Rolo Cookies

From the Vault: So I was going to do a brand new post about something I’d never made before but my computer decided to disappear several folders worth of pictures. We’re having a discussion about it but in the meantime please enjoy these cookies, they are stupendous.

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• 1 cup butter
• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ¾ cup cocoa
• 2 ¼ cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 packages Rolos (40)

In a large bowl mix butter, 1 cup of sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. In medium bowl mix flour, coco, and baking soda. Add to butter mixture. Roll 1 tablespoon cookie dough into a ball; flatten into palm of your hand. Place 1 Rolo in the center; bring sides together and roll into ball. Roll ball in the remaining ¼ white sugar. Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes.

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First off, these cookies rule. The cookie part tastes almost like brownies and has a great chewy/fudgy texture. And then there’s a Rolo in the middle, so how can you lose? I saw this recipe on Bakespace some time ago and was intrigued. So I copied it down for making in the future. I had forgotten that Spryte has a Rolo cookie recipe too and it looks like it’s easier to work with. The recipe I made has very sticky dough that was very hard (as in, impossible) to roll into a ball. But I found that it was less sticky after it sat for a bit. So next time I make these I’m going to let the dough rest for 15-20 minutes before I bake them. Still, next time I make them I’ll be using Sprytes recipe, they have a little more flour so shouldn’t be quite so bad. She recommends using cooking spray on your hands, but I didn’t. I should have.

The recipe I used says to mix together the sugars, butter, eggs and vanilla as the first step. I just couldn’t do that, I had to mix the sugars and the butter together first. Is that a bad sign? Am I getting snooty? Anyway, that’s what I did.

I took the sugars and butter and mixed them together.

I didn’t really cream them, but I mixed them together pretty well. Then I added the egg and vanilla and mixed it all up.

Then came the dry mixture.

The recipe didn’t call for any salt, which always tweaks me out. So I added a little bit. Forgot to get a picture of the dough.

Sorry.

Then I took big tablespoons, rolled them into a ball and squished them flat in my palm, like the recipe said.

Put a Rolo in the middle and brought the sides up.

Well, I tried to. It didn’t really work like that, the dough was way too sticky. So I wound up just taking big chunks of dough,

stuffing a Rolo in the middle

and squishing it around

till the candy was covered.

Then I rolled them in sugar and plopped them onto a parchment lined sheet.

Baked them at 350 and there you go.

They looked lovely, nice and dark and chocolaty. And tasted even better. These are my new second favorite cookies. First being chocolate chip, of course. Here are a couple more pictures of the middle.

I liked this one because it’s a good gooey caramel shot. And this is after sitting for an hour, so the caramel is totally set. So I highly recommend these, they are wicked good. They’ve got me thinking of what other kinds of candy I can fill cookies with. This is a dangerous path folks. Heh.

Filed under: candy, chocolate, cookie, dessert

Hazelnut Chocolate Brownie Cookies

From The Vault: I’m running around like a nut this week but I wanted to put something up here. Plus I realized that I had no sweets on the new site yet! That’s just wrong. These are pretty much my favorite cookie, I suggest everyone make them right now.

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I love chocolate and hazelnuts together, it’s one of my all time favorite combos. But for some reason up until just the other day I had never thought to actually go out and buy a bag of hazelnuts. Can you believe that?

I’m not sure why, but I had hazelnuts stored in the part of my brain labeled “want/cannot have/weak”. Until one day I had an epiphany. Now, I remember this clearly because all of the things I was doing were so out of character.

I was sitting in front of the computer (this is where you gasp). Eating a hazelnut/chocolate bar (now you should clutch your pearls and emit a more startled gasp). And reading food blogs (you may now place the back of your hand on your forehead and faint from shock). When someone mentioned a bag of hazelnuts they had in their pantry.

And I said, “You can buy bags of hazelnuts!? $@#%!”.

I’m not sure why I was surprised, but there it is. Heh. So I went out and got some. Then I needed something to make.

I remembered reading this post over at Yes, We Cook! and thought some hazelnut chocolate cookies were in order. Then I remembered some brownie cookies my mom made once when I was a kid. They were wicked good, a perfect combination of chewy/gooey/awesome.

They were spectacular. I loved them. I wanted to make them, with hazelnuts. The only problem is that after that first time my mom made them she lost the recipe and we never found it again. It’s like some kind of Greek tragedy. Sort of. But fortunately the internet was there for me. I punched “brownie cookie” in and got a metric web-load of recipes.

The one I finally decided on was from Brown Eyed Baker and the only change I made was to add the chopped hazelnuts (I know you can’t see them, but I assure you they’re in there). The dough was quite thin when I first finished mixing it, but letting it rest for fifteen minutes or so made it thicker and easier to work with. I did make a batch with it right away (I only have one functional sheet pan right now) and it came out fine. But I liked it better after it had rested a bit. The cookies came out a bit taller too.

The bottom line, though, is this: the recipe is awesome, it’s now my default chocolate cookie. It’s also the closest to recreating those cookies my mom made that I’ve gotten so far. And frankly, I have a feeling those cookies have been flavored by nostalgia at this point and nothing will ever live up to them. Heh.

Filed under: chocolate, cookie, nuts