Daleks Love Jammie Dodgers: A Cookie-Making Tutorial

Recently, a new Dalek joined our troop.  We named him Denim, after his blue hemispheres.  As each Dalek must prove his worth, Pocket decided to teach him how to make our favorite English cookies.  

Pocket Dalek: Now that we've made the dough, help me roll it out.
Denim Dalek: You got it, boss.

Denim Dalek: Hey, can I ride that too?  It looks fun!
Pocket Dalek: No, a cutter is a precision tool.
You're obviously not mature enough to use it yet.

Pocket Dalek: Now that we've cut out the layers, it's time to bake them.  
Denim Dalek: Okey-dokey.
Pocket Dalek: Under no circumstances does a Dalek say "Okey-dokey."
Denim Dalek: Sorry, boss.  I guess it just slipped out.

Denim Dalek: Um, the jam smells great!
Pocket Dalek: Be careful when you spread it on the cookies.
Raspberry Jam stains Daleks!

Pocket Dalek: I must say, for your first job, you didn't do half-bad.
Denim Dalek: Thanks boss.  The cookies sure are cute.
Pocket Dalek: Daleks do not use the word "cute."
And English cookies are called "biscuits."
Denim Dalek: Biscuits.  Not cute.  Right, boss.

Denim Dalek: How come ours look different than the store-bought kind?
Pocket Dalek: Ours have fewer preservatives.
Denim Dalek: Oh.  You know, I think our version is better.
Pocket Dalek: Why?
Denim Dalek: Because even if they're smaller, ours have a bigger heart.
Pocket Dalek: Yes, that's because we made them for...Oh no!
Now you've engaged me in sentiment!

Thank you, Daleks, for making us our favorite English cookies.  And Denim, welcome to our house.

Pocket Dalek: It is our pleasure to serve, master!

Denim Dalek: Yes, what he said, master.

Now can we help you exterminate the cookies?

Pocket Dalek: Finally, you sound like a real Dalek!

Dragon Dave

Related Internet Links
Our Jammie Dodger Recipe (we made nearly 4 dozen)

Making “Never Enough Chocolate” Ice Cream Bowls: Part 2

Yesterday, I told you about our first attempt at using our Wilton “Ice Cream Bowl Pan.”  As you can see, the cookie dough formed a nice bowl-like structure, and all of them came nicely off the pan.  Nevertheless, a couple ended up with holes in the sides, and to a certain extent, the bowls looked rather porous, so you’ll need an actual bowl to serve them in.  Also, because of the way the dough spread out past the ridges, they ended up with wide, saucer-like edges.  This meant that we needed wide containers to store them in.  We got four in an eight-cup Ziploc container that measured 10.5” long by about 6” wide and 3.5” tall. 

Making them into sundaes that evening was a real treat.  I expected the dough to be brittle, but the bowls held up well to the pressure of digging into the ice cream with the spoon.  The edges, and bowls themselves, broke off in nice pieces when we wanted them to, rather than fracturing and breaking unexpectedly.  As we hadn’t put chocolate chips, or anything else into them, they had a nice, basic flavor, and added to the ice cream (“Triple Brownie” flavor Deluxe Ice Cream brand) without distracting or competing.  And I ended up, on the last spoonful, with both cookie and ice cream, so it was a nice way to finish the dessert.  In case you ran out and bought a Wilton pan after you read yesterday’s post, here’s the recipe we used to make our “Never Enough Chocolate” Ice Cream Bowls, along with the calories, for those who count them.

  

1 Cup Butter (2 sticks)                                                           1630

1 Cup Sugar                                                                            775

½ Cup Brown Sugar (packed)                                                   415

2 Eggs (XL)                                                                             160

2 teaspoons Vanilla extract                                                        20

3 Cups Flour                                                                          1365

1 teaspoon Salt                                                                           0

1 teaspoon Baking Soda                                                              0

6 ounces Grated Dark Chocolate (171 grams)                             898

Total Calories                                                                         5263

My wife made nine cookie bowls out of half of the dough.  After making three more bowls, for a total of twelve, she again rolled out the dough, and using a small round cookie cutter, cut out around forty 1/8” thick cookies.  Each bowl works out to 292 calories, and the cookies averaged (due to size differences) 40 – 50 calories.  Here are some more precise directions.

Cream butter and sugars. 

Add eggs and vanilla, mix well.

Combine four, salt, and baking soda in separate bowl.  Mix well, gradually add to batter.

Stir in grated chocolate. 

Bake 375 F for 8-10 minutes. 

Cool 5 – 10 minutes before removing from pan.

In review, our “Never Enough Chocolate” Ice Cream bowls had a nice basic flavor, and a perfect texture.  The only problem, from our perspective, was that they had a lot of calories.  (In comparison, we could probably eat a richer chocolate cake, with icing, for the same number of calories).  So we’ll have to try a different recipe next time.  Nevertheless, we won't let such an important fact bother us too much, as they really were a nice treat.  

We'll just plan some lower-calorie dinners for the next week.

After we made them, my wife found a more basic, Sugar Cookie-type recipe at the Wilton website.  She noticed their recipe didn’t call for baking soda or baking powder.  So perhaps losing those ingredients would prevent the bowls from falling and spreading out on the pan.  Then again, if you don’t care about the calories, and are throwing a Science Fiction themed party, you could always put ice cream inside, then plunk another one down on top to form Ice Cream Cake Bowl UFOs.  I’m sure they’d be the talk of your intergalactic guests.

Dragon Dave

Related Internet Link

The Wilton recipe

Making "Never Enough Chocolate" Ice Cream Bowls: Part 1

Yesterday, we had planned to drive up to Long John Silvers for lunch (Go Fish!), but when we left for the gym in the morning, it was raining.  At the gym, the local station’s TV weather forecast called for rain all day.  So we decided to stay off the freeway.  We had found this Wilton “Ice Cream Bowl Pan” at Walmart, and at the time it looked like a fun and tasty project.  The pan then sat under our counter, alone, unloved, and forgotten, until yesterday, when my wife, anticipating a day spent inside, felt inspired to bake.  So she dug it out, read the directions, and decided to do something with it.

She has a favorite cookie recipe, one she calls Never Enough Chocolate cookies.  As the pan came with no recipes, she decided to adapt her own and make Never Enough Chocolate Ice Cream Bowls.  You’d never guess that she’s half-Swiss, would you?  (No, I’m not going to tell you which half).  To begin with, she got out a bar of dark chocolate, and chopped it as finely as she could.  Then she put the pieces into her blender and reduced them to a powdery consistency.  After that, she made up the rest of her batter, and put it in the fridge to chill.

After lunch, she took out the dough, and using a floured hand towel (Yes, she suggests that you start with a clean towel), she rolled out the dough until it was 1/8” thick.  Then she found an old plastic container that was 4 ½” in diameter, the size the instructions called for, and cut out large circles.  

She placed a circle of dough atop each bowl-form, and gently molded it onto its sculpted, wavy sides.  Then she put the pan in our oven, preheated to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, and waited patiently for the required 8 – 10 minutes (only switching on the light and peering inside the oven every minute or two to check on their progress).

When the timer dinged (or binged, or cha-chinged), she pulled out the pan, and let the bowl forms cool for 5 – 10 minutes before removing them.  The dough had risen, but it had also sunk down and spread past the little trench designed to catch any excess dough.  Still, they came off the pan fine, and not one of them broke.  She then repeated this process with another pan-full, so we ended up with a dozen cookie bowls.  

She pressed out the rest of the dough, and cut out some smaller circles, so we could have a small chocolate cookie for our afternoon snack.  Needless to say, the rest of the afternoon proved a torture, as we waited to fill them with ice cream that evening.  Tomorrow, I’ll tell you how they turned out, and give you the recipe.  (Yes, I really am that cruel).

Dragon Dave