Chocaholic Cookies

A little while ago, I rediscovered, and subsequently bought all the books by Diane Mott Davidson.

I had read a few earlier, and I had one � the Cereal Murders � but as I re-read that one, I got a sudden urge to own them all. I found a good deal on Ebay, bought the rest from an Internet bookshop, and have been happily reading ever since. For those not familiar with these books, they�re called Culinary Mysteries and is a certain little genre of their own.

The heroine, Goldy, is a caterer in Aspen Meadow, Colorado. She tends to stumble upon crimes, again and again. The books are classic murder mysteries � but they�re also peppered with recipes! As Goldy cooks for her various engagements, she�ll share recipes with the readers, and boy � some of them sound absolutely excellent. I haven�t tried that many yet, but I really look forward to doing so. However, I made these wonderful chocolate cookies for mine and Per�s anniversary � we�ve been a couple for six years!

Diane Mott Davidson call these Chocaholic cookies, and they are indeed � shock-full of chocolate, and yummy beyond belief. I halved the original recipe, so you can easily double this. I find that the yield in the books is usually a little bit off, but not by too much. I got 24 cookies out of this, and according to the recipe, it should have been 30. Oh well. These are some of the best cookies I�ve ever had. They�re deep, dark and thoroughly satisfying. The creamy white chocolate glaze really sets off the chocolateness of the cookie � I couldn�t help myself, and wolfed down four as soon as the glaze was starting to set. Do try them!



Chocaholic cookies
From The Main Corpse, by Diane Mott Davidson

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup good quality dark chocolate, chopped
1 stick (115 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
� cup firmly packed brown sugar
� cup flour
� teaspoon baking soda
� teaspoon salt (I omitted this since I used regular butter instead of unsalted)
� cup of unsweetened cocoa (actually � this is the amount in the regular, doubled recipe � but it worked well for me. More chocolate = better.)
1 large egg
� tbsp milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100 g white chocolate
1 tbsp vegetable shortening

Preheat oven to 175 C / 350 F. Combine the oats and the chocolate chips, set aside. Sift the flour with the salt, baking soda and cocoa. Set aside. Beat the egg with the milk and the vanilla � set aside. Beat the sugars with the butter until soft and creamy. Add the flour/cocoa mix and blend well. Add the egg-milk-vanilla mixture. Finally, add the oats/chocolate mixture, and blend everything into a well mixed though. (I used my trusty Kitchen-Aid.)

Use a two-tablespoon scoop (here is where my yield is probably off, since I didn�t have one and just guesstimated) and drop batter 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Bake 9-12 minutes and let cool on a rack.

Melt the white chocolate with the shortening, and dip the cooled cookies.