Hello sweet eggs!! I haven’t seen you since I got WED!!! Michaela and I tied the ole knot last weekend at Scribner’s Catskill Lodge. It’s hard for me to put into words how meaningful the weekend was for us.
We (the collective 120 of us) had the whole lodge to ourselves for the weekend, so Mic and I felt like we got a lot of good time with our people. We had so many loved ones make not-so-easy trips to be there, and felt so enveloped by their love.
You can check out my guide to 48 hours of loitering in the Catskills here!!
I’m sharing a few preview photos below from our incredible photographer, Alex. Other people who came together to make the weekend so special were the band The Sultans, my former colleague-turned-friend who is a dominant force in NYC florals Colleen Rose Florals, planners Brandy and Anika, videographer Christian, suit maker with a specialty in queer women Watson Ellis, and of course, Scribner’s itself.
My biggest worry - that I’d be sad the day after the wedding - did come true!!! I think it was largely due to drinking, as the biggest hangover effect for me is feeling so so sad. What helped was making the day after special, too. Morning pastries in the garden before everyone left, hanging by the pool with family, reading some wedding cards, and having our first DATE as a married couple (shoutout Deer Mountain Inn)!!! Plus just acknowledging feeling sad - it’s not an easy coming down from the best weekend of your life - and knowing you’ll feel better the next day.
Something that was also really special for us was feeling so loved as a queer couple. Michaela beautifully acknowledged this in a toast at our reception - sharing that we were surrounded by the people who embraced us and were so happy for us to be ourselves when we came out in our early 20s, and who have continued to support us in our relationship. It was the first gay wedding for many folks, including our oldest guests (late 80s) and our youngest guests (our nieces and nephews, ages 6 and below, who were experiencing their first wedding in general).
OKAY that’s all for wedding talk! I did make a blondies flight for the night before that I’ll share with y’all later, but I didn’t have my phone with me to take any vids of it, so I’m waiting for some clips from our videographer. Hopefully that was fun to read, or helpful for any folks in the depths of wedding planning!
NOW back to our regularly scheduled programming. Which means COOKIES!!!!
This week’s recipe
We are officially in sugar-high season. Best. Freaking. Season!!!!! In past years, I’ve shared Halloween candy cookies - a recipe I love to use up leftover Halloween candy. But this year I wanted to do something that felt a little more spooky and ambient. Enter mocha cobweb cookies. The base dough is my go-to chocolate dough, a slight adaptation from Imperial Sugar that I’ve used in raspberry-stuffed dark chocolate cookies and midnight Oreo cookies.
For mocha cobweb cookies, we plug in a little espresso powder to get a slightly bitter mocha flavor. We top the cookies with cobwebs made from melted marshmallows, a great way to use up the rest of your summer stash. I’ve also made these with melted white chocolate. Although it’s less sticky to work with, it was harder to get true cobwebs, so I’d stick with marshmallows. You could try marshmallow fluff, too, but I have not attempted that!
These are the cookies I want to bring to show off at a Halloween party, make for a spooky movie night, or just bake to make a Sunday in October special. If you’re making them for kids, as Michaela and I very might well do for our nieces and nephews next weekend, you’ll probs want to omit the espresso powder.
Important notes for these cookies
Sprinkles: Cute sprinkles are what really make these cookies special. I use spiders, pumpkins, and ghosts, all easy buys from Amazon.
You should use black cocoa powder.
A brief lesson on cocoa powder varieties: There are two types of cocoa powder: natural cocoa powder and Dutch-process cocoa powder. Natural cocoa powder is your classic Hershey’s - lighter brown in color, with a bright and slightly fruity flavor. Dutch-process cocoa powder is more rich and dark in flavor; it is not acidic, so you can only swap it in recipes that don’t rely on baking soda. Black cocoa powder is a subset of Dutch-process powder that is jet black and legit tastes like Oreos.
While you can use ANY cocoa powder in this recipe, I recommend black cocoa powder for the spooky color and delightfully Oreo flavor. My fav is King Arthur, but this one from Amazon looks very good. If you can’t get black cocoa, try for Dutch Process (typically available in grocery stores, or on Amazon). And if Dutch is a no-go, use natural.
Cookie scoops: Cookie scoops are SUCH an easy way to up-level your baking. They ensure you get evenly sized cookies, which means they are A. beautiful and B. all evenly baked (versus one cookie being super under- or over-baked). I love this trio of small, medium, large scoops from Amazon - we use the large one here. As a bonus, they’re also great for getting perfect scoops of ice cream.
Mocha Cobweb Cookies
Makes 20 cookies
Ingredients
2 1⁄4 cups (270 grams) all-purpose flour
1⁄2 cup (48 grams) black cocoa powder (can sub in Dutch-process or natural cocoa powder)
1 tsp. baking powder
1⁄2 tsp. kosher salt or another coarse salt
2 TBS espresso powder
8 ounces quality, semi-sweet chocolate bar (like Ghirardelli) (you can sub in chocolate chips if need be)
1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1⁄4 cup (250 grams) granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips, add to taste
For the cobwebs: half a bag of marshmallows, 8 ounces white chocolate, OR a third of a jar of marshmallow fluff
NOTE: marshmallows give you the best looking cobwebs, just be prepared for a sticky fingers as you make the webs
Directions
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, black cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and espresso powder until fully combined. Set aside.
Melt the 8 ounces of chocolate bar either in the microwave for 1-2 minutes, or in a saucepan over very low heat. Set aside to cool slightly.
NOTE: Don’t stir the chocolate, lick the spoon, and then stir again – this will cause the chocolate to seize and crumble.
Pull out your stand mixer with a paddle attachment, or a large bowl with a hand mixer. Cream together the butter or sugar on medium speed until fluffy and lighter in color, about 4 minutes.
Still on medium speed, mix in the cooled melted chocolate. Then mix in the eggs and vanilla extract.
Turn the mixer to low speed and mix in the dry ingredients until there are only a few streaks of flour left. Mix in the chocolate chips.
Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and use a cookie scoop to add 3-tablespoon scoops of dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30-45 minutes.
When the dough is almost done chilling, preheat the oven to 350°F.
Space the cookies a few inches apart on a parchment-lined or greased sheet pan. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until the edges are set, but the top still looks a little under-baked. It’s super hard to tell when chocolate cookies are done because they don’t turn golden brown. You want these cookies to be slightly underbaked so they’re super fudgy; overbaked and they’ll be dry.
NOTE: If you’re unsure if you’re cookies are done, you can pause after batch one, let the cookies cool completely, try them, and then finish baking the rest with your desired time in mind.
NOTE: if you scooped smaller or larger cookies, subtract or add a couple of minutes to the baking time
While the cookies cool, melt the marshmallows in 15-second spurts in the microwave, or over the stovetop over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until they start to melt, and then constantly until totally melted.
Alternately, melt the white chocolate or grab your jar of marshmallow fluff.
Put the cookies back on the parchment-lined baking sheet for easy clean-up. Using a spoon, make webs over the cookies. Stick sprinkles into the webs.
Enjoy! You can store these cookies at room temperature for 3 days.
happy spooky bakin’! thank you as always for being here <3
much love,
Maddie
spooooky season!!!