Chocolate Bark New Years Cookies

Chocolate Bark New Years Cookies

Scroll to find recipe and step by step instructions.

Servings Size:

• makes approximately 9-11 cookies

Measurments:

Chocolate Cookie Dough

• 1 cup butter

• 2/3 cup of packed brown sugar (light or dark)

• 1/3 cup white granulated sugar

• 1 large egg

• 2 tsp of vanilla extract

• 1 tbsp molasses (optional but highly recommended)

• 1 tbsp corn syrup (optional) (makes cookie more fudgy)

• 1 & 3/4 cup of All-purpose flour

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1/4 tsp of salt (optional if you used salted butter)

• 2/3 cup cocoa powder

• 2 tsp expresso powder

  Frosting

• 1/2 cup butter

• 1/4 cup shortening (crisco) (you can substitute with more butter)

• 3 cup powdered sugar

• 4 tbsp heavy cream (or 2 tbsp milk)

• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate Bark

• 1 & 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate

• 2/3 cup milk (substitute with half n half/ heavy cream/ light cream/ or plant based milk + butter)

• 3 tbsp black cocoa (or special dark cocoa) (purpose is to give chocolate a darker color)

• 1/2 cup sprinkles (I used gold, silver, white, brown, and crystal sprinkles)

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What is the purpose of molasses?

The key difference between brown sugar and granulated/white sugar is molasses. Molasses is the ingredient that is mixed into granulated sugar to create white sugar. Brown sugar is gives your desserts a nutty and caramel flavor. Therefore, adding extra molasses will enhance the nutty and caramel flavor without having to add more sugar or without having to originally use brown sugar.

Substitutes for milk?

There are several milk substitutes, but you it depends primarily on what you are trying to use the milk for. Some easy substitutes are equal amounts of heavy cream, light cream, half n half (half milk, half heavy cream), or 1 cup plant based milk (almond, coconut, oat, etc.) mixed with 2 tbsp butter (real or plant based).

Most recipes use heavy cream for the point of it whipping up—so using any of the other alternative substitutes won’t work. Light cream, half n half, most plant based milks, and whole milk won’t whip up to a whipped cream texture, so heavy cream is a must-have.

For chocolate ganache, most of the substitutes will work perfectly fine, though it is good to know that heavy cream will give the most light, airy, and thick final product and plant-based/whole milks will give the thinnest and denser product.

Buttercream Frosting

I will always recommend using buttercream frosting because it always has a perfect consistency and is the most simple to make (if you follow the recipe and instructions correctly). However, the texture and consistency of your buttercream frosting depends on your environment. Your frosting will not hold a design very well in warmer environments. It is necessary to keep desserts with buttercream frosting chilled while you are storing them to avoid the frosting melted off of your dessert or becoming too soft—losing the design. You will lose your frosting swirl on top of your cookie if you leave it in heat for too long.

A way to avoid losing the design in the heat, whipping the butter for a longer amount of time (maybe 8-10 minutes) before you add any other ingredient may help stabilize it. Adding more powdered sugar or lessening the amount of heavy cream/milk substitute you use will also aid in this issue. Some buttercream recipes require more milk substances such as heavy cream to give it a fluffier texture. If this is the case and you want to put this dessert in a warmer environment for whatever reason, do not use this recipe for your buttercream or remove most of the liquid and replace it with more butter and powdered sugar.

A key factor to getting stable and airy buttercream that is not too dense is whipping your butter before adding any other ingredients. I always allow my butter to reach a white color and double in size before I add anything. This will allow your buttercream to be more airy without creating unnecessary air pockets.

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Instructions:

• Step 1

• Preheat oven to convection 350 degrees fahrenheit.

• Beat room temperature butter in stand mixer/by hand for 3-5 minutes (or until butter turns off-white).

• Step 2

• Add in brown sugar and white sugar. Beat the sugar with the butter until the mixture is fluffy (about 2 minutes).

• Step 3

• Add your large egg and stir into mixture.

• Mix in vanilla, corn syrup (optional) and molasses (optional).

• Step 4

• Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, expresso powder, cocoa powder, and salt to form your dough. If using a stand mixer, mix on low. If mixing by hand, use a spatula.

• Step 5

• Use a 1/3 cup scoop (or however much your heart desires) and place a single ball of dough on baking tray. THIS IS YOUR TEST COOKIE! Always start with baking a single cookie, to make sure you didn’t forget an ingredient and/or your oven isn’t too hot (some ovens have hot-spots or cook things quicker/slower than others). This is also a good indicator of how much your cookie will spread.

• Step 6

• After baking your test cookie, place cookie dough balls on your tray. Use your test cookie to estimate how many cookies you can fit on your tray.

• Bake cookies for 11-12 minutes (for 1/3 cup scoop).

• Step 7

• For perfectly circular cookies, use a circular bowl/cup and swirl around your fresh cookie to make edges clean. Then let cookies sit on tray for about 10 minutes before removing.

• Cool your cookies in the fridge before icing your cookies.

• For frosting, beat butter and shortening together until mixture turns off-white. Add your powdered sugar until fully incorporated. Next add your heavy cream and extracts. Whip the mixture to let the heavy cream fluffen your mixture. (Remember to use only 2 tbsp milk if you don’t have heavy cream) If you want, mix frosting with a spatula to take away some of the air bubbles (this will help you avoid air bubbles when piping it out)

• Step 8

• For chocolate bark, combine cocoa powder and milk (this is to give chocolate a darker color) and then pour chocolate and milk mixture in a heat safe bowl. Heat this in 30 second increments until chocolate is smooth. Pour on a parchment paper lined tray, smooth out, and add sprinkles. Lastly, freeze this for 20-30 minutes and then break into chunks.

• Put frosting in a ziploc/piping bag or frost with a utensil. Top your cookies with chocolate bark and you are done!

• You can put these in the fridge to store up to 10 days or in room temperature for 8 days!