I came this close to sitting out this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. Tia of Buttercream Barbie selected the salt and pepper cocoa shortbread and, I’ll be honest, I’m still not really on board with the idea of pepper in my desserts. Salt? Absolutely. But pepper – frankly, I’m not even a huge fan of it in my savory dishes, nevermind my cookies. But the recipe was easy to scale back (I halved it), and even if I didn’t like them, I was pretty sure I could find someone who would. I used Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa (I think it’s a combination of natural and Dutch-processed cocoa powders) because I like the super dark, rich color it gives chocolate treats. I may have backed off just a tad on the pepper, using maybe 3/4 of the amount Dorie suggested.
I misread the instructions in the book, which said to refrigerate the dough for 4 hours – for some reason, I thought it said freeze instead. So when I pulled the dough out after only 3 1/2 hours, I felt a bit rebellious. This morning I was reading through the recipe again and discovered my error, now I just feel silly. I was wondering why it was such a challenge to slice the log of dough, now I know 🙂 The end pieces on slice and bake cookies are rarely attractive, so I reserved them as my test subjects. I have to say, I really enjoyed these cookies! Like some of my other favorite shortbread cookies, these were just a little crumbly and oh so tender. I could taste the salt, though it was subtle, and fortunately (for me anyway), the pepper was pretty much undetectable. The half recipe only made 12 cookies, and I definitely could have made short work of them. Instead, I wrapped them and stuck them in the freezer to enjoy another day.
Tia shared the recipe for the cookies on her blog today, or you can find it on pages 128-129 of Baking: From My Home to Yours.
I love using the Hershey’s Dark Cocoa! I also love shortbread, salt and pepper, so I know these would be a huge hit with me. Must get the recipe…
Those certainly look chocolatey. LOL on reading directions, sometimes I mess up on that alone as well. Okay, more than sometimes. Your little vignette looks so nice.
I wasn’t that excited about this week’s cookies either, but I was pleasantly surprised! I was happy that I didn’t have to roll out the dough and I liked the pepper.
That dark cocoa really improves the look of these cookies. Nicely done!
Great minds think alike, Tracey! I’m not pepper’s biggest fan, either, but I absolutely loved these. Yours are beautiful! 🙂
i adore the second shot of the cookies being sliced. good job! Buttercreambarbie
So smart to stick the baked cookies in the freezer. I ate too many. I didn’t think the pepper was too overpowering at all.
Special Dark!! Have to find that. Next week.
Those look sooooo chocolatey! I put a little black pepper in my pumpkin pie spice but I’ve never put it in any other dessert.
I hear you, but I make a wicked good gingerbread cookie that includes a bit of ground black pepper. Maybe I’ll post them this winter.
🙂
ButterYum
Yummy. I love dark chocolate cookies…and the more intense the better!
This looks…wow!!
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I love Hershey’s Dark Cocoa as well. It’s a really balanced cocoa that it easy to find and inexpensive!
These look darn tasty, Tracey! I’d be wary of the pepper, too…and I have a feeling the picky family would take note immediately. But I bet these would be fabulous without, too~
Weird! In a good way though. I love trying new recipes like this. Here it goes!
This shortbread looks so “chocolicius”!
Greetings from Chile
These sound lovely to me! I love pepper (especially cayenne) with chocolate lately… I will have to make these shortbread cookies to add to my holiday assortment this year!
I’m the odd one out here, since I don’t like the Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa. But I don’t like any of the Dutch-processed cocoas very much–given the option, I’ll go with natural cocoa every time. Mine weren’t as nice and dark as yours, but the Scharffen Berger cocoa I used was really tasty. =)
I piled on both the salt and the pepper and loved these cookies. Yours look delicious; wish I could join you for a cuppa and compare cookies!
Girl that is some dark cocoa cookies and coffee! Im glad you gave them a try!