I made the recipe as written (for the most part) the first go-around. The recipe called for dried apricots. It made about 4 dozen cookies, so I split the dough in half and used dried apricots for half and dried cherries for the other half. I think the flavors of tart cherry and chocolate complement each other very well. In addition, the recipe called for whatever darkness (or lightness) of chocolate you prefer, so I used 70% bittersweet for mine. You actually use chocolate bars and then break them into nice sized chunks for these cookies, you do not use chocolate chips. Oh, and the recipe calls for 2-3 TB instant coffee, and I used 2 TB.
Anyway, when I put them in the oven, they looked like this:
They came out of the oven so thin (see photo on top labeled "1st try") that I could barely get them off of the cookie sheet without tearing them. Almost like lace cookies. Pretty much, all of the chocolate chunks melted, making a dark brown chocolate cookie. They were so hard to get off of the cookie sheets in one piece, most looked downright dreadful. Rats. Taste-wise, I would say they were "ok" but not something I especially wanted to eat.
I hadn't used all of the dough in the first try, so I put it back in the refrigerator while I contemplated whether there was a way to salvage these cookies. I hate to dump those valuable dried cherries, dried apricots, and dark chocolate in the trash! Yet that is how dissatisfied I was with my first attempt.
I decided to try again, by making a half recipe of my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe (minus the chocolate chips) and then mixing half of that dough with the cherry mixture and the other half with the apricot mixture. Surely they would come out puffier? Well, sort of. This is the photo at the top of this post labeled "2nd try". They ARE puffier, a bit. And they do taste better, in my opinion. The chocolate chunks mostly stayed in chunk form and the flavor combination was better.
Part of my problem with the flavor combination may be the fact that I don't drink coffee. I know, I am a total weirdo. However, I DO like the flavor of coffee, I just don't like the way it makes me feel (gives me an upset stomach)!
I don't know why this cookie is so flat, and why it made my normal cookies flatten as well. I would have to say that if you think the combination of coffee and chocolate and dried apricots or cherries is something you would like in a cookie, click over to my favorite chocolate chip cookie post and just add some dried fruit and some instant coffee to that recipe. Surely that would be better!
If you want to see the original recipe and read about our hostess's thoughts of these cookies, visit Peggy's blog, Galettista. In addition, if you are curious (as I am) to see how this turned out for other TWD bakers, visit the TWD blog and click on the post entitled "LYL: Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies". This is where we all leave links to our blogs. Maybe there is someone out there with a better solution than I!
Ah well, you win some, you lose some!
So glad you had your favourite cookie recipe to cheer you up after the disappointment.
ReplyDeleteIn order not to break them, I've let them cool (out of the oven) for one/two minutes in the baking tray (with parchment paper) and removed them afterwards with a large spatula. They did not stick to the parchment paper.
I loved these Mocha chocolate chips...I've doubled the ingredients (with some changes), split the dough into 4 portions and added different ingredients (such as orange, pecan+walnuts, dried cherries, almonds): a winner in our house (but I haven't tried your recipe yet! Thank you for sharing)
You were a good sport to make these twice. I wish mine didn't spread so much, but I enjoyed them.
ReplyDeleteIf not drinking coffee but not minding the flavor of coffee in baked goods makes someone a weirdo, then I'm going to fess up to being a weirdo, too. (I love coffee ice cream, too.) I'm going to check out your favorite recipe -- I'm always looking for a great chocolate chip cookie recipe!
ReplyDeleteI had a similar result with my test cookies from this recipe, but I took a different tack and made the dough into bar cookies.
I knew this cookie would be flat because the amount of butter is high compared to how much flour. I live in Utah at a higher altitude, so I added more flour because here they would be even more flat. I also left out the coffee and added cocoa instead and no apricots. They are actually really good (but maybe because of all the changes I made). ;)
ReplyDeleteI wish mine did not spread so much too... I left out the apricots in mine. Sorry you didn't enjoy these.
ReplyDeleteI used cranberries instead of apricots. I agree that there are better chocolate chip cookie recipes out there.
ReplyDeleteI love how you just kept trying to make these work. I checked out your cc cookie recipe and it looks really good. I never thought of using butter flavored shortening. And I love your daughter's proud my-mommy-made-cookies smile.
ReplyDeleteAw, sorry these did not turn out for you. Well, if you don't like coffee, then I guess you'll not miss them. I always freeze my cookie dough these days and I think that helps keep them thicker, though sometimes that is not what you want. You are a good sport to try twice!
ReplyDeleteSorry they didn't turn out for you. I have better luck if I chill overnight in the fridge or put in the freezer and then bake. They are a thin cookie. Good for you trying again though!!
ReplyDeleteSorry these weren't a hit for you :-(
ReplyDeleteI found that the second batch I baked which had more time in the fridge baked better, but these did have a bit of a flattened outcome either way.
Sharron, you certaily went out of your way to make this recipe work - I would never have the patience - and you actually pulled out your favorite chocolate chip recipe to "salvage" these - respect for all the effort you put into these cookies!
ReplyDeleteHave a great Wednesday!
You sure were a good sport to make up another batch of good dough. My cookies seemed to spread a lot too, even after an overnight rest in the refrigerator.
ReplyDelete