Chocolate Crackles

I’ve been eyeballing these cookies since I first saw a recipe for them in a special Martha Stewart holiday cookie magazine printed back in 2006 and again in her Cookies Cookbook. Every time I’ve looked through my magazine, these Chocolate Crackles have always leapt off the page and said make me. Make Me. MAKE. ME.

But I didn’t listen until now. I don’t know why it took me so long, but man, I’m glad I finally did.

They are yummy and soft and just plain pretty. But mostly yummy. Oh and chocolatey of course. Very, very chocolatey.

So really that’s all you need to know, right?

Start out with 8 ounces of bittersweet chocolate. Oh yeah.

Melt the chocolate in a saucepan over another pot of simmering water. Then set aside to let cool.

I transferred it to a heatproof plastic bowl so it could cool a bit more quickly.

And yes, I tested the temp with my finger. And maybe more than once. : )

While the chocolate cools, mix together the flour, cocoa baking powder and salt…

… until it’s all combined and beautiful.

Set aside and beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in eggs. Mix in vanilla.

And then add the melted chocolate.

Add half the flour mixture, some milk and the rest of the flour mixture.

Don’t worry. I’m going to give you a link to the recipe.

Right now. And again at the end, too.

Anyway.

Once it’s all mixed together, divide the cookie dough into four equal parts. Wrap each part in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a couple of hours or until firm.

Now, my cookie dough seemed much more like thick cookie batter, so I also placed it in the freezer to get it a little firmer.

When ready to use, unwrap one section at a time.

I divided it into 12 pieces with a knife because I found that if I handled it too much, the “dough” was starting to melt from the body temperature of my hands.

But dividing it this way ended up working out pretty good.

Grab one of the small pieces of dough and quickly roll into a 1 inch ball. Every few you roll, rinse and dry your hands to avoid them sticking to your hands too much.

Roll it in granulated sugar and then roll it in powdered sugar and place on a baking sheet.

Like so.

Here’s the different stages for reference.

P.S. The recipe link only mentions using one of the sugars, but the one in my magazine calls for both. So I’d do it that way.

Wow. It was tempting to just leave them like this.

But then I wouldn’t get to see them do this after they baked.

They are just so pretty.

And so so good.

Martha Stewart’s Chocolate Crackles

I love trying new things and then crossing them off my “to bake” list.

How about you? What was the last new thing you baked?