Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Chocaholic Cookies



A little while ago, I rediscovered, and subsequently bought all the books by Diane Mott Davidson.

I had read a few earlier, and I had one – the Cereal Murders – but as I re-read that one, I got a sudden urge to own them all. I found a good deal on Ebay, bought the rest from an Internet bookshop, and have been happily reading ever since. For those not familiar with these books, they’re called Culinary Mysteries and is a certain little genre of their own.

The heroine, Goldy, is a caterer in Aspen Meadow, Colorado. She tends to stumble upon crimes, again and again. The books are classic murder mysteries – but they’re also peppered with recipes! As Goldy cooks for her various engagements, she’ll share recipes with the readers, and boy – some of them sound absolutely excellent. I haven’t tried that many yet, but I really look forward to doing so. However, I made these wonderful chocolate cookies for mine and Per’s anniversary – we’ve been a couple for six years!

Diane Mott Davidson call these Chocaholic cookies, and they are indeed – shock-full of chocolate, and yummy beyond belief. I halved the original recipe, so you can easily double this. I find that the yield in the books is usually a little bit off, but not by too much. I got 24 cookies out of this, and according to the recipe, it should have been 30. Oh well. These are some of the best cookies I’ve ever had. They’re deep, dark and thoroughly satisfying. The creamy white chocolate glaze really sets off the chocolateness of the cookie – I couldn’t help myself, and wolfed down four as soon as the glaze was starting to set. Do try them!



Chocaholic cookies
From The Main Corpse, by Diane Mott Davidson

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup good quality dark chocolate, chopped
1 stick (115 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
¾ cup flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt (I omitted this since I used regular butter instead of unsalted)
¼ cup of unsweetened cocoa (actually – this is the amount in the regular, doubled recipe – but it worked well for me. More chocolate = better.)
1 large egg
½ tbsp milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100 g white chocolate
1 tbsp vegetable shortening

Preheat oven to 175 C / 350 F. Combine the oats and the chocolate chips, set aside. Sift the flour with the salt, baking soda and cocoa. Set aside. Beat the egg with the milk and the vanilla – set aside. Beat the sugars with the butter until soft and creamy. Add the flour/cocoa mix and blend well. Add the egg-milk-vanilla mixture. Finally, add the oats/chocolate mixture, and blend everything into a well mixed though. (I used my trusty Kitchen-Aid.)

Use a two-tablespoon scoop (here is where my yield is probably off, since I didn’t have one and just guesstimated) and drop batter 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Bake 9-12 minutes and let cool on a rack.

Melt the white chocolate with the shortening, and dip the cooled cookies.

12 comments:

Gaia said...

Hi Annie,
I'm Gaia, from Italy! I found the link to your blog, from Zarah's one...really good photos and you cookies must be wonderful! Well done!
I do love cooking as much as you,and i'm trying to start writing about food as a journalist!
bye bye
gaia

Anne said...

Hi Gaia! Oh, your blog has beautiful pictures! I don't read Italian (well, not a lot anyways) but I do enjoy the photos. The cookies WERE wonderful - do try them if you like to bake! :)

Anne

Nic said...

Wow, that is a lot of chocolate! I'm going to have to check out those books - I love the idea of a novel with recipes in it. I will be trying these to see how they compare with my Chocolate Cake Cookies (http://bakingsheet.blogspot.com/2004/12/amazing-chocolate-cake-cookies.html)... once we finish off eating all the cookies I baked this weekend!

Niki said...

I love the look and sound of them; and they don't have too much flour, either, which makes them even more attractive!
I've just finished a culinary mystery book too! An Australian author, Kerry Greenwood, writes mysteries and the heroine is a baker! http://www.earthlydelights.net.au/home.htm

Anonymous said...

I had forgotten about her books... I borrowed loads of them from my Mom and read them all in one big batch. They're a nice mystery reading morsel. And silly me never made any of the recipes.

I like how she started off her mornings doing Sun Salutations... it fits my romantic notion of what yoga can be. I never think to do yoga in the morning- too overwhelmed with the shock of waking up- Yuck!

-McAuliflower- off to see if she has one of these books hidden away

Niki said...

Guess what! I emailed this recipe to my friend, who is also a librarian (but one with more money) and she immediately phoned her bookstore and ordered in 3 of the books from the US! They arrived last week and she passed them straight on to me to read first. Tonight I finished The Cereal Murders, and will start another. Apparently some are out of print so we won't be able to get them at all?

Billie said...

These look yummy! I will have to make these very soon. I've read all her books, except the latest, which I'm almost finished. I have made a few of her recipes. They have been pretty good.

Anonymous said...

hm.. yummi... just waiting for the cookies to get ready .. :))

Anonymous said...

I just made these cookies today, they were amazing. One of the best cookies I've ever had!! Also, the dough is wonderful uncooked.

Anonymous said...

Hi Annie!

Those really do look divine! I was just wondering, would it make a big different if i used sweetened cocoa?

:)

Anne said...

Hi! I doubt it would make a huge difference, but I've never really encountered sweetened cocoa powder. Maybe you have to up the amount a bit, and cut down on the regular sugar?

Anonymous said...

I will try that! :) Thanks so much, Anne. Your blog is wonderful!