For now though, I'll discuss some of the niceties and not-so-niceties of these "surprise" cookies.
I know from experience that sifting your dry ingredients is always a good way to make sure you have a refined, non-lumpy end product. So I commenced sifting. I have to confess that the recipe called for cocoa powder that wasn't "Dutch Processed", but I failed to read that when crafting my grocery list for the week, so Hershey's Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder it was.
Mixing the wet and dry ingredients included adding the dry to wet in 1/2 c. batches, which seems slightly silly to me, but I did it anyway, and I assume it helps the texture of the cookie. The resulting "batter" if you can call it that was almost a paste consistency. (It sure tasted good though).
Recipe instructed me to use an ice cream scoop to portion and shape these suckers, but after seeing how thick the batter was, I figured it might be a bit easier to spoon them. While this probably was easier, they certainly didn't spread during the bake like some other cookies I know. Mine came out a bit rough around the edges.Additionally the "surprise" marshmallow needed a bit of flattening after baking as they had essentially puffed up the the same height as the cookie.
And so after twice baking, cooling and frosting creating- here's the final product. They certainly tasted great, but the real surprise was the mess they make. I see no way around the oozing frosting pools from all the drippage.
I recommend for choco-holics and families who can eat these in a sitting. I doubt they pack very well, although I didn't try.
Happy Baking!
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2 comments:
After contemplating for a bit, I'd say if I had to make them over again, I'd add more confectioners sugar to the frosting to thicken it. The batch I used did harden somewhat over night, but more sugar would probably have been in order.
The Cookie Monster’s review: Chocolate Surprise Cookies
Let me begin by confessing that I’m a man of simple tastes. Considering my notion of fine dining includes oven-baked taquitos, KFC’s Famous Bowls and pizza, I am probably the least-qualified person to issue food reviews. With that in mind, I believe I am uniquely capable of rendering judgment on cookies, because as my parents can attest, I’ve long been a connoisseur of that fare. Cookies are in my wheelhouse.
The basic chocolate chip cookie is, and always has been, my favorite dessert item. People know this to the point that at work, the office celebrates my birthday with a giant cookie rather than cake. One of my favorite anecdotes as a child is from when my mother would warn me that excessive cookie consumption would stunt my growth (as it turns out, I’m the tallest person in my family).
Throughout time, I’ve encountered few variations of cookies that rival the standard chocolate chip. One is from a local sandwhich shop, which makes cookies with crumbled up Oreos in place of the chocolate chips. (Jess has already emulated this, and seems to have it down). I hold that oreo/chocolate chip hybrid and the freshly-made Mrs. Field’s chocolate chip cookie as the gold standard.
I’ll eat just about any type of cookie, but anything other than chocolate chip faces some skepticism. With that in mind, I was somewhat apprehensive of the broad options covered in Jess’s book.
For the first week, I selected the Chocolate Surprise Cookie, thinking that anything with that much chocolate, and so few ‘wildcard’ ingredients (e.g. nuts, berries) couldn’t be bad. Boy, was that a great selection. It gets a 10-out-of-10 from me, and I’m not just being nice because I know Jess will read this.
The Chocolate Surprise cookie recipe is solid, and Jess delivered on the execution. In my opinion, overcooking is biggest challenge with cookies. Even an otherwise fine batch of chocolate chip cookies can be ruined by keeping them in the oven for a minute too long.
The timing on these seemed to be perfect, as the Chocolate Surprise cookies were soft and moist. The bottom portion had somewhat of a ‘cakey’ consistency, but that’s absolutely fine with me. A clump of marshmallow compliments the ‘muffin-top’ taste of the base, producing a solid all-around cookie. The thin layer of chocolate on top is essentially along for the ride, but provides an additional kick for fans of chocolate.
Overall, this experiment is starting out wonderfully. This slection would make a great addition to any serious cookie lover’s repertoire. I can’t wait for the next batch.
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