Black cocoa powder – who knew?
We recently saw a recipe in Food & Wine (May 2014) for these cookies. We probably would have skipped right over it except for a strange ingredient: black cocoa powder. We’re always up to track down an esoteric ingredient & pay an exorbitant sum for way more than we’ll ever use. Just in case, you know… The more difficult to find the better. Black cocoa powder was not difficult to find – nor too expensive. Maybe next time…
Unlike a lot of the esoteric foods we buy (fish flakes, potato starch, etc.), black cocoa powder is not one of the ingredients we won’t use again. You have to taste it to believe it: earthy, intense, strong. Now, we just have to figure out how to add black cocoa powder to other recipes. I’m thinking brownies would be interesting if they were dead dark black. Or maybe in Ina Garten’s Aunt Beatty’s Chocolate Cake…hmmm.
Ingredients
- 180 grams (1.5 cups) flour
- 42 grams (½ cup) dutch process cocoa powder
- 22 grams (¼ cup) black cocoa powder
- 5 grams (1 teaspoon) kosher salt
- 227 grams (2 sticks) unsalted butter – at room temperature
- 100 grams (½ cup) granulated sugar – plus more for sprinkling
- 3 teaspoons lime zest
- 1 cup dried cranberries – chopped
Ingredients for Black Chocolate Cookies
Preparation
- Sift flour, cocoa powders and salt into a bowl and set aside.
- Beat butter and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer for 2 minutes – until light and fluffy. Scrape the bowl about half-way through (or use the fancy scraping paddle).
Cream Butter and Sugar for 2 Minutes
- Add lime zest and mix to incorporate.
Add Lime Zest
- With mixer on lowest speed slowly add dry ingredients just until incorporated.
If you have a standard KitchenAid mixer you may find a setting slower than the first notched speed (STIR on our machine). Just slowly pull the knob away from OFF and it should start at a really, really slow speed. This is perfect when you’re adding flour.
Add Dry Ingredients on Lowest Mixer Speed
- Add dried chopped cranberries and mix to incorporate.
Mix in Chopped Cranberries
- Scrape cookie dough onto a sheet of parchment and press to form a semi-flat mass. Top with another sheet of parchment and roll to about ¼“ thickness.
- Move the parchment-clad dough to a cookie sheet and refrigerate for about an hour to chill.
Roll Dough to about ¼“ thickness
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment or Silpats.
- Remove dough from refrigerator, cut out cookies with round cutter (I use a 3″ cutter and get two dozen cookies) and transfer to parchment-lined cookie sheet. Reroll scraps and recut filling cookie sheet. Sprinkle with granulated sugar.
- Place cookie sheet in middle of preheated oven and bake 12-15 minutes until just set. Don’t let them get too crunchy on the edges.
- Cool on the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.
Cool Cookies on Rack
Black Chocolate Cranberry Cookies