Lavalicious Chocolate Cookie

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 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.

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup melted butter
3 large beaten egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla
5 tbs. icing sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degree F.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugars, cocoa, baking powder and salt.

3. Stir in the butter until the mixture is well combined and crumbly.

4. Add egg whites and vanilla and stir until the dough just comes together.

5. Place the icing sugar into a shallow dish.

6. Roll the dough into small balls and coat the balls in icing sugar.

7. Place the cookies on a well greased cookie sheet. Using a spoon, flatten the cookies a bit.

8. Bake for 12 - 14 minutes, until just set around the edges; the cookies should be soft in the middle.

An Unexpected Chocolate Twist

Ruth Wakefield invented chocolate chip cookies in 1930 at the Toll House inn she and her husband Keneth ran near Whitman, Massachusetts. Like a bed and breakfast she made food for her guests. One evening in 1937 she got the idea to make a chocolate butter cookie so she broke up one of the bars of semi-sweet chocolate that Andrew Nestle gave her. She thought that it would mix together with the dough & make all chocolate cookies . Needless to say, it didn't. However the cookies came out decent so she served them. They of course were so good they had to be done again. She published the recipes in several newspapers and the recipe became very popular.

This gem of Ruth's she called the Chocolate Crunch Cookie and she made a deal with Nestle that they could put the recipe on their chocolate bar if they supplied her with free chocolate for her cookies at the Inn.Nestle tried to make it easy for people to make these cookies. They even included a small chopper in the package. Finally, in 1939, the Chocolate Morsels that we know today were introduced. The Chocolate chip cookie is the most popular kind of cookie in America. Chocolate Chip Cookies are found in multiple shopping venues and made into beautiful things like ice cream sandwiches or even delicious cookie bouquets. Seven billion chocolate chip cookies are eaten annually. The Toll House produces thirty-three thousand cookies each day. Some Vendors only sell chocolate chip cookies. Half of the cookies baked in American homes are chocolate chip.

Nestle supplied Ruth with chocolate. Ruth and Kenneth sold the Toll House Inn in 1966. It was bought by a family that tried to turn it into a nightclub . In 1970 it was bought by the Saccone family who turned it back into it's original form. They continued to make the original recipe at a bakery down the road.

Ingredients

1 ½ cup all purpose flour
1 cup dry current
2 spoons coffee liquor
100gms butter
300gms rich chocolate
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
½ pepper powder freshly grounded
2 eggs
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 cup dark chocolate chips

1. In a pan, heat the dry current and coffee liquor. Remove from the stove and allow to cool.

2. In another saucepan, melt the butter. Add the chocolate, making a paste. Stir occasionally.

3. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and pepper.

4. Beat white sugar and eggs until fluffy and smooth. Add vanilla and mix well.

5. Add the chocolate and butter mixture and blend well. Add the dry ingredients and mix well.

6. Add dry current and coffee mixture. Add chocolate chips.

7. With a scooper, form small scoops of this dough on a baking tray. Place in a 350 degree F. preheated oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes.