Age group(s) for this recipe:
Elementary School
Middle School
High School & Beyond

Estimated time:
1 hour or so to mix and bake (depending on number of cookie sheets, size of oven), another hour to decorate, depending on number of "helpers."

Number of servings:
approx. 50-60 cookies

Ingredients: (Hit your return key to start a new line)
2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup vegetable oil (we favor canola oil)

2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate, melted (check box to verify what they consider to be a "square" ;-)

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

1-2 tubes of vanilla decorating frosting, w/basic "outline" tip
(tips are sold separately, and some of us have a talent for losing these by accidentally running 'em through the garbage disposal! ;-)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine flour, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl; mix well. In a separate medium sized bowl, mix veg. oil, melted chocolate, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until very smooth.

Add chocolate mixture to flour, and stir until thoroughly combined.

Drop/plop by well-rounded teaspoonful onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes. (Top surface will appear drier, and crack slightly.)

When cookies are quite cool, draw a cat's face on each cookie using frosting.

Other suggestions and comments:
The cookies are more of a dark brown than black; my kids didn't really care 'bout that. The same concept can be applied to chocolate cupcakes, of course. I liked the way the cookies rounded nicely. Decorating these could be a pain, but needn't be. We be thinkin' Cartoon simplicity, and as few strokes as possible. The KISS system (Keep it Simple, Silly) definitely applies. The cat's ears, at top, are a slightly wide capital M shape. Sort of ^^. Next, 2 sets of whiskers are streamlined into 3 strokes that overlap at Center. Sort of like ><, or >-<, but with a third whisker thru the middle...or not, as you please; remember you can eat your mistakes! ;-) Then there's a loopy cat smile under the whiskers, that's sort of like two J's back to back---or figure out your own silly smile... >^^< I can't figure out how to keyboard the entire cat face thang. My sis-in-law, Kathy signs off with a cat face emoticon, but I can't replicate it, 'cuz I am a little computer spastic with that...those more computer-savvy can add one in a Review. The secret to getting the tube type frosting to flow freely is to nuke it for about 15 seconds in the microwave (cap off!), or place it in a glass of hot water for just a bit (cap on!). If the application becomes sluggish later, nuke the tube (for Less time!) again. I like to use li'l candies, like red cinnamon dots, mini M and M's, even mini jelly beans, to accent nose and eyes. It sort of camouflages my artistic boo-boos. Kids love the added color, and of course Candy is usually fine with them. We store these in a cool place, in tins or plastic containers w/lids, with waxed paper between the layers. The cookies could be baked one day, and frozen, to be decorated another day. Oh--and whether or not you need more than one tube of frosting (and decorator tip) depends how many helpers you have, and whether or not it's critical to frost alllll of the cookies. They are pretty good plain, too!