Thursday, July 20, 2006

Cocoa Cappuccino Cookies

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Heavenly morsels
Of ancient beans divine,
Melting in your mouth.

I am not shy about it; I have articulated here, here, here and possibly even here that I adore chocolate. It is one of the few things that I do not waver between and I am certainly not modest in my demonstration. When you have been sprung zealously licking the vestiges of melted chocolate from the foil wrapper of a Cadbury milk chocolate bar, you know that you are beyond any attempts at covering-up this infatuation. So instead, I wear my affections proudly on my chocolate stained sleeves.
In this obsession I am confident I am not alone. Google the word and you will get 192,000,000 results staring you in the face. That’s a lot of people talking about chocolate! To sift through all 192,000,000 of these pages would take a considerable chunk of time; to do this one, might have to consider quitting their job and maybe even stop showering.
Bad hygiene aside, I think that peoples’ love for chocolate has been sufficiently documented; this ancient bean has been lauded more than enough to puff the ego of your typical male model. When it comes to chocolate, I know that not everyone shares my sentimemts, but when something has been equated to, or at times even preferred over than say, sex, you know that its virtues cannot be underestimated.

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Green and Black's Organic Cocoa Powder
Here are a few reasons why chocolate is good:
1. It tastes good, oh so blissfully good.
2. It has undeniable health benefits. Chocolate is known to have properties that combat heart-disease.
3. Chocolate makes you happy. The phenyethylene and anandamide contained in chocolate have anti-depressant properties.
4. You can eat chocolate to surfeit, but can be coherent enough to drive a car.
5. It contains small amounts of cannaboids, like that found in marijuana, and is still perfectly legal.
I can rant and rave about how good chocolate is until the proverbial cows come home but instead I will leave you
with a recipe for Cocoa Cappuccino Cookies that I found on Diana’s Desserts. There is no need for any illustrative prose to describe how marvellous these cookies tasted. Try them for yourself. They appear quite stodgy, but the cookies are deceptively lighter than they look. The egg whites help to create a light and airy batter, making them very moreish. Here is the recipe.

Cocoa Espresso Cookies
(makes a dozen large cookies)

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1/3 cup unsalted butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon instant coffee granules
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon ground
2 large egg whites
1/3 cup yoghurt
1 tsp vanilla
1½ cups plain all-purpose flour
¼ granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 180˚C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the cocoa powder, coffee, baking soda and cinnamon. Beat until combined.
Beat in egg whites and yoghurt until incorporated.
Slowly fold in the flour mixing until all has blended with the mixture.
Place granulated sugar into a small bowl. Dredge mounds of dough in the sugar and place on the baking sheet about 5 cm apart.
Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes or until the edges are firm to touch.
Transfer cookies to a wire rack and cool.

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20 comments:

wheresmymind said...

Chocolate AND expresso....sweet! All you need now is some speed and you'll be awake for days ;)

Ilva said...

These cookies both sound and look great! And so are your pics!

Anonymous said...

gorgeous. green and black is the *best*. what type of camera do you use, your pics are beautiful

Bonnie said...

I'm so making these! Thanks for the recipe!!! YUM!

Canadian Baker said...

Your cookies look delicious! I love that they're rolled in coarse sugar - it makes them look sparkly. :)

tytty said...

do you like nutella? hehe.

Anonymous said...

Lush! Beautiful! Drool...

Jenny said...

Those look yummy, even with the coffee part! Going to have to try them soon!

Joe said...

Oh how I love the chocolate and coffee/espresso combo!

Unknown said...

Looks yummy! Gonna have to try this out on my dad!

Anonymous said...

Divine photos Jenjen...I could even bypass the actual cookie and just eat a spoonful of batter, it looks that good!

Alpineberry Mary said...

Goodness gracious! Espresso and chocolate together is to die for. I love the sugary crust on the cookies too.

Peet's Coffee & Tea (a chain here in the US) serves a Scharffen Berger cocoa and espresso blended drink topped with whipped cream and shavings of Scharffen Berger chocolate.

Anonymous said...

Hey JenJen,

The cookies look great... Only thing is that as a bonafide coffee snob I am required to raise the issue that instant coffee is not espresso.

I too used to be an instant coffee drinker, so I'll cut you some slack... but freshly made espresso should be a thing of beauty, of which instant coffee is a pale imitation.

Still, they look very tasty... Bake on :)

Matt

Jen said...

wheresmymind- oh you you're such a bad influence : )

Ilva- Thanks, that means a lot coming from such a seasoned photographer as yourself.

Aria- I agree, I always buy Green and Black products, I find they are great for baking.
BTW I use a Canon EOS 300D.

Bonnie- Let me know how they turn out!

Canadian Baker- Yes I think they wouldn't look as good if they weren't rolled in the sugar. It adds a nice touch.

Tytty- I LOVE Nutella.

Bron and TwoDumplings- oh the batter is another thing in itself, i am with you both I could hapilly eat it all.

Tanna- ditto

Quellia and Clare- do try them as soon as possible, it won't disappoint.

Joe- definitely was a good pairing

Mary- thanks, that drink you mentioned sounds divine

Matt- I know what you mean about using espresso. But the wierd thing was when I used espresso for another batch I made, it didn't turn out quite as tasty. I am not sure why this is so. Have you got any theories?
But thanks for the kind pardon, you coffee snob : )

Belinda said...

I really like Green and Black's chocolate, must look out for the cocoa powder! These sound so good!

Anonymous said...

oh those cookies look so yummmm! the kid in me says "i want this, i want this!" i'll do this, i'll do this!

Anonymous said...

I am making these today!!!! thanks for sharing. Two of my absolute fav. flavors...is there a better mingling of ingredients than cafe and chocolat....I think not. Thanks Jen.


Cheers, G

Anonymous said...

PS: Just finished baking these cookies...they are delicious!!! Very rich and chewy. I had vanilla organic yogurt so I used that instead of plain, worked fine.

Thanks again Jen :)

Geraldine

Jenny said...

Yup, you were right! They were good! I reduced the coffe by 1 teaspoon, since no one here likes coffee, and rolled in turbano sugar (until I ran out) but they were nice and chocolatey and liked by 3 kids as well!
Thanks for the recipe!

Jeanne said...

Oh. My. Word. I think I can feel my waistlie expanding just reading this!! These look totally fantastic - and as always, your photos are gorgeous.