Making good on my intention to make stamped, glazed, chocolate Halloween cookies. Thanks to @CaitlinM for pointing out this recipe from Yossy Arefi.
Modifications included subbing espresso powder for the cinnamon (in twice the amount called for), and using this glaze from The View From Great Island.
It took several tries to get these right. Ultimately, I settled on 1) stone-cold dough; if you’re re-rolling scraps, chill them first, 2) as much muscle as you can muster (and then some more) behind the stamp, 3) a 15-minute chill in the freezer after stamping but before baking, 3) a 10-12 minute bake (YMMV), and 4) a very thin glaze.
I made a half-batch for 13 generously sized cookies. While there is nothing extraordinary about the recipe itself - it yields an unremarkable fudgy chocolate cookie - the fact that it lends itself (given the caveats) to stamping is enough to make me want to revisit it at some point in the future.
With holiday bakes in mind, I also made this morning a batch of Dorie Greenspan’s World Peace Cookie dough for the freezer. In the near future I’ll be wanting chocolate cookie crumbs for a babka filling, morning buns, and the like. Job done.
