After one month break, we are back with “The Secret Recipe Club“, and our group even has a new moderator, April, who did a great job coaching us through the changes that took place during the break. For those who are not familiar with the event, a few weeks before reveal day, each member is assigned a food blog (in secret) to cook a recipe from. This time I was paired with My Judy the Foodie. When I get an assignment, I jump straight to the “About” page, to get to know my fellow blogger. Shari describes herself as a “kitchen-clueless person”. But one who is ready for a challenge, the challenge of creating new traditions for her own family, inspired by her mother’s cooking. The whole blog is in fact a beautiful tribute to her Mom. Her page “About Judy” was particularly touching to read.
I next browsed through her recipes, and it didn’t take me very long to choose her beautiful “Earthquake Cookies“. Considering the fact that while living for one year in Los Angeles we didn’t have a single earthquake, but the very week we moved back to Oklahoma the earth shook three days in a row, I felt these cookies were the perfect choice! 😉
JUDY’S EARTHQUAKE COOKIES
(from My Judy the Foodie)
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 squares unsweetened chocolate
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
2 cups sugar
4 eggs beaten
2 cups flour, sifted
1/2 tsp salt
1 + 1/2 cups of confectioner’s sugar
Melt chocolate and butter in a microwave safe container, stirring every 15 seconds.
Beat the eggs in a large bowl, add the sugar, vanilla extract, and melted chocolate/butter mixture. Add the baking powder, flour, and salt and beat until very smooth.
Place bowl in fridge and chill as long as 24 hours.
Heat the oven to 350 F. Cover two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place confectioner’s sugar in bowl large enough to roll out the fudge balls. Take a teaspoon of the cookie dough and form into balls. Coat the ball with confectioner’s sugar by rolling it around in the sugar many times.
Place on baking sheet with enough room for each ball to “explode” open. Bake for approximately 12 minutes (mine took longer). Cool and then remove cookies to wire rack (make sure to place foil under the rack as powdered sugar can be quite messy).
ENJOY!
to print the recipe, click here
Comments: When you make these cookies, don’t forget the cookie dough must sit in the fridge for 24 hours. Once you mix the dough, it will be very soft, the only way you can shape them is by refrigerating for several hours. As far as taste goes, a full day in the fridge seems to be the best option.
Here you can see the dough right after mixing it…
and next day, ready to finish the job…
My cookies did not explode the same way Shari’s did, her cookies looked a lot more “interesting” than mine. Not sure what happened, I suspect the geologic fault that runs near our home was fast asleep when I put them in the oven. Bummer! However, exploded or not, these cookies were VERY tasty. They have a slightly fudgy consistency, and as they melt in your mouth the chocolate flavor will force you to close your eyes and indulge in extremely happy thoughts. My kind of cookie!
Shari, nice to meet you through The Secret Recipe Club! Looking forward to checking out what was your assignment this month! 😉
ONE YEAR AGO: A Soft Spot for Chevre
TWO YEARS AGO: Seared Tuna, My Own Private Idaho
Bewitching Kitchen 
I feel the earth move under my feet….
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Greg, can you believe we had anothervearthquake in the state on Saturday? but too weak, I didn t feel anything, plus the epicentervwas not too close from us…. must be the cookies…. you think? 🙂
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I love these cookies, so rich and delicious.
If you haven’t already, I’d love for you to check out my Group ‘A’ SRC entry: Crunchy Fudgy Heart Bites and my Group ‘D’ entry: Health(ier) Peanut Brittle
Lisa~~
Cook Lisa Cook
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awesome posts! glad youncame by to give me the heads up!
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yay! so happy you liked them….they’re loaded with a lot of meaning for me (as you’ve discovered through my blog). I’m thinking maybe your cookies didn’t crack as much because they weren’t fully covered with the confectioners’ sugar? I made sure to roll the cookies around a bunch of times in it so it was really coated. But, the first time I made them, they didn’t really explode either! so happy to have met you through SRC! will be a frequent visitor….
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hello there, Shari! glad to see you!
I thought about that as a possible reason for the non explosive character of my babies… next time I will drench them in powdered sugar with gusto
they are absolutely delicious, though…. everyone in our lab loved them!
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yum!! I love the chocolatey-ness is these guys. They look and sounds absolutely incredible. Yum, can never go wrong with chocolate 😉
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you said it all….. lol
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“Considering the fact that while living for one year in Los Angeles we didn’t have a single earthquake, but the very week we moved back to Oklahoma the earth shook three days in a row” – Go Figure! Love that… and agreed, a perfect choice. These cookies are so much fun – they definitely look earth-shattering ;-).
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I want to make them again, following Shari’s advice – and really going for a thick rolling on powdered sugar. Don’t tell anyone, but I hate getting my hands sticky with sugary stuff, probably that’s why I messed up the earthquake effect.
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Yummm! Those look so chocolate and fudgey! Any recipe with melted chocolate has my vote:-)
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Same here… I was not that fond of dark chocolate until I married my beloved, but he made me see the light 😉
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Nice cookie Sally. I have seen something similar around the blogs but not with that name.
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Catchy name indeed… a sort of snickerdoodle with a more fudgey nature
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Earthquakes in Oklahoma, who would have thought. Did your family blame you for bringing them back w/ you from California?
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Well, we have no more family here, my husband’s kids have been away from home for years, but I think a couple of friends did blame us for the shock 😉
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Now this is my kind of cookie. Melt in your mouth chocolate… What’s not to love?!
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PS: Thank you for your kind words. I love being a hostess for the SRC.
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You are more than welcome! 😉
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Haha, I love it! Your earthquake cookies look fantastic, even if your fault line was a little sleepy that day. I bet they still tasted amazing!
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as far as taste goes, hard to find a better cookie. I am not too fond of crispy cookies, so these were perfect for me
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Those cookies look fantastic! How can you beat chocolaty goodness?
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ha! I love the reasoning why you picked the cookies.
These look so chocolaty and good.
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Cookie that burst. How interesting is that. Just looking at that dough makes me wanna bake. Delicious
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