Peppercorn Press

Our retail shop just hosted its annual Holiday Open House.  We decorate several trees for Christmas and typically go all out on food, wine, etc., and invite the employees and clients alike to come celebrate with us.  While decorating for Christmas in mid-November can be tiring both physically and mentally, we have found that this year it has really gotten us into the spirit of the holidays early.  For us the holidays begin at Thanksgiving and end with New Years.  We found ourselves planning Thanksgiving dinner before Halloween, and in turn planning Christmas dinner this last week.  This last week also found us in the mood to bake cookies.  Since our open house was this week, we gave into the temptation to bake.  We rifled though our recipes and dusted off an old favorite that we hadn’t made for some time — Chocolate Crinkles!

One great thing that these cookies have going for them — besides being chocolate —  is that they also make a tasty gift, either for a hostess, or to someone far away as they survive the U.S. Mail system surprisingly well.

Ingredients

½ cup melted butter (not margarine)

4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, melted

3 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups granulated sugar

4 large eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

Preparation

In the large mixing bowl, combine melted butter, melted chocolate, vanilla, and granulated sugar.  Add the eggs one at a time.  Sift together, flour, baking powder and salt.  Add flour mixture to the chocolate mixture one spoonful at a time, incorporating each one before adding the next.  Chill dough overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Drop teaspoonfuls of chocolate dough into the confectioners’ sugar.  Roll the dough in the sugar shaping into balls.  Place the balls 2-3 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 9-11 minutes.  Be careful not to over bake.  Allow to rest on the cookie sheet for 2 minute before removing to a wire rack to cool.  Makes approximately 60 cookies.

Find other decadent chocolate recipes, or delicious dishes for the holidays in these recipe collections from Peppercorn Press:

Enjoy!