Still not photogenic, but at least they're nonpareil

This batch was made with the remaining dough in the freezer from this first attempt.

As I was bringing these to a Superbowl party I rolled the edges in blue nonpareils in honor of the Giants (I'm a New Yorker after all!). I wish I had found a darker blue closer to the actual color of their uniforms but the cake supply shop I went to only had them in this shade.

These sliced better after being frozen overnight, though they still got a little sticky and soft as I was cutting. I baked these for somewhere between 10-11 minutes instead of 12, and this seemed to help keep them from drying out too much. Those pale spots you see in the cookies are clumps of cocoa that I had failed to properly incorporate. Um, I did mention I'm a novice, right?

I realize that with the cakey texture (from the cocoa I used?), these are sort of like dry brownies in cookie form more than anything else. They are decent and satisfy any chocolate cravings, but I'm not sure I will revisit this recipe, at least not without the proper cocoa to see if that makes a difference.

And my fingers are still stained blue. . . .