Amidst getting 20+ hours of sleep and taking pictures of my dogs, I somehow found time to make cookies this weekend. Just call me superwoman.
I would love to say that these cookies were made with a purpose and gobbled up at a very important event. But that would just be a disguise for the fact that I definitely ate ten by myself, while sitting alone in my apartment. Try to contain your jealousy for my super exciting lifestyle.
In case you are highly imperceptive, these first three pictures are meant to show you that I ended up making these cookies three different ways. It was too hard to choose a favorite, and I used the same base recipe for all of them, so I’m putting all three in one gigantic picture book of a post.
Go ahead – pretend that you’re not excited about picture books.
Let’s kick things off with the base recipe. When I first had the idea for a chocolate-covered strawberry cookie, I imagined a very light and fluffy cookie coated in rich, thick dark chocolate. And that’s exactly what I got.
I am generally a stickler for making everything from scratch, but I may have cheated a little bit this time. I have a lot of sleeping to do, people.
I was inspired by this simple cake mix recipe, but could obviously not make a strawberry cookie without any real strawberries. So with a few modifications, I give you my version.
Ingredients:
1 pack cream cheese
1/2 stick butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp honey
3/4 pint fresh strawberries
1 box strawberry cake mix
1/4 c flour
First, preheat the oven to 350. Cream together the cream cheese and butter. Then, mix in the egg, vanilla, and honey.
Mash the strawberries to a chunky consistency.
Add them into the mixture (with the liquid they’ve released).
Little by little, mix in the box of cake mix.
We need a little extra flour since we added extra liquid with the fresh strawberries. Stir in 1/4 c more until mixture reaches a doughy consistency.
Restrain yourself from eating too much dough. I am not very good at this part.
Drop the dough you haven’t eaten by tablespoonfuls onto a baking sheet and bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Make in small batches.
For the first variation (pretty strawberry-shaped cookies), you will also need a bar of dark chocolate, white pearl sprinkles, and basil or mint.
Mold the dough into a strawberry shape before baking. Press the pearls into the cookies while they are still warm to make the strawberry seeds. Melt the dark chocolate over a double boiler and dip the cookies in halfway. Then, garnish with some fresh herbs as the stem (these taste much better than actual stems).
Aren’t they just lovely?
For the second variation, cut the pretty shit. No pearls, no shapes, no herbs, just chocolate. Let’s be real – that’s what you really want, isn’t it?
I thought so.
Make normal cookies and dip them into melted dark chocolate. These, I ended up liking a little better because (duh) they had more chocolate.
If you want the chocolate to have a pretty shine, add a little bit of corn syrup to it while it’s melting. I didn’t have any corn syrup on hand – mostly because I think it’s disgusting. But feel free to use it. I’m not one to judge.
The final variation isn’t chocolate at all. It’s a balsamic drizzle. And it is incredible. Just heat some balsamic with an equal amount of sugar, mix with powdered sugar and a little cream cheese, then drizzle over the cookies.
I think the fresh herbs (basil or mint will work) really add a lot to this flavor combo. It’s one of my all-time favorites, and you may recognize it from my Strawberry-Balsamic Cheesecake.
Okay, kids. The picture book is over. I wish I could that means it’s naptime, but it’s actually time for me to get my ass onto the stair master and give the rest of these cookies away before I ruin my chances of ever getting laid again.
Happy Sunday!
Source: ringfingertanline.com (defunct blog)
