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closeCooking corner: Chocolate brownie cookies
Helen Taylor Smith
guest columnist
Almost everybody loves chocolate — brownies are particularly popular — but the traditional recipe is very high in sugar and fat, and it uses eggs.
This recipe has no dairy or eggs. It uses the chocolate as the only fat, and it’s low in sodium.
While most recipes call for some salt — which isn’t necessary to the taste — nothing I bake uses salt. Each teaspoon of salt is 2,300 mg, and too much salt can make susceptible people’s blood pressure rise.
Unbleached evaporated cane juice crystals are used in a very low amount, which is healthier.
If you choose to use nuts, be sure they are at room temperature or they will thicken the batter and make the spreading of each cookie difficult.
Check out Fred Meyer’s natural foods section for flour, baking powder, chips, vanilla and evaporated cane juice crystals.
Ingredients
1 cup unbleached white flour or spelt flour
1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
1/2 cup toasted chopped nuts, room temperature, or use chocolate chips (optional)
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup evaporated cane juice crystals (unbleached sugar)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
Technique
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line two 11-by-17 cookie sheet pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a 1 quart mixing bowl, whisk flour and baking powder together; if sifting is desired, measure before sifting.
Add nuts or chips (if using) and stir into flour to assure better distribution throughout batter. Set aside.
In a 2 quart glass mixing bowl, combine chocolates and water. Microwave on high for 45 seconds and stir until smooth. Do not add any water after melting, or the chocolate will “seize” into a lump. Add crystals and vanilla, and stir until smooth.
Mix the dry ingredients into the chocolate mixture, and stir to incorporate. Drop the dough by one tablespoonful and spread slightly using a second spoon to shape it into small circle about 2 1/2 inches in diameter.
Place 15 cookies to each sheet pan. Work quickly while the chocolate is still slightly warm in order to make spreading the dough easier.
Prepare both cookie sheet pans with cookie dough, even if only one pan will be baked at a time.
Bake 12 to 14 minutes. The finished cookies will have a dull appearance.
Remove the cookie pans from the oven and let them stand a few minutes before you remove them, so the cookies don’t stick. Cool on paper towels or a wire rack.
Store cooled cookies in an airtight container and refrigerate after two days to retain freshness.
Yield — 30 cookies
TIP
Use a longer baking time for drier, crispier cookies. If a softer cookie is desired, use a shorter baking time.
Times depend on your oven, because temperatures can vary. Watch cookies to be sure they don’t burn. Bake one cookie sheet pan at a time for better control, and move the rack to middle of oven.