adding the Mexican cookie spices to this recipe. I love the simplicity of the sables - they looke great.
Merry Christmas!
OH, these look yummy. Must try! Thanks for the recipe.
YUMMMMM! Thanks for the little Advent surprise.