Snorting Cocoa

Some people snort coke (among other things)............not me................I snort cocoa.

Cocoa is one of the few things that I sift. I hate sifting, but cocoa is a bit lumpy when you scoop it out of the can so, begrudgingly, I sift it. The ultra-fine texture of cocoa sends clouds of cocoa dust up into the air, especially when working with the large quantitites of cocoa that I've been using for the last two cookie recipes I've baked. Clouds of fine cocoa dust that apparently ended up going up my nose and even down my throat - not to mention all over my counters and mixer. Cough, cough. And not to kill your appetite, but it can be a little alarming if you go to blow your nose after working in clouds of cocoa. Sorry. TMI.

Photo from Martha Moments

Well, it's worth snorting clouds of cocoa to produce a yummy chocolate cookie. After trying the Dark Chocolate Cookies on Saturday, I decided to follow up with a recipe that I tried quite a while ago - probably in 2001, which is the date of the Marth Stewart cookie issue where I found this recipe. These are quite similar to the other cocoa cookies, but these are a bit chewier and a bit crisper, probably due to using all granulated sugar as opposed to a combination of granulated and brown sugars. I'd liken the taste to a chewy, cocoa-flavored sugar cookie whereas the other cookie was more like a chocolatey-chocolate chip cookie. It's hard to really compare the two because the first cookie is already showing signs of age, but there is definitely a difference and I like them both. I think the second one holds up better as a plain chocolate cookie, but the first has a richer cocoa flavor. All in all, two very good, somewhat similar cookies - each with its own texture and style.

By the way, this issue - that I've had for 5 years now - also had the Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies that I never noticed until someone posted about them on the CLBB. That's what I love about being able to read what other people are cooking - you end up trying things you might never have noticed, much less tried on your own.

Grammy's Chocolate Cookies

A side note - I've been using Hershey's Special Dark Dutch Process Cocoa which is why the cookies are so dark (and difficult to photograph). I'm trying to use up all of my Hershey's cocoa so that I can switch to the Penzeys cocoa I recently bought. I don't know if I'll ultimately be able to tell the difference, but I like that you can purchase the Penzeys cocoa in larger quantities - very nice for recipes that call for 1 cup or more of cocoa.

While I don't recommend snorting cocoa, it is definitely worth the minor inconvenience..........as long as they don't link inhalation of cocoa to any kind of life-threatening diseases and even then..............