Chocolate Crackle Cookies

When I was little, a friend of our family used to make these cookies every year -- well, I don't know if it was the same recipe but they certainly looked the same.  Sadly, they moved away and I don't know if she still makes them. In the spirit of my love for chocolate and nostalgia for things past, I tried to make them once when I was about 16 and it was a major disaster. I don't remember why they didn't work but I do remember that it was a colossal failure. Then I came across the recipe on Martha Stewart's website and they look so good, I decided that I've come a long way since 16 and surely this time I could make it work! Besides, I think that they're so pretty with the dark chocolate and bright white powdered sugar and I wanted to be able to add these to my cookie list. 

I actually made the dough before Thanksgiving and then stuck it in the freezer because I had negative time to make the cookies (I seriously didn't have time to make the dough, I'm not sure what I was thinking except I was craving something chocolate and noshing on the dough seemed to do the trick!). When I took the dough out of the freezer I expected it to be frozen solid, as cookie dough usually is when it's been frozen . . . nosiree! The dough was still soft enough to roll out pretty much right then and there. Let this be a lesson unto you, this dough needs to be properly chilled! I have a feeling that in my teenage impatience I may have tried to skip that step the first time and that's why the cookies were doomed. Properly chilled and doused with powdered sugar, this dough was actually very easy to work with. I think that rolling cookies into balls is my least favorite thing to do, cookie wise (which is a shame because so many of my favorite cookies require this step) but this time it didn't bother me at all. And the finished cookies are so insanely good. Their texture is almost like a brownie and the chocolate flavor is rich and wonderful. Of course, I love the little bit of added sweetness from the powdered sugar. These have officially been added to my master list of Christmas cookies. Enjoy!