By Dawn Smith-Pfeifer
I suck at math. Seriously. Normally, when I’m out of something, I would run right out and buy what I need at the grocery store but, you know, Corona virus and all.
What does math have to do with grocery shopping? Well, while I was working from home, I had this idea that I would bake one of my daughter’s favorite cookies and photograph it all for On Your Table.
Then I realized I was out of cocoa powder. And I was just at the grocery store this morning.
However, I did have baking chocolate.
But it was expired. By two years!
Needless to say, the backstory on this post changed dramatically.
First of all, I “googled” whether or not expired baking chocolate is poisonous or something like that. Turns out it’s not.
First hurdle cleared.
Then came the arduous task of substitution. Another “googling” session. This one, with mixed results.
One site said substituting baker’s chocolate for cocoa powder in your favorite cookie recipe will be incredibly disappointing. It almost derailed me, but then I thought, “What else are you going to do with this expired baker’s chocolate?”
Settle in folks. It was time for a science experiment!
"Googling" helped me determine that two ounces of baking chocolate equaled 1/4 cup of dry cocoa. Further "googling," led me to this: 3 level tablespoons unsweetened cocoa and 1 tablespoon butter, margarine or shortening equals 1 ounce unsweetened baking chocolate. I assumed the reverse had to be true as well.
By the way, whoever decided that putting tablespoons on the side of the butter paper was a good thing is a genius as far as I’m concerned! But I digress.
Instead of one cup of butter, I put in 14 tablespoons. By this time, I almost needed to take a nap from all the computing! But, I added the flour and vanilla, the mixer mixed and I crossed my fingers. It looked pretty good. It smelled okay too. This just might work!
And here is the finished product. My palate isn’t as discerning as my daughter’s but I was pretty darn happy with the result. Of course, I had to taste it, just to make sure it was safe since I was using two-year-old chocolate. Oh, the sacrifices I make for my family! 😊
If you like chocolate in your household, this is a pretty darn good cookie.
Chocolate Waffle Cookies
Ingredients:
1/4 cup cocoa
1 cup butter
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
Instructions:
Beat butter, sugar and eggs. Add cocoa and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Add flour and beat until smooth.
Drop onto a hot, greased waffle iron (approximately 350 degrees) until done.
If you like softer cookies, put in a container when they are still slightly warm.