Here’s yet another variant on the Sour Cream Drop Cookie recipe from the Betty Crocker Picture Cooky Book. Because chocolate. But when I taste-tested the first batch out of the oven, they didn’t taste like chocolate at all. Next time, I’ll probably substitute in ¼ cup of cocoa for ¼ cup of the flour—my usual fix if the chocolate isn’t intense enough—but it was too late for that. What to do?
I decided to roll them in a mixture of half powdered
espresso and half sugar. The dough was a bit sticky for forming into balls but
it worked reasonably well. The espresso powder “perked” the cookies up nicely
and gave them a handsome speckled appearance.
½ cup shortening
2 squares (2 ounces) melted baking chocolate
1 ½ cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream* (half a 500 ml tub)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (I didn’t bother)
2 ¾ cups flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
Cream together shortening, chocolate and sugar. Add eggs.
Stir in sour cream and vanilla. Stir in nuts.
Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
Stir into shortening mixture. Chill at least one hour.
Preheat oven to 425⁰F. Drop by rounded teaspoons
onto lightly greased baking sheet. Or, if you’re doing the espresso variant,
form into 1-inch balls and roll in a mixture of half espresso powder and half
sugar. Bake 8-10 minutes until delicately brown.
Makes about 5 dozen.
