Family Baking Activity

Week #2 - Baking For My Valentine

Your valentine will love these Chocolate Cranberry Crackles! The chocolate flavor is intensified with the addition of chocolate chips in the batter, and cranberries add a nice sweet-tart taste to this recipe. Walnuts or chopped almonds give a nice crunch. Nobody can eat just one.

To make this a Family Fun recipe that the whole family can participate in, make sure you look at the ingredients and methods used. Younger children will have fun making the dough into little balls and rolling in powdered sugar. They don't have to be perfectly round; the dough spreads slightly and they bake up just fine, with little crinkles all over. Melting the chocolate, however should be done with care, by an older child or adult. If you are new to family baking activities and are unsure of how to assign tasks, consult the Safety Guidelines for Family Fun. There's information on clean-up, preventing the spread of bacteria and age-appropriate skills.

Prior to making this recipe, make sure you read it thoroughly and gather all the necessary equipment and ingredients.

Chocolate Cranberry Crackles
Ingredients
4 squares (1 oz. each) unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons Clabber Girl Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup (approximate) powdered sugar
Instructions
In a large bowl, beat chocolate, oil, and 2 cups sugar until creamy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, Clabber Girl Baking Powder and salt; beat into sugar mixture. Stir in cranberries, chocolate chips and walnuts. Chill for 1 to 2 hours or until the dough is easy to handle. Drop by teaspoonfuls into powdered sugar and roll to coat. As the cookies bake, they will expand and make “cracks” in the powdery sugar. Place the rolled balls on a greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on rack. Makes 4 dozen cookies

Discussion on Chocolate:

Did you know that when chocolate was first discovered and brought over to Europe from the new Americas, that it was a delicacy only enjoyed by the very rich? The chocolate drinks that they enjoyed were very bitter compared to today's chocolate standards, and it was many years before chocolate became the sweet confection we know and enjoy today.

The chocolate used in this recipe is unsweetened. Children may want to taste it, but the taste is very bitter without the addition of sugar. You can point this out, and discuss the different types of chocolate - milk chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, white chocolate and cocoa, which is dried, processed and powdered.

A display in the Field Museum of Chicago tells of the origins of chocolate. You may want to go to their website for more information on the history of this luxury food.

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