Chocolate Caramel Cookies

I'm not generally a fan of chocolate based cookies, but these are amazing! I added chopped caramel to the top to make them look a little prettier and for some extra chewiness. The easiest way to cut the caramel up is to use a pair of sharp scissors. I love the simplicity of this recipe because all the chocolate comes from cocoa powder. There's no need to melt chocolate. Sometimes I get so obsessed with thinking that real chocolate is the only way you can get good chocolate flavour, but this recipe proves me wrong.


The dough is very sticky so it's best to chill it for a while. As usual, I press my cookies down so they spread a little nicer.


If you're looking for a truely chewy cookie and not one that's cakey like most chocolate based cookies are, try this recipe!

Chocolate Caramel Cookies
Adapted form Ina Garten
Makes 40 to 48 cookies

Ingredients
1/2 pound (1 cup/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed (I used dark brown)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs at room temperature (I used large eggs)
2/3 cup good unsweetened cocoa
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup chocolate chips
Chopped caramels

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (I baked at 335 F)
Cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Dissolve espresso powder in vanilla extract. Add dissolved mixture, then the eggs, 1 at a time, and mix well. Add the cocoa and mix again. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the chocolate with the mixer on low speed until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, using a 1 3/4-inch ice cream scoop or a rounded tablespoon. Put chopped caramel pieces on top. Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly. Bake for exactly 15 (I baked for 12) minutes (the cookies will seem underdone). Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

TWD: Chewy, Chunky Blondies

It's been, oh, I don't know... 6 months since my last TWD post! I'm shocked if I'm still on the blogroll for being such a lazy member. Anyway, I thought I'd make my return with blondies.

I used to be a coconut hater, but ever since I made the samoas bars, I've been finding excuses to bake with coconut. Instead of adding the coconut into the batter, I toasted it and sprinkled it on top for a nice textural contrast. I don't like putting coconut into the dough because it makes them gritty. For the coconut haters, I sprinkled the nuts on the other half. I also don't like putting nuts in the dough because I find that they get soggy. I omitted the white sugar completely to cut down on the sweetness. These were good, but I wasn't crazy about them. I would rather have a chocolate chip cookie so I can enjoy the crispy edges rather than a uniformly soft and chewy square. I may try these again with white rather than butterscotch chips.


Thanks to Nicole of Cookies on Friday for choosing this week's recipe

Smores Cookies

Best cookies ever! Seriously, make these now. Thanks to Kim at Lovin' From the Oven for sharing these because they are out of this world. These had the perfect cookie texture, being crunchy on the outside with a chewy interior. They also spread out really nicely, although mine were a little thinner than I would have like.

This had to be one of the yummiest tasting cookie doughs. I had to bake this before I ate it all

Chop the chocolate beforehand so that you can place the chocolate and marshmallows as quickly as possible partway into baking. It doesn't show here, but I cut them into thirds

Too yummy to share!

Smores Cookies
From Lovin From the Oven

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups miniature chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
2 Hershey bars, chopped

1. In a stand mixer, combine the butter and sugars until fluffy.
2. Mix in egg and vanilla until combined. Add the flour, graham crackers, salt, and baking soda, mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips.
3. Refrigerate dough for about an hour.
4. Preheat oven to 375ºF (I baked at 335 F).
5. Drop by rounded tablespoon (I used a medium cookie scoop ~ 1.5 tbsp) onto cookie sheets. Bake for 8 minutes, and remove from the oven. Push 3 to 4 marshmallows and a few pieces of a hershey's bar into each cookie. Return to the oven and bake an additional 2-3 minutes until fully cooked. Cool cookies on a wire rack.
6. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Lately, I've been feeling a little lazy. I bake, eat, but never photograph and so I never end up blogging. Ever since I bought a new camera, I can't stop taking pictures... of walls, random things on the table and of course, food. I don't usually do progress pics, but I couldn't help it.

These cookies were inspired from someone at work. Normally, I wouldn't bake cinnamon oatmeal raisin cookies because I'm not the hugest fan of cinnamon or raisins, but these actually turned out really well. They had crispy edges with a chewy centre and crispy edges that actually stayed crispy for a good period of time. It drives me crazy when my cookies turn uniformly chewy because the best part for me are those crispy edges.

My favourite part, creaming the butter and sugar


The dry


I find that oatmeal cookies never spread no matter how much butter is added so I always press them down or else I end up with oatmeal mounds.


12 minutes later...


This recipe is really a merge of different recipes until I was happy with the amount of oatmeal, chew and crisp.

Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup + 2 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chocolate chips
10 tbsp butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 335 degrees.

In one bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, mix raisins, chocolate chips and oats.

In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer beat the butter on medium speed until fluffy. Add the brown sugar and continue beating. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until thoroughly mixed. On low speed, add the flour mixture until just combined. Then add the oats mixture and continue to beat on low until everything is evenly distributed.

Using a medium cookie scoop, divide the dough into 24 portions. Press the dough down about 1 inch thick. Bake for 12 minutes. Allow cookies to cool before transferring on a wired rack

Makes 24 cookies.

Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

This is my first Ina recipe and it was fabulous! I love her show, but between her and Paula, I don't know who uses more butter. I think the butter usage seems worse than it is though because Ina likes to use pound measurements for butter. 1/2 lb of butter sounds more than 1 cup of butter, well at least to me. I'm not a fan of chocolate based cookies because they're generally bland, chalky or too bitter. Almost every chocolate based cookie recipe I've found has melted chocolate in them so I was a little concerned that these wouldn't have enough flavour. Then I figured that if Dorie's world peace cookies (which are totally amazing and everyone should make them!) can do without melted chocolate, then so can these. I added 1 tsp of espresso powder to give it an extra boost in flavour just in case.


I think the best part about these cookies is the texture. The edges are crispy and the centre is brownie-like. I especially liked how pretty they baked up with the cracked tops and just the right thickness because I can't stand chunky cookies. The next day, the cookie becomes uniformly chewy. Just make sure to bake them for 12 minutes instead of 15 if you're using the 1 3/4 inch cookie scoop (Oxo medium). Many reviewers on food network also complained about 15 minutes being too long of a baking time. I will definitely make these again, but Ina.. why must you use extra large eggs?! I used 2 large eggs and it was fine. If you're not into the fuss of melting chocolate like me and crave chocolate based cookies, you should definitely give these a try!


Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Ina Garten
Makes 40 to 48 cookies (I got 36 because I used less chocolate)

Ingredients
1/2 pound (1 cup/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed (I used dark brown)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs at room temperature (I used large eggs)
2/3 cup good unsweetened cocoa
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 pounds good white chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used white chocolate chips)
(I added 1 tsp of espresso powder)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (I baked at 335 F)
Cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Dissolve espresso powder in vanilla extract. Add dissolved mixture, then the eggs, 1 at a time, and mix well. Add the cocoa and mix again. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the chocolate with the mixer on low speed until just combined. Fold in the chopped white chocolate.
Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, using a 1 3/4-inch ice cream scoop or a rounded tablespoon. Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly. Bake for exactly 15 (I baked for 12) minutes (the cookies will seem underdone). Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

NYT Chocolate Chip Cookies

Crisp edges, chewy interior, buttery and the perfect thickness (for me at least). These were very, very good. I can't believe I waited so long to try them!


The best part? They weren't just good when they were warm and gooey, but also delicious the next day. I think these cookies retained the crispy edges the longest compared to other recipes I've tried. I also liked that these weren't too soft, but actually chewy. Soft cookies remind me of raw batter and that isn't something I'm too crazy about. Up next, I'm going to try these again with all purpose flour to see if there's a difference. Some people have said it matters, but others say it doesn't. I guess the only way to find out is to give it a try. It's really hard to say for sure that these are my favourite. I'm really tempted to have a bakeoff of some of the most popular recipes, but CCCs can be so dangerous!

NYT Chocolate Chip Cookies
Jacques Torres

8 1/2 ounces cake flour (2 cups minus 2 tablespoons)
8 1/2 ounces bread flour (1 2/3 cups)
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 1/4 cups unsalted butter
10 ounces light brown sugar ( 1 1/4 cups)
8 ounces granulated sugar (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons)
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds bitterswee chocolate discs or shards
sea salt, for garnish

Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5-10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24-36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Scoop six 3 1/2 ounce mounds of dough (large golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18-20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then move cookies onto another rack to cool further. Eat warm.

Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins

After seeing these muffins on Cassie's blog, I knew I had to make them except that I sort of didn't. When I bake, I usually start gathering stuff while the butter is being creamed. Even though this can lead to a little bit of scrambling, I feel like I'm saving time. Anyway, instead of measuring 1 1/2 cups of flour, I ended up measuring 2 cups by mistake. The baking soda and salt were already mixed in so I just went with it. Normally I wouldn't, but seeing as there was 1 1/2 cups of banana, there should be no dryness issues. I also creamed the butter so maybe these aren't really the Baked muffins anymore, but they were still good! The texture was definitely lighter than banana bread with the creaming. I think it would make a good banana cake because it was tender yet sturdy. The coffee wasn't strong, but it's probably because of the extra 1/2 cup of flour I added by mistake. I'll have to make the Baked version next time and premeasure instead of reading the ingredients off my laptop as the butter is being creamed.

Where did all the chocolate chips go?!

Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters

I rarely make the same recipe twice. Ok, that's not entirely true, I've only made banana bread a gazillion times and many variations of CI's thick and chewy CCCs hoping that one day I will find the best version. Dorie's chunky peanut butter and oatmeal chocolate chipsters are one of my favourite cookies. I love them so much that I waited almost an entire year to make them again because I didn't want to eat the whole tray. I reduced the butter from 2 sticks to 1. Yes, it sounds like a huge drop, but when you think about it, 1 stick of butter + 1 cup of PB should be plenty of fat for 1 cup of flour and 3 cups of oats. I also reduced the cinnamon in half and used all brown sugar. Although resting dough for 36 hours seems to do wonders to CCCs, I don't like to refrigerate oatmeal cookies for an extended period of time. I think it softens the oats too much, which some people like, but I love the sharp, jagged edges of oatmeal. My cookies didn't spread at all, which might have been due to the reduction of butter, but also from the use of peanut butter. No peanut butter cookie I've ever made has spread. I guess it's a good thing because there is no debating whether 'to flatten or not' in case the cookies might rise up like a scone or flatten like CDs. Instead, I simply flatten these as much as I would like my baked cookies to look.


When's a better time to eat a cookie than when the chocolate chips are still gooey?

Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters
Dorie Greenspan: Baking, From My Home to Yours

3 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon (I used 1 tsp)
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg (I omitted)
1/4 tsp salt (I used 1/2 tsp)
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature (I used 1 stick)
1 cup peanut butter--chunky (my choice) or smooth (but not natural)
1 cup sugar (I omitted)
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar (I used 1 1/2 cup)
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chunks, or 1 1/2 cups store-bought chocolate chips or chunks

Getting Ready:
Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Whisk together the oats, flour, baking soda, spices and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter, peanut butter, sugar and brown sugar on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the dry ingredients, beating only until blended. Mix in the chips. If you have the time, cover and chill the dough for about 2 hours or for up to one day. (Chilling the dough will give you more evenly shaped cookies.)

If the dough is not chilled, drop rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto the baking sheets. If the dough is chilled, scoop up rounded tablespoons, roll the balls between your palms and place them 2 inches apart on the sheets. Press the chilled balls gently with the heel of your hand until they are about 1/2 inch thick.

Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back after 7 minutes. The cookies should be golden and just firm around the edges. Lift the cookies onto cooling racks with a wide metal spatula - they'll firm as they cool.

Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.

Serving: I can't remember when I actually served these. They're more often plucked from a cookie jar than picked from a platter.

Storing: Wrapped airtight or piled into a cookie jar, the cookies will keep at room temperature for about 4 days. Wrapped and frozen, they'll be good for 2 months.

Playing Around: You can substitute soft, moist raisins for the chocolate chunks or just stir in some raisins along with them. If you're really looking for crunch, toss in chopped peanuts too (salted or not). With or without the chocolate chunks, raisins, and nuts, these cookies are great with ice cream or around ice cream - think about them the next time you want a chipwich-ish ice cream sandwich.

Recipe Round Robin: Chocolate Chip Cookies Comparison

For this month's Recipe Round Robin hosted by Aleta of Omnomicon, we were making chocolate chip cookies! How could I pass an opportunity to be part of a group that's testing to find the best CCC? The recipes I was given were practically the same, except that recipe K was doubled the size of recipe S so I halved K to make the differences in butter, sugar and baking soda more obvious. I followed the recipes as they were written, but since they had different temperatures, I decided to bake both recipes at 350 and 375 for a better comparison. Wouldn't it be horrible if K was actually better, but because of its oven temperature the dough didn't bake up to its potential and we would never know because it's already been put into the list of 'don't ever make again?' That drives me crazy and reminds of the time when I used to bake my cookies on cheap supermarket pans without parchment paper. Everything was burnt, dry and stuck. It's a good thing I gave CI's thick and chewy another try after getting new pans and using parchment!

I kept the ratio of dough to add-ins consistent to prevent one recipe from being rated better because it had more chocolate or rated worse because it had nuts! It was a really easy win for recipe S. Recipe K kind of looks like a tea biscuit and yes, it sort of tastes like one too. It's amazing how big of a difference ~ 2 tablespoons of butter can make, but then again, the recipes were scaled down. If we were looking at a typically sized CCC recipe, it's really more of a 1/4 cup difference in butter. As for the oven temperatures, the texture of the cookies at 350 and 375 were very similar because they all softened up uniformly a few hours later. Even though recipe S was the winner, my favourite CCC recipe is still an adapted version of CI's thick and chewy because it has more of a real chew to it. If you're into cakey, make recipe K, if you're into soft, make recipe S and if you're into chewy, make CI's recipe!

Recipe K: Family Secret Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/4 C. + 2 tbsp sugar
1/2 C. brown sugar
1/2 C. butter
1/2 T. vanilla extract
1 eggs, slightly beaten
1.5 C. flour
3/8 (1/4 + 1 pinch) t. baking soda
3/8 (1/4 + 1 pinch) t. salt
1.5 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 C. chopped nuts (optional) (I usually omit these, but if you like nuts, go for it!)

Preheat oven to 350.
In a large bowl, combine the white and brown sugar. Add butter and cream with sugar. Add vanilla and eggs. Mix well.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Mix well, the dough will be stiff. Add chocolate chips and nuts if you're using them.
Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Drop dough in rounded teaspoons onto the cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks.

Recipe S: Friendly Choco-Chippers

1/4 c sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
1/3 c soft butter (5 tbsp + 1 tsp)
1/2 egg (~2 tbsp beaten)
1 tsp vanilla extract (higher quality really makes the difference, but regular stuff works too)
3/4 c flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c chocolate chips
1/2 c chopped walnuts (or other nuts of your choice)

Cream together sugars, butter, egg and vanilla. Sift in flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.
Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread... Melted or Creamed?

With 2 bunches of ripe bananas, there wasn't anything better to make than banana bread, but I hope you aren't sick another banana bread post (this is my 5th one!). I love the Silver Palate Banana Bread recipe, but I don't like repeating a recipe without doing something a little different. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to do a little recipe comparison, which I love! Since many banana bread recipes use melted butter, I thought it would be fun to compare melted vs creamed. It seemed kind of pointless, since it was no surprise that melted butter would produce a denser bread, but I was curious how big of a difference it would make. This usually drives my family crazy because sometimes the differences are very tiny yet I'm still forcing them to choose between 'A or B' 'left or right'?

Melted is on the left with the more open crumb and creamed is on the right. In case you were wondering, they went into and out of the oven at the same time, baked in the same pan and each banana was cut in half so there was no difference in banana ripeness. Both versions were really good, but I prefer the creaming method because I liked its lighter yet still dense texture. The rest of my family was divided so it was a tie between creamed and melted. The differences were noticeable so if you're finding that your banana bread is too dense, I would try creaming the butter to see if it improves. Next time I make this, I'll have to use whole wheat flour. I'll probably do another comparison even though I know it will probably be denser, may as well, right?

Silver Palate Cookbook Banana Bread: (makes 1 loaf)

8 T unsalted butter, room temp
3/4 c granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 c unbleached all-purpose flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 c whole wheat flour (I used all purpose)
3 large ripe bananas, mashed (1 1/4 cups - 1 1/2 cups)
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 c walnuts, coarsely chopped (I used chocolate chips)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. (I used a bundt pan)
2. Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time and beat.
3. Sift AP flour, soda, salt together, stir in whole wheat flour
Alternate dry mixture with bananas + vanilla, ending with dry until flour disappears. Fold in chocolate chips
5. Pour into pan. Bake 50-60 min, (it took 40 minutes in my bundt) or until cake tester comes out clean (I look for a few mini moist crumbs). Cool in pan 10 min, then flip it out onto a rack.

Chewy Chocolate Chip and Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

These are my favourite oatmeal cookies because they have the perfect balance of flour to oats to add-ins. I like how they're oaty, but just not quite to the point where it feels like I'm eating oatmeal from the bag. They are so good that even my brother eats them and he hardly eats sweets. I'm not usually crazy about adding in dried fruit, but in this case I think it really makes these extra special. I'm submitting this recipe to Bloggeraid, a really cool fundraiser cookbook started by Ivy from Kopiaste, Val from More Than Burnt Toast and Giz of Equal Opportunity Kitchen. All the profits go to school meals, which is part of the World Food Programme


Here's the bloggeraid homepage and the recipe book

TWD: World Peace Cookies

I can't believe I passed these over when I was deciding what to bake for Christmas. These were incredible and this is coming from someone who is not a fan of chocolate based cookies. These were perfect after a stressful day of school. Even though I ended up baking them at 10pm, I couldn't stop eating them! But of course, I left a few for taking pictures the next day in natural lighting..haha. Ok, so I didn't actually eat all 32 cookies myself, but I wish I did because they were just that good!

The line between done and overbaking is very fine when it comes to cookies. Even one minute can feel like an eternity, especially near the end when you're debating whether or not to pull them out. I ended up baking one sheet at 13 minutes and the second sheet at 11 minutes. 13 because they just looked too raw to me to take out at 12 minutes and 11 because I caught the Dorie note that the cookies are supposed to look raw. Everyone seemed to like the 11 minute cookie because it provided a nice textural contrast with a sandy outside and a melt in your mouth centre. I think the best part about these cookies is how the cookie didn't turn hockey puck or soft on me. I wonder if the texture would have been different if I baked chilled dough instead of freezing it. I'm guessing they probably would have melted out like these cookies I made a long time ago. Freezing for one hour as well as compressing the dough made slicing a lot easier and no crumbling!

Thanks to Jessica of cookbookhabit for choosing this recipe, which can be found on her blog and in Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From my Home to Yours. Don't forget to checkout the TWD Blogroll!

Dessert Bible: Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

The neverending search for the best chocolate chip cookies continue..like it ever stops! Even though I think I found my favourite in CI's thick and chewy, I just can't help but think that there's something better out there. CI's CCC definitely has the best flavour, but I find that their chewiness is more soft than chewy and the crispy edges are gone a few hours later. Is the melted butter making the cookies too soft? They say that melted butter is the key for chewiness because it allows for more gluten development, but there are many cookies made with creamed butter that are chewy too. Maybe it's the large amount of brown sugar or the extra egg yolk.. seriously, this was driving me crazy so I just had to make another batch of CCC's even though I'm on a major butter overdose.

I found a recipe by Chris Kimball in the Dessert Bible had the same ratio of ingredients as the CI recipe except for the use of some shortening instead of butter, an extra egg white instead of egg yolk and baking powder instead of baking soda. It also creamed the fat instead of melting the butter. This was the perfect recipe to try because the ratio of ingredients were basically the same as CI's with a few minor variations and a different mixing method. To make the most out of this batch of cookies I also compared baking powder and soda. After creaming the butter, shortening, sugar and eggs I divided the mixture evenly by weight. Then I measured out half the dry ingredients following the original recipe in the Dessert Bible and half the dry ingredients with baking soda substituted for baking powder.


Now I could compare these cookies with my usual go to, the thick and chewy and also compare the dessert bible recipe using different leavening. To make it completely fair, I used a medium cookie scoop to portion them out and baked both baking powder and baking soda versions on the same cookie sheet at the same time at 325. Even though the Dessert Bible uses 375, I knew the bottoms would burn before the tops could properly set in my oven. I also alternated the cookies, just in case one half of my oven was cooler or warmer than the other. On the left, we have the baking powder cookie and on the right, we have the baking soda cookie.


Compared to CI's thick and chewy, these were definitely less buttery. They had an extra crunch to them, but was not worth the sacrifice in flavour. Between the baking powder and baking soda versions from the Dessert Bible, there was a difference in texture that was more noticeable as the cookies cooled. By the way, I refrigerated the dough for 36 hours (because I'm sure we all know by now after the endless posts on the NYT recipe that refrigeration makes better cookies!)

What I learned:
* Baking powder sets up a cookie faster in the oven, producing a thicker cookie and baking soda produces more spread and crisp. Both leaveners produced chewy cookies, but the chew in the baking powder cookie was more of a 'doughy chew'
* Shortening makes the edges crispier, but there was a huge compromise in flavour and a slight greasiness so it's all butter from now on. Plus, the crispiness eventually goes away so it didn't really make a difference and was not worth it.
* Creaming produces chewy cookies too! (I guess as long as the amount of brown sugar is large enough)

Overaly, my ranking is: CI > Dessert Bible with baking soda (modified) > Dessert Bible with baking powder (original). Even though CI still comes up on top, I'm still searching for the best CCC. At least now I've settle my curiosity in using shortening and baking powder vs baking soda. I'll definitely have to make another batch of cookies! Hopefully, the search ends next time.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

There was finally some serious ripening of bananas.. about time! My family should really stop eating bananas so I can bake more banana bread.. haha. Initially, I was going to bake peanut butter banana bread, but after the whole peanut butter pumpkin bread situation that didn't go so well, I decided to make some good old fashioned banana bread with chocolate chips. I ended up bringing some to school, since I didn't exactly need another excuse to eat chocolate. It turns out that banana bread is not as popular as I thought or maybe I just picked a bunch of banana bread haters. Who says 'no thank you' to banana bread?!?!


I used my usual banana bread recipe from Cook's illustrated. Since I'm into the whole fluffy baking thing, I creamed the butter and sugar instead of melting it. This was the first time I made this particular recipe this way and it did produce a softer crumb...YAY! On the other hand, there were a lot more dishes to be done (well, actually just the paddle and the mixing bowl..haha)

Banana Bread
Cook's Illustrated, The New Best Recipe

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan
1 1/4 cups walnuts, chopped coarse
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 very ripe, soft, darkly speckled large bananas, mashed well (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 350°F (175°C) degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan; dust with flour, tapping out the excess.

2. Spread the walnuts on a baking sheet and toast until fragrant, 5 to 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

3. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and walnuts together in a large bowl; set aside.

4. Mix the mashed bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter, and vanilla with a wooden spoon in a medium bowl. Lightly fold the banana mixture into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula until just combined and the batter looks thick and chunky. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan.

5. Bake until the loaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. (The bread can be wrapped with plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days.)

Marshmallowy Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars

I've probably baked a million chocolate chip cookies, going through bags of brown sugar and chocolate chips on the way, but never a cookie bar recipe. The reason? No recipe or should I say, no set recipe because you can pretty much throw in whatever you want. I know.. it's sad I actually need someone to tell me what flavour of chips, types of nuts and if shredded coconut belongs. Ever since seeing Erin of Prudence Pennywise's version of Dorie's Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters in a bar form, I just couldn't resist taking out a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough from the freezer to make some. I pressed as much dough to fill a 4x7 pan up to 1/2 an inch high and baked at 350 for 20 minutes. I was a little afraid that the bars would overbake and I think they did, but I followed Erin's instructions to spread peanut butter over the bars after they came out of the oven and I think that must have remoistened them. Since I didn't have mini marshmallows, I just piled a couple of large ones and set it back into the oven to broil. In a matter of seconds, they browned up really nicely and then came the hard part... waiting for them to cool.


Slicing without ripping the entire layer of marshmallows off was really difficult, but it was nothing a pair of scissors couldn't handle. As the hugest peanut butter lover, I actually had to give this away so I wouldn't finish the entire pan. The bars were really thick and chewy without being underdone even though they look a little wet from the peanut butter. The overall flavour combination was delicious and the gooey marshmallows on top made it extra special. Thanks Erin for such a great bar idea! I will definitely have to make these again and try it out with another cookie recipe!

Marshmallowy Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars
Adapted from Erin of Prudence Pennywise

Cook`s Illustrated thick and chewy chocolate chip cookie dough recipe (I used about 1/3rd of the dough)
peanut butter
7 large marshmallows cut in pieces

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a 8.5x4.5 loaf pan with parchment
2. Press cookie dough with fingers until 1/2 inch thick
3. Bake 20 minutes or until the center looks just set. An inserted toothpick should have a few crumbs attached.
4. Immediately spread peanut butter over the bars
5. Layer with marshmallows
6. Return to oven and broil until marshmallows are nicely browned (it literally takes seconds so don't look away or it may burn)
7. Cool completely in pan

TWD: Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters

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When it comes to cookies, I can get a little crazy and by a little, I actually mean a lot. I obsess over whether or not to flatten the dough in case my cookies actually spread... although 90% of the time they rise; how long to cool the cookies on the sheet before moving them over to the rack and baking times. With all these variables, I usually end up sampling a few more than I should. Then again, it's not like it's difficult to eat endless amounts of cookies.. that is until the after-effects of too much butter and sugar starts to hit.

I was super excited over this recipe because it has everything I love all in one cookie, espeically peanut butter. The best part was that they tasted amazing cold and had the perfect balance of crunch and chew. They were so delicious I had 6! I reduced the butter to only one stick so I didn't chill the dough and flattened them down. Luckily they still ended up baking properly and didn't taste like a healthier low fat version either. Between the 1/2 cup of butter and 1 cup of peanut butter, it was probably enough to hold 1 cup of flour and 3 cups of oatmeal. For a little more brown sugar flavour, I added 1.5 cups of brown sugar only and no white sugar. At first I was a little hesitant about the cinnamon, but I just threw in 1 tsp instead of 2 tsp before I had a chance to think twice about it. I'm so glad I did because the cinnamon enhanced the flavour of peanut butter without overpowering.


Unlike most new cookie recipes I try, I will definitely make these again! Thanks to Stefany of Proceed with Caution for choosing this recipe, which can be found on her blog and in Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From my Home to Yours. Don't forget to checkout the TWD Blogroll!

Thick & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies #2

Out of everything I bake, chocolate chip cookies are always the most requested. Even though I think Cook's Illustrated has the best CCC recipe, I'm always thinking of doing things differently to make them better ie. how long should I be whipping the egg/sugar/butter mixture (even though it's all liquid), should I let refrigerated dough come to room temperature, how high should I shape the dough, brand of all purpose flour, type of pan.. yep.. I'm starting to sound crazy. If I could eat an unlimited amount of cookies, I would have already tested all these variables by now!

When I first started baking, I used jelly roll pans from Baker's Secret.. you know.. the kind that sells for 2 dollars at the supermarket? I would end up with the hardest, driest cookies, although it's probably not fair to blame those hockey puck like cookies solely on the cookie sheet especially since I had just started baking then. During Christmas, I got my first insulated cookie sheet and voila! it was the beginning of the best CCC's ever, but I also switched to the CI recipe and began to line my sheets with parchment. Ever since those insulated sheets, I've never baked any cookies on jelly rolls for fear of failure.. seriously! If it works, why change it? Well, I just couldn't help wondering what the CI recipe would be like baked on a jelly roll so I baked half on an insulated pan and the other on a jelly roll.


On the left, the cookies were baked on an insulated sheet and on the right, the cookies were baked on a jelly roll. The insulated sheet led to more spreading, which I actually prefer even though they are slightly paler. The jelly roll produced cookies that were thicker, drier and slightly more cake like. Even though I've read that insulated sheets are not actually the best for cookies and to use the lipless baking sheets, I'm just glad they end up working for me.

Next, I would really to to try baking with dare I say... margarine and shortening. I can't eat shortening frostings yet when embedded in a cookie I'm thinking it won't gross me out as much. Nothing beats the flavour of homemade cookies, but I'm still after the thin yet chewy texture that is not a result of oversoftness with a crunch on the outside. I'm not sure if anyone knows what I mean, but for those who have had a Tim Horton's or a Mark's and Spencer's bakery cookie that is the texture I would like.

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

By the way, I always reduce the white sugar from 1/2 cup to 1/4 cup to cut down on the sweetness. And as always, these were refrigerated before baking.

Thick & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

The chocolate chip cookie entry... finally! It's been a month since I've started blogging and I can't believe I haven't made a single chocolate chip cookie. I've waited so long because along with the TWD challenges and baking in between, that's a lot of butter! Everytime I make chocolate chip cookies, I end up 'testing' way too many ie. straight out of the oven, still warm, completely cool, completely cool after a few hours. Then I end up nibbling on them everytime I walk past the cookie sheets, starting on the corners and eventually make my way to the center.

Cookies straight out of the oven are always delicious, but once cool, they tend to be hard. The ultimate chocolate cookie for me has to be crisp and crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy in the middle. When I was still in search of a chocolate chip recipe that actually tasted good cold, I noticed that most recipes are pretty much the same with a few variations. It killed me when the dough always tasted great raw and warm from the oven, but transformed into a hockey puck later.

I love how this recipe from Cook's Illustrated uses melted butter because I always find it difficult to incorporate the flour into the creamed butter or sugar and adding in chocolate chips without having to struggle a bit. Usually I like to cut down on butter whenever I can (even if its one or two tablespoons... somehow it makes me feel better), but when it comes to the chocolate chip cookie, I want the whole thing.. not some spongy, cakey, weird ingredient filled version. By the way, this batch of cookies was inspired by the article posted by the New York Times, claiming that refrigerating the dough makes for better tasting cookies because it allows the dough and other ingredients to fully soak up the liquid. I decided to give it a try, but to keep it as controlled as possible, I only made one batch and baked half of it the day of and half on the next day. Although I didn't wait for the recommended 36 hours, my taste testers and I have to admit that the cookies actually did taste better after a day in the fridge. I was so excited about my first batch that I totally forgot to take pictures. 8 cookies does not take long to finish when you have 4 people in your family. I snapped some quick pictures of the second batch though before they got devoured.

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe