Let’s go behind the scenes at Adventures of a Hungry Redhead. I am a Type A personality (or an ISFJ if you know the MBTI indicators), so I like to plan and organize. My blog posts for the month are already set. They’re not all written out, but the topics are mapped out.
Monday was supposed to be about Cappuccino and Cream Cookies from my new cookbook The Daily Cookie – the one I recommended in my holiday gift guide – but those did not go according to plan. They were strangely flat and stick to your teeth chewy. The flavor was good, but the texture was not. Little did I know The Daily Cookie comes with tech support. I emailed Anna (The Cookie Madness goddess) and reported the issue. In less than 24 hours, I had a troubleshooting guide in my inbox as Anna attempted to recreate and solve the problem all the way in Austin.
We narrowed it down to two likely suspects: baking powder and parchment paper.
Here’s what we discovered: baking powder brands are different. Anna uses Rumford, I use Calumet. Calumet has sodium aluminum sulfate and calcium sulfate. Rumford does not. I’m no scientist, but methinks these things could cause different chemical reactions in my cookies! I was off to the store to get some Rumford! Except I had brain fade and bought Clabber Girl. Doh! And guess what? Those ingredients are different too! Must have something to do with the fact that Clabber Girl is “double acting” baking powder. It also didn’t help that my Calumet baking powder was on the verge of expiration – rookie mistake.
The next culprit was the parchment paper, which I use because I’m too lazy to clean my baking sheets, but Anna tells me it can cause the cookies to spread too much.
Armed with this new information, I was ready to give the Cappuccino and Cream Cookie another shot, with one more change of my own. You see, I picked the Cappuccino and Cream Cookie from a list of 365 because I had leftover Oreos hanging around from Slutty Brownies I made for tailgating (and God help me if there’s leftover Oreos sitting around – I pop those things like Tic Tacs). I liked the original flavor combo of coffee and Oreo a lot, but wanted to give these a holiday feel, so I picked up two bars of Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark with Dark Chocolate. I may not be a scientist, but I am a cookie genius!
The new baking powder and grippy, non-parchment covered cookie sheet worked in tandem to give my cookies extra puff and the peppermint/coffee/chocolate combo made my mouth so happy. I will admit though, the coffee flavor is much more muted when you add the peppermint, so if the coffee flavor is important to you, I’d bump it up half a tablespoon when including peppermint.
A side-by-side comparison of the cookies isn’t dramatic like a weight loss infomercial , but trust me, the texture was much improved. They’re still thinner than the average cookie I make, but they are chewy throughout and crisp on the edges with lots of crackles on top and gorgeous mounds of Oreo and peppermint.
Thank you Anna for saving the day and for 365 days of cookies. The Daily Cookie really has a cookie for every single day of the year with pictures. It also lists the various food holidays and has fun facts about what happened on that day in history. For example, December 5’s recipe is Chocolate Ninjabread Cookies because it is “Day of the Ninja,” a celebration of ninjas and their role in pop culture. The Cappuccino and Cream Cookies are found on August 11 because on that day in 1903 the patent for instant coffee was issued. Need more convincing of this book’s merit? How about: No-Bake Peanut Butter Pie Bites, Cinna-Brickle Cookies, Devil’s Food Chocolate Cake Cookies or Banana Bars with Amaretto Frosting? Yep, this book is going to keep me busy… that and baking powder shopping.
Peppermint Cappuccino and Crème Cookies
Adapted from The Daily Cookie
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups (11.3 oz) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened natural or Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp espresso powder (original recipe calls for 1 tbsp instant coffee granules)
1 tsp baking powder (Rumford works best apparently)
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup (8 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
6 oz Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark with Dark Chocolate, chopped (original calls for bitter or semisweet chocolate)
6 Oreos, broken into pieces
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F and place a rack in the center. Have ready two ungreased cookie sheets.
Mix the flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, espresso powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a bowl, set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or a in a large mixing bowl with a handheld electric mixer, cream the butter and both sugars on medium speed until light. Reduce the mixer speed slightly and beat in the vanilla and the eggs. When the eggs are incorporated, reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate and cookie chunks.
Scoop up generously heaping tablespoonfuls of dough and place about 3 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 12 minutes, or until the cookies puff up and appear set with a little moisture in the center. Let cool on the baking sheets for five minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies will flatten as they cool.
Makes approximately 26 cookies.
Adventures of a Hungry Redhead 
I had no idea different baking powder brands caused different reactions; nor did I know about the parchment paper. My whole life is a lie! That’s great that Anna helped you figure it out though. I love the cappuccino twist on these. Yum!