12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies - week #4 - Chocolate Cookies

And here we go again, you'll say. But the sweet torture continues ^__^.
Twelve Weeks of Christmas Cookies, and I can't wait to see what everyone's baked this week.

I've had a few failures this week, actually, great expectations that ended up in the garbage bin, completely inedible, either too hard or too dry or simply tasteless.  Trying out new recipes is always risky. I often find recipes that look good, and sound good, and then when I make them I realize the recipe and the picture have nothing to do with each other.
The recipe I'm bringing today is a second attempt, and only after bringing a few changes I managed to get something worth the effort. But they could still be improved, I think.
I've never had much luck with drop cookies. Let's say this is the first one I could call "a successful outcome". I expected it to spread like pancake batter (thing that usually happens to my cookies) but they almost wouldn't spread at all. Luckily I baked a couple cookies first to see how they'd behave, and then decided they needed to be flattened just slightly.
And let me tell you something, there were a few tears from the youngest member of my family when she discovered they were all gone, so I'm definitely making these again. I think I'll try putting some M&M's candies in there to colour them up, after all, we are waiting for Christmas here, aren't we?



Chocolate cookies


115 g (4 oz) butter
90 g (3.2 oz / 2/3 cup) muscovado sugar
90 g (3.2 oz /1/3 cup) sweetened condensed milk
150 g (5.3 oz / 1 cup) self-raising flour
20 g (3 TBspoons) unsweetened cocoa powder
65 g (2.3 oz) Kinder milk chocolate bars (or similar)

Sift the flour and the cocoa together.
Beat the softened butter until creamy.
Stir in the condensed milk, and then gradually the flour and cocoa mixture.
Chop the chocolate and add it to the dough.
Scoop the dough and place the walnut size balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Press each cookie slightly with your fingers.



Bake them in the oven preheated to 170°C (335°F) for about 12 minutes. Move them to a cooling rack.
They are great on their own, but I also sandwiched some with Nutella and simple homemade caramel sauce.
Not bad with ice cream ^__^, either.



Cookies al cioccolato


115 g di burro
90 g di zucchero muscovado
90 g di latte condensato zuccherato
150 g di farina autolievitante (o farina normale + 1 cucchiaino di lievito)
20 g di cacao amaro
65 g di cioccolatini Kinder


Setacciate insieme la farina e il cacao.
Sbattete il burro ammorbidito con le fruste elettrice fino a renderlo cremoso.
Aggiungete il latte condensato mescolando con una frusta a mano, e poi gradualmente anche la farina con il cacao.
Tagliate i cioccolatini a pezzettini piccoli e aggiungeteli al impasto.
Con un cucchiaino prelevate un po’ di impasto formando delle palline grandi come una noce. Appiattitele leggermente con le dita.
Cuocete i biscotti nel forno caldo a 170°C per circa 12 minuti. Lasciateli raffreddare.
Sono buoni così da soli, ma io ho unito alcuni con un po’ di Nutella e con il caramello. Si possono fare anche i sandwich con una pallina di gelato.



Čokoladni keksi


115 g maslaca
90 g muscovado šećera
90 g zaslađenog kondenziranog mlijeka
150 g samodizajućeg brašna (ili obično + 1 žličica p. za p.)
20 g kakaa
65 g Kinder mliječnih čokoladica


Prosijte skupa brašno i kakao. Ako nemate samodizajuće brašno, dodajte žličicu praška za pecivo.
Omekšali maslac (sobne temperature) umutite mikserom sa šećerom dok ne postane kremast.
Dodajte kondenzirano mlijeko umućenom maslacu i izmiješajte drvenom žlicom. Kad se smjesa ujednači, dodajte postepeno brašno s kakaom.
Čokoladice nasjeckajte na sitne kockice i umiješajte u tijesto.
Uzimajte žličicom tijesto i oblikujte kuglice veličine manjeg oraha. Stavljajte ih na pleh obložen papirom za pečenje i lagano ih pritisnite prstom ili žličicom na sredini.
Pecite kekse u pećnici zagrijanoj na 170°C, 12 minuta. Ostavite ih da se ohlade na rešetki.
Možete ih ostaviti ovako jednostavne ili spojite po dva keksa u sendvič s malo čokoladnog namaza (nutella ili lino lada) ili s malo karamela. Ako želite otići još korak dalje napravite sendviče sa sladoledom.



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