Tag Archives: chocolate

GRANDMA’S TRIPLE CHOCOLATE DOODLES (Recipe for. . .)

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I never realized how many “doodlers” are out there, drooling over my Grandma’s “Triple Chocolate Doodles. ” My family has always called these “doodles” because it was a fun thing to request. And lots of chocolate makes it special. . . . Do let me know how these turn out for you! The reduced sugar is correct as the added chocolate chips and chunks are added sweetness.

Cream together 1 cup butter or margarine with 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1/3 cup brown sugar. Beat in 2 large eggs with 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. Stir in 2 heaping tablespoons of Fry’s Unsweetened Cocoa Powder, 2 teaspoons baking powder, heaping cup of dark chocolate chips and 1 cup dark chocolate chunks. Gradually stir in 2 -1/2 cups flour (may be less or may be more–hate to say this but it must “feel” right. . .) Refrigerate the dough for 10-minutes.

Line the cookie sheets with parchment paper. Drop by heaping tablespoon onto prepared sheets. Flatten very slightly with a fork if desire. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 15 to 18 minutes. Cookies are slightly crisp at the edges and soft with melty chocolate inside. Allow to sit on the cookie sheets for 2 minutes before removing to cool on the racks.

TRIPLE CHOCOLATE DOODLES

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NOTE: Thank you to Anya and Lindsay requesting this from the Archives. Now I have to dig up the rough recipe and make some. . . .

When I was growing up, everyone in my family cooked or baked or did both equally well. We weren’t fancy cooks or bakers, just great comfort foods and family favorites. One of the most requested family faves was the ” Triple Chocolate Doodles” my Grandma invented. As I grew older, I realized it was actually a variation of the “Snickerdoodle”, a vanilla-flavored cookie dough, soft enough to drop from a teaspoon onto a cookie sheet. Snickerdoodles were good, but if your tummy had a craving for chocolate, then only this triple chocolate doodle filled the bill.

The problem was Grandma didn’t have a written recipe for this family favorite. It was made so often that the recipe was engraved on her brain. It wasn’t exactly a real recipe when Grandma demonstrated what she did. As her granddaughters avidly watched and made copious notes, Grandma would be saying, “Now a chunk of butter like this, a couple of large eggs, a dollop of vanilla, this much sugar, keep adding flour until the dough feels right. . . .” and as she was talking, my grandma would be beating the life out of the butter, sugar and eggs. Fry’s cocoa powder played a huge part in the recipe as well as lots of dark chocolate chips and dark chocolate chunks. When the cookies were hot out of the oven and cooling on the racks, Grandma would add her finishing touch by drizzling melted dark chocolate over each doodle.

Every time Grandma made these, they were melt-in-your-mouth delicious and absolutely fail-proof. It didn’t matter if you asked what precise measure would make a “chunk” or how much exactly was a “dollop?” Or even how much was a “smidge?” After all, it had to be the same every time because scientifically, a more or less difference in the chunks, dollops and smidges would produce a less than perfect triple chocolate doodle. Right? At least that was my logical reasoning. And another thing, when does the dough feel right?

Well, I just figured out the secret of the family recipe. Precise amounts of ingredients doesn’t work. Throw logic out the window. Go with the chunks, dollops and smidges. Triple Chocolate Doodles are still a winner and absolutely fail-proof when you use Grandma’s recipe with her own special measurements made with lots of love and heaping amounts of chocolate. After all, anything with plenty of chocolate will be fail proof and perfect every time. Grandma had that right!

BOOKS, BROWNIES AND BUTTONHOLES

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Covid seems like a permanent guest and in these pandemic times, it’s amazing how we all cope. My go-to fix is a good book with authors who know how to tell a tale and practically have you there, along with the hero/heroine and of course, the sleazy, slimeball villain. I enjoy books that grabs you from the first page and never lets go until the case or mystery is solved. And, if a book really has your total attention from beginning to ending, then that is one darn good writer.

My choice of books depends upon my mood and my choices are quite eclectic. I enjoy reading mysteries, thrillers, adventures, romance-mysteries, sci-fi, histories, biographies and even westerns. But they all have to grab me by the eyeballs on the first page and leave me gasping at the end.

Books can also influence what tasty treats go into my oven. The principle character in one light-hearted mystery whipped up dark chocolate brownies whenever her stalker tried to strangle her, shoot her or tried to run her over with his mini-Cooper. By the time I reached the end of Chapter 2, dark chocolate brownies were on my brain. And the only way to exorcise that image is to bake up a pan of my go-to “Dark Chocolate Fudgy Brownies with pieces of 72% dark chocolate Lindt melted on top. Here is the link to my tasty recipe –the Lindt was my idea. https://www.landolakes.com/recipe/18243 /fudgy-dark-chocolate-brownie/

Books and food seem to go hand-in-hand in a number of books I devour—oops, pardon the pun—however, even heroes and villains have to eat! One story was set in the Old West–gunslingers, cattle drives, mountain- men, gamblers, saloons and of course , a few women who knew the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. And believe me, the old West back then, did not have all the herbs, spices or varieties of meats and veggies available to us today. One of these hard-working women managed to cook up a hearty buffalo stew with hot biscuits, while doing her chores of hand-washing tubs of laundry, milking the cow, gathering the eggs and tackling huge piles of mending. I didn’t have buffalo but I did have a nice piece of chuck steak that I cut up, floured, seasoned and started simmering. My beef stew was accompanied by light and tender “Cloud Biscuits.” I can only say that I was extremely relieved that I didn’t have to hack off my stew meat from a skinned and salted buffalo haunch stored in the coldest part of my home! The link to the cloud biscuit recipe I like to use can be found at: https://www.food.com/recipe/company-cloud- biscuits-200086

There is nothing worse than reading about anything with chocolate or baked apples with brown sugar and cinnamon or hot cinnamon rolls AND not having any in the house. Tossing the book aside, it was a debate between a hot apple pie with brown sugar and cinnamon or hot cinnamon rolls. The dark chocolate whatever would be saved for another day. Hubby and I decided on cinnamon rolls which were quick to make and smelled delicious as it was baking. I added chopped pecans and dried cherries to the filling. For my go-to cinnamon rolls, here is the link: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/241917/quick-cinnamon-roll

Moving away from food takes me to my current project—knitting a sleeveless cardigan vest for Hubby without a proper pattern. Using his favourite vest as a template, I devised a knit-as-you-go pattern. I knitted the back and the right front that would have the buttons–straight knitting and decreasing and casting off when it came to armholes and shoulders and neckline. I even figured out a V-shaped front. The part that kept me awake at nights was how to knit buttonholes. All the other sweaters I ever knitted were pullovers or the occasional cardigan that didn’t require buttons or buttonholes. My “eureka” moment came when my brain cells screamed “search online”! Well, of course—anything can be found “out there”. I not only found out how to do it, but also a video that showed how to do it.

Buttonholes can drive a knitter to chocolate and that was when the perfect chocolate recipe was used. After all, if one has to be rewarded for a job well-done and chocolate is the ultimate reward, then this is the one decadently dark chocolate cookie to be savoured and tucked away in your chocolate collection. This treasure can be found at: https://www.wellplated.com/dark-chocolate-cookies

May the Kitchen Goddess bless you with ample supplies of apple pies, chocolate cookies, chocolate fudgy brownies and all the other goodies you are reading about. Stay well, stay safe and be happy. . .