Well oh my goodness I do not know WHAT went wrong here? I’ve made Dorie’s “Do Almost Anything Chocolate Dough” before and I’ve made many “pinwheel” type cookies before but this time around it just didn’t all come together for me!
About these cookies, Dorie says:
These look dainty, with their swirls of plump, syrupy cherries and walnuts, but they’ve got a bit of heft and enough chew to satisfy cookie lovers of the monster variety. They’re […] made with Do-Almost-Anything Chocolate Dough, which means that they’re not just delectable, but easy — the dough is a pleasure to work with. For the holidays, I like having red fruit in the mix, but if you’d prefer dried apricots or raisins or even dried pineapple, make the change.
Ok then, sounds easy, right?
I only made one small change in that I used cranberries instead of cherries, in an attempt to use up what I have on hand but I didn’t think that would matter. The dough came together nicely, had its rest in the fridge etc… All good. The filling is the dried fruit, nuts, water and sugar that you cook down until it’s “thick enough to spread”. Well mine never came together fully – I reckon I maybe didn’t chop the fruit and nuts finely enough but this mixture was lumpy and not cooperative. There was also a LOT of it compared to the amount of dough so that when I tried to roll it up, there seems like more filling than dough (and even then, I think I rolled my dough too thin as well – so much user error here!). In any case, I did NOT produce “dainty” looking cookies. The dough cracked initially when I tried to roll it so I waited a little bit for it to soften but then it started pulling apart. I did my best to keep it together in the parchment but was unable to make it a round roll – it was more like an oval as you can see.
I figured I’d be able to reshape these once I cut the cookies after the dough roll rested in the fridge but nope. Not only couldn’t I reshape the dough but when I was cutting the cookies, they kind of fell apart as well. Sigh. With no time to re-make these, I baked them off anyway. They tasted ok (actually not sweet enough for my liking, something I rarely say about cookies from this book) and we had them with ice cream so it was not all lost!
I love the idea of these for the holidays and will likely try these again, I simply can’t believe I messed them up so badly!
Get the recipe for Dorie Greenspan’s Cherry-Nut Chocolate Pinwheels on p 245 of Dorie’s Cookies!
Want more cookie recipes? Buy Dorie’s Cookies on Amazon (this link should bring you to the Amazon store geographically closest to you) or for free worldwide shipping, buy from The Book Depository. Then join us over on Tuesdays with Dorie and bake your way through the book!
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Disclosure: I was provided with a copy of “Dorie’s Cookies” for review purposes. I was not asked to write about the book, nor am I being compensated for doing so. All opinions 100% my own.
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Some days are like that with baking, aren’t they? The next time it will all go perfectly! They look like they would taste just fine.
Oh no! They look so funny! (aka, like something I would bake. HA!)
I mean, SERIOUSLY!!
I think they look delicious! I will definitely eat one….or two…..if they were offered to me! And probably the next time you make them they will be perfection.
I LOVE this post Mardi because we have ALL been there haha! I found these to be particularly difficult to work with so you are not alone! I don’t see myself making them again.
Some of my cookies came out like this, I just didn’t put them in the picture. I agree with you that I think I did not cut up my ingredients fine enough. Try it with sweet cherries next time too.
Don’t worry Mardi, mine stuck to the paper when I tried to roll it so I had to stick the lot back in the fridge to firm up before I could roll it. Definitely not as easy as they look!
I was looking to make a mixture of fresh black cherries& walnuts for a shortbread pinwheel cookie I made years ago? Kinda have a quazee recipe that’s been in my head? I guess I’ll give it a try? Lol
Not sure that fresh cherries would work here but by all means, give it a go!