Mom's Chocolate Frosted Cookies

This recipe is from the 1946 Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book.  Myrna says it’s the one our mom used - to make my very favorite chocolate cookies – she’s right!  I had used a recipe from my 1968 cook book that I got when I first got married, and although good, they weren’t quite what I remembered, so I was eager to try these.

 These looked terrible in the oven at first – they appeared to be melting and losing their shape completely – turning into thin cookies before my eyes.  Then, a miracle, they began to rise and there they were – those favorite cookies I remembered - tender and cake-like! 

1946 Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook

 My husband, not a chocolate fan, eagerly cleaned the bowl and beaters and thought these were just OK for chocolate cookies – high praise from him.  I had to fight him for the last ones.

Both Myrna and I remember shelling black walnuts from our trees for these – a thankless job, except that I, for one, loved these cookies.  Do put a whole nut half on top.

Mom's Chocolate Frosted Cookies

  1        large  eggs -- well beaten

  1        cup  Brown Sugar -- 8 ounces

  1        teaspoon  Vanilla Extract

  1/4     cup  butter -- 2 ounces

  1/4     cup  shortening -- 1 3/4 ounces

  2         Baking Chocolate Squares -- melted with butter and shortening

  1 2/3  cups  Cake Flour *-- 8 ounces

  1/2     teaspoon  salt

  1/2     teaspoon  soda

  1/2     cup  milk -- sweet or sour (I used buttermilk I had on hand)

  1/2     cup  Walnuts, Broken (2 ounces) Or pecans

Melt the chocolate squares with the shortening and butter.  Let cool.   Beat egg and sugar until light; add vanilla extract, then shortening and butter, (melted with chocolate and cooled); blend well.

 Add the sifted dry ingredients alternately with milk; add nut meats.  The dough will be very soft, almost like very thick cake batter.  (Use a spoon or whisk for this step so your cookies don't get tough from overmixing.)  They also benefit from chilling the dough.  Be sure you don't use a warm cookie sheet.

Drop from teaspoon two inches apart onto greased cooky sheet.  (I used a size 100 scoop on parchment paper).  Bake in 350° oven 10 to 12 minutes.

Frost with Mocha frosting and top with a walnut or pecan half.  Makes 3 dozen.

Mocha Frosting

3 tbsp cocoa

1-2 tbsp hot coffee or milk or cream

3 tbsp butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ½ cups powdered sugar

36 walnut halves or pecans

Per Serving: 99 Calories; 5g Fat (42.8% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 14g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 12mg Cholesterol; 58mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 1 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

*Cake flour has a 6-8% protein content and is made from soft wheat flour. It is chlorinated to further break down the strength of the gluten and is smooth and velvety in texture. Good for making cakes (especially white cakes and biscuits) and cookies where a tender and delicate texture is desired.  To substitute cake flour for all-purpose flour use 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour for every cup of all-purpose flour.  Make your own - one cup sifted cake flour can be substituted with 3/4 cup (84 grams) sifted bleached all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons (15 grams) cornstarch.