Magic Middles

These cookies are inspired by the Keebler Magic Middles I sometimes ate as a kid when I was in elementary school.  I'm not exactly sure why I remembered these particular cookies (they were discontinued before I made it to double digits), but when it happened, I was walking home from work and thinking about a brown sugar cookie recipe in my great-grandmother's 1933 datebook and how to modify it.  I'm lucky to have a copy of the datebook; it is filled with tons of recipes that I'm excited to try and some that should be left alone (like home remedies for illnesses that you probably don't want to read about in a baking blog...).

The brown sugar cookie dough recipe is from a newspaper clipping that responded to a request from a Mrs. M. F. who had asked for a recipe for nut-filled cookies that stayed soft after baking.  The original recipe called for lots of baking powder, milk, and rolling out the dough; I was feeling a bit pressed for time and knew that a rolled cookie that was likely to get puffy was out of the question.

As I was walking, Magic Middles popped into my head, and then it occurred to me how to change the dough recipe to make it amenable to a chocolate center.  Not exactly your standard eureka moment, but the end result is a delicious cookie with a surprising chocolate middle, so it can't be a bad thing.

Notes:
The shaping and filling process can take a little bit of time, so wait to preheat your oven until you are almost ready to bake the cookies.  I know this might sound like a "duh" statement, but do keep track of which cookies you have filled and which ones you haven't.  They aren't magic middles if there is no middle!  Also, try your hardest to make sure the chocolate is completely sealed inside the dough, otherwise the chocolate may leak during baking.  For you cookie purists out there, I know that Magic Middles are supposed to have a soft and fudgy center, as opposed to a solid chocolate center.  I was going to continue experimenting and make ones with a fudgy center, but I liked these so much the way they were that I decided to post them with a solid chocolate center and stop there. 

Dough recipe adapted from an undated newspaper clipping in my great-grandmother's 1933 datebook 

Ingredients:
3½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1½ cups dark brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
~½ cup dark chocolate chunks or chips
White sugar for rolling

Yields 5-6 dozen cookies, depending on their size

Mix:
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, salt, and baking powder and set aside.  In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until the mixture is light and fluffy after each addition.  Beat in the vanilla, then add the flour mixture all at once, and beat just until the dough begins to come together. 

Shape, Fill, and Bake:
Break off a heaping ½-¾ tablespoon-sized (~17 grams) piece of dough and roll it into a ball.  Repeat until all of dough has been shaped into balls.  Use your thumb to indent each ball.  Once each cookie has been indented, preheat the oven to 375°F and line 2 cookie sheets with Silpat mats or parchment paper.  Place a ½ teaspoon or so of the chocolate in each indent and fold the dough up around the chocolate until the chocolate is completely enclosed in dough.  Gently roll the filled dough ball between your palms until it is round again.  Roll the filled dough balls in white sugar and place them on the prepared cookie sheet.  Bake the cookies at 375°F, rotating the baking sheets halfway through, for 10-12 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly browned.  Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.  Once cool, store the cookies in an airtight container.

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