Italian Chocolate Spice Cookies

The hall is decked, the cookies are baked and the candy has set—it’s time to entertain and be entertained!  I’m in the middle of a delightfully busy time.  I attended a couple of women only parties.  One of the girl parties was an ornament exchange, which I look forward to each year.  The other party was new to me this year, but it was lovely.  And, tonight I’m going to a cookie exchange.  In between the ornament and cookie exchanges, Les and I threw open the doors of our house, and had a cocktail party Saturday night.  We worked hard all day to get ready for our cocktail party, but all the hard work paid off.  Les and I had a great time at our own party.  I love when that happens!  We have a really fun group of friends who enjoy a good party, and as every hostess knows, the guests make the party.

I invited everyone to bring a dish to share, so we had some wonderfully delicious food.  I served cranberry salsa, sweet spicy nuts, caramelized onion squares (I’ll share the recipe later), double-decker fudge, brown sugar spice cookies and Italian chocolate spice cookies.  The Italian chocolate spice cookie recipe was given to me by a friend years ago (Hi Vicky!).  Les likes these cookies with a cup of coffee (sometimes for breakfast).

I have to tell you, though the Italian chocolate spice cookies were delicious, they were overshadowed a bit by the fudge, a beautiful apple pie, and a spectacular croquembouche. I had no idea Sandy and Brian were toiling over such a stunning dessert.  I should have known something was up when they were late, but I couldn’t believe my eyes when Brian paraded the croquembouche through the kitchen to the dining room where he placed it with the other desserts. (I did steal it away for a few minutes, so I could snap a few pictures.)  Sandy and Brian are fearless in the kitchen.  They have made most of the cover desserts from Fine Cooking’s holiday issues, and lucky me, I’ve even gotten to taste a few!  
 

If you are looking for a show-stopping desert, check out Fine Cooking’s croquembouche, but if you are looking for an unassuming but tasty chocolate spice cookie to share or enjoy with coffee, try these Italian Chocolate Spice Cookies.  Vicky and her mom used to make dozens of these spicy sweet cookies to share, so the original recipe made 10 dozen.  I cut the original recipe in half, but you can easily double it—just use a big bowl. 
 

Italian Chocolate Spice Cookies    
Printable Recipe
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ cup cocoa powder
1¼ teaspoons cloves
1½ teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
1½ teaspoons allspice
1½ teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
½ cup raisins
1 package chocolate chips
2 eggs beaten
1½ teaspoons vanilla
½ cup melted Crisco
½ cup milk

1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon milk (may need more)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Put all dry ingredients into a large bowl, including nuts, raisins and chocolate chips. Mix until well blended. Make a well in the flour mixture and add eggs, vanilla, Crisco and milk. Mix the ingredients (works best if you use your hands). The dough will be sticky. Using a small scoop to measure the dough and roll into little balls and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10 minutes. Cookies will be a little soft when they first come out of the oven. They will get a little firmer when cool.

Mix powered sugar and milk to make a thick glaze. Dip the top of the cookies in the glaze and let dry. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

Chocolate Butterscotch Double-Decker Fudge

It must be close to Christmas since I’ve made my grandma’s double-decker fudge.  My dad insists my grandma made this fudge by mistake when she didn’t have enough chocolate to make a full batch of fudge.  I have my doubts.  My grandma didn’t have a reputation as a good cook, so I think the things she did well are even suspect.  No matter how she came up with her double-decker fudge, I loved it as a kid, and it always makes me think of Christmas.  I try to make it every year.  This year I’m going to package it up and give it away as teacher and hostess gifts.

I made two batches this year.  My family, though secretly delighted, thought I was crazy making so much fudge.  How soon they forgot last year’s debacle! 

Christmas time last year, I had plans to give fudge as teacher and hostess gifts too.  I made one batch of double-decker fudge.  I scored it, covered it tightly and left it on the counter while I went to work.  When the kids and I got home, we noticed the foil I left covering the fudge was now suspiciously on the floor.  The glass dish was still on the counter, so I thought we had dodged a catastrophe.  But, on closer examination, I saw a dog’s tongue-width groove etched in the butterscotch layer.   The whole batch had to go into the trash!  Thank you, Chipper!

I’m afraid I’m scarred by the whole incident, so I went a little overboard this year, and made two batches of fudge.  I have also placed a dog-proof barricade in front of the fudge, so we don’t have a repeat of last year. 

Chocolate Butterscotch Double-Decker Fudge

Adapted from the original Fantasy Fudge recipe.

Printable Recipe

Chocolate Fudge Layer

3 cups sugar

1½ sticks of unsalted butter

2/3 cup of evaporated milk

12 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips

7 ounce jar marshmallow cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

Butterscotch Fudge Layer

3 cups sugar

1½ stick of unsalted butter

2/3 cup of evaporated milk

12 ounces of butterscotch chips

7 ounce jar marshmallow cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

Line a 13x9 inch baking pan with aluminum and spray with cooking spray, set aside.

Add the butter, milk and sugar to a heavy 2 ½ quart sauce pan, and bring to a boil stirring constantly.  Once the mixture reaches a roiling boil, boil on medium heat for 4 minutes still stirring constantly, so the mixture doesn’t scorch.  Take the mixture off the heat and stir in the chocolate chips.  Once the chips have melted, add the marshmallow cream and the vanilla, and stir until completely combined.  Pour into the prepared pan.

Repeat with the butterscotch chips (using a clean sauce pan).  Pour the butterscotch mixture directly over the chocolate layer. 

When the mixture has set slightly, score the top into one-inch increments.  Once the fudge has completely set, cut using the score marks.  Store in an airtight container.

Chewy Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

My daughter had her wisdom teeth removed Friday.  She is recovering nicely, thank you, though the soft diet is getting her down a bit.  I stayed home from work Friday to administer medication, fluff pillows, and run out for milkshakes (to be eaten with a spoon, of course), but since my daughter slept most of the day, I had time on my hands.  What did I do with all that time?  I baked Christmas cookies! 

I mentioned in my Thanksgiving post that my mom didn’t like the holidays, but she did like to bake cookies, or maybe she just liked to eat the cookies.  Either way, I do have good memories of baking Christmas cookies with my mom.  She had some tried and true recipes, but she always let me look though her cookbooks for new cookies to try.  We had some winners and some losers, but I always had fun. 

I have a collection of Christmas cookies I like to bake now, but as in years past, I always look through books and magazines for new cookies to try.  I save the Christmas cookie magazines I buy, so I have a few years worth of magazines to inspire me.  Each year, I’m drawn to different cookies. 

As I’m moving my family toward a healthier diet, I decided to see what King Arthur Flour’s Whole Grain Baking cookbook has to offer.  There are some intriguing whole grain recipes in the book, but I’m a sucker for oatmeal cookies, so I chose their chewy oatmeal cookies to try.  I added my own take on the cookies, and they are going to be delicious in my Christmas cookie line-up.  Are they healthy?  Probably not with a stick and a half of butter, but I do like the whole grains in the cookies.  Chewy Cranberry Oatmeal cookies are a sweet, tart and spicy combination that I’m glad I tried this year.

Chewy Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Adapted from Whole Grain Baking from King Arthur Flour

Printable Recipe

¾ cup unsalted butter (1½ sticks)

1 ¼ cup dark brown sugar, tightly packed

3 tablespoons dark corn syrup

¾ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ginger

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 1/3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1 ¼ cups whole-wheat pastry flour

2 cups dried cranberries

1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

Preheat oven to 350°F, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer add the butter, sugar, corn syrup, baking soda, baking powder, salt cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, vinegar and vanilla, and beat with the paddle beater until creamy.  Beat in the egg.  Add the oats, flour, cranberries and nuts and stir to combine.  Using a small ice cream scoop, drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets.  Bake cookies until they begin to brown around the edges, but are still soft in the center, about 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheets about halfway through.  Remove the cookies from the oven and let rest on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, and then transfer the cookies to a rack to cool.  Makes 4 to 5 dozen cookies.