Super Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies!

These. Are. Gooood.

Don't really want a lot of fluff in this post. Just simply, the best chocolate chip cookies.

But in case you're wondering... My boyfriend requested something sweet (so glad he has a sweet tooth - major bonus to our relationship;) so I looked for a proven recipe and I based mine off two that swore up and down that they were the best chewy chocolate chip cookies ever...

Super Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Tips:

1. Add cornstarch for a chewy cookie - Google this. It works. I didn't have time to dive into the science of it.

2.  Use 2 + different type of chocolate chips - Not rocket science, once you think about. It is, after all, a chocolate chip cookie. ;)

3. Chill - Dough has to be chilled for at least 2 hours. Very important. Also, rinse the cookie sheet so that it is cool when you place new cookies on it after each batch so that your cookies don't start to melt before you put them in the oven.

2 cups + 3 tbs flour (spooned and leveled)
1/2 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
Pinch of nutmeg (my own addition)
1 tsp corn starch
12 tbs butter, melted, cooled (but not so that it re-solidifies)
1 cup packed, light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups total semi-sweet and dark chocolate chips and chunks (I used nestle)

1. Melt butter in microwave (until there are still some chunks - this took about 1 minute in my weak microwave - and stir until completely melted). Set aside to cool.

2. Whisk flour, baking soda, nutmeg, cornstarch and salt in a bowl and set aside.

3. In a cup, mix eggs and vanilla

4. Using a hand mixer or whisk, mix butter and sugars (they wont dissolve completely - texture will still be sandy)

5. Add in egg mixture until well combined

6. Using a spatula, fold in dry ingredients until just combined

7. Add chocolate chips (and any other mix ins - I think nuts would be a great addition!)

Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop dough and plop onto saran wrap, wrapping each cookie dollop separately. Once wrapped, roll into ball and toss into fridge to chill. This seams like a lot of work - but its much easier than dealing with the tough dough after its chilled. Allow to chill for at least 2 hours to overnight.

Preheat to 325F. Bake cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet for 11-13 minutes depending on how big you made each cookie. Trust me, try one test cookie before you do an entire batch and save yourself any big mistakes.

Remove cookies from oven when they are still slightly under cooked and cool on pan for a few minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Cookies are even better the next day!!

This is why they teach you time management :)

I am baking cookies on a school night and don't feel a bit guilty about it.... (I may think otherwise come 8am tomorrow morning when I'm taking a test ;) But seriously, for the record, I'm pretty darn good at managing my time and Mr. Cliff T. Ragsdale, author of Spreadsheet Modeling and Decision Analysis, has been the gracious recipient of my undivided attention for the last week. It was high time I shared the love with my Kitchen Aid. :)

**update: made an A on the exam....well worth the studying - and cookies :)**

Its been entirely too cold here lately. Recall my last post, just shy of two weeks ago, when it was still 95F.  Within 24 hours of posting that, the average temperature dropped 20 degrees! Now I wear a fleece and run the heat as I make my commute to school in the morning. This chilly, winter-like wind reminds me of how much I love all the seasonal goodies: reading a good book by the fire, darkness at dawn that lingers long after you've gotten up for the day, and above all else, the spicy, warm aroma of gingersnap cookies toasty in the oven. Well, on this particular night it was gingersnap cookies, but pumpkin pie, homemade chai tea, simmering apple cider...anything that includes cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, brown sugar and/or maple syrup belongs in this group of wondrous wintry scents.

Now on to the cookies!

These are extremely easy and very forgiving. Especially when you've left your brain in the books and forget to add the baking soda. So... you decide to go ahead and toss it in to the finished dough. What's a couple of more whirls in the Kitchen Aid? :)

Had I been a good baker and checked to see if I had everything before I started throwing things together, I would have realized I was just a little short on a few of the major ingredients. Whoops...So, I've provided the recipe with all my modifications. The original can be found at Small Home Big Start (link below). None the less, these turned out amazing!

Gingersnaps

adopted and altered from Small Home Big Start
(makes around 80 small - about 2in. - cookies)

1/2 cup shortening**
1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar (I used mostly dark brown, maybe about 2 tbs I had left of light brown)
2 tbs molasses*
1 tbs pure maple syrup
1 tbs honey
1 egg
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (I usually just give the salt grinder a couple of twists.)
1 (rounded) tsp ground ginger
1 (rounded) tsp ground cinnamon (adjust the spices as you'd like. I like things a little stronger)
1/4 tsp ground cloves
~1/4 cup granulated sugar (for coating) (I just pour some sugar in a bowl and call it even) 


*the original recipe called for a 1/4 cup molasses but since I had about 2 tbs left I used other molasses-like gooey sugars -  honey, maple syrup, corn syrup - anything along those lines will do, but keep in mind that molasses does have quite a different flavor than corn syrup.
**original recipe called for 3/4 cup shortening - I only had 1/2 cup left and used butter for the rest. Next time I might try the full shortening version. Butter makes a crispier cookie - think corn flakes - and shortening produces a more cake-like cookie. Cream of tartar makes a chewy cookie. I'll report back on the results. Note, butter also adds a lot of flavor so its not always a great idea to sub shortening...but since the spices in these cookies are so strong I doubt it would make much of a difference.


1. Preheat your oven to 375F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Pour 1/4 cup+ granulated sugar into a bowl. Set aside. (You'll be tossing the cookies in this later)


2. In a large bowl combine dry ingredients and spices. (Flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon and cloves). Whisk together. Set aside.


3. In the bowl of your standing mixer, dump in the shortening (+ - butter), brown sugar, molasses (+ - honey and maple syrup), and egg. With paddle attachment, mix on medium speed until fluffy. 


4. With mixer on low speed, add the dry mixture to the shortening mixture and blend until just combined. 


5. Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill for half an hour. 


6. Using tbs measuring spoon, scoop out about half a tbs worth of dough. (Alternately, you could use a melon scoop as well). This amount of dough will look small but no worries, they will turn out to be perfectly sized gingersnaps.  


7. Toss the dough into a ball and roll the ball around in a bowl of granulated sugar. (or, now that I think about it, you might as well just fill a ziploc with plenty of sugar and throw in all your rolled up cookies and shake to coat. Kind of like a shake and bake. :) Place the coated cookie dough balls two inches apart on a baking sheet. 


7. Toss into the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Quickly remove and transfer to cooling rack. (They'll seem a little mushy but they'll continue baking/dry as they cool.) 


8. Repeat with remaining dough and you're done!

Serving ideas:

- dunk in cold milk
- munch on them with a cup of coffee or tea
- crumble them up and use as topping for ice cream or yogurt
- use a cookie to scoop out some cool whip and eat straight from the container  :)
- whiz them into crumbs and use them as a replacement for the graham crackers in the crust to your favorite pumpkin cheesecake recipe.


Nutritional Facts: (1/75 of recipe)
45 Calories, 2.1g fat, 6.3 carbs, .5g protein

Sugar Cookies

The biggest challenge this month was figuring out what shapes to cut my cookies for the "September" theme. October would have been easy: "Halloween".  March: "Birthday", November: "Thanksgiving",  May: "Flowers", June: "Summer Time".... but September???? I guess it might depend on what part of the world you are in but I can't really think of any "themed" holidays around here... I guess there is Labor Day but I don't really know anyone that decorates for that. ;) I found an interesting list of special days in September. Apparently, September is Cable TV Month; who knew? Maybe I should have done little Food Network cookies :-D 

I finally decided on "fall" for my theme; although, it is still about 95F in North Carolina. Not very fall-like to me. I should have made little runners because September is when it starts getting just a little cooler in the AM and I can really enjoy running outside. 

The colors didn't come together like I had hoped but the sugar cookie recipe was definitely a keeper as was the royal icing recipe. Decorating them will take a bit of practice, too. And kept in an air tight container these things last for ever! They actually get softer after sitting tight for a few days. Mine are still good and I made them a little over 2 weeks ago.

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

Basic Sugar Cookies:
Makes Approximately 36x 10cm / 4" Cookies

200g / 7oz / ½ cup + 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
400g / 14oz / 3 cups + 3 Tbsp All Purpose / Plain Flour
200g / 7oz / 1 cup Caster Sugar / Superfine Sugar
1 Large Egg, lightly beaten
5ml / 1 tsp Vanilla Extract / Or seeds from 1 vanilla bean

Directions

• Cream together the butter, sugar and any flavourings you’re using. Beat until just becoming

creamy in texture.

Tip: Don’t over mix otherwise you’ll incorporate too much air and the cookies will spread during

baking, losing their shape.

• Beat in the egg until well combined, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a non sticky dough forms.

Tip: I don’t have a stand mixer so I find it easier to switch to dough hooks at this stage to avoid

flour flying everywhere.

• Knead into a ball and div

into 2 or 3 pieces.

• Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 5mm/1/5 inch (0.2 inch)

• Refrigerate for a minimum of 30mins.

Tip: Recipes commonly just wrap the whole ball of dough in clingwrap and then refrigerate it for an

hour or overnight, but by rolling the dough between parchment, this shortens the chilling time and

then it’s also been rolled out while still soft making it easier and quicker.

• Once chilled, peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface.

• Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife.

• Arrange shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for another 30mins to an hour.

Tip: It’s very important you chill them again otherwise they’ll spread while baking.

• Re-roll scraps and follow the above process until all scraps are used up.

• Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C Fan Assisted) / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.

• Bake until golden around the edges, about 8-15mins depending on the size of the cookies.

Tip: Bake same sized cookies together otherwise mixing smaller with larger cookies could result in

some cookies being baked before others are done.

Tip: Rotate baking sheets half way through baking if your oven bakes unevenly.

• Leave to cool on cooling racks.

• Once completely cooled, decorate as desired.

Tip: If wrapped in tinfoil/cling wrap or kept in airtight containers in a cool place, un-decorated

cookies can last up to a month.

Royal Icing:

315g – 375g / 11oz – 13oz / 2½ - 3 cups Icing / Confectioner’s / Powdered Sugar, unsifted
2 Large Egg Whites
10ml / 2 tsp Lemon Juice
5ml / 1 tsp Almond Extract, optional

Directions

• Beat egg whites with lemon juice until combined.Tip: It’s important that the bowls/spoons/spatulas and beaters you use are thoroughly cleaned and
grease free.
• Sift the icing sugar to remove lumps and add it to the egg whites.  Tip: I’ve listed 2 amounts of icing sugar, the lesser amount is good for a flooding consistency, and the larger amount is for outlining, but you can add even more for a much thicker consistency good for writing. If you add too much icing sugar or would like to make a thinner consistency, add very small amounts of water, a few drops at a time, until you reach the consistency you need.
• Beat on low until combined and smooth.
• Use immediately or keep in an airtight container.Tip: Royal Icing starts to harden as soon as it’s in contact with air so make sure to cover containers with plastic wrap while not in use.

Biscotti with a hint of almond flavor, chopped, roasted hazelnuts and dried bing cherries

Several months ago I bought the book Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorrie Greenspan.  If you click around on food blogs you've probably noticed "Tuesday's with Dorrie".  I thought about joining but aside from all my usual baking, the Daring Baker's keep my roommates well fed.   Instead, I just bought the book and decided to try the recipes on my own time.  Ps. I loved them! (and I'm not a huge fan of biscotti).

L e n o x    A l m o n d    B i s c o t t i 

from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From my Home to Yours

(makes about 25 cookies)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract
3/4 cup sliced almonds, blanched or unblanched *see my notes

GETTING READY: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together. Add the cornmeal and whisk again to blend.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together at medium speed for 3 minutes, until very smooth. Add the eggs and continue to beat, scraping down the bowl as needed, for another 2 minutes, or until the mixture is light, smooth and creamy. Beat in the almond extract. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated. You'll have a soft, stick-to-your-fingers dough that will ball up around the paddle or beaters. Scrape down the paddle and bowl, toss in the almonds and mix just to blend. * I used roasted hazelnuts and chopped bing cherries. You could use any combination of nuts or dried fruit, possibly some chocolate chips or butterscotch (??)

Scrape half the dough onto one side of the baking sheet. Using your fingers and a rubber spatula or scraper, work the dough into a log about 12 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. The log will be more rectangular than domed, and bumpy, rough and uneven. Form a second log with the remaining dough on the other side of the baking sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until the logs are lightly golden but still soft and springy to the touch. *took mine about 23 Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and cool the logs on the baking sheet for 30 minutes.

If you turned off the oven, bring it back up to 350 degrees F.

Using a wide metal spatula, transfer the logs to a cutting board and, with a long serrated knife, (don't try to cut them with a smooth edged knife. That will only cause them to break into chunks.) trim the ends and cut the logs into 3/4-inch-thick slices. Return the slices to the baking sheet — this time standing them up like a marching band — and slide the sheet back into the oven.

Bake the biscotti for another 15 minutes *took mine about 25, or until they are golden and firm. Transfer them to racks and cool to room temperature.

Oh!ts

Don't be fooled. This is not a real cookie mix but Quaker should consider!

Class: Marketing 3100

Assignment: Come up with a new product or product line extension and create a successful marketing plan. ---- Well, my next move was obvious. Let's do something related to food... preferably something that requires baking. :)

This project required the works: real market research, surveys, budget planning, advertisement design, product samples (yay!). So in the event I ever decided to make a boxed oatmeal cookie mix I'm pretty well informed on start up costs (and efforts). I had fabulous groupies and made about 3 test batches before I ended up making over 120 cookies in 2 hours! Thats about 4 or 5 batches of small cookies (at least.. I'm not sure.. I lost track between measuring, baking and bagging). 

Our product was an extension of Quaker Oats Oatmeal. We decided to make a packaged oatmeal cookie mix. The container could be used as a cookie jar for the baked cookies, storage after the cookie are all gone or a piggy bank so kids can save their allowance and buy more cookies... (I thought that was a pretty decent marketing strategy ;)   Yep. I designed the label and made the little baggies that we distributed to the class. Cute huh? :) (pictured above).  My group also had some awesome add designs and did great research.

Well on to the more exciting stuff... The COOKIES! They were a hit! Friends wanted the recipe and another friend of mine sold one for $1 walking to his car from class! Yes, I claimed my hard earned profit and made him pay up :)

I'm so proud to say we made the top grade in the class, a 98!!! Thats two points from perfect.... I'd say those are pretty darn good cookies! ;o)

This recipe was adopted and modified from Emerile Lagasse.

Oh!ts Oatmeal Cookies

yields 24 cookies

• 1 cup chopped walnuts, lightly toasted (optional)
• 1 cup dried cranberries, raisins, cherries or other dried and chopped fruit.
• 1 cup chocolate chips (see below for mix-in ideas)
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon cloves
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1.5 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1.5 cups quick-cook oats
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cups light brown sugar (you can use dark brown too)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

Position one oven rack in the center and another in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F.

Line and spray two baking sheets with parchment paper and non-stick cooking spray.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar together at medium speed until very light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the eggs and vanilla extract, then beat until thoroughly combined.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the oats, flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg and stir to combine.

With the mixer turned off, add half of the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl. Beat on low speed until dry ingredients are just combined, about 1 minute. Turn the mixer off. Add remaining dry ingredients and the mix ins: raisins, craisins, cherries, pecans, chocolate, white chocolate, butterscotch chips, walnuts, the list goes on and on! Mix at low speed until just combined.

Using a 1/4-cup measure, scoop the cookie dough into 24 equal portions and place 12 of the dough balls 2 inches apart on each of the prepared baking sheets. Press the dough down to make a slightly flat, round cookie.

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes (per usual, mine took way less time - around 13 minutes..but it just depends on your oven. You want to make sure the cookies are still very soft, almost doughy when you take them out...they will continue to cook as they cool)

Enjoy!! and have fun with this!! Here is an idea of flavor combinations we came up with for our project:

- White Chocolate Craisin (made these, they were delish!)

- Dark Chocolate Cherry

- Mini marshmallows and chocolate chip s'more cookies

- Try other mix ins like: peanut butter chips, all kinds of dried fruit chopped, any kind of nut, etc....

Whoopie Cookie Vanilla Bean Ice Cream Sandwiches

My fingers were numb by the end of this process but in the name of St. Valentine I did this because I love my friends and knew they would enjoy them. 

Vanilla beans on Ebay = ultra good deal and delicious homemade vanilla bean ice cream

I ordered vanilla beans on ebay - trust me this is the way to go - they're normally $3.50 for 1-2 beans. Ah! I got 10 beans for $5. So with my new high torque blending machine (aka: the Health Master that I got for Christmas from my dad - awesome gadget - makes anything from ice cream to hot soup in less than 10 minutes) I made homemade vanilla bean ice cream. Bryer's has the right idea: just cream, sugar & vanilla beans. I'm sure you would achieve a little bit of a different texture with an ice cream machine but trust me - this was just as incredible. If you have a blender like this all you need to do is add 4 cups half and half, 2 cups sugar, the seeds of one vanilla bean and blend! At first the foam will rise to the top. No worries freeze it anyway. Then reblend it to get a homogeneous mixture and voila - ice cream.

Part II: Whoppie Cookies


For those of you who don't know what a whoppie cookie is - its a soft fluffy cake like cookie traditionally used to make whoppie pies: a cookie sandwich stuffed with marshmallow creme. 


These are great for ice cream cookie sandwiches because they freeze well. They aren't uncomfortably crunchy so that when you bite into the assembled sandwiches you won't end up with cookie crumbs swimming in a puddle of ice cream on your lap. Another reason I chose these is because unlike an average cookie these lovely littles clock in at 75 calories each versus 120 for an average cookie. Now, if you do the math thats 2x120=240 calo's and that doesn't include the ice cream!

Chocolate Whoppie Cookies 

adapted from Dinner with Julie

3 Tbsp. butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour (or half all-purpose, half whole wheat)
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Filling:

**I used ice cream but you can use marshmallow cream (aka fluff)

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar for a minute or so, until well combined. It will have the consistency of wet sand. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa and salt. In a small bowl, stir the baking soda into 1/2 cup very hot water until dissolved.

With the mixer on low or stirring by hand, add about a third of the dry ingredients, then half the buttermilk and half the baking soda mixture, mixing each time just until blended. Repeat with another third of the dry ingredients, the rest of the buttermilk and baking soda mixture, and then the rest of the dry ingredients, mixing each time just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. ((I skipped this but I did add a few to the top))  The batter will be quite wet, almost like cake batter. (You want them to be cakey and soft, so that the filling doesn’t squish out the end when you bite into it.) <check it out

Drop large, round spoonfuls of batter 2” apart on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. (If you’re making pies, try to keep the mounds similar in size and shape so they will make even sandwiches). Bake for 12–15 minutes, until the tops no longer appear wet and just spring back when lightly touched. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

If you're going to make the ice cream sandwiches I suggest you get everything set up first - this includes pairing up similar size cookies.

Regardless of what ever I was going to make for Valentine's Day it was going to be dressed with pretty pink sprinkles!

Have fun & Happy (very belated) Valentine's Day   : ))