thecookieblogger.com

with september fast approaching, i can almost smell the excitement in the air. school’s getting ready to begin, and it was always my favorite time of year! i especially loved the ‘pre-school’ shopping. for clothes? no, of course not. my favorite shopping had to do with new erasers and pencil boxes and notebooks and binders. to this day, i still love the look of a brand new notebook and the smell of a freshly sharpened pencil!

a new school year also meant that i’d have a new lunchbox. my favorite being my original vinyl barbie lunchbox.

it was just the right size to fit my thermos of juice, my tuna fish sandwich, a piece of fruit and two cookies. these chocolate sugar cookies were perfect lunchbox cookies because they were the perfect size to fit in the lunchbox without getting squished, they held up well and were always in one piece when they arrived at school, and, well, they were chocolate. what more could i ask for?

i wish i still had that lunchbox. forget the fact that it would probably be worth a pretty penny on ebay, it would be delightful to use it to carry my lunch of juice, tuna sandwich and some fruit even today! and please don’t forget the cookies!

chocolate sugar cookies
ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 1/2 cups baker’s sugar
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (I used plain, unflavored crisco)
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

instructions
1. preheat oven to 375 degrees. line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. melt vegetable shortening in a small saucepan over low heat. allow to cool.
3. whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and instant espresso powder together in a medium bowl.
4. cream together butter and sugar in your mixer bowl until mixture is creamy, fluffy and very pale, about 3-4 minutes.
5. add melted shortening into the butter mixture, mixing until smooth.
6. add egg and vanilla, mixing until creamy and well-combined.
7. with your mixer on its lowest speed, add the flour mixture in two increments, mixing just until combined. do not overmix or the cookies will be tough.
8. using your #40 scoop, drop rounded scoops of dough approximately 3 inches apart (see photo). the dough must be spaced well, as these cookies spread while baking!

9. bake until edges are firm, 19 – 20 minutes. remove from oven.
10. let cookies sit on baking sheet for 3-4 minutes, then transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely.
enjoy!
yield: 24 cookies