Skip to main content

Martha's Chocolate Cutout Cookies

This is a recipe that I revisit every year.  The cookies are tender and a bit spicy, with just a hint of cinnamon and black pepper.  The Martha Stewart Weddings Book first introduced us to these tasty morsels and has since been used in many of her publications.  Everyone always likes them, so I tend to make several batches.  Click here for the recipe.  This dough can be refrigerated for a few days or frozen if you don't plan on making them that day.  Follow along.

The ingredients are carefully measured out. This recipe can also be found in her magnum opus, The Martha Stewart Cookbook.

 
Since the recipe calls for cocoa powder, I always sift it through a strainer to get rid of the lumps.  Cocoa has a habit of clumping, so it's very important to take this step.  I used dark Valrhona cocoa powder from France.


If a recipe calls for creaming butter and sugar, I take the step of doing the butter first.  This helps make it more malleable and easier to incorporate the sugar.

I add the sugar in a steady stream until it's creamed well.  Don't forget to scrape down your mixing bowl.


This is what your creamed butter and sugar should look like before adding your eggs.

 
When adding the dry ingredients, I shut the mixer down and add the entire contents to the bowl.


I then cover my mixer with a clean kitchen towel to keep the flour and cocoa from flying out of the bowl.  I learned this from Martha.


Turn your mixer on low speed and let the dough gather around the paddle attachment.  This is what your finished product should look like when it's ready. 


Divide your dough and cover it well with plastic wrap.  You can now proceed with your recipe.



One of the things that I love about this dough is that it can be treated as a refrigerator cookie dough or a rollout butter cookie dough.  It's quite forgiving and always a pleasure to work with.  Give this recipe a try.  I'll show you how I made these cookies into baby shower cookies in a future post.  Start baking!

Comments

  1. Searching for THIS recipe is how I landed here and found your beautiful blog. I really am enjoying your posts, your writing style and the heart behind it all. Thanks for the recipe and I will be checking in soon. Are you on pinterest? I would love to follow you there also.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Tra la la! I do put my heart behind my posts because I think it's important. I am on pinterest.

    Go here:

    http://www.pinterest.com/davidpantoja/

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank You for Posting!

Popular posts from this blog

Antique Salt Cellars

There was a time when salt cellars played an important role on the dining table for the host or hostess.  As a result of it being such an expensive commodity several hundred years ago, salt was seen as a luxury and it was the well to do that made salt cellars quite fashionable & a status symbol for the home.  A single salt cellar usually sat at the head of the table and was passed around throughout the meal.  The closer one sat to the salt cellar, the more important one was deemed by the head of the household.  Smaller cellars that were more accessible and with an open top became a part of Victorian table settings.  Fast forward to the 20th century when salt was no longer a luxury and when anti caking agents were added to make salt free-flowing, and one begins to see salt cellars fall out of fashion.  Luckily for the collector and for those of us who like to set a table with Good Things , this can prove to be a boon. Salt cellars for the table come in silver, porcelain, cut glass

How to Paint a Chair

If you have ever felt the need to spruce up a set of chairs or give them a new look, why not try a little bit of paint?  Our tastes in decor and color will probably alter throughout our lives, and at some point, we may find ourselves wanting to change the look of our furniture without having to spend a lot of money.  That's where a few handy tips, some tools from the hardware store, and good-quality paint come in handy.   I know I'm not alone in paying visits to local antique shops, antique fairs and flea markets, and falling in love with pieces of furniture that would be perfect if they were just a different color.  You don't have to walk away from a good purchase simply because it's the wrong color.   My dear friend, Jeffrey, is forever enhancing his home with collectibles from flea markets and tag sales.  However, certain items aren't always up to Jeffrey's tastes when he brings them home.  He is the type of person who won't hesitate to chang

Vintage Wilton Wedding Cakes

Wedding cakes have certainly evolved over the decades just as tastes and styles have in our American way of life.  There was a time when elaborate & very formal towering feats of sweetness were the standard for every bride & groom.  Growing up in a household where I witnessed several wedding cakes take shape from start to finish, I can tell you  that every single one of these was a true labor of love.  For mom, Wilton was the go-to supplier in every aspect of cake baking, including the wedding cakes which flew out of our house every single year for friends & family.   Vintage Wedding Cake Toppers It’s fun going back and looking at Wilton’s methods and styles for wedding cakes during the 1960s and 1970s.  Back then, the shapely cakes were not simply stacked and covered in perfect fondant the way they are these days, but were iced and decorated with real buttercream, along with a multitude of accessories.  There was even a working fountain available that could b