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Chocolate Drop Cookies
2 squares chocolate 1/2 cup butter or shortening 1 cup brown sugar 1/2 teaspoon soda 1 egg 2 cups flour 3/4 cup sweet milk Melt the chocolate and add to the melted shortening. Add sugar, egg, milk, and soda and flour sifted together. Batter should be stiff enough to drop from the spoon. Drop by spoonfuls on greased pans, and bake in a moderate oven (350-375 degrees F.). Frost, if desired.
A soft cake-style drop cookie from the era when chocolate came in scored one-ounce squares. The only real judgment call is the consistency of the batter before it goes on the pan.
- Squares of chocolateA square is one ounce of unsweetened baking chocolate, so this calls for 2 oz. Semisweet or chips will make the dough sweeter and looser; if you substitute, cut the brown sugar back.'
- Sweet milkSimply fresh whole milk, named to distinguish it from sour milk or buttermilk, which older recipes paired with soda. Here the soda has only the brown sugar and the unsweetened chocolate to work against, so swapping in buttermilk would add acid and may need adjusting.
- OvenThe stated 350-375F is accurate as written. At 350F, expect 10 to 12 minutes; the cookies are done when the tops are set and spring back lightly, not when they look dry.
- Batter consistencyThis is the hinge. Two cups of flour with 3/4 cup milk gives a soft dough that spreads; add flour a spoonful at a time until it mounds on the spoon rather than running off. Chilling the dough 30 minutes gives thicker, more uniform cookies.
- Omissions to fill inThere is no salt and no vanilla. A scant 1/2 teaspoon salt and a teaspoon of vanilla bring the chocolate forward, though neither appears in the original.
- Greased pansButter or shortening on the sheet was standard; parchment gives cleaner bottoms and less spread. Let the cookies firm on the pan a minute before lifting.
- YieldAbout three dozen cookies dropped by rounded teaspoonfuls, fewer and larger if you use a tablespoon.
- FrostingThe recipe says only 'Frost, if desired,' and names no frosting. A thin confectioners' sugar glaze suits these; whatever you use, wait until the cookies are fully cool or it will soak in and disappear.