I had mentioned a few days ago that I was curious in trying out some of the recipes I keep finding within cozy mysteries I’ve been reading. I know I asked for help choosing one of the recipes from Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder, but at the end of the day, I have one person whose vote outweighed everyone else’s: my son. Of course, he chose the one recipe I couldn’t do because I don’t have a food processor. After some heated debate, with the book spread open in front of us, we decided to try the Black and Whites. In the book, Hannah bakes these for the Sheriff Department’s open house, in honor of their four new cruisers. Not really what I wanted to try for Thanksgiving, but can I just say, the dough smells delicious. It’s like making brownies and my mouth was watering as I put it into the fridge.

Ingredients

• Chocolate Chips, two cups
• Butter, 1/4 cup or 1 1/2 sticks
• Brown Sugar, 2 cups
• Eggs, 4 large
• Vanilla, 2 teaspoons
• Baking Powder, 2 teaspoons
• Salt, 1 teaspoon
• Flour (not sifted), 2 cups
• Powdered Sugar, approx. 1/2 cup

Steps

1. Using a microwave, melt the chocolate chips and butter. The book suggests microwaving for 2 minutes, but with my 700 watt microwave, it took three. Stir thoroughly until smooth.
2. Mix in the brown sugar and let the mixture cool. There’s no amount of time suggested, so I let it cool for about 10 – 15 minutes.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. If you’re not much of a baker, you may wonder how well you should mix each egg in. The mixture up to this point is sticky and gritty. When every part of the mixture mixes smoother, you’ve mixed that egg in well enough and can add in the next one.
4. Mix in vanilla, baking powder, and salt.
5. Add flour and mix well.
6. Chill dough for at least 4 hours or overnight if time permits.
7. When you’re ready to bake, preheat oven at 350ºF
8. Roll walnut-sized dough balls with your hands. Drop the balls into a bowl with the powdered sugar and roll them around until they’re coated.
9. Place the balls on a greased cookie sheet, 12 to a standard sheet.
10. Bake at 350ºF for 12 – 14 minutes.
11. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes and then remove to wire rack to finish cooling.

Note: If the dough gets too warm at any time, stick it back into the refrigerator until you can handle it again.

Don’t flatten the cookies before placing them into the oven. They will flatten as they bake. You should be able to bake 6 – 8 dozen cookies with this recipe based on the size of the cookie you make.

Verdict

My baking skills may be rusty, but I was really disappointed in how these turned out. Because you melt the butter, the cookies literally flatten to thinner than a pancake. They also become very crisp within a few minutes of cooling. They were still delicious, but I tried three different batches (including what almost resembles one of those cookie cakes you can get at the mall) before I gave up on cookies. The crunch/crispiness of the cookies reminded me of biscotti. So I placed them in a small casserole dish like I would brownie mix and baked them that way. I’ll cut them in strips later and my son and I can enjoy them with some hot chocolate tonight! It’s not what I expected and I’ll never use this recipe again. But at least it was interesting try.