No-Bake Cookies Made With (White) Chocolate; (Cream) Cheese; and (Bakers) Cocoa
(If you want to skip the fun and entertaining story that follows, and go directly to the recipe, then tap here.)
How It Got Started
On the internet, I saw a recipe for cocoa cookies made from only cocoa and maple syrup.
My first reaction was that the cookies might feel a bit sticky. Then, my gift of Amish recipe inventing inherited from my Mom took notice and I figured any stickiness could be taken advantage of to dust the cookie with powdered sugar. Perhaps I could make my own recipe, I thought, maybe test with various kinds of syrup to see what might be possible.
There was no maple syrup available in the house. Therefore, the look-for-substitutes-that-might-work inclination kicked in. That talent is from my Mom, too.
Ah, ha!
I had just a week earlier got a large shipment of white chocolate for my continuing candy recipe development. Something probably could be done with white chocolate and cocoa.
I tried it.
The result tasted wonderful, but it was more like a thin crispy wafer than a cookie.
The next try was with a bit of cream cheese added. After drying overnight, it looked more like a cookie. But it was still too crisp. The texture was less than acceptable, too.
It took 2 more adjustments before I got the cream cheese right and made cookies as close to perfection as this universe will abide.
The cookie tasted good. Delicious, in fact.
The cookies had so much chocolate taste I was tempted to say it was the most chocolaty cookie I ever ate. But that might not have been exactly true; Mom used to make some almighty fine cookies (and chocolate candy, too).
This new cookie looked like a cookie you would bake in an oven. Yet, it was never baked. Further, it had no flour. And it had no eggs.
All the cookie had was white chocolate, cream cheese, and bakers cocoa.
It was not a traditional cookie. Even though it looked like it.
To make this cookie, stir the ingredients together, shape the cookies, and then let them sit for some hours. That's it.
No refrigeration necessary. Unless you keep your house over about 75 degrees, the ambient temperature will be just fine for these cookies.
After a few hours (I let them stand overnight), the cookie can be eaten. The texture is familiar. The taste is awesome.
The recipe is further below. It is a printable recipe without pictures. So I want to use pictures to show you how to shape the cookies before you get to the recipe.
When you've mixed the ingredients together, you will have a mixture that can be formed into balls. I call it dough even though they will never be baked.
Put wax paper on two dinner plates. Form balls from the dough and place them on the dinner plates. You'll end up with probably around 10 dough balls.
When the balls are resting on the wax paper-lined dinner plates, clean your hands or remove food gloves with food particles on them. Clean gloves may be put on.
Get a piece of wax paper, perhaps 3−4 inches on each side.
With one dough ball at a time: Place the wax paper lightly on the ball. Place a spatula, the lid of a jar, or another flat object on the wax paper and smush the ball down until is is about 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick.
I know they look wonderful. But do give them time to dry before eating. Depending on the white chocolate that was used, it may take more than 3 hours to dry, perhaps overnight.
Here is the recipe.
White Chocolate, Cream Cheese, Bakers Cocoa Cookies
(It may be impossible to eat this cookie without smiling.)
1 cup of chopped or chipped white chocolate, melted
1 ounce cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup bakers cocoa
Note: Manufacturers provide various qualities of white chocolate. Each seems to have their own manufacturing process and recipes. Thus, the ingredient measurements may need to be adjusted for your white chocolate after you see how the cookie comes out with your first try.
Blend the melted white chocolate and softened cream cheese.
Add a couple tablespoons of the bakers cocoa. Thoroughly stir it into the mixture.
Add about a third of a cup of the cocoa. Thoroughly stir this into the mixture, too.
Now, stir in another quarter cup or so of the cocoa. Mix it well. Stir until the cocoa is well distributed.
By this time, the cookie dough is stiffening up well.
It will take a strong spoon to blend the last of the cocoa into the mixture.
Once well blended, the mixture may still be quite sticky. How sticky depends on the type of white chocolate that was used.
If it is too sticky to handle easily, let it stand for a while. Then give it another stir and see if you can work with it now.
It is okay for the dough to be somewhat sticky, so long as it is not too sticky to handle.
Put wax paper on two dinner plates. Form balls from the dough and place on the dinner plates. You'll end up with probably around 10 dough balls.
When the balls are resting on the wax paper-lined dinner plates, clean your hands or remove food gloves with food particles on them. Clean gloves may be put on.
Get a piece of wax paper, perhaps 3−4 inches on each side.
With one dough ball at a time: Place the wax paper lightly on the ball. Place a spatula, the lid of a jar, or another flat object on the wax paper and smush the ball down until is is about 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick.
When all of the dough balls have been pressed into cookie shapes, place the plates into a cool area. They may be covered with light paper towels to keep them from getting dusty.
After 3-6 hours, or overnight, the cookies should be perfect for eating. (The time it takes depends much on the ambient temperature and the type of white chocolate that was used.)
Here is the result.
Because these are so very good, it may be prudent to stir another batch together, now, and set it aside for tomorrow. Then you can eat more of the current batch without shorting your family or friends.
