I do not like baking chocolate cookies. Normally, I can eyeball a done cookie at 12 paces. Or at least by peering through the oven window.
Chocolate is harder.
Another tell of a done cookie is the aroma. Done just smells fuller and crisper. No, I can’t explain it. With chocolate if you smell it is done, it is halfway to burned and you better act quickly.
Therefore it was with some trepidation that I started on these cookies. These were a request cookie. I had the mint chips. They were actually Andes mint chips.
Once the batter was mixed I realized I had not substituted mint extract for vanilla. This gives the cookie a subtler mint flavor that I quite liked.
I portioned out my cookies with a cookie scoop and slid the first batch into the oven.
I had decided that I would try a slightly lower time on the timer.
And it worked!
All four and a half batches came out perfectly done.
Oh, and there is a third way to telling a cookie is done. But if you have sensitive fingertips I would not do it. You can tap the cookie, while still in the oven. If there isn’t a give and the cookie feels firm, it is done. Please don’t burn your cookies.
I could have used a dark chocolate cocoa but I quite like how these turned out, a pale chocolate brown color with hints of Andes mint green.
I probably won’t like baking chocolate cookies but at least this successful CTIAT buoyed my faith in my ability to do so. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.
Dispatches from the Evening Shift 