I've devised a scheme for myself to diet without dieting for a bit. This involves several common sense rules, such as eating fruits and/or vegetables at every meal, not buying crap at the supermarket, and, all importantly, not finishing Charlie's food just so it doesn't go to waste. The other biggy, for me, is to stop baking sweets unless they're leaving the house. As I've said many times before, the insane men in my house will eat entire loaves of fresh-baked bread in one sitting, but have little interest in cakes and cookies, so I end up eating the entirety of any sweet on my own. Not good.
I broke my baking rule this week. Dorie made me do it. A lifetime of baking gives you a really strong grip. You should have seen her twisting my arm.
Cocoa Sables (page 402 of
Around My French Table) are shortbread cookies. Dorie aptly describes the texture as "sandy." I'm so sure that this is the correct description for these cookies because Charlie held one in his humid little fist for a good forty-five minutes, until it disintegrated all over my couch. It definitely felt like I was scrubbing sand off of the cushion. Buying a dark brown couch was the smartest move we ever made.
I resent cookies that don't go immediately from mixing to baking to eating. I don't like waiting for three hours for the dough to chill. It makes me surly. I became even more surly when every stinking slab of dough that I sliced off the roll crumbled apart. Sandy, indeed. I suspect that I didn't chop my optional chocolate chunks (is chocolate ever really optional? Come on, now.) finely enough, and that it bungled my slices.
I fitted the pieces back together and piled them up as best I could, hoping that they'd fuse in the oven. They did. Hooray! They looked a mess, but at least they weren't small nuggets.
In the end, I loved these cookies. They have a salty hit which is delicious with the chocolate, and are good enough that I could eat a couple and be satisfied, but not so addictive that I need to eat the entire batch in one sitting. I'm shocked to report that Matt, famous for eating one cookie, then asking me a week later where the rest are so he can have another (HA! They're in my belly, fool.), ate a whole plateful. Sweet!
The second roll of dough sits patiently in my freezer. Must.....resist! For a little while.
Conclusion: Loved them.
How's that diet? :-)
ReplyDeleteI made the cookies, but wasn't feeling the love about talking about them so much... I guess I am a curmedgeon. (They were tasty though, for chocolate cookies)
I really liked these ones, too. I didn't mind the wait on the dough, though. I had a crazy idea that I, too, could resist eating too many, but alas, I have eaten more than anyone in my house. Drats. Congrats on being so steadfast. http://adoptsomom.wordpress.com/
ReplyDeleteHa! I'm a bit surly as well during cookie dough chilling time. I always need to have something snacky on hand before. Your cookies look yummy.
ReplyDeleteI had to give them all away so I wouldn't eat them. That always works and I get a lot of love in the process. these look great!
ReplyDeleteThe mental picture of Dorie really twisting your arm is priceless. DH loved these because they were not too sweet, so at least this batch will not going 100% to my midsection.
ReplyDeleteI had a trick to shorten the waiting and surly time, which was to stick them in the freezer for 30 minutes. When they became rock hard, I had to thaw them again gradually (5-8 minutes) and slice them while semi-frozen. Without the chocolate bits, mine probably sliced cleaner...but maybe you just need a sharper knife, lol!
ReplyDeleteYou're so hard on yourself, Ei! Tell you what, I dropped my wrapped log on the floor and it split into three pieces. Yes, I bawled in the kitchen! So as long as these sables hit the tastebuds the right way, it doesn't really matter how they look. Right?
Sorry, by 'them' above, I meant the dough logs!
ReplyDeleteThe actual test is how they taste…we’ve all had our mishaps! These were a big hit in our house and I feel as though I sabotaged my hubby’s diet! I couldn’t eat just one! Have a nice weekend!
ReplyDeleteWhat diet????? I have been dieting every Monday since 1960 and haven't made it yet. I try not to
ReplyDeletehave much of anything good around the house, not easy, with hubby who love sweets, but every once
in while there is a recipe which has to be made, ""Cocoa Sablés". Thank goodness, we did not care for this,
and the results went to Tricia's house. They loved them, saved me a lot of calories. Yours look really
great.
I have that same rule with baked goods. I am happy to bake cakes & cookies galore, so long as my husband is happy to bring the leftovers to work. Or, at least that's what he says he is doing with the leftovers. As far as I know he could be eating everything on the train to work.
ReplyDeleteWhat's weird is that I had the exact opposite experience with this recipe. My husband has the biggest sweet tooth I have ever met, and yet, he ate one of the cookies and then completely ignored them. That never happens. Which is why I seriously think that there was something wrong with my cocoa powder.
Diets are good........for other people. I "turn over a diet leaf" once a month. (Right now I am sitting here eating Kettle Corn just purchased at the Farmer's Market and drinking coffee. Diet, indeed. Yeah, I had some crumbles going on and will make some suggested changes before trying them again. At least yours are round. Mine were square. Mary
ReplyDeleteAs long as they taste good, that's the most important part. I solved this crumbly problem by pressing the dough into a pan and cutting it out, which tasted good too. I agree, it's dangerous for the diet to have all these goodies in the house, better to give them all away ASAP!
ReplyDeleteEven with a bit of a glitch, I'm glad you loved these. And had to laugh at the picture of Charlie crumbling his sandy cookie :)
ReplyDeleteHitch or not, your cookies would have tasted wonderful!
ReplyDeleteHope you don't have to wait long to take out your second roll ;)
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Latest: Colossal Caramel Peanut Monster Cookies
Cute post, Ei! I simply cannot resist a cookie in the house especially a chocolate one. I'm glad you went ahead and baked them as is - they are tasty no matter what shape.
ReplyDeleteMy baked goods/diet rule (since college) is that if I want sweets, I have to make them myself, from scratch. Usually I don't have time, so it works. I don't mind waiting between mixing and baking because I often bake/cook in little spurts. Even for these, one night I measured everything out. The next morning, I mixed and rolled into logs before work, and then sliced them after dinner that night. Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed them. I think they are delicious.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to find something that works for the whole household. I found I had to work them quite a bit before the logs would hold their shape.
ReplyDeleteI can only imagine what that cookie dough would look like after being in a moist little hand for a while! My own "no diet" rules are no seconds, no snacks, and no sweets (except sometimes). I think it would work if I actually did it.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe the men in your house don't (usually) like cookies or cakes. Amazing. I could live on sweets. Mine looked very much like yours (very crumbly), glad you enjoyed these!
ReplyDelete