[0 - 1] - I'm Frank Proto, [upbeat music]
[1 - 2] Professional Chef and Culinary Instructor,
[2 - 3] and today I'm gonna show you
[3 - 5] how to make my favorite holiday cookie,
[5 - 7] a Dutch cocoa cookie.
[7 - 10] We're talking chewy center, crispy edges,
[10 - 13] chocolatey goodness in one little cookie.
[14 - 16] This is "Holiday Cookies 101."
[17 - 19] There's a lot of reasons why I love this cookie.
[19 - 21] They're easy to make, they taste great,
[21 - 24] they last for a long time, so they're great for gifting
[24 - 25] if you want to gift for the holidays.
[25 - 27] I like to get them as a gift.
[27 - 29] Please make these cookies and send them to me.
[29 - 30] Lots of 'em all.
[30 - 32] All this talk about sweets is making me hungry.
[32 - 34] Let's bake some cookies.
[34 - 36] [upbeat music] [air whooshing]
[36 - 41] First thing we want to do is put our butter and our sugar
[42 - 44] Put the mixer down, make sure it's locked.
[44 - 47] Do not turn the mixer on full blast right now;
[47 - 49] we wanna start low and then go high
[49 - 51] so that we can really whip our butter up
[51 - 53] and get some air into it
[53 - 54] and break those sugar crystals down.
[54 - 57] We wanna mix it until it's nice and creamy.
[57 - 59] This is gonna kind of start to melt the sugar
[59 - 60] and it's gonna give our finished cookie
[60 - 62] a really nice texture.
[62 - 64] Take a second here to scrape your sides down
[64 - 65] and your bottom down
[65 - 67] just in case there's butter or sugar
[67 - 69] that is not incorporated.
[69 - 71] And then we go for a little longer.
[71 - 73] Once you start seeing it get lighter and fluffier,
[73 - 75] again, you scrape down the sides one more time.
[75 - 77] So I have a measuring cup here,
[77 - 79] I have my eggs and vanilla.
[79 - 82] If I crack here and I get shell in there,
[82 - 84] it's gonna be really hard to take out.
[84 - 86] So get yourself a bowl or a measuring cup.
[86 - 89] The eggs in this are basically the cement of the cookie.
[89 - 91] When we bake the cookie, it goes from liquid to solid.
[91 - 94] It gives us some chewiness, some fat, some flavor,
[94 - 97] and it holds the cookie together.
[97 - 98] Vanilla in with the eggs. [metal clinking]
[98 - 100] So we turn the sugar back on. [mixer whirring]
[100 - 102] If we add all the eggs at once,
[102 - 103] it gets really slushy and messy.
[103 - 105] So one at a time.
[105 - 108] One egg and vanilla.
[108 - 111] Once the egg is incorporated, I can add the other egg.
[111 - 112] And you can see it's coming together,
[112 - 113] it's getting nice and creamy.
[113 - 115] I stop it and I scrape my sides down again
[115 - 117] because there's some butter and sugar
[117 - 119] that's stuck to the side, the eggs aren't mixed in with.
[120 - 122] It is really crucial that we scrape the sides down.
[122 - 124] I don't wanna have a pocket of butter
[124 - 127] or a pocket of sugar that hasn't been blended well,
[127 - 128] you need to mix this really well.
[128 - 130] Now that our wet ingredients are mixed together,
[130 - 132] I can start with the dry, all-purpose flour.
[132 - 134] Cake flour won't give you enough structure,
[134 - 137] bread flour might give you a little too much structure
[137 - 138] and have your cookie be a little tough.
[138 - 140] All-purpose is the happy medium.
[140 - 142] Baking soda is our lavender.
[142 - 144] Without the lavender, they'd be flat discs
[144 - 146] and really wouldn't have a lot of texture to them.
[146 - 148] Salt. Salt is a flavor enhancer.
[148 - 151] It's gonna accentuate the butter, the sugar,
[151 - 152] the vanilla, and the cocoa flavors.
[152 - 154] And then our cocoa powder.
[154 - 156] I'm using a Dutch-processed cocoa powder.
[156 - 158] Dutch processed cocoa powder is regular cocoa powder
[159 - 161] that has been treated with an alkalide or an alkaline
[161 - 163] to make it a little more smoother,
[163 - 165] a little more rounder, a little bit darker,
[165 - 168] a slightly muted kind of cocoa flavor.
[168 - 170] [air whooshing] And that's what I want in my recipe.
[170 - 172] Get a whisk, just whisk it together.
[172 - 174] Make sure you mix it really well
[174 - 175] so everything's incorporated.
[175 - 177] If there's any lumps, just break them up with your whisk.
[177 - 179] When ingredients are done, dry ingredients are done.
[179 - 181] This cookie recipe is not fussy.
[181 - 182] It's easy and simple,
[182 - 184] and you basically just get to dump everything in.
[184 - 186] Do not turn this on all the way.
[186 - 189] So what I like to do is just pulse the switch
[189 - 191] until it gets incorporated.
[191 - 194] Otherwise, you're gonna get a big cloud of flour and cocoa
[194 - 194] in your face.
[194 - 196] I'm gonna stop. I'm gonna scrape down my sides.
[196 - 199] Once again, people worry about over mixing
[199 - 201] and there's so much butter and sugar
[201 - 203] and egg in this cookie.
[203 - 205] It's really hard to overmix, right?
[205 - 206] It's just like I said,
[206 - 209] it's not fussy and it's really simple and basic.
[209 - 212] Scrape your sides down and mix. [mixer whirring]
[213 - 213] And that's it.
[213 - 214] My dough is done.
[214 - 215] I know my dough is done
[215 - 218] because if you take it off of the machine,
[218 - 220] there's no dry flour on the bottom.
[220 - 222] It's really mixed well,
[222 - 224] and there's no spots of butter or sugar,
[224 - 226] everything is nice and chocolatey brown.
[226 - 231] So we get in there, get everything off of your paddle.
[231 - 234] This cookie dough has a really nice, dark, rich color.
[234 - 237] You can smell the chocolate now
[237 - 239] and it's gonna be even better once we put it in the oven.
[239 - 241] You see how quick and easy that was?
[241 - 243] We just put together a few simple ingredients.
[243 - 246] Now we get to put 'em on a sheet tray and bake 'em.
[246 - 248] [upbeat music] [air whooshing]
[248 - 250] One final touch for these Dutch cocoa cookies
[250 - 252] is that we're gonna roll them in sugar.
[252 - 254] I have a disher or an ice cream scoop,
[254 - 255] that some people call it.
[255 - 257] This is 1 1/2 tablespoons.
[257 - 260] I like my cookies a little on the large side.
[260 - 261] And what this does for us
[261 - 263] is it gives us a uniform size of cookie.
[263 - 266] You can use a tablespoon measure, that's great,
[266 - 267] but your cookies are gonna be all different sizes.
[267 - 270] So I go into the bowl, I pack it in there,
[270 - 272] and I scrape it on the side.
[272 - 276] So I have a nice, uniform cookie every single time.
[276 - 279] So you take the dough, drop it into your sugar.
[279 - 281] Not only is dipping in the sugar gonna make it taste great,
[281 - 284] it also gives it a little more crunch on the outside,
[284 - 285] and I like that.
[285 - 287] It looks good, it tastes good, and that's what I want.
[287 - 290] So roll them in the sugar.
[290 - 291] I'm gonna do three across.
[291 - 294] Space them out properly so they don't run into each other,
[294 - 295] and we'll do four down.
[295 - 297] So 12 cookies per tray.
[297 - 299] Another thing I love about this recipe
[299 - 302] is you do not need to refrigerate this.
[302 - 304] Yes, you can scoop them and freeze them.
[304 - 306] If you're gonna do that, don't dip 'em in the sugar
[306 - 308] until right before you put 'em in the oven.
[308 - 310] Scoop them plain, let 'em freeze,
[310 - 312] put 'em in a Ziploc bag,
[312 - 314] and then put 'em in the sugar right before you bake.
[314 - 317] But the fringe benefit of these is you can make the dough,
[317 - 320] scoop it and bake it in the same day.
[320 - 321] These cookies are looking great already.
[321 - 323] It's time to get in the oven.
[323 - 326] I'm gonna put 'em in at 350 for about 10 to 12 minutes.
[326 - 328] [air whooshing] [upbeat music]
[328 - 330] The cookies have come outta the oven
[330 - 331] and they've cooled completely.
[331 - 333] We want them to cool down all the way.
[333 - 335] Let's give one a taste.
[335 - 338] And you can see the texture is nice and fudgy on the inside.
[338 - 340] The edge is a little crispy.
[342 - 344] Hmm, this is an amazing cookie.
[344 - 345] It's got a little bit of everything.
[345 - 349] It's chewy, it's crunchy, it's chocolatey, it's rich.
[349 - 350] These Dutch cocoa cookies are my favorite
[350 - 353] and I love to give them as gifts around the holidays.
[353 - 354] You give these cookies as a gift,
[354 - 362] you have a friend for life. Hmm.