These Christmasy, chocolatey, soft, crispy, cookies will be THE Christmas cookies of the year! They are so easy to make, so delicious, and did I mention how beautiful they are? This is your sign to run to the kitchen, maybe grab a baking partner, and get busy!
Where it starts…
Every recipe post that I make, starts as an idea. It starts as a strike of inspiration that can come from anywhere. From another blogger, a video, a dish at a restaurant, anything can lead to a spark, that makes you want to drop whatever your doing and run to the kitchen. The idea for this recipe came to me from a video I can across, but the video didn’t come with any ingredients or directions, so I had to get creative!
The Process…
I had my idea, and I’d gather some general ideas on what goes into the recipe and how to execute it. So, I got started. The hardest part of writing a recipe blog post, is finding the exact measurements that went into the dish. I find myself adding more of something or changing the temperature of the oven until I get exactly what I am looking for, so putting my thought process down on paper as an exact measure is not as easy task. Talking through it and explaining what I did is a bit more simple.
I started by softening what seemed like the right amount of butter to me, and then combining that with some sugar, a dash of vanilla extract, one egg yolk, and a little bit of milk. You can choose to do this with a food processor or stand mixer, I chose to mix it by hand, just felt more therapeutic to me! I then added in my cocoa powder, 1/4 cups at a time, mixing as I went. When it was time to add the flour, I added it in 1/4 cup at a time until I felt like it was enough and my batter was just the right consistency, which was the consistency of soft play dough.
I used my food processor to crush up some pecans, you can choose to use walnuts as well, I just personally LOVE the taste of pecans. I then rolled my batter into little balls, rolled them in the crushed pecans, and placed then on a parchment paper lined baking tray. I wasn’t too worried about leaving a lot of space between the cookies because they are not meant to expand too much. I then grabbed a melon baller and made little indents in the middle of the cookies, to use for decorating later.
I popped my cookies into a 350°F oven, and the trickiest part of this recipe was figuring out how long to leave the cookies in for. I came to the conclusion of between 20-25 minutes, depending on your oven. Half way through, I took my melon baller and pressed the middle of the cookies down again to get a really defined indent which would later be filled with the fererro rocher chocolates! Once my cookies were done, I pulled them out and let them cool for a few minutes.
To decorate, I did three different variations, just to create some diversity in my cookies. The first variation was just the plain cookie by itself, simple and beautiful. The second variation was with melted chocolate in the indent of the cookies, and also drizzled on top. This gave a little bit more of a milk chocolatey taste for those who don’t like the bitterness of dark chocolate. Finally, the third variation was with a fererro rocher chocolate in the centre, and a drizzle of milk chocolate on top of that! If you’re a real chocolate lover then that is the cookie for you! I plated my cookies, snapped away some photos and then shared with my friends and family!
Some tips and tricks…
Soften your butter, don’t melt it: When told to add softened butter to a recipe, some people tend to over soften it, to the point where it becomes melted butter. This will throw off the consistency of your batter, make it harder to work with, or ruin it all together. A trick is to heat a bowl in the microwave, and then place it over your butter for 30 seconds to let it soften, rather than attempting to soften the butter in the microwave.
Check your cocoa to sugar ratio: I like dark chocolate, so I tend to go more cocoa and less sugar, but if you’re someone who likes their chocolatey treats extra sweet, adjust your cocoa to sugar ratio until its just the level that you like it.
Keep an eye on your oven: Every oven works differently, so a recipe might not be able to tell you exactly how long to keep your cookies in there. Keep and eye on the cookies, and once they are baked but still a little bit soft, they’re ready to come out. Cookies finish baking outside of the oven, so if you leave them in for too long they’ll end up hard and crispy, as opposed to crispy on the outside and soft on the inside!
Recipes are a guideline: Recipes are not a rule book that you have to follow! They’re a general set of ideas and you can choose to follow them exactly, or put your own spin on it to make it your own. The most freedom you give yourself the more fun you’ll have and there are no limits to what you can create!
The Recipe…
(for 12 - 14 cookies)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Softened Butter
1/2 cup Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Egg Yolk
1 tbsp Milk
1/2 cup Cocoa Powder
3/4 cup All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup Pecans
Optional:
Fererro Rocher Chocolates
Chocolate Melts
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350°F, and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
In a medium sized bowl, combine softened butter, sugar, egg yolk, vanilla extract, and milk. Mix until smooth.
Sift in cocoa powder and all purpose flour 1/4 cup at a time, mixing in between. Mix until ingredients are fully combined and have the consistency of soft play dough.
Crush pecans in a food processor.
Grab about 1 tbsp of batter at a time, rolling it into a ball. Roll the ball in the crushed pecans, and place on the parchment paper.
With a melon baller, press into the centre of the balls to flatten and create an indent in the centre.
Place the cookies in the oven and allow bake for 20 - 25 minutes.
Once baked, allow them to cool for 10 minutes.
Place your Fererro Rocher chocolates in the centre of the cookies, topped with some melted chocolate, and your cookies are ready to enjoy!
Final Thoughts…
If you’ve stuck around till here, thanks for finding my recipe interesting, and I hope you try it out for yourself! Please feel free to leave me comments to let me know what you liked, and what I can do differently next time, and if you try out my recipe make sure to tag me or DM me on instagram @minoomakesstuff so I can see it too! Stay tuned for more recipes coming soon.
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