Chocolate Nut Cookies

These can be decorated with a small piece of caramel in the center added before baking.

These are old school refrigerator cookies! If you aren't familiar with this style of baking, they are easy and fun, and allow you to keep a stash of homemade dough on hand for impromptu cookie baking with your friends and family. The cookie dough makes a great gift for families who may want to bake together, just wrap well in plastic wrap. You can keep them in the freezer and slice and bake in small batches. (Good luck with that! These go faster than almost any other cookie I make.) Refrigerate no longer than 1 month. Freeze up to 3 months.

This is a dark chocolate dough, using hershey's Special Dark Cocoa. Any cocoa will work.
You can easily make these cookies all chocolate, and just skip the swirl part, in fact that was the original recipe.  But I like things swirly, so I make two batches, one with and one without the cocoa, roll out half of both doughs about 1/2 inch thick and layer them and then roll to make pinwheel logs. then follow directions for chilling and slicing. You could also just use each batch, one of each color, and make two flavors of cookies, and skip the swirly part, which would make these suuuuuper simple.

When I make the swirly version, I seldom add nuts.


The original SINGLE COLOR dough recipe here:

1 c. granulated sugar
1 c. packed brown sugar
2/3 c. shortening
2/3 c. softened butter
2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
3-1/4 c. all purpose flour
1 cup finely chopped nuts
1/2 c. cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Mix sugars, shortening, butter, vanilla and eggs. Stir in remaining ingredients. Divide dough into halves, shape each half into a roll about 2 inches in diameter and about 8 inches long. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 8 hours.

Heat oven to 375. Cut rolls into 1/4 inch slices. Place 2-inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until set, about 8 minutes. Remove from cookie sheets immediately. Makes about 5-1/2 dozen cookies. These can be cut and baked in their frozen state.

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