Chocolate Sugar Cookies

I have a bone to pick with Martha Stewart.  Well, not really.  But every time I use one of her recipes, it never seems to turn out right.  Maybe it's because I don't have her great baking skills.  I don't know what it is.  But I've about given up with her recipes.

I found this recipe for Giant Chocolate Sugar Cookies.  On her site, they looked delicious. The cookies were big, and they crackled nicely.  I followed the recipe exactly, but had quite a few problems in the presentation department.

The taste of the cookies came out great.  But the large cookies flattened a lot and were really thin.  They also burned around the edges.  I had to cut down the bake time significantly and make my cookies smaller.  A lot of my cookies still came out deformed.  None of them looked quite like the ones pictured on her site.  Next time I'll try a different recipe.

Boyfriend enjoyed the taste, and didn't mind stuffing on the deformed ones in his mouth. I liked how they tasted too.  Very chocolate and fudgy.  However next time, I hope to find a better recipe with prettier results

Chocolate Sugar Cookies (adapted from Martha Stewart)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening, substitute 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled (I used butter)
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
2. Put butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in shortening (or additional butter). Add egg and vanilla; mix until creamy. Reduce speed to low. Gradually add flour mixture, and mix until just combined.
3. Drop golf ball sized dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing about 2 inches apart. Bake until edges are firm, about 10 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.