Chocolate Cookies for Wilton Course 1 (Class 1)

Blogging Marathon# 27: Week 4/ Day 4
Theme: Miscellaneous - Wilton Decorating Course 1/ Class 1
Dish: Chocolate Cookies

I have been planning to take cake decorating classes for a long time now. Schedule never seemed to work out. Finally I signed up for the Wilton Decorating Course 1 in our nearest Arts & Crafts store. Even though I've been baking for years now, my decorating skills were non-existent. I feel bad looking at the pictures of cupcakes I had sent to my son's daycare on his birthday -- very pathetic. I'm glad that the kids liked the taste, if they hadn't and if they had gone with the looks, I would have gotten the whole batch untouched.

Course was only $20, but they give a list of things to buy. Wilton Course 1 kit and the course book are the two important things to buy before the first class along with few other things. You are also required to bring 6 cookies to decorate. I made chocolate cookies for the class (recipe follows) using recipe from Joy of Baking. I halved the original recipe and instead of making roll out cookies, I made the dough into log and then cut them into cookies.

For the first day, we used Wilton store bought icing to decorate the cookies. Course book has a recipe for butter-cream frosting, which I will share in tomorrow's post. Personally I did not like this all shortening frosting, it is way too greasy and way too sweet--everything I don't like with a frosting. But I rolled with it for the course because I wanted to learn the technique first and get a feel for the consistency of the frosting before playing around with the ingredients and taste.

We were taught how to put the tips and fill the piping bags. Icing consistency is very important for decorating and to get the nice shapes. Pressure applied on the bag is another important factor. All of this require lot of practice and patience.

Coming to the Chocolate Cookie recipe. I'm giving the original recipe (adapted from here). (I halved the recipe and weighed the ingredients instead of going by cup measures).

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 2¾cups (355gms)
Dutch Processed Cocoa powder - ¾cup (75gms)
Salt - ½tsp
Baking Powder - 1tsp
Unsalted Butter - 1 cup (2 sticks), at  room temperature
Sugar - 1¾cup (350gms)
Eggs - 2 large, at room temperature
Vanilla extract - 2tsp

Method:

• In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder.
• In another bowl, or in a stand mixer beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs one after the other, beating well after each addition.
• Add vanilla extract and beat for another minute.
• Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Remove the dough and divide into two halves. Form each half into a log and cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour. If you want to make roll out cookies, then refrigerate the dough as a ball instead of a log.
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Cut the log into ¼" pieces, place them 2" apart on a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes or until they are firm around the edges. If making roll out cookies, then roll the dough into ¼" thickness on lightly floured surface and then cut the cookies out. Place them on the baking sheet and refrigerate them for 10-15 minutes. Chilling the dough prevents them from spreading when baking and helps them keep the shape. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
• Let the cookies cool a little on the baking sheet before transferring them onto a wire rack. Cool completely before frosting.

I learnt quite a bit on the first day.Here're my decorated cookies, I still have a long way to go. Practice makes (wo)man perfect. Hopefully I can make some decent decorations for my kids birthdays this year :-)

Lets check what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 27.