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Carl Davaz

If you’d like to give your chocolate-loving Valentine something homemade this year, bake a tin of deeply chocolate cookies.

Make them large or small, topped with a sprinkling of sugar, or use frosting to write words of endearment. Make one very large cookie for a grand gesture. It would give you enough room for a marriage proposal or a short poem.

When you make large cookies, they almost always get distorted when you transfer them to the baking sheet. It’s easier to roll the dough out on the parchment paper, then put the whole thing on the baking sheet. Cut out the cookies and pull the excess dough away. You’ll end up with much prettier cookies.

If your valentine is fond of such things, a generous pinch of cayenne, a few grindings of black pepper, or ¼ to ½ teaspoon of ground chilies could be added. This recipe was originally from Maida Heatter (she called them Pennsylvania Dutch Chocolate Cookies), who added 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. She also replaced 1 cup of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour.

Make ice cream sandwiches by rolling the dough a little thicker and undercooking the cookies just a bit so they stay soft.

Put a scoop of your favorite softened ice cream between two cookies and press gently. Keep wrapped airtight in the freezer, but let them thaw a bit before eating.

Dark Chocolate Cookies

Adapted from “Christmas Memories With Recipes”.

• 2½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Scant ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups sugar, plus extra for sprinkling on cookies
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• ½ cup flour mixed with 1 tablespoon cocoa powder, for dusting cutting board

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. The sheets don’t need to be greased, but I usually bake the cookies on parchment paper. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder. Set aside.

Cream butter with vanilla and sugar. Beat in egg and water. On low speed, gradually mix in dry ingredients until completely incorporated and smooth. Divide dough in half. Cover one half with an upside-down bowl while working with the other half.

Dust the counter and rolling pin very lightly with the flour and cocoa mixture. Roll dough about ¼-inch thick. Cut and place on cookie sheets about one inch apart. Use as little flour as possible when rerolling the dough.

Sprinkle the tops of the cookies generously with sugar if you aren’t going to write on them with frosting.

Bake about 7 to 8 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies. Do not overbake. They will seem a little soft, but will firm when cool.

Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container.

Frosting

• 4 tablespoons butter (½ stick), at room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
• Milk

Slowly mix butter and sugar until well-­combined. Raise speed on mixer, add flavoring, and whip, adding milk by dribbles to get the right consistency.

Place in a sealable plastic bag down in one bottom corner. Press out air and seal. Cut a tiny edge off the corner with the icing.

Squeeze frosting out, making the hole slightly bigger, if necessary.

Kim Davaz of Eugene writes the biweekly Eating In column.

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