Friday, August 24, 2012

Chocolate Drop Cookies


What follows is a family treasure.  This recipe has been passed down for generations in our family - the original recipe having been modernized relatively recently, by my Great Grandmother.  These cookies are a part of my heritage.  They were a coveted part of every Christmas Plate my mother presented to neighbors.  They were at every family reunion, every special tea party and occasionally made their appearance to entice the appetite of someone who was under the weather.  These cookies are a taste of our home.

A couple of weeks ago, dear friends came over for a quick visit.  Their eldest son, who is heading off to college, enjoyed a Chocolate Drop cookie or two (or maybe three or four) and asked if, please, could he have the recipe.  Never one to deny a recipe, I told him it was probably on my blog.  After conducting a quick search, I found, to my horror, that the recipe had never graced these pages.  And so, I made another batch of cookies (so that I could take pictures - not because we wanted to indulge you know!) in order that a certain young man would have this recipe at his disposal.

One thing I must tell you, is that a requirement for making Chocolate Drop cookies is frosting them on the bottom.  Yes, you read that right - the bottom must be frosted.  My Great Grandmother, my Grandmother and my Mother all frost their cookies on the bottom (as do I, of course).  Really, when you think about it, this makes perfect sense.  The bottoms are nice and flat and imminently spreadable.  We frost the bottoms of every frosted cookies we make, be they Chocolate Drops, Sugar cookies or whatever else catches our fancy.

And so, without further adieu, Chocolate Drop Cookies....

Chocolate Drop Cookies
1 C brown sugar
1/2 C butter (1 Cube), softened
1 egg
1/2 C milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 3/4 C flour
6 T cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Cream the brown sugar and the butter.  Add egg, milk and vanilla extract.  Beat until smooth.  Add the flour, cocoa and baking soda.  Mix thoroughly.  Drop by teaspoon full onto a greased cookie sheet (or a cookie sheet that has been well seasoned).

*The batter should be the consistency of a thick cake batter.  Thin with a little more milk if too thick.

Bake at 350° for 15 minutes.
Mixing the butter and brown sugar
Adding the flour, cocoa and baking soda
The batter should be like thick cake batter
Drop by teaspoon full onto baking sheet
Frosting
2 T melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 T milk
2 C powdered sugar
3 T cocoa powder

Mix butter, vanilla and milk.  Add powdered sugar and cocoa and beat until thoroughly mixed.  Add milk until spreading consistency has been achieved.
Pouring melted butter into the mixer
Frosting should be spreading consistency
Serve with a lovely cup of tea (coffee will do in a pinch!).

Remember to frost on the bottom



9 comments:

  1. Thank you! The people of my land will enjoy them. I'll just have to make a few test batches first, to make the recipe work at this elevation! I hope I can get back to see you folks again sometime!

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  2. Ohohoh my! These are amazing! Soooo good! And just for you, I frosted the bottoms, lol! Yum! Thanks for sharing!!

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  3. My husband loves chocolate and frosting. He will love these! What kind of mixer are you using? Thanks!

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  4. Made them tonight. Mmmm Note: they do not spread out much larger than the dollop you put on the pan, so go ahead and place them close to each other. VERY light and moist.

    I have dental appt tomorrow morning. Since I'm trying to watch what I eat (and these are fantastic), I anticipate passing along thank yous from the dental staff.

    Thanks for sharing.

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  5. Do yourself a favor and DOUBLE the recipe!

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  6. I frosted the bottoms then put another cookie on top of the frosting, making "sandwich cookies." Awesome. Dental staff went nuts, as anticipated.

    Thanks again for the recipe

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  7. I have Dutch Process Cocoa and am out of regular old Hershey's. Would it work?

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  8. Momma of Many;
    Any old cocoa powder should work just fine! I hope they turn out well.

    Enola

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  9. I just made these and they spread all over the cookie sheet! I think I won't grease my cookie sheet next time. I checked the ingredients and I had those correct. The baking soda is good until 2014. I chilled the dough for a couple of hours prior to baking them. Next time, no greased cookie sheet. Any thoughts?

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