Chocolate Icebox Cookies
I never realized just how much I have in common with dogs until my friend starting talking to me about Pinwheel Cookies; those wonderful cookies that look like spirals of butter and chocolate dough. I grew up eating them but had not thought of Pinwheels in years.
Just as the dogs started salivating when Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov rang the bell, I, too, could not get my grandmother’s Pinwheel’s out of my mind. I found Nana’s recipe and made a batch, which were good but not quite what I wanted.
The next night I tweaked the recipe. Only problem was that I was also baking two other cakes and chatting with my kids at the same time. All good things but challenging when I was supposed to keep track of one itty bitty detail of the pinwheel recipe…dividing the dough in half before adding chocolate.
I am sure you figured out what happened to my pinwheels; they became chocolate cookies. I wrapped up the dough up, refrigerated it, sliced and baked it and out of the oven came delicious Chocolate Icebox Cookies.
No pin, no wheel, just plenty of chocolate. I will get around to making Pinwheel Cookies one of these days. However, I think I will wait for a time that I am actually going to concentrate on what I am doing rather than everything else around me!
| Chocolate Icebox Cookies | Print |
- 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate
- ½ ounce semisweet chocolate chips
- 8 tablespoons butter, softened
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 egg, room temperature
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- For the cookies:
- Melt unsweetened and semisweet chocolates together. Set aside to cool.
- Place butter and sugar into mixing bowl. Beat together for 3 minutes, scraping bowl down as needed. Add egg followed by vanilla.
- Blend in flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Lastly, add melted chocolate.
- Transfer dough to wax paper, wrap it up and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Once dough is firm, shape into a log, 12” long and 1½” in diameter. Wrap up and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 325°. Line 2 baking pans with parchment paper and set aside.
- Slice dough ¼“ thick. Transfer to prepared pans. Bake in 325° for 12-14 minutes, rotating pans top to bottom and front to back halfway through. Cookies will lose their shine as they bake.
- Cool on baking pans.
- Betsy's tidbits:
- The dough must first be refrigerated in a ball or disc shape before it can be rolled into a log or else it will not hold its shape.
- The log may be frozen. Thaw in the refrigerator before slicing and baking.
