1. In Australia we call them biscuits

I have previously waxed lyrical on the subject of mole (1) and even queried the legitimacy of pre-made mole (2). One thing I have not done however is use mole in a sweet dish. I do make a chocolate, cherry and ancho chile biscotti which tends to be well received so it wasn’t a stretch to use mole instead. The chile profile is a little more complex and the addition of spices might change things a little but I do like spiced gingerbread. I do feel some dissonance over the melding of sweet and savoury in this manner but Mexicans put mole poblano in conchas (3) so all rules are off.

1. See Post What is Mole?
2. which I am all for, just so you know . See Post Pre-made Mole. Blessing or Curse? Homage or Travesty?
3. a sweet roll named after its shell like design.

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I stumbled across a recipe using Doña Maria mole for cookies that I thought I’d give a go. I adapted the recipe a little (I have a copy of the original at the end of the post for you to compare). I also apologise for the quality of photography. This is the first of this type of Post for me (I have plans for many more). The quality will improve.

• 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate – I used 20 squares of 45% cacao
• 2 Tablespoons Doña Maria original mole
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter – New Zealand Westgold butter in this case
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 eggs

• 2 cups plain flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder (the original recipe called for 2 Tablespoons – I hope this was a typo on the original because 2 Tablespoons in this size recipe is way too much)
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C ish)

Prepare your baking trays. You can lightly grease them with butter or use baking paper

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In medium heat-proof bowl or double boiler place chopped chocolate and mole. Melt over simmering water stirring until smooth.

Chocolate can easily “seize” if water is added during the melting process. This prevents it from becoming a smooth liquid. Make sure the bowl is scrupulously dry. I would normally recommend using a metal spoon rather than a wooden one but this spoon is one of my favourites (Thanks Gigi). It has a flat bottom so I can squish the mole paste and mix it with the chocolate. The mole comes out of the jar as a VERY stiff paste. Again make sure your spoon is scrupulously dry (particularly if its wooden – a wet wooden spoon may contain enough moisture to cause chocolate to seize)

Allow the chocolate mix to cool a little. The choc mix is interesting. At this stage you could easily add cream and make a ganache (1) and be used to add layers of flavour to or ice a cake.

1. Chocolate ganache is a 1:1 mixture of chocolate and warm cream. Stirred until smooth, silky, and glossy, ganache is a staple in any baker’s kitchen. It’s easy and quick to make and is very versatile. Ganache can be a filling, dip, spread, frosting, topping, or layer in a cake

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In large bowl using handheld mixer cream together butter and sugar.

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Beat in eggs one at a time until combined

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Add cooled chocolate mixture, mixing to incorporate.

Smells goood.

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Sift together the flour, baking powder and cacao. Mix 1/3 of the flour mix into the butter chocolate mix. Stirring well to combine. Continue until all flour is combined

This is where things changed with the recipe. The original recipe called for me to transfer the mix into a piping bag, pipe the dough onto the baking tray like macarons and sprinkle the choc chips on top. The flour was very thirsty. It easily absorbed all the liquid called for in the recipe and as for piping it the dough was waaaay too stiff for this. I instead opted to mix the chips into the dough and proceed as for drop cookies.

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The pic on the left was the drop cookie. The dough cooked well although it was a little dry and the original cooking instructions “Bake at 23 minutes – at 350°F” was again too long. I dropped the bake time to 15 minutes and still came perilously close to burning them. The house was filled with the most delicious aroma of baking chocolate and mole.

The second lot were cooked for only 12 minutes. I also used a smaller spoonful of dough and flattened them a little before baking. Drop cookies usually call to be cooked at 375°F (190°C ish) for 8-10 minutes

Baking is also a bit of a crap shoot at my house. I am usually able to get the feel for the personality of an oven after having used it once or twice. This oven however is a freaking nightmare. I live in a rental house and the previous tenants (bless their little cotton socks) cleaned the oven with a scourer and have erased all of its symbols. If it wasn’t for Google I wouldn’t even know what the front of the oven is supposed to look like let alone know how to use it.

I did find that the burnt edges added a nice bitterness that did not detract from the biscuits flavour but then again I do like me a nice crispy burnt edge.

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Now I want to make mole paletas.