Night of the Ninjas!

I'd like to give a shout-out to my very good friend, Sally, for the fantastic Christmas gifts she sent me.

Among the gifts was a wonderful set of cookie cutters...ninja cookie cutters!!! It doesn't get much cooler than that. :-) Thank you, Sally!



It just so happened that we held a bake sale at work this week, the proceeds from which we are donating to the Ronald McDonald House. I was asked to contribute to the baked goods (my reputation has gotten around), so there was really only one choice. To FoodNetwork.com!

Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Modified from two Alton Brown recipes

3 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 Tbsp milk
3 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Add melted chocolate and vanilla. Mix until fully integrated. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill. Cut into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. Serve as is or ice as desired. Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.

Here's the thing, I didn't get started on this till about 10:30 at night. I don't really bake, so I didn't realize what all was involved in making sugar cookies. Silly me. There's a reason I entitled this post "Night of the Ninjas".

11:00ish pm--I couldn't actually find unsweetened chocolate, so I got bittersweet instead. Did you know that bittersweet chocolate is the same as really dark chocolate? Did you know I LOVE really dark chocolate? I'm not gonna lie, some of the bag got eaten as I was cooking. When everything was mixed, I discovered that I was out of wax paper, so I popped the dough into a casserole dish, covered it, and stuck it in the fridge. Has anyone noticed I'm not always great at following directions?

Somewhere around 1:30am--I set the timer on my phone and went to bed. I was pretty out of it when I got up, so I don't know what time I started on all this. I rolled everything out on a cutting board. Remember that thing in the recipe about using powdered sugar to keep things from sticking? Do not skip that step! I lost a good ninja to stickiness. Just look at those little guys! They're all ready for action. I bust out about a dozen of these guys, even though the recipe makes dough for something like 25 or 30 of them. Yeah, that wasn't happening. It was 3am when I finally finished.

6:30am--Before anyone says anything about the colors, do you know how hard it is to find bold, quick-setting colors when the grocery store is trying to promote springtime? These ninjas were in touch with their feminine side. They turned out so nice, though. I'm a little bit proud to say that this was my first time icing sugar cookies; I think I did a pretty good job.

7:00am--I was done just in time to get ready for work. My little ninjas seem a bit upset at being trapped under plastic.

I learned a lot here, mostly how much goes into making sugar cookies. I sometimes think baking is the hardest form of cooking. It certainly felt like it as I was fighting sleep all day long the next day. Mum told me later that she used to do sugar cookies with us as kids over a few days so that it wasn't such a task and also so that we had something to do over a few days. That being said, try making these with your kids. I know it would be so much fun if it hadn't been done in the wee hours of the morning. Give it a go; I know you'll love these delicious little cookies.