I made these cakey chocolate cookies with strawberry buttercream. At first, I didn't like the cookies - they needed more of a kick - but as they absorbed juice from the fresh strawberries over the course of the evening, they tasted much better. I think the next tim
e I make them, I'll add a couple of tablespoons of fruit juice to the recipe. Probably strawberry or other berry juice - something with lots of acid...
The cookie recipe*:
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup buttermilk substitute**
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet.
Beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla (again, until light and fluffy). in a separate bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. In 5 additions, alternately add buttermilk and dry ingredients to butter and sugar mixture.
Drop cookie dough in 1/4 cup portions onto cookie sheets, leaving about 2" between the cookies. Bake 12-15 minutes, or until cookie springs back when lightly touched at the center.
Remove after a moment and let cool on cooling rack.
*This recipe is loosely adapted from CDKitchen.com
**Not a huge fan of buttermilk, I never buy it, even for baking. Adding 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar to milk (enough to equal 1/3 cup) works quite nicely.
The frosting recipe*
3 tbs. strawberry puree**
1 cup cold butter
3 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar (give or take)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Beat together butter, puree and vanilla. Gradually add confectioner's sugar until desired consistency is achieved.
*This recipe graciously shared by Sprinkles Cupcakes, via Marthastewart.com
**Theirs called for 1 cup of sliced strawberries, to be pureed in the food processor or blender. I don't have a food processor, and my blender wouldn't puree such a small amount. After adding several more berries, I had a nice puree, but also far too much of it. I beat the rest of it with some confectioner's sugar and spread it on some whole-wheat bread. It was really delicious!
When the cookies were cooled and the frosting prepared, I frosted each cookie and garnished with strawberry halves. Looking at the photos, I would probably have added more sugar, just to make a stiffer frosting. These look a little too gloppy.
