Chocolaty Drop Cookies

Chocolate comes from a fruit called a pod that grows on the cacao tree. A seedling tree generally must mature for five years before it produces pods, with peak pod production happening at 10 years. A cocoa tree that makes up your favorite gourmet desserts can bear fruit and produce pods for 30 to 40 years. Each pod is similar in size to a football, and contains up to 50 cocoa beans. To make one ounce of milk chocolate, it takes 4 cocoa beans, and one ounce of dark chocolate requires 12 beans. An average American or Canadian will consume about 12 pounds of chocolate per year. However, the Swiss are the world’s largest consumers of chocolate, eating about 22 pounds of chocolate per person per year!

Chocolate can be bittersweet, and we don’t mean literally. Although chocolate has many benefits to your health, some facts about how chocolate is made may make you want to munch on a different snack, or at least lower your chocolate intake. These cookies are usually served hot with a chocolate sauce or vanilla ice cream - or both. If there are leftovers, refrigerate them and eat them cold. For best results, use a quality dark chocolate favorite gourmet recipes.

Ingredients

2 square chocolate

100gms cup butter (melted)

1 cup brown sugar

½ teaspoon soda

1 egg

2 cups all purpose flour

¾ cup sweet milk

1. In a pan, melt the chocolate. Add melted butter to this. Add the sugar, egg, milk, baking soda and flour, mixing until smooth. Batter should be stiff enough to drop from the spoon.

2. Drop by spoonfuls on greased pans. Bake in a 350 degree F. preheated oven for about 30 to 35. Frost, if desired.