Skip to main content

Pennsylvania Dutch Chocolate Cookies




Pennsylvania Dutch Chocolate Cookies 
Source: Maida Heatter's Best Dessert Book Ever (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1997 ed.), pg. 215.

Traditionally served after dark on Christmas Eve, according to her introduction to this fantastic cookie, but if you make these early I bet you won't make it until dark. These are wonderful and I loved them. They are very dark, crisp but chewy and have an intense chocolate flavor. Fantastic with milk or coffee. The cookies feel hard and would make a good gift to mail to someone. If you have it, use Dutch -process cocoa. It truly makes a difference. I am currently using Rodelle Gourmet Baking Cocoa.

1 cup sifted whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups sifted unbleached flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
8 oz. (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 TBS. water
Additional sugar (to sprinkle on the cookies)

 Preheat the oven to 400. Line cookie sheets with foil or baking liners.

 Sift together both flours, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and cocoa.

Beat the butter and add the vanilla extract and the sugar. Beat in the egg and the water.

Lower the speed of the mixer and gradually add the floured mixture. Scrap the bowl as necessary and mix thoroughly.

Turn out the mixture onto a board or work space and knead until smooth. Divide the dough into two separate portions. Roll out the dough until it is about 1/4 inch thick. 

Use a cookie cutter to cut the cookies. You can make them large (5") or smaller and any shape you want. Roll up the excess dough to make more cookies. 

 Use a spatula to transfer the cut cookies to the baking sheet. 


Sprinkle with sugar. 

Repeat the procedure with the second batch of dough.

 Bake for 8-10 minutes, turning the baking sheets midway through baking. Do not overbake. The cookies may not look done but they will be after cooling. Let them sit a minute or two before transferring them to a cooling rack.  Store them in an airtight container.
Yum
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Thank you, Phillip, for this awesome blog! Loved reading your taste and cooking notes - frank, detailed, and very helpful! My favourite Maida cookie recipe so far is her Coconut Oatmeal cookie. Can’t stop at just one...
December 18, 2019 at 5:39 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Palm Beach Brownies with Chocolate Covered Mints

Palm Beach Brownies with Chocolate Covered Mints Source:  Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1999 ed.) , pg. viii. I made these brownies again a few days ago and they were just as good as ever. This time I made half with York Peppermint Patties and the other half with Andes mints. There wasn't a noticeable difference in taste. The ones with the Andes mints were pretty with the mint green color but the ones with Yorks are equally pretty. When Maida Heatter's first book (the above-mentioned title) won the James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame Award in 1998, she accepted her award on stage and began to toss out these brownies to the audience. Everybody clamored for one and went wild. The original recipe came from a local deli in her area and did not include the mints (that recipe is available in the first edition of this book). She tinkered with the recipe and added the mints which do not melt during baking. I've been itching to ...
9 comments
Read more

Mulattoes

Mulattoes Source:  Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1999 ed.) , pg. 199. Of the hundreds of Maida Heatter cookie recipes, this may be the most famous. These are chunky but soft, extremely chocolaty,  full of nuts and chocolate chips. Sinfully delicious! They are easy to make. The trickiest part may be the baking time. After making them numerous times, I have learned to only bake them 10 or 11 minutes at the most, then remove them and allow them to sit on the hot baking pan for about 5 minutes. They will be extremely soft to the touch but eventually they firm up nicely.  I just use my hand mixer for these. Although the recipe states that it makes 18 large cookies, I find that the yield is slightly higher, even when making them fairly large. I use a tablespoon scoop to form the cookies. 2 oz. unsweetened chocolate 6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate 3 oz. (3/4 stick) butter 1/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour 1 tsp. baking pow...
12 comments
Read more

Frozen Chocolate Mousse

Source:  Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 2006 ed.) , pg. 228. Here is a dessert sure to make any chocoholic swoon. Silky and decadent, this frozen mousse is like a rich chocolate ice cream. It is really easy to make - all the folding required will give you a workout but it is worth it! The crust can be made with crushed wafer cookies or you could even buy a ready-made crust. If doing your own, the instructions say to apply the crumbs around the sides of the pan (use a springform pan) but I did not do this - I just made a bottom layer. You will have to run a sharp knife around the pan before releasing the catch on the pan. The mousse is soft (even after freezing) and it will need to be put back in the freezer as soon as possible after serving. Maida Heatter recommends covering the mousse with either whipped cream, strawberries or chocolate leaves. I did not do either, it looks lovely without a topping. Crust 8 oz. choc...
5 comments
Read more