Bakers: Help with 2 Chocolate Cookie problems

16 years ago

I'm having 2 problems getting my rolled chocolate cookies consistently flavored and baked.

I use a Martha Stewart recipe for rolled Chocolate cookies that I then have fun decorating. Since I bake cookies in quantity, I have converted my recipes to fit the size of my stand mixer and weigh the dry ingredients instead of measuring in cups.

The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion book chart says 1 1/4 cups of cocoa converts to 3 3/4 oz. When I doubled the recipe and use weights, the comments on the chocolate cookies went from "to die for" to "inedible, way too chocolatety". Where am I going wrong? Can the conversion chart be wrong? Please don't suggest I go back to cup measures because I bake in too much quantity and find it's the only way to be accurate with large quantities of flour under any weather conditions.

2. What is the secret to baking chocolate cookies without scorching them? I find there is a fine line between "crisp" and "scorched". I am so afraid of scorching them, I wind up baking them to less than crisp. One thing I have tried is baking them on a stack of two cookie sheets which has helped reduce the risk of scorching. Still, I'd rather they be crisp than soft in texture. Any pointers are appreciated! How can I test them along the way. My nose can sure smell scorched chocolate but that's too late!

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Comments (11)

Terri_PacNW
16 years ago
I found a caculator that says 4 c of cocoa equals 1lb.
So 1 cup equals 4oz. Yet you said that they were to strong, this ratio is way more than the you used... so they'd be even stronger.
I'm guessing since you don't want to cup measure this ingredient..you just need to figure out what weight will give you the best results.

As far as baking..I use stoneware to bake. I find the bottoms don't scorch for a very long time after the tops might. I have never ever "burnt" a cookie bottom on stoneware, but they taste scorched all the way through.
lindac
16 years ago
Measure the 1 1/4 cups of cocoa, weigh that and double that and weigh out that amount.
Somenow you are getting more cocoa in relation to sugar when you double the recipe.
Are you baking on parchment? Silpat? That definitly helps with cookies scorching on the bottom.
Linda C
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Terri_PacNW
16 years ago
Good idea Linda..LOL Why didn't I think of that.
msafirstein
16 years ago
Linda's suggestion of using parchment is exactly what I would recommend too.

Are you baking in a convection oven? If so, lower the temp by 25 degrees.

Chocolate Cookies are not easy to bake, either you underbake or overbake them. I like soft cookies so I just keep my eye on them and then there is just a little resistence when I touch them in the middle, the cookies are done.

You can cut down the chocolate which is what is scorching but this might take a bit of experimenting before it is to your taste. To begin I could cut down the cocoa by 1/4 c. and add a rounded TBL of instant expresso coffee powder. The expresso enhances the chocolate and makes the cookies absolutely yummy!!

Michelle
lov2garden
Original Author
16 years ago
Oh, Linda! How dumb am I???? It never occurred to me to measure & weigh a "test batch" of the cocoa!
Wonderful help! Thanks so much!!!
Yes, I always roll, cut & bake on parchment. I just tried using two cookie sheets under the chocolate cookies & it seems to be helping. Are you thinking I should put a silpat under the parchment? Martha's recipe makes such a dark chocolate cookie that you can't tell doneness by looking as with sugar cookies or gingerbread. I'm trying touching the center to test for firmness but what an OWWEEEE burn when I touched a "medium rare" cookie by accident and the hot dough stuck to my finger!

Michelle, I wish I were baking in a convection oven! I've heard that you don't need to rotate the cookie sheets in a convection oven and that you can bake 3 or 4 sheets at a time. I hope this is true...can anyone confirm? I did add 1 tsp of expresso powder but will try 1 T. I was afraid I'd taste coffee in the background with more than 1 tsp...can you? Since I am shooting for a bit crisper than you, I'll shoot for "firmer" resistence to touch and see if that does it. Thanks for saying chocolate cookies aren't easy to bake. Now I don't feel so bad.

OK..I just conducted the experiment...lightly sprinkling cocoa directly from the can into a one cup SS measure weighed 2.75 oz.(using a digital scale accurate to 1/2 oz). The cocoa can says 1 TBS weighs 5 grams. If 16 TBS equals one cup, then one cup weighs 80 grams which converts to 2.705 oz! WOW is that ever different from the 3.75 to 4 ounces the charts claim. No wonder the batch made with weighed ingredients were "inedible". It really breaks your heart to use all of that cocoa, butter and confectioner's sugar and the time rolling and baking to have it all wind up in the trash!

If you'd like to see and/or try this awesome chocolate cookie recipe, I've linked it for you. I think they are worth the risk! I can also vouch for Martha's gingerbread cookies. They are full of flavor and have ground black pepper added to the usual spices. The dough cuts and imprints well...it will take any kind of cutters you have http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=87f01a55b890f010Vgn

Thank you for helping to solve my two problems!

Here is a link that might be useful: Martha Stewart Chocolate Cookies
msafirstein
16 years ago
I made Martha's Chocolate Peppered Cookies last week...out of this world delicious.

Michelle

Here is a link that might be useful: Peppered Chocolate Cookie
msafirstein
16 years ago
Sorry about the burned finger! After you bake the recipe a few times you can probably tell my smell if they are done or not. Not the scorched smell but a wonderful chocolate aroma that fills the air. YUM!!

Oops forgot to answer your questions.

No you can not taste the expresso powder, it really just enhances the chocolate flavor.

It took me some time to adjust to my convection oven and I'm still adjusting. I rarely bake more then 1 sheet of cookies at time. I find that with more sheets my cookies do not bake as nicely. I've tried mulitiple sheets but my mind works 1 sheet at a time, so it's works out better for me.

I've not had to rotate my cookie sheet but I bake in a GE electric oven and have for years now. I dearly love my GE electric ovens and I really don't think you can beat the quality for the price.

To test your oven for even temps, just get an oven thermometer and place it on a shelf near the side wait until the temp is stable for about 5 minutes, note the temp and then move it to the other side, let the temp stabilize note the temp and now move it to the back and repeat. When I was first married we had a brand new range and the temp difference from one side of my oven to the other was way off. I had to flip everything, even bread, to ensure even baking.

Michelle
lov2garden
Original Author
16 years ago
Now I've got to try those peppered chocolate cookies! Who woulda thought? There's something really cool about unexpected ingredients...especially when it's great tasting but you don't know why. I have a triple timer that keeps me on track enough to stagger baking two sheets at once. But I am wiped out by the time the last cookie is baked. You are constantly on your feet doing something the whole time. Again, I check the oven temperature with a thermometer but I never thought of moving it around! I always just plopped it in the middle. I recently read about using a 15" barrel rolling pin for cookies...then I found an 18" long, 3 1/2" diameter barrel. The one I've used for years is only 12". There's another recent EUREKA! Bigger pin, faster rolling. I got out the "perfection strips" that were a pain to use with the smaller pin and found when one rolls dough to a more uniform thickness, there is no need to rotate the cookie sheets. Gee, it wasn't the Whirlpool electric oven, it was the rolling pin operator causing the issues. I've learned more about cookie making in 2008 than I have in the last 10 years! Several new tricks in just the last two days on this one post.
msafirstein
16 years ago
I know the recipe says to sprinkle pepper on each cookie but I did not think that would look very good. So I added the pepper to the coarse sugar and then rolled the log in the sugar pepper. It worked out well.

Michelle
sally2_gw
16 years ago
Two of my favorite things in one cookie - chocolate and pepper. I was expecting it to be cayenne pepper, not black pepper. I have to try that recipe.

My coffee hating son can taste the instant coffee I put in my chocolate brownies, which are Ina Garten's Outrageous brownies. He likes the brownies anyway, though, which surprised him. I made some chocolate chip cookies that called for coffee powder, and he hated those. The coffee taste wasn't masked enough, I guess. I couldn't even taste the coffee in them. Go figure.

Sally
lov2garden
Original Author
16 years ago
I think mixing the pepper with the coarse sugar was a great idea for taste, not just looks. Although, black pepper on top of a cookie could look like it hit the dirt! I bet the sugar keeps the pepper from being so blatant.

Sally, I bake for lots of "others" so I'm going for wide range appeal. Whenever I try some new flavoring or spice, I start adding in much smaller quantities than called for and work my way up in subsequent batches until I offend someone! Just as with the chocolate cookies.

Hey, somewhere I clipped a martini recipe that was rimmed with cocoa and cayenne but never had the hankering to actually try it out. I have seen cayenne & chocolate in the specialty chocolate shop in Richmond.

Bakers: Help with 2 Chocolate Cookie problems

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