Cocoa Drop Cookies

Holiday cocoa drop cookies dipped into vanilla almond bark and sprinkled with .....Christmas sprinkles!

Bill ate one of these cookies and he LOVED the vanilla bark side!

He's my official taste tester and fellow lover of sweets. In fact, he would be happy if I dipped the WHOLE cookie in almond bark. 

However, I love the contrast between the dark chocolate of the cookie and the white of the almond bark side.

Personally, I like using almond bark in place of chocolate because it is so easy to use. 

Just pop two or three squares of almond bark and 1 tsp solid vegetable shortening into a small deep bowl and microwave in 30 second bursts and stir until the bark is melted and smooth. 

You are ready to dip cookies!

Yield: about 4 dozen cookies
Time: 1 hour chill time          8-10 minute bake time for each cookie sheet of cookies.

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar 
• 2/3 cup salted butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Directions

• Place sugar, butter, egg, water, and vanilla into a medium size bowl and mix until blended.
• Stir in flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir until mixed well.
• Cover bowl tightly and chill in the refrigerator for about an hour.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. 
• Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart on to an ungreased, or parchment paper lined cookie sheet. 
• Bake until almost no indentation remains when touched, with is about 8-10 minutes. 
• Immediately remove from the cookie sheet and cool.

Dipping the Baked Cookies

• Once the cookies are cool, melt 3-4 squares of vanilla almond and 1- 2 tsp. of solid vegetable shortening in a small, deep bowl, following the package directions. I wing it and put the ingredients in the bowl and microwave in 30 second bursts and stir in between the bursts until the almond bark and shortening are melted. 
• Dip each cookie into the bark, shake off excess bark, and add sprinkles. My method consists of pouring the sprinkles into a soup bowl and holding the dipped cookie over the bowl as I sprinkle the decorations on each cookie. This is a great job for the kids! 
• Set dipped cookies onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. 
• When the cookie sheet is full of dipped cookies, put the cookie sheet into the freezer for 5 minutes to set the vanilla bark.
•  Remove cookie sheet from the freezer and cookies are ready to start packaging.

Enjoy eating some homemade happiness on a plate!