These cookies. Not too sweet. Very chocolaty. They’re mostly crisp with just a bit of chew in the center. They can be enjoyed as rounds, squares or hearts. Choose your favorite shape. Make these Dark Chocolate Wafer Cookies your way. Soon.
I found the recipe for these beauties in a really fun cookbook, The Gourmet Cookie Book: The Single Best Recipe from Each Year 1941-2009. The editors at Gourmet Magazine dug through their archives and compiled their best cookie recipes, one per year. They didn’t stop there …they retested each and every recipe. Along with an enticing image, they included factual insight giving the history of that moment in time new meaning.
These Dark Chocolate Wafer Cookies were the stand-out favorite from 1950.
February, to be exact. They were referred to simply as Chocolate Wafers. As stated in Gourmet’s article at that time… “Good cooks were pleasing their menfolks with chocolate cakes back during the early settling of the New England colonies. Modern ways are upon us, atom bombs bedevil our dreams, standardization of taste haunts our mealtimes — but chocolate is still chocolate.” That was published just in time for Valentine’s Day that year.
The final issue of Gourmet Magazine was dated November, 2009. So sad it had to end but at least we have books such as this one. And access to a vast array of articles indexed online.
As usual, I tweaked the recipe a bit. In the original, they list rum extract. I don’t know about you guys but that is not something you’ll find in my pantry.
So I use vanilla extract instead. If you like, you could also try almond extract.
Before adding the dry ingredients to the batter, whisk the flour, salt, baking powder and cocoa powder together until fully incorporated.
Need to make these gluten-free?
That’s an easy fix. Just swap out the all-purpose flour with something like Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Baking Flour.
- As you gradually add the flour mixture, you’ll find that the batter will become very thick and difficult to manage with your mixer, especially if you are using a hand-held mixer.
- You may find that you’ll need to finish mixing in the last of the dry ingredients by hand.
As you can see, this cookie dough is quite thick. I find that if you place a mound of dough between two sheets of parchment or waxed paper, the rollout process will be much easier. Just be sure to sprinkle with flour as you go.
Also, the dough must be rolled out to a thickness of 1/8-inch. To be certain, I always use my rolling pin with the removable measured discs. No guesswork, that way.
Make your Dark Chocolate Wafer Cookies whatever shape you like. These guys are delicious no matter what shape you decide on. I chose heart cutouts because …well, it’s that time of year. But if you decide on squares or rounds, you can use either the straight edge or fluted edge to make these your own.
And just imagine this…
A small scoop of vanilla ice cream strategically placed on one of these wafers gets topped off with a second wafer. You now have the most amazing perfectly-sized ice cream sandwich. Just sayin’…
One more thing…
These cookies love to be topped off with a sprinkling of sweetness or saltiness. Before sending them off to the oven, try dusting them with flaky sea salt or chopped nuts. Or some turbinado sugar. I recently made some to share for Valentine’s Day. The grandkids totally enjoyed the crunchy red sugar topping.
Enjoy your Dark Chocolate Wafer Cookies!
To quote the folks from Gourmet… “With a chocolate wafer like this one — not too sweet, filled with flavor, and very sophisticated — who needs more? Crisp and thin, it is deeply, deeply chocolaty.”
dark chocolate wafer cookies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract (can be replaced with almond or rum extract)
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or gluten-free flour)
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
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In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until creamy. Gradually add the sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. On low speed, add the vanilla, then the egg. Scrape down the bowl again. (Alternatively, a hand-held mixer can be used)
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Meanwhile, add the flour, baking soda, and salt to a medium bowl. Add the cocoa powder and whisk until well incorporated.
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With the mixer on low-to-medium, gradually add the flour mixture to the butter-sugar mixture, mixing well after each addition.
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Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured board. (Or between two sheets of parchment or waxed paper.) Cut into it with a floured cookie cutter into shapes of about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Place the cutouts on the prepared baking sheets with a small space between each.
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Bake for 8 minutes. Allow the cookies to remain on the sheet for about one minute then carefully transfer them to a wire rack to cool.
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More chocolatey goodness…
