Saucepan Fudge Drop Cookies

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Saucepan Fudge Drop Cookies
Brownies in Cookie form

So, I've been trying to get up 10 minutes earlier every day this week in anticipation of the daylight saving time change. As I'm getting older, Springing Forward has been kicking my butt. The week following the change, I feel like I'm in a jet lag haze. So, I keep moving my clock up each night and have made a big effort to go to bed early (thank you DVR for helping me time shift!). Next week, I'll let you know if it works.

Saucepan Fudge Drop Cookies
This morning, since I was up early, I decided to make a quick batch of cookies, and remember seeing these on Tracey's Culinary Adventures blog. Tracey is a blogger friend who has great recipes and photos, and is always making something mouth watering!

This recipe was adapted from the book Bittersweet by Alice Medrich. Oh, it looks so good. Yet another book on my wish list!! The original recipe calls for a sprinkling of powdered sugar before baking, but we all skipped that.

Saucepan Fudge Drop Cookies
Ok. I gotta run. I have to GO TO BED soon! I am totally looking forward to the time change though..."playing in the street" after work or heading to the beach for a sunset walk. Awesome.

I hope you make these lovely cookies...seriously, you can get them done in 30 minutes, including washing the dishes while they are baking. Thanks Blue Ridge Baker and Tracey for introducing these gems to me! Good night and enjoy!

Saucepan Fudge Drops
Adapted from Bittersweet by Alice Medrich (as seen on Blue Ridge Baker and Tracey's Culinary Adventures)

See if your library has the book Bittersweet: recipes and tales from a life in chocolate by clicking here.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (I used natural cocoa powder, not Dutch)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar, tightly packed
1/3 cup yogurt (I used whole milk Greek yogurt, but I think all plain yogurts will work)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

As Tracey says, you need to work fast with the batter. I suggest having all your ingredients ready to go so you can assemble and dish it out in just a few minutes. These cookies take no time at all!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk flour, baking soda and salt together in a small bowl, and set aside. Place the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat and melt. Once the butter is melted, remove from heat and whisk in cocoa until smooth. Switch to a wooden spoon, and add both sugars and stir until blended - the mixture will be stiff and sandy at this point. Stir in yogurt and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and stir gently until just combined. Don't go crazy and overmix.

Immediately scoop dough onto baking sheets. I used a cookie scoop/disher and got a total of 22 cookies. I must have made 'em big...Bittersweet's recipe says you should get about 32 cookies!

Bake the cookies until they look dry on top and are cracked all over, but are still slightly soft when pressed, about 10-12 minutes. Mine were done in 11 minutes. Rotate baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back about half way through to ensure even baking. Slide the parchment, cookies and all onto racks to cool.
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25 comments:

Kathleen said... [Reply to comment]

These sound wonderful. I love that I can whip them up and have a clean kitchen in 30 minutes! I can't wait for day light savings! It means summer is on its way ;)

Samantha Kate said... [Reply to comment]

Wow, this seems like a tasty version of brownies! Yum :)
Also, great job on photographing such "not-so-photogenic" cookies!

Nutmeg Nanny said... [Reply to comment]

These look awesome! I love how dark and chocolaty they look...yum! Can't wait to hear if your spring forward slowly works...

Sook said... [Reply to comment]

Those cookies look so delicious... I want some!

DailyChef said... [Reply to comment]

These look great, and not too sweet either - bittersweet is my favorite type of chocolate.

Your strategy of adjusting to daylight savings time sounds very smart! Let me know how it works :)

Two fit and fun gals said... [Reply to comment]

yummy these look super decadent :O)

debbie said... [Reply to comment]

Wow, I've been making something very similar for years, an adaptation of a recipe I found in Cooking Light called Chewy Cocoa Fudge Cookies. It's sooo close, it must've been based on Medrich's version. Though it's weird that CL wouldn't have given her the credit. Anyway, I agree these are irresistible, and ridiculously easy. And fat-free yogurt works just fine!

Eliana said... [Reply to comment]

These cookies are the reason why I've got this book on my list. But I can't tell my husband because he is sick and tired of seeing my thumb through a cookbook as if it were a novel.

Heading to the beach for a sunset walk - I'm so jealous!!!

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

I've used this recipe in the past and it is always a big hit. I also love the fact I don't have bring out the Kitchen Aid to make them, so easy to mix by hand. Sometimes I add a 1/2 cup of Ghiradelli semi-sweet chips to mine. Also, I like your daylight savings strategy. I am going to try to implement it over the next few days, hopefully it will make it more bearable.
-a fellow librarian, Erin

Federica Simoni said... [Reply to comment]

mmmmmmmmm..che buoni!!

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

WHAT THE HELL. Where is the Saucepan Fudge Drop Fairy???

Snooky doodle said... [Reply to comment]

these look yummy :)

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

The cookies look and sound delicious. How does your DVR help you with the time change?

Unknown said... [Reply to comment]

Your cookies look amazing Mary! I love your photos so much. Someday when I make it to California I'd love a photography lesson from you :)

The Nervous Cook said... [Reply to comment]

Those look good enough to make an iced-cream sandwich out of!!

Nicole said... [Reply to comment]

All I need is a tall glass of milk -- The cookies look amazing!

The Food Librarian said... [Reply to comment]

Wendy/Pinkstripes,
The DVR is so that I don't have to stay up to watch a TV show...I can watch it in the morning, or when I get home from work. We'll see how this all works! :) - mary

Anh said... [Reply to comment]

I love the look of your cookies! So delicious!

thepastrykook said... [Reply to comment]

these look too good!!

Katie said... [Reply to comment]

These look wonderful. I love their crackly appearance

2.46% said... [Reply to comment]

These cookies are picture perfect!

Karen the librarian said... [Reply to comment]

Tried these with dark cocoa and coffee yogurt and decreased the white sugar to 1/2 cup to compensate. Yum!

Kira said... [Reply to comment]

Just made these. So tasty! Sooo easy! I usually spoil cookies, but these turned out perfectly. Time to pour myself a biiiiig glass of milk :D

Tricia said... [Reply to comment]

I made these last month as written, and they were yummy! Today I made them with a dairy free student at my preschool. I subbed coconut oil for the butter, and cultured coconut yogurt for the Greek yogurt. They were still yummy! They had a slight undertone if coconut with the chocolate, but if I wasn't trying to taste it I don't know if I would. YumX2!

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

It's mid-August in L.A., but these looked so good that I sweated it out and baked them this afternoon. I think I misread the recipe because I left out that extra 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder, not realizing that it was just part of the measurement, and not an instruction to "reserve 2 tablespoons." They still came out really good, despite missing that extra cocoa. They're just like little brownies with crispy edges and soft middles and the best part is that they're not too sweet!

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