Cocoa Fudge Cookies

Happy New Year's everyone! One of my New Year's resolutions was to try at least one new recipe every week this year. And, of course, in a clichéd move, I also want to eat healthier this year so I'm starting out this year with a recipe from the Cooking Light cookbook. I haven't made any sweet treats in a while, so I thought this was a nice compromise between having sweets and not indulging too much. This also gave me an opportunity to use the new cookie sheets my father-in-law got me for Christmas. I'd been thinking about buying new cookie sheets for a while, so they were a nice surprise, particularly because nobody suggested that to him. I've also made an unofficial resolution to use parchment paper with these cookie sheets so they last longer than their predecessors. I got a number of other new kitchen implements and cookware that I'm also dying to test out, so look for recipes using those hopefully sometime soon.

For some reason Cooking Light needs to explain how to measure out the flour in the directions, which I was tempted to cut out. The only change I made to the recipe was using full-fat plain yogurt instead of low-fat because that's what I eat on a regular basis.

Cocoa Fudge Cookies
from the Cooking Light Cookbook

makes 2 dozen cookies

1 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 t. baking soda
1/8 t. salt
5 T. butter
7 T. unsweetened cocoa
2/3 c. granulated sugar
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. plain low-far yogurt
1 t. vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, soda, and salt; set aside. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat; stir in cocoa and sugars. Stir in yogurt and vanilla. Add flour mixture, stirring until moist. Drop by level tablespoons 2 inches apart onto baking sheet coated with cooking spray (or parchment paper).

3. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until almost set. Cool on pans 2 to 3 minutes or until firm. Remove cookies from pans; cool on wire racks.

Oatmeal Fudge Bars

Oatmeal Fudge Bars
from The America’s Test Kitchen Baking Book

Makes 16 bars

Old-fashioned oats may be substituted for the quick-cooking oats, although the bars will be more chewy.

CRUST AND TOPPING
1 c. (3 oz.) quick-cooking oats
1 c. packed (7 oz.) light brown sugar
¾ c. (3.75 oz.) all-purpose flour
¼ t. baking powder
¼ t. baking soda
⅛ t. salt
8 T. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

FILLING
¼ c. (1.25 oz.) all-purpose flour
¼ c. packed (1.75 oz.) light brown sugar
2 t. instant espresso or instant coffee
¼ t. salt
1.5 c. (9 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips*
2 T. unsalted butter
1 large egg

*Although they’re not semisweet, I used Ghiradelli 60% cacao chocolate chips, as they were what I had on hand and I prefer darker chocolate.

Step 1. For the crust and topping: Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line an 8-inch baking pan with a foil sling and grease the foil.
Step 2. Whisk the oats, brown sugar, flour, baking soda, and baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Stir in the melted butter until combined. Reserve ¾ c. of the oat mixture for the topping.
Step 3. Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture into the prepared pan and press into an even layer. Bake the crust until light golden brown, about 8 minutes. Let the crust cool completely on a wire rack, about one hour.
Step 4. For the filling: Whisk the flour, sugar, instant espresso, and salt together in a medium bowl. Melt the chocolate chips and butter together in the microwave, stirring often, 1 to 3 minutes. Transfer the chocolate mixture to a large bowl and let cool slightly. Whisk in the egg until combined. Stir in the flour mixture until just incorporated.
Step 5. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Spread the filling even over the cooled crust and smooth the top. Sprinkle with the reserved oat topping. Bake the bars until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached and the filling begins to pull away from the sides of the pan, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking.
Step 6. Let the bars cool completely in the pan, set on a wire rack, about 2 hours. Remove the bars from the pan using the foil, cut into squares, and serve.

These bars are decadent and delicious and are definitely on my list of desserts to make again. It only takes one little square to satisfy a sweet tooth, but you may find yourself going back for seconds as I did.