Pure as the driven snow!

You don’t need to look far to find snowy mountain tops in these parts. This winter has brought snow storm, after snow storm, after snow storm to the northeast. It just keeps coming and it’s great. Right out the front door is waist deep powder and more of the fine white fluffy stuff is on the way. I saw this recipe for ‘snowy mountain top’ chocolate crackle top cookies and I thought…. “bingo”! It says it all.

We took these cookies back country skiing this past weekend. They got eaten at the top of a run where it was hard to transition due to the waist deep powder (see photo below). But the cookies helped us power through and the skiing was phenomenal.

This recipe comes to you from one of my favorites, Whitewater Cooks, which is a collection of recipes from the Fresh Tracks Café in Nelson, British Columbia.  That is where I was supposed to be this week but due to the poor snow conditions out west and the great snow conditions here, we made a last minute change of plans and cancelled our trip. This is as close as I’ll get to the Fresh Tracks Café this week, but at least I’m skiing fresh tracks (literally!)

Ingredients

8 oz. semi sweet dark chocolate
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1 1/3 cups packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup milk
1 cup icing sugar

Method

Coarsely chop chocolate and melt over a pan of simmering water. Set aside to cool.

Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Beat butter and light brown sugar until fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until well combined. Add the cooled melted chocolate. Add flour alternatively with milk. When the dough comes together shape into flattened disk and wrap in plastic. Chill for at least 2 hours, until the dough is firm.

Using a heaping teaspoon of dough, shape into 1 inch balls. Roll each ball in icing sugar until completely coated. If an cocoa colored dough is visible, roll in sugar again.

Place cookies on a parchment covered cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Make sure they don’t roll around when you put them in the oven. Bake at 350 degrees until flat and the sugar coating (snow) splits, 12 to 15 minutes.

Let them cook completely and then store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Truly waist deep