Double Chocolate Cookie-Crumb Peppermint Bark . . .

Have you ever used peppermint oil in a recipe? Natural peppermint oil versus peppermint extract, I mean? I think it's a little like the difference between the taste of a really good candy cane and the taste of toothpaste. If you're going to use one or the other in a chocolate-based recipe I recommend a few drops of the oil. Tiny little bottles of flavoring oils--some natural and some artificially flavored--can be found in stores that sell candy-making and cake decorating supplies. Like miniature bottles of perfume, flavored oils are measured in drams and come in all varieties. They're just about as strong as real perfume too, so you don't want to spill this stuff!

Bark can literally be made in minutes and anyone can do it. For this simple festive treat I used one bag of Ghirardelli bittersweet chips and one bag of their milk chocolate chips. I melted the two types of chips in separate bowls and gently stirred until they were each completely smooth. Then I added two or three drops of Lorann brand natural peppermint oil to each bowl and mixed that in. Next, I poured the two chocolates, in alternate spoonfuls, all over a very lightly sprayed (with the smallest amount of a vegetable spray, like Pam) flexible plastic sheet that I'd placed on a cookie sheet with sides. I quickly spread the chocolate evenly over the sheet with an offset spatula, casually swirling it together.

Before the warm chocolate had a chance to start to cool, I sprinkled it with about one cup of crushed up chocolate cookie crumbs (I used Oreo cookie wafers, with the white filling scraped off), then I sprinkled that with the crushed-up pieces from two or three traditional, red and white, candy canes. I gently pressed the crumbs and candy pieces into the top, just enough to make sure they were well settled into the surface of the chocolate. The whole thing, on the cookie sheet, then went into the fridge for about an hour or more. Once it was completely firm, I lifted up an edge of the plastic and bent that back to start breaking the chocolate into pieces. (If you like, you can try cutting the bark with cookie cutters while it's not completely solid, but that's not foolproof. You might get a few perfect shapes, while others break apart. They'll all still taste fantastic, in any case.)

How easy is that? So easy, I'm not even sure it has the right to call itself a recipe!

P.S. Store your bark in the fridge, in a well sealed container, so it doesn't get too warm and it's not exposed to odors from other foods.

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Deep Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Fluffy Mocha Frosting . . .

Chocolate and coffee . . . a well-established flavor match made in heaven, don't you think? I know you love chocolate, but if you also can't live without good coffee (I'm raising my hand; you too?), then you're probably a custom-made candidate for these cupcakes. They're the deepest and the darkest. Well fine, you say, but are they moist? Honey, does Betty Crocker like to bake? Yes, they're very moist! Made with sour cream, they're tender and delish.

They get their darkness from strong black coffee, and their deep chocolate flavor from a sizable portion of Dutch process cocoa (use the best kind you can get your hands on--really). The icing derives its fluffiness from whipping cream, its stability from shortening, its mocha flavor from coffee and a tiny splash of Kahlua (the latter is optional), and--of course--its unspeakable charm from chocolate. This is a ridiculously quick and easy cake/cupcake recipe. I've made it many times, and it's never let me down. I think you'll like it.


Deep Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line two 12-cup muffin tins, or two XL muffin tins with six cups each. (You can also use this batter for a layer cake; two greased and floured 9 x 2" pans, or one 13 x 9" pan; increase the baking time accordingly.)

1 3/4 cups AP flour, unsifted

2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup Dutch process cocoa

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 large eggs

1 cup brewed coffee, strong (not hot)

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup sour milk or buttermilk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp. vanilla extract

In a large mixer bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and powder, and salt. Into that bowl, pour the eggs, coffee, sour/buttermilk, sour cream, oil, and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed for about two minutes.

Your batter will be quite thin, so you may want to transfer it to a spouted container in order to more easily pour it into the muffin cups. Fill the cups three-quarters of the way full. Bake for 17 -20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a few cupcakes comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool for a couple of minutes in the pan, then finish cooling on a rack. When they're completely cooled they can be frosted.



Fluffy Mocha Frosting

2 cups vegetable shortening

8 cups (approximately 2 lbs.) of confectioners' sugar (If it's Domino's "10x" then you likely don't need to sift it, but if it's just about any other brand, you should really sift it well beforehand. Trust me. I speaking from sad experience.)

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup of heavy whipping cream

2 Tbsp. strong brewed coffee, very warm

4 to 6 Tbsp. grated chocolate, any kind you love (I usually use dark bittersweet, either Callebaut or Ghirardelli's)

1 tsp. instant coffee powder/granules (or espresso powder)

2 tsp. of Kahlua (optional)

In a large mixer bowl, cream the shortening on medium speed until light and fluffy (a few minutes).

While the shortening's mixing, in a very small bowl mix the warm coffee and the grated chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted and combined. Add the Kahlua, if using, only after the chocolate and coffee are combined. Set this little bowl aside.


Add the sugar gradually to the shortening, in the large mixing bowl, and continue creaming until well blended. Add the salt and the vanilla, still mixing at medium speed at this point. Pour 2 oz. of the heavy cream in, then pour in the chocolate-coffee-Kahlua mixture. Mix on low speed until just blended.

Pour 4 oz. more of the heavy cream into the bowl. Increase the speed to high and beat until the entire mixture is light and fluffy, a couple of minutes or more. Stop every now and then to scrape the bowl and the beaters; the shortening tends to stick to the bottom and the sides of the bowl.

Reserve the remaining 2 oz. of cream to use just in case the frosting seems too thick to you, or too dry. Add it in at your own discretion. Too thin? Add more confectioners' sugar gradually.

Refrigerate any leftover frosting. This recipe makes at least enough to frost a two-layer cake, and more than enough for 24 cucpakes.

(*The cupcake recipe is my own version of an old Hershey's classic, "Black Magic" cake. My changes include the addition of sour cream, halving the sour milk/buttermilk, and requiring Dutch process cocoa. The frosting recipe is an amalgamation of several recipes I've seen and used over time.)



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Fail-Safe Chocolate Chip Cookies

Is the scene described below one you can relate to?

The setting, a typical suburban galley kitchen in a 1940s era bungalow, anywhere in the Midwest. Time, the present, approximately 7:15 a.m on a Tuesday.

Enter a tall sixteen-year old boy, dressed for school and hauling a massive backpack. He rushes through the room. Suddenly he stops, turns abruptly to his mother, who is standing by the sink holding a sponge, and blurts out, "Mom, Mrs. (fill in the blank), the lady in charge of (fill in the blank), says we each need to bring some kind of 'baked good' to the (fill in the blank) ceremony tonight. She said, 'preferably homemade.' I forgot to tell you." Teenage boy glances cautiously at his mother, plants a peck on her cheek, dashes out the backdoor, and speeds away on his bike.

The mother, momentarily dazed, still in pink bathrobe with hair decidedly askew, pauses momentarily in her activities. Gazing vacantly ahead she recalls the countless times this very scenario has been played out in her household since she entered the ranks of maternity. Almost instantaneously the mother collects herself, resumes her activities, and smiles calmly. With ease she has determined what she'll bake--her most reliable chocolate chip cookies. Once again, mom has the situation under control, thanks to a recipe she knows to be completely FAIL-SAFE.

My point: Every parent needs at least one no-fail recipe for a cookie that has broad appeal, and that can be thrown together swiftly. I have one such recipe for chocolate chips, one for oatmeal raisin cookies, and one for peanut butter cookies--three old standbys. In a pinch, I can always pick any of these time-tested recipes and proceed without fear of catastrophic results or otherwise unpleasant anomalies. You probably have your own old-reliables, too.

The recipe below is a derivation, adaptation, or corruption (I'll let you choose your own noun) of one that came originally from a Gold Medal flour bag. I made a few changes because I didn't like how thin and crisp the cookies always seemed to come out, though I did like their flavor. I experimented with a few batches, finally settling on the following formula. What did I alter? The amount and type(s) of fat used, the amount of flour, and the choice of chocolate chips.

The original recipe called for one and a half cups of butter. Instead, I use one cup of butter, two tablespoons of shortening, and 3 ounces of cream cheese. Also, I use three types of chocolate chips, instead of just using all semisweet, in the following approximate proportions: 60 percent bittersweet, 20 percent milk chocolate, and 20 percent semisweet. I strongly recommend you try Ghirardelli bittersweet chips; they're a bit larger than regular chips, exceptionally smooth, and taste really good. Ghirardelli milk-chocolate chips are also far better than a brand like Nestle, trust me--not cloyingly sweet and not at all waxy. For the semisweet chips, I have no quarrel with Nestle. They seem to have a good handle on the semisweet, but in my humble opinion, not on any other variety of chips. (Nothing personal, Nestle.) And, finally, I add a little bit more flour than the original recipe calls for--two to four more tablespoons max, depending on how much the dough seems reasonably able to absorb. These cookies have a pleasing texture that's nice and chewy, not brittle, and not cakey.

I use a large (no. 24) ice-cream scoop when I'm portioning these out onto the cookie sheets. That makes for pretty generous-sized cookies. A single cookie at a time will probably satisfy the average craving. That is, of course, unless you're a highly-active teenage boy, in which case you can eat a few at one sitting. But while we're on the subject, if you are that teenage boy, please try to remember to thank your mom for making them, okay? She'll appreciate it.

Jane's Fail-Safe Chocolate Chip Cookies

(For a printable version of this recipe, click here!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheet(s) with parchment.

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 Tbsp. shortening
3 oz. cream cheese
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
4 cups and 2 Tbsp. AP flour, bleached (and up to 2 more additional Tbsp. in case the dough seems to require it)
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
14 oz. bittersweet chocolate chips (a little over 2 cups)
5 oz. milk chocolate chips (a little over half a cup)
5 oz. semisweet chips (a little over half a cup)

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, shortening, cream cheese, and both sugars until light and fluffy, about three minutes on medium speed. Add in the eggs, and beat another minute or two.

Mix together the dry ingredients. On the mixer's slowest speed, add them gradually into the butter mixture, just until combined. Do not overmix. (If your mixer doesn't have a very low speed, do this part all by hand.) Add in the chips, again on the lowest speed or by hand, until combined.

Cover the dough and chill in the fridge or freezer until it's very cold. I like to divide this dough into three globs, wrap them in Saran wrap, flatten those packages just a bit into disks and put the disks directly onto a refrigerator shelf. This helps them get cold much more quickly. Or, you can put the dough packages in the freezer to chill at this point too, if you are in a hurry. I also highly recommend you slide your cookie sheets into your freezer to chill for a few minutes before you put the dough on them. I do this all the time. It's a big help when it comes to preventing the dreaded cookie-spread.

When the dough is quite cold use a large scoop (a no. 24 scoop holds about three tablespoons of dough) to portion them onto the cookie sheets. Leave a couple of inches between each cookie. Work quickly so your cookie sheets and the dough don't warm up. (Prep cold, bake hot. Prep cold, bake hot. Say that to yourself about a thousand times. It's apparently one of the great truths of successful cookie production.)

Bake them for about 9 minutes, then peek at them in the oven. Bake a few minutes longer if needed. When they're nicely golden, but not dark, take them out. The longer you bake them the more crispy, and less chewy, they'll turn out. Crispy is still tasty, but tender chewiness is really what we're going for here. Let the cookies rest on the hot sheets for at least five minutes, then remove them to racks to finish cooling, using a stiff spatula. Be sure to cool your pans completely before putting another batch of dough on them. You should be able to reuse your parchment a couple of times. Happy baking!

P.S. If you have any rock-solid recipes like this that you'd like to share, please comment and include your recipe(s)! I am always looking to add to the arsenal.

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