milk please.

aaaaahh! january. amid the detox smoothies, green tea diets, and new gym memberships, i decide to bake. desperate for something chocolate, sweet and warm, however lacking chocolate chips or chunks i flipped through my "martha stewart's cookies" book until i found a page that looked to suit my craving.

old fashion chocolate drop cookies - an altered version of martha's grammy cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour (the recipe called for 2 additional tbsp, but as i omitted 1 of the 2 eggs and 2 tbsp butter i felt it would need less flour)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup butter (less than called for)
1 large egg
2 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract (i always like to add a little splash more than called for)
sanding sugar


sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl... i never have the patience to sift, so i simply stir really well. i used ghirardelli natural cocoa powder, although the recipe called for dutch pressed version. it's just silly to have more than one kind of unsweetened cocoa in any new york city sized kitchen cabinet.



in mixer (of which i have my fantastic martha blue kitchen aid - the pride of my kitchen), beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. my mixture rarely looks pretty & fluffy because i fail to have room temperature butter and heat it first on the stove on low, cool and then add to sugar. this typically adds a slight caramel taste. add eggs and vanilla. martha's cookies called for 2 eggs, but since reading 'the perfect chocolate chip cookie' and how they improved the nestle recipe by using 1 less egg for better texture i have been reducing eggs in almost all my recipes and having stellar omelets with the surplus. beat to combine. reduce speed to low and gradually add flour mixture. beat to combine.

place dough between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and flatten. chill until firm. recipe calls for at least 1 hour, but i have little patience for high maintenance baking so mine chilled for only 23 minutes.


preheat oven to 350 degrees. form the dough into mini disks. coat one side of disk with sanding sugar and place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet, sugar side up. recipe called for rolling 1 1/4 inch balls and rolling in sanding sugar, however i find that the sugar burns off on the bottoms making them almost burnt. what's the point of chocolate cookies and sugar if it tastes burnt?!?


bake 10-12 minutes rotating halfway through.

i baked one batch with larger sized disks only 8 minutes and they were nice & chewy but needed to be separated with knife after baking as they fused together. my second batch were the requested 1 1/4 inch disks and baked the full 10+ minutes; these came out crisp and more aesthetically pleasing, hence using them as my key image.


the 1st batch...                                  

transfer to cooling rack. pour yourself a tall glass of milk and enjoy.

the aftermath of my sweet craving