diy chocolate wafer cookies

Since scratch baking is such an important aspect of what I do in my kitchen, it’s really no surprise that I should find and fall head over heels in love with a homemade chocolate wafer cookie that perfectly mimics the packaged varieties.  You already know my feelings on packaged graham crackers, Wheat Thins, and Oreos to name a few so to that end, these light and crispy cookies don’t need much of an introduction.  They are made with dark unsweetened cocoa that lends to a richly flavored chocolate cookie that is even deeper and darker in color than I expected they could be.  Ground up for a cheesecake’s cookie crust or the base of a peanut butter pie, you won’t be sorry you spent a few extra minutes making these slice and bake chocolate gems.  I’ve made two batches in the past two weeks and foresee a few more happening before Christmas!

diy chocolate wafer cookies

Homemade Chocolate Wafer Cookies
source: adapted from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich via Smitten Kitchen

If you plan to use these cookies in place of a certain brand of chocolate wafer cookies for a chocolate cheesecake or pie crust, cut out 1 to 2 tablespoons of the suggested amount of melted butter in the crust recipe; these cookies contain a fair amount of butter and too much added butter to the ground up cookies crumbs will yield an absurdly wet mass of crumbs.  Trust me.  Nine ounces of these cookies (or about 2/3 of the recipe) will yield as much as the packages of wafer cookies contain.

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups (6.75 ounces) all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup (2.4 ounces) dark unsweetened cocoa powder (like Hershey’s or King Arthur Flour)
  • 1 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 14 tbsp (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened
  • 3 tbsp whole milk
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Instructions:

  1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, add the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, and baking soda.  Pulse the ingredients a few times to combine thoroughly.  Dollop the butter around the dry ingredients and pulse a few more times until the butter starts to incorporate and large chunks begin to form.  Mix the milk and vanilla together in a small bowl.  With the mixer running, pour the milk mixture into the feeding tube in a slow and even stream until the cookie crumb mixture starts to form together and ball up on the sides of the bowl.
  2. Transfer the cookie dough to a work surface and knead it a couple of times to fully incorporate all of the ingredients.  Divide the dough in half and shape each half into a long and narrow log, about 1 1/4 inches to 1 3/4 inches in diameter.  Depending on how large you want your wafer cookies to be will determine how thick to form the log.  Wrap each log in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to a week.
  3. Position the oven racks to the upper and lower thirds of the oven.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
  4. Slice the dough logs into approximately 1/8th inch thick slices and lay the dough rounds on the baking sheets about 1 inch apart.  I formed my dough into 1 1/4 inch diameter logs and was able to fit 24 cookies on each of my baking sheets.
  5. Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating pans from back to front and top to bottom halfway through the baking time.  The cookies will be finished baking about 1 1/2 minutes after the puffed-up dough deflates so try to keep an eye on them.  Cool the cookies on the baking sheets on wire racks for 5 minutes then transfer the cookies to the racks to cool completely – they will crisp up as they cool.  The cookies will keep for up to a week at room temperature if kept in an airtight container.  Supposedly the freeze really well too but I haven’t tried it myself.

Yields: about 6 dozen 1 1/4-inch (diameter) by 1/8-inch (thickness) cookies