Dark chocolate gone too far?

[KatyCooks]

I stupidly promised to cook Peanut butter and Chocolate cookies to bring in to work tomorrow.

Stupidly, because I am not a great baker. The recipe looked simple enough. https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/double-choc-peanut-butter-cookies#commentsFeed

But of course, because I am not a good baker, and I messed around with the ingredients, I am not sure what I produced is going to be okay. I do not have a sweet tooth, and don't eat a lot of cookies. I reduced the sugar (as did a lot of people who posted reviews), and I also used very dark chocolate AND dark chocolate cocoa powder.

I feel I may have overdone the dark chocolate! (It's fine for me, but I would only eat 1 cookie in any case - and that would be with some good strong coffee.)

I am bringing them into the office tomorrow. (And now, it turns out that we have some Clients coming in too!) Should I hide my cookies away, or just warn people that they are pretty "intense" (or possibly actually "bitter" to some palettes?) The ingredients are all good.

Or am I worrying about nothing?

 

[blissful]

I was going to say.....with a lot of cocoa that is dark, it might be too dark for some......but when I read the recipe, it only calls for 2 T of cocoa, that isn't that much. Let them know they are dark chocolate and then people will either love them or avoid them. I'm a big fan of dark chocolate so I'd be in the love them camp.

 

[KatyCooks]

Hi bliffsul. I only added the 2 TBS of cocoa, but all the chocolate chips were also dark too. (Most of the people I work with appear to favour milk or even (shudder) white chocolate, which are much sweeter!

My cookies are pretty good - if you like a less sweet cookie! LOL Thank you! I am off to bed and will let you know how it went in the office.

 

[HeyItsSara]

they sound lovely!!!! I'm sure they were appreciated!!!

 

[JohnDB]

The reduced sugars....
Hopefully they were equally reduced and not too much. They perform together as a means to create a great texture and flavor that adds to the whole cookie.
The butter and peanut butter together provide shortening...making the cookie tender and adding flavor.

Eggs and baking soda both perform the leavening.
Dark cocoa powder is just darker because of the processing...no other reason. Not much of a flavor change either when switching between the two. Looks different though. The cocoa powder provides structure and flavor just like the flour...don't go crazy with this but it's almost like cake flour in the cookie. It isnt...but it's just the same amount so I don't expect much of a change from the substituting.

The reduced sugars are the real change in this recipe...that's going to affect the taste more than anything else except for the chips used.

 

[HeyItsSara]

a cookie recipe doesn'thave to be terribly sweet if it's got chocolate pieces in it.

 

[pepperhead212]

How much chocolate is too much??

The chocolate cookies I used to make (I still make a few, but nowhere near as many) with cocoa, had 1/2 to 3/4 c Dutch cocoa. The chocolate shortbread was 1/2 c, to just 1/2 c sugar, and 2 c flour (can't remember people's names, but I still remember this!). 3 tb is the equivalent of 1 oz unsweetened chocolate.

 

[blissful]

@KatyCooks , so how did the office like them or not like them? If they weren't clear about whether they liked them or not, you can send them to me, and I'll let you know.
@pepperhead212 , I use 1/2 cup of cocoa in the brownies I make for a 9x13 pan.

 

[KatyCooks]

Well, the cookies didn't go down very well with the majority of my colleagues! But one person loved them and took them home and her hubby loved them too! (They are both dark chocolate fans.) So at least they didn't go to waste. Won't be making them again and I think I reduced the sugar too much. I think JohnDB is correct and although I didn't madly reduce the sugar (200g reduced to 170g), I think it did make a difference to both taste and texture. This goes to prove that baking is more of a science than a culinary thing! I'm not downhearted though - as with most things, it is a learning opportunity!

 

[JohnDB]

Well, the cookies didn't go down very well with the majority of my colleagues! But one person loved them and took them home and her hubby loved them too! (They are both dark chocolate fans.) So at least they didn't go to waste. Won't be making them again and I think I reduced the sugar too much. I think JohnDB is correct and although I didn't madly reduce the sugar (200g reduced to 170g), I think it did make a difference to both taste and texture. This goes to prove that baking is more of a science than a culinary thing! I'm not downhearted though - as with most things, it is a learning opportunity!

Look, even us professionals have mistakes from time to time...and yet somebody still absolutely loves what we have made even when the results are less than what we desired or were aiming for.

Cooking for others means that often we put our preferences aside and cook for mass appeal...and that is a lifelong study. Professionals who are really good think about people's favorite flavor and texture profiles...like most people think about others careers and shoehorn them into specific habits. (Like a lawyer reading any legal documentation needing a signature carefully and thoroughly before doing so)
Chefs think about people in terms of favorite textures and flavors.

I'm sure that you enjoy the cookies and as a dark chocolate lover I'm sure I would have as well. But for the broad spectrum of people...probably not their cup of tea.

Most of the time when faced with unknowns people will choose the boring Chocolate Chip in a blonde cookie dough 3 or 4 to one of any other cookie if other cookies are available. Oatmeal-raisin is usually number 2 or three depending upon the offerings. Double Chocolate chip cookies are almost in last place every time. So don't sweat your cookies being overlooked too much.

The only time I've ever seen chocolate chip go to second place was in a bakery I had where my business partner was so enamored with a cookie I named after my wife. Dried cherries, white chocolate chips and candied orange peel in a blonde dough. He upsold them to everyone and regularly handed out samples. It was a close second but toll house was truly in second place.

 

[KatyCooks]

Thanks for the pep talk JDB! And I agree with everything you said. Trying to please all palettes including my own, was a big mistake and was never going to work. Either I want to enjoy them myself, or I want to please as many people as possible. And since I eat very few cakes or cookies, there isn't much point making things that only I will enjoy. The very fact that I posted this thread shows that I had misgivings before I even took the cookies to work. Oh well!

 

[GotGarlic]

This goes to prove that baking is more of a science than a culinary thing! I'm not downhearted though - as with most things, it is a learning opportunity!

Absolutely! Several years ago, I wasn't much of a baker, either. I decided to make an effort to learn more about it and now I do pretty well. Here's an article that describes the effects of different ingredients in cookie rec. Thought it might help: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesal...stry-how-to-engineer-your-perfect-sweet-treat

 

[KatyCooks]

See, that's very interesting! Having read that (and thanks very much GG), I now think I would have been better off putting in the full amount of sugar (200g), but instead of the white/soft brown in the recipe, substituted some dark brown sugar.