Whole Wheat Chocolate Feet

Recipe: Chocolate Shortbread (No. 308)
Makes about 24 cookies

4 ounces (4 squares) unsweetened baking chocolate
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups sifted cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 F. [Don't do it yet! -cb] Lightly grease two large
baking sheets with butter or vegetable shortening.

Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler over simmering water,
stirring frequently. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside. [Okay, now
turn on the oven. -cb]

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. [I did this
while waiting for the chocolate to melt. -cb] Mix in the vanilla extract.
Beat in the melted chocolate and mix thoroughly. Sift the flour with the
baking powder. Using a pastry blender, or two forks, work the flour mixture
into the butter mixture until it is thoroughly blended. Mix the chopped
walnuts into the dough by hand.

On a floured work surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/2 inch.
Cut out the cookies using a 2-inch, curly-edge biscuit or cookie cutter.
Place the cookies 1 inch apart on the baking sheets. Bake for about 15
minutes, or until the cookies are light brown. [They start out dark brown;
I don't think they're really going to get lighter! -cb] Remove from the
oven.

After the cookies have cooled for 2 to 3 minutes, but are still warm to the
touch, use a spatula to transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.

Recipe: Double Delight Chocolate Shortbread (No.309)
Makes about 30 cookies

Follow the recipe for Chocolate Shortbread (No. 308), adding 3/4 cup of
semi-sweet chocolate morsels to the batter.

[365 Great Cookies You Can Bake, by Lois Hill, pg. 181-182. 1990, Outlet
Book Co. Inc., Weathervane Books, Random House Company, New York.]

Recipe: Whole Wheat Chocolate Feet.

Lynn wanted me to bake something, anything. Bread would take too long, so I
decided to mix up a box of Trader Joe's Brownies. I got as far as the third
ingredient... and realized we were out of eggs. (I had the butter and milk
in the bowl at that point.) We looked for cookies that didn't need eggs,
and I picked this one. We left out the nuts and used a cup of chocolate
chips, and used my footprint-shaped cookie cutter on them. They were
delicious.

May 1994

Hazel Boston-Baden, P.O. Box 17522, Anaheim CA 92817.
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