Yesterday morning, I had an entirely different post planned for you today. It wasn’t about cookies, it wasn’t about Nashville, it wasn’t about the person who likes these cookies most.
But plans change.
You might remember over a month ago, when I brought you these thin chocolate cookies and ice cream sandwiches, how I mentioned being on the hunt for a crisp chocolate cookie, the kind that was like a cocoa gingersnap, spiced and crisp, sharp and crunchy. What I didn’t tell you then was that it was really Tim who wanted this cookie, Tim who had mentioned it and sent my mind to work.
And so it was, last week in Chicago, that I first tried this new recipe, an adaptation of Mexican chocolate cookies I’d found online, while Tim sat in my parents’ dining room working on his computer and I worked in a light-filled kitchen, hoping for crisp, spiced bites of chocolate. That first experiment was such a hit, I made the recipe again Monday, so I could bring them over to Tim’s house before we went to our respective Monday night Bible studies and he made me a chicken sandwich while we talked in his kitchen. They’re just what we (well, he) were after: chocolate cookies with the snap of ginger and hints of cayenne that surprise you.
I made them to try and do something nice for him, but, as is so often the case, I’ll remember them for how they surrounded his doing something nice for me. When I made them in Chicago, so it happens, it was just hours after Tim had sat down for coffee with my dad. When I made them in Nashville, so it seems, it was just one day before Tim sat with me in a park and got down on his knees.
And so it was, yesterday afternoon, that the love of my life—the same man who revolutionized my eating habits, lured me from Chicago to Nashville, became in the course of 15 months the best friend I’ve ever had—asked me, on a blanket beneath trees and alongside a creek, next to a cooler holding a handful of these very cookies, homemade lemonade, rosemary sourdough, avocados, apple slices, cheese, chocolate, bowls of blueberries and oranges, cream and a very important box, to become his wife.
And when he slipped that ring on my finger, as you can imagine, I said yes.
HOT Chocolate Cookies
Recipe adapted from Alice Medrich
Makes about 40 cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup whole-grain spelt flour
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon Sucanat (or brown sugar)
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoons palm sugar (or granulated sugar)
4 tablespoons sweet butter, slightly softened
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Generous pinch of ground black pepper
Generous pinch of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
Directions:
Sift the flour, cocoa, soda and salt together in a medium bowl.
Combine the sugars in a small bowl and mix well with fingers pressing out any lumps. (Process in a food processor if lumps are stubborn).
In a medium mixing bowl, beat butter and coconut oil until creamy. Add sugar mixture, cinnamon, peppers, and vanilla. Beat on high speed for about one minute. Beat in egg. Stop the mixer. Add the flour mixture. Beat on low speed just until incorporated. Gather the dough together with your hands and form it into a neat 9 to 10-inch log*. Wrap in waxed paper. Fold or twist ends of paper without pinching or flatting the log. Chill at least 45 minutes, or until needed.
Place oven racks in the upper and lower third of the oven preheat to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
Use a sharp knife to slice rounds of chilled dough a scant 1/4-inch thick. Place 1-inch apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake 12 to 14 minutes. Cookies will puff and crackle on top, and then begin to settle down slightly when done. Use a metal spatula to transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool. Allow cookies to cool completely before storing or stacking. Store in an airtight container up to two weeks, or freeze up to 2 months.
*If you make the log longer and skinnier, you can get smaller cookies, which we like.
About Shanna MallonShanna Mallon started Food Loves Writing back in 2008, as a way to remember her grandma and write about her life through food. Since then it's become a place leading her to a lifestyle of eating whole foods, a new home in Nashville and the love of her life, Tim. Follow Shanna on Twitter @foodloves, keep up with Food Loves Writing on Facebook and stay inspired with the monthly newsletter.
Love it! I just got engaged too. It’s big! And dreamy and fun. Enjoy.
How lovely. DH would be very impressed with the choice of cookies for this extraordinary day.
Congrats to the both of you!
what a lovely post and news!! many congratulations and lots of good wishes!! yay for lovely proposals!
CONGRATULATIONS and all the best!!! I have a smile on my face THIS big!!!
horray! congrats! It’s going to be the best adventure you’ll ever go on. Soak it up.
I’m so excited for you two! Congratulations – what a wonderful post! Beautifully written as always and so touching. I love the way you intertwine personal life with your food writings. God bless you!
I read this out loud to “my tim”
and we both so enjoyed hearing your love story! We are thrilled for you guys! May God continue to bless you richly 
Congratulations! (and tell Tim – ace job on the ring choice
)
PS – the cookies look fabulous!
well, HOT DOG!!!
congratulations, you two. i love it when good things happen to good people.
the biggest congratulations to you both!! wishing you all the happiness in the world….
Congratulations, Shanna! I am so happy for you!
shanna, congrats again on the engagement! how exciting!
these cookies look right up my alley. i think i’ll have to try them out soon!
Oh goodness, Shanna, you just about had me in tears. I’m so very happy for you, and that ring is out-of-your-mind gorgeous! xoxo
How have I not written you sooner?! Congratulations Shannalee! These cookies have so much love surrounding them, I just know they will bring the ones I bake them for good energy now. I am so happy for you! Again, Congrats!
Oh my gosh, congratulations!! I love proposals, they always make me misty. And a chocolate cookie, too? This post is just too much! =D
Congratulations and Blessings to you both!!
How on earth did I miss this! Congratulations, Shanna and Tim. How positively lovely – I am grinning ear to ear.
Oh, Shannalee, what wonderful news! I’m thrilled to pieces for you and for Tim (that lucky, lucky man). Sending big hugs your way.
Belated, but big congratulations! That ring is lovely and you sound so happy.
Aww. Congratulations!
it has been way, way too long since I have checked in here–and I am so glad that I did………
many, many congratulations to you! I am so thrilled to hear your good news!
Awww. Congratulations to you both.
Loving the chocolate cookie too. : )
Mr and Mrs Food
OH MY GOSH! How did I totally miss this. Congratulations. SO very happy for you. Wishing you a lifetime of love.
Gosh, I am so behind on the times!!! That’s what happens when you let work consume you though, huh?
Congratulations sweetie!!! I know I’m behind on the times, but hey, it’s always fun to be reminded of a great event, right? I am so happy for you!
Congratulations! Although its my first time here, couldn’t leave without wishing you all the happiness in the world