Cocoa Cappuccino Cookies

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.

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)



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.