Baking with Lita

 What’s cooking? Pocky Sticks

Summer is finally over, but I am still reliving the memories of baking with my grandchildren over those three months.

As 7- and 9-year-olds, they have a keen interest in the baking process – the stirring or whipping, the measuring and combining of ingredients, and of course the decorating. My grandson, the 7-year-old, wants to taste each ingredient. At first, I said, “No. You don’t understand – the ingredients don’t taste anything like the cookies themselves.” And then I had a moment of clarity, as I thought, What do I care? It’s not like any of it is poisonous. After all, it’s supposed to be a learning experience. Learning for me, too, it turns out. Learning to let go.

So I explained what the ingredients are, and let them taste each in turn as we added them to the mix. Of course, some tasted “Yuk!” and some – like the flour – tasted “Hmmm,” and the accidental glug of vanilla elicited an “Ack!” and a rush to spit it out in the sink. Also, of course, I had to cut the quantities of each ingredient in half, so that each child could add some to the mix. (Ever alert to possibilities, I made this part into a lesson about fractions. I’m so much fun.)

In the end, the process took about three times as long as you would expect, so I advise anyone deciding to cook with grandchildren to remember – first – to be patient, and – second – to allow lots of extra time. Third is that you’ll need a nap when it’s all over, because they make an unholy mess and with two or more of them, you will find yourself running back and forth to keep little fingers out of (1) the dough, (2) the icing, (3) the ingredients. It’s good to be mentally prepared for all the incidental activity.

One cookie they chose to make – from The New York Times “12 Stunning Cookies That Will Impress Everyone You Know” (Dec. 3, 2019), was Pocky Sticks.

If you google “pocky sticks,” you’ll mostly find the commercial version of these cookies, which are all made by the Japanese company,  Ezaki Glico. They’re thin, stick-like treats that get dipped in various sweet coatings covering about three-quarters of the length of each stick. The cookie part tastes more savory than sweet, which may be why the company describes them as “biscuits,” not cookies.

Naturally curious about the name and origin of these biscuits/cookies, the Kitchen Goddess did some research. Are you equally curious? Of course you are.

Formed in 1921, Glico focused its early product lines on nutritious caramel and biscuits. As the Japanese economy recovered after WWII, the company focus shifted to desserts. In 1958, they added chocolate bars with almonds, and in 1962, a German snack stick called Pretz. In short order (1966), some clever person figured out to combine the chocolate bars with Pretz to produce Pocky Sticks. (Although the snack began its life as Chocotek, within the first two years of production, it was changed to Pocky, a name stemming from the Japanese onomatopoetic phrase pokkin-pokkin, for the sound made when a biscuit snaps in two.)

And in a blatant appeal to young females, who didn’t like the mess of chocolate on their fingers, the company left one end of the stick uncovered. This tidier snacking experience solidified Pocky’s signature look.

The home version of Pocky Sticks are great fun to make, especially for kids who are already well versed in Play-Doh and modeling clay techniques. And you can decorate them – or not – as the spirit moves you. My grandchildren are always in a mood to decorate. For our debut effort, we drizzled white chocolate and semisweet chocolate, plus two types of sprinkles. (Unable to help myself, I made one combining white chocolate with potato chip crumbs, which was delicious, but not as interesting to the kids.)

The grandkids' version are more free-form, but more fun, too, and just as tasty.

Another bonus of this recipe is that you can make the dough entirely in a food processor, which makes fast work of cutting the butter into the dry ingredients, and is extremely effective at keeping small fingers out of harm’s way.

Pocky Sticks

Adapted from Susan Spungen in The New York Times

Yield: Ms. Spungen gets 34 cookie sticks, but the KG and her grandkids were perhaps a bit less delicate, and got only 24. (It’s just possible that a few of our sticks got eaten before they could get iced or counted.)

Ingredients

For the dough:
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ cup (55 grams or ½ stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces (I cut into tablespoons then cut each tablespoon into fourths) and chilled
3 tablespoons whole milk
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

1¼ cups (160 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

For the decorating:*
3 ounces (85 grams) white chocolate, chopped (about ½ cup)
3 ounces (85 grams) milk chocolate, chopped (about ½ cup)
3 ounces (85 grams) dark chocolate, chopped (about ½ cup)
Vegetable shortening, as needed
1 tablespoon pulverized freeze-dried raspberries or strawberries

½ teaspoon matcha powder
3 tablespoons chopped nuts
Coconut, nonpareils, decorating sugar

*Kitchen Goddess note about the decorating: These decorating ingredients are courtesy of Ms. Spungen, who made strawberry-flavored white chocolate and matcha-flavored white chocolate, and dark chocolate with nuts. You should let your imagination run wild and free. How about black-and-white cookies, using white chocolate and Famous Chocolate Wafer crumbs, or dark chocolate and crumbled white meringue cookies from Trader Joe’s? Or try my choice of white chocolate with crumbled potato chips, or the powdered sugar icing I use on my rollout cookies: 1 cup powdered sugar + ½ teaspoon vanilla + ¼ teaspoon salt + 1 tablespoon water and whatever food coloring you like. Oh, the possibilities...

Directions for making the sticks

Prepare the dough: In the bowl of a food processor, combine the 1¼ cups flour, the sugar, baking powder and salt, and pulse 4-5 times to combine and aerate the dry ingredients. Sprinkle the pieces of butter over the dry mix and pulse until small crumbs form.

In a measuring cup, combine the milk and vanilla. While the food processor is running, pour the vanilla milk in a stream into the flour mixture. Use a rubber spatula to wipe down the sides of the bowl, and pulse until the dough is well mixed and begins to hold together.

Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and roll until it is just over ¼-inch thick and the shape of the dough approximates a rectangle, 5½ inches by 8 inches. A bench scraper or the side of a large knife can be helpful in getting the sides to be straight, though there’s no need to get crazy over the straight sides. (We remember that these are cookies, right? And that there’s no prize for them being exactly the same size? The Kitchen Goddess periodically needs these reminders. Your children or grandchildren will have no such worries.)

Wrap the dough rectangle in plastic and transfer to a small baking sheet. Chill until firm, for at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.

When you are ready to begin baking, heat the oven to 350º. Line two large rimmed baking sheets with either baker’s parchment or silicone baking mats.

Position the dough on a lightly floured surface with the short side toward you, and, using a bench scraper or long knife, cut the dough crosswise into halves and transfer half the dough (re-wrapped in plastic) to the refrigerator while you work with the other half.

With the short side of the dough still facing you, use a bench scraper or long knife to cut ¼-inch-thick strips that will be about 5½ inches long. Using the palms of your hands, gently roll each strip on a lightly floured work surface until it reaches 7-8 inches in length.

Carefully transfer the finished strips to your parchment- or silicone mat-lined baking sheets, keeping them as straight as possible and spacing them about 1½ inches apart. Repeat with the remaining dough. Freeze both sheets of dough sticks until firm, 10-15 minutes.

Bake the sticks until you can see that the edges are golden, 14-16 minutes. Let the sticks cool a few minutes on the baking sheets, then carefully move them to wire racks to cool completely.

Directions for decorating the sticks

Kitchen Goddess note on melting/thinning chocolate: Any chocolate – dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate – will work better for dipping/drizzling if it’s thinned a bit with vegetable oil or other neutral oil (e.g., canola, coconut).  Do not use butter or margarine; both of those contain water, which will ruin the melting process. My online sources say to add the oil before you begin the melting process; my “friend” sources say you can also add it in the middle of the process. The key is for the temperature of the oil to be close to that of the chocolate. For dark or milk chocolate, add ½ teaspoon of oil per 3 ounces of chocolate; for white chocolate, add 1 teaspoon of oil per 3 ounces of chocolate. 

To melt your chocolate, first chop the chocolate into pieces the size of chocolate chips (unless, of course, you already have chocolate chips).

Stovetop method: Place the chocolate and oil in a metal bowl set over a small saucepan containing an inch of simmering water, stirring occasionally until the chocolate melts. To keep from getting the chocolate too hot, the water shouldn’t touch the bowl. As the chocolate melts, whisk the oil/chocolate until the mixture is glossy. 

Microwave method: Place the chocolate and oil in a microwave-safe bowl (preferably glass), and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir well and microwave for another 20 seconds. Stir well. If you find that the chocolate has mostly melted after the first two intervals, stop and continue to stir, as the heat from the melted parts will often coax a melt out of the rest. If not, microwave another 20 seconds and stir well again. 

With either method, don’t overheat the chocolate, as it can become lumpy and grainy.

And for a special treat, you get to lick the spoons and bowls at the end.

My grandchildren wanted to dip the cookie sticks directly into the chocolate, but I explained that we would end up with cookie “dust” in the chocolate. So... holding a cookie stick over a bowl of chocolate, use a small spoon to pour the chocolate over 2/3 of the stick, turning the stick to coat on all sides. Let any excess drip off, and set the chocolate-coated cookie on a parchment- or wax paper-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with nonpareils or nuts or crumbs as desired. (You may need to reheat the dips, by returning them to the pot or microwave, if needed.)

Refrigerate the decorated sticks until the coating hardens. Cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 week.