I’ve enjoyed baking for as long as I can remember, and throughout our COVID isolation, I made bread several times a week. With just two of us here, it’s hard to justify regularly baking desserts. However, watching the British Bake-off for the umpteenth time got me thinking: all those practice bakes at home had to go somewhere. And that’s when the idea for baking and sharing what I create started to come into focus. Now I just need to find homes for baked goods. Hopefully that won’t be a problem without a solution!

I’ve restarted regularly baking some new and some old favorites this week, and in addition to being more purposeful about shooting and blogging about “regular” dishes, I’ll be posting some baking that I’ve discovered. This cookie recipe was this week’s offering for dessert and it comes from King Arthur Baking. Easy to put together and delicious – and it can be modified according to the baker’s whim by adding or omitting chocolate bits, nuts, or what-have-you.

Chocolate Drop Cookies from King Arthur Baking

Ingredients

• 8 tablespoons (113g) butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup (99g) granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup (71g) brown sugar, packed
• 1/3 cup (28g) Dutch-process cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons (28g) milk (optional, if you add chips/nuts/fruit be sure to use this!)
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons (135g) All Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder, (optional; for depth of flavor this makes a good add-in)
• 2 cups (227g to 340g) chips, nuts, and/or dried fruit, optional but good

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease two baking sheets, or line with parchment.
2. Beat together the butter, sugars, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and vanilla until well blended.
3. Add the egg, beating until smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl, and beat again until smooth. If you’re going to add chips, nuts, or dried fruit, beat in the 2 tablespoons milk; if you’re going to bake plain cookies without add-ins, omit the milk.
4. Add the flour and espresso powder, mixing to combine.
5. Stir in the chips, nuts, etc., if you’re using them.
6. Drop the cookies by the traditional “tablespoonful” (actually about 4 measuring teaspoons) onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2″ apart. A tablespoon cookie scoop works well here.
7. Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes, until they’ve lost their shiny appearance and look like they’re set. Remove them from the oven, and cool right on the pans; or transfer to a rack to cool.

(Noomers, this is about 120 calories per cookie; other nutrition info on the recipe website)