Salty Chocolate Cacao Nib Refrigerator Cookies

Made these for Christmas, they were a big hit!  Happy New Year to all, may it be the best one yet!

Ingredients

1 c flour
3/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
6 Tbsp roasted cacao nibs
1 tsp sea salt
12 Tbsp (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 Tbsp sugar for rolling

Method

If you have raw cacao nibs, roast them first by placing on a cookie sheet in a single layer and place in a 200F oven for 15 minutes
Allow them to cool
If they are too coarse you may break them up with a rolling pin

Bring the butter to room temperature, it will take an hour or so, or you can use the microwave on a low power setting for 30 sec or so -- but be careful not to melt it
Beat the sugar into the butter until the mixture is light and fluffy
Add the vanilla and mix in thoroughly

Sift together the cocoa powder and flour and mix thoroughly into the butter and sugar mixture.  It will be a somewhat stiff dough

Add the sea salt to the cacao nibs and pour the mixture into the dough, again stirring thoroughly making sure both the cacao nibs and the salt are spread evenly throughout the dough

Divide the dough into two equal parts.  Roll each part into a log about 2" in diameter and flat at each end.  Roll the logs in sugar and also coat the ends with sugar, then wrap each in saran wrap and place them in the refrigerator to cool for 2 hours

Bring out of the refrigerator and slice each log into 1/4" slices

Bake in a 325F oven for 15 minutes

Let them cool on the cookie sheet for at least 2 minutes before trying to remove them -- they break very easily when hot

Remove from cookie sheet to a rack to cool completely

I've been considering ways to play with this recipe.  One, you could grind the cacao nibs down further, say the texture of coffee grounds -- might be an interesting textural experiment.  Two, you could add cinnamon, say a tablespoon or so, to get an Aztec chocolate flavor.  Three, you could use coarse salt instead of regular sea salt -- in fact it would be fun to try a few different salts to see what effect they would have.  Four, you could get raw or coarse sugar to roll the cookies in, or even add some coarse salt to that coating mixture.  Five, you could use a specialty cocoa powder, like a dark chocolate one that I saw at the grocery store.

Well here's how they look when finished:

Enjoy!

 

Today's Simple Tip:

Sourbread toast topped with butter and honey, eaten along with a hot cup of your favorite tea.  Mmm!