I feel like a disclaimer is needed here: it is not my intention to turn this into a cooking/ baking blog. This blogs' intention doesn't change, it is still a Project 365, daily photo diary first and foremost.
My reasons for baking are the same as for cooking 95% of our family meals at home. I want to make sure my kids eat the best they can, even when it comes to sweets.
Who is Ziva?
Ziva is a very good friend from Croatia who has been asking me to share some of the recipes I use for a while now. Since none of these were created by me, but were found online and tweaked through trial and error, I don't see a problem in sharing them (I will try to reference where I got them from when possible).
I hope this explains why recipes will show up here and there on the blog.
Onwards to my most favorite cookie EVER, no joke!
CHOCOLATE CUT- OUT COOKIES
I found these by literally googling "Chocolate Cutout cookies" and I cannot find the site I found them on, for the life of me....
11/2 CUP flour
3/4 CUP cocoa powder (unsweetened)
11/4 TS baking powder
1/8 TS salt
3/4 CUP butter/ shortening (I use shortening because I cannot successfully soften butter, without melting part of it )
2/3 cup brown sugar (in muffins, you could substitute brown sugar for honey, but I don't recommend it here)
1 egg
In a mixer bowl: cream shortening and sugar, beat in the egg. Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and slowly start adding to the mixer bowl. In the end, you will be left with an equally moistened mixture that will be on the dry side and not completely cohesive.
I really like playing with flavors so I will usually add a flavor to the original recipe before I start adding the dry ingredients. For these cookies I like adding orange extract, or raspberry: about 1 TBSP since you don't want to water the dough too much.
You will need to kneed it a bit for it to be cohesive. Split the dough into two equal parts, wrap into plastic wrap and refrigerate for AT LEAST 2 hours.
I usually don't have time enough to do this all in one go, so I will leave the dough in the fridge overnight; take it out the next day about 3 or 4 hours before I'm ready to start rolling it out. This dough does tend to break easily but trust me all the frustration is worth it in the end. Roll out to 1/8 inch thickness, bake for 8 min at 375F.
Once the cookies cool I will usually melt some dark chocolate, spread over the cookies and add what I feel like on top, i.e. shredded coconut, almond slices..... play with it
