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.
Who wouldn't want to bite into a super chocolatey cookie, only to find a caramely surprise in the middle? Even though these cookies were a lot more time consuming and messy than usual drop cookies, it was totally worth the reactions I got once everyone bit into the centre. I had these bookmarked ever since I saw them over at Rebecca's blog, indecisive baker.
I opted for caramilk instead of rolos because I think they just taste better.
Cadbury >> Hershey's in my opinion.
The only thing I was worried about was the caramel hardening after the cookies cooled because that would kind of defeat the purpose of putting a chocolate covered caramel in the centre in the first place. To retain the gooeyness of the caramel, I broke chocolate into squares and then froze them before wrapping in dough. By the way, I'm not sure if I just totally made that up, but I figured that if the caramel stayed cooler longer, it would cook less and therefore, not harden as much later. The frozen chocolate also helped with shaping the cookie because the dough stayed cooler longer and was less sticky. I would definitely recommend chilling the dough first before shaping.
If only it wasn't that obvious that there was something in the middle...
Since I love Ina's chocolate white chocolate chunk cookie recipe, I used hers minus the white chocolate instead. You can also use Rebecca's recipe
Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies
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 1/2 pounds good white chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used white chocolate chips)
40-48 caramilk squares/rolos
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. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt and add to the butter mixture with the mixer on low speed until just combined.
Cover and place bowl into the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours. (you need to chill or else it's too sticky)
Use a small cookie scoop (I use the Oxo brand, 2 tsp capacity) and unscoop it onto your hand. Flatten into a circle and place chocolate in the middle. Add another 1/2 a scoop to cover the top and seal the cracks.
Bake 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.
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.
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.
Pamela, thank you so, so much for choosing these!! I would have never tried them on my own seeing as they contain my favourite (not) spices, allspice and cloves. If cinnamon is sometimes too overpowering for me, then there's no question that the other two are way too strong. I was brave this time and didn't reduce the spices... I'm so proud of myself...haha. My cookies aren't as dark because I ran out of brown sugar and had to use half granulated sugar, but they were still delicious. I wanted these to be chewy rather than crisp, but may have underbaked these a little too much because the centre was soft with an almost, but not quite raw dough quality to them. Another 30s-1 minute and these would have been perfect. Next time I'm baking these until they're crisp so I won't have to obsess over getting that perfect chewy texture. I'm surprised I had enough dough to form cookies because this has to be one of the yummiest cookie doughs ever (and I don't generally like cookie dough) 
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.
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.
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.
To be honest, I never thought I would like snickerdoodles. It seemed like just another sugar cookie with cinnamon sugar. And it is really a sugar cookie covered in cinnamon sugar, except that.. wow.. cinnamon and cream of tartar makes a huge difference. I'm guessing it's the cream of tartar that gives these a distinctive chew because my sugar cookies never end up with that kind of texture and the recipes are very similar. To be honest, these were a little bit on the cakey side and if I didn't flatten the cookies first, I probably would have ended up with snickerdoodle cake bites. I can't wait to try another recipe...maybe one with more butter (that should do the trick). Here's the recipe if you're interested.
Chewy Snickerdoodles
Cook's Illustrated
3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (optional)
10 tablespoons unsalted butter at cool room temperature
1 1/2 cups plus 3 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and adjust a rack to the center position. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, and optional nutmeg in a medium bowl. Set aside.
2. Beat the butter and one and one half cups sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until well incorporated, about 30 seconds. Add the dry ingredients and beat on the lowest speed until the moistened, increase to medium and beat 30 seconds.
3. Mix together in a small bowl the remaining three tablespoons sugar and ground cinnamon. Shape the dough into walnut sized balls (approximately two tablespoons each), dip in cinnamon sugar, and place on prepared cookie sheet three inches apart. (You can use a small ice cream scoop to portion out the cookies.) Bake one sheet at a time until the cookies are very lightly colored around the edges, the tops have cracked and the cookies have puffed and started to deflate, about 12 minutes. Cool on a rack. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.
Makes about 24 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
I've never made a crispy oatmeal cookie before. Actually, I think the WP cookies were my first non-chewy cookie. Since freezing cookie dough is the new thing, I prescooped and froze the cookies so they would be ready to bake. I knew I would be baking these soon so I wasn't worried about about freezer burn or dehydration. Normally I would wrap the dough tightly into a log and put it in a ziploc and then defrost and scoop. I reduced the butter by 4 tablespoons (from 14 to 10) because I read that these spread a lot for some people and I didn't want to have one large sheet of oatmeal cookie. Next time I'm going to use 12 tablespoons. I was debating whether or not to add chocolate in case no one would eat them because 'chewy' is always the overwhelming favourite, but I just stuck to the recipe.
Baking chilled dough works really well if you're looking for chewy and thicker cookies. I wasn't so sure it would be the same for thin and crisp cookies so I let my frozen dough come to room temperature. I also baked at 325 for 20 minutes because cookies always burn at 350 in my oven. These were really good for crispy cookies because they had crunch without that stale or hard/thick quality. The best part is biting into them and getting a nice flaky texture... it's almost like a suprise! If you're in the mood for a thin and crisp oatmeal cookie, these are the ones to make. The shatteryness makes these really special and it's crispy and crunchy without feeling like you're biting into a hockey puck.
In case you're like me and wonder how these taste the next day... They were still crunchy on the edges, but they lost some of their crispness. The center was a little stick to your teeth.. not sure if you would like that, but I find that texture interesting. Maybe if I baked them a little longer, they might have remained crunchy throughout. I guess I'm just used to baking chewy cookies all the time and worry about overbaking that it was almost hard to stop myself from pulling these out too early.
Thin and Crispy Oatmeal Cookies
Cook's Illustrated
Makes 24 cookies
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (5 ounces)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
14 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 3/4 sticks), softened but still cool, about 65 degrees (I used 10 tbsps, will try 12 next time)
1 cup granulated sugar (7 ounces)
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar (1 3/4 ounces)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 3 large (18- by 12-inch) baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl.
2. In standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and sugars at medium-low speed until just combined, about 20 seconds. Increase speed to medium and continue to beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute longer. Scrape down bowl with rubber spatula. Add egg and vanilla and beat on medium-low until fully incorporated, about 30 seconds. Scrape down bowl again. With mixer running at low speed, add flour mixture and mix until just incorporated and smooth, 10 seconds. With mixer still running on low, gradually add oats and mix until well incorporated, 20 seconds. Give dough final stir with rubber spatula to ensure that no flour pockets remain and ingredients are evenly distributed.
3. Divide dough into 24 equal portions, each about 2 tablespoons (or use #30 cookie scoop), then roll between palms into balls. Place cookies on prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 21/2 inches apart, 8 dough balls per sheet (see note above). Using fingertips, gently press each dough ball to 3/4-inch thickness.
4. Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies are deep golden brown, edges are crisp, and centers yield to slight pressure when pressed, 13 to 16 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack; cool cookies completely on sheet.
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!
I couldn't start off the first recipe of the year incomplete. Lately, school's been starting to get really busy so I didn't get a chance to shape the tuiles into pretty butterflies. Since I didn't want to go plain, I added sesame seeds seeds and spread the batter across the baking sheet. I think I may have spread the batter too thick, but they still ended up nice and crisp!
This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.
Don't forget to check out the DB's Blogroll!
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.
I never thought I would like a butter cookie, after all.. there's no brown sugar or chocolate. 6 cookies later, I realized that I've just never had a good butter cookie, one that is flaky and melt in your mouth. These were absolutely amazing!! I still can't believe I had 6, but I had to.. for 'testing purposes'. 1 extra minute in the oven can make a difference in texture or dryness so I baked at 10, 11 and 12 minutes to see if there would be any. Cookies straight out of the oven and completely cool also differ texturally. It's the texture of a completely cool cookie that actually matters, since cookies don't stay warm forever (if only!). So in the end, I had no choice but to eat 3 straight from the oven at 10, 11, 12 mins and 3 completely cool at each of those time points. 12 minutes was perfect in my oven because the edges were crisp, but at 10 minutes, there was a more melt in your mouth centre.
As enjoyable as these were in the moment, I suffered from major butter overload. After my little cookie splurge, I was craving broccoli and tomatoes! I can't help it, but everytime I try a new recipe I want to find the best possible version. I've had to force myself to accept that airbake pans are the best (although most people don't like them) because there are only so many test cookies I can eat! I find that they're better than jelly rolls because every single batch of cookies I bake on a jelly roll turns out dry with burnt bottoms yet a raw top, but it could be my particular jelly roll pan. Maybe it's time I get a Goldtouch one from William Sonoma. The Goldtouch pans are actually made by Chicago Metallic, which I love because cakes seems to bake up more evenly and leveled. If only it wasn't so difficult to find them and Amazon actually shipped to Canada.
I don't think I would've tried these if it wasn't for the piping part. Piping out cookie dough makes me feel all professional.. haha. It was a lot harder to squeeze the dough out of the bag than I anticipated. I better not wake up with arm pains tomorrow! I think it's time to add a cookie press to the baking gadget collection. I'm making these again tomorrow for Christmas in the almond variation, but other than that I still haven't decided what else to bake yet.. there are just way too many yummy desserts!
Spritz Cookies
Cook's Illustrated
Makes about 6 dozen 1 1/2-inch cookies
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened (about 70 degrees)
2/3 cup sugar (about 4-3/4 ounces)
1/4 teaspoon table salt
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces)
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 375 degrees. In small bowl, beat yolk, cream, and vanilla with fork until combined; set aside.
2. In standing mixer, cream butter, sugar, and salt at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Scrape down bowl with rubber spatula. With mixer running at medium speed, add yolk/cream mixture and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Scrape down bowl. With mixer running at low speed, gradually beat in flour until combined. Scrape down bowl and give final stir with rubber spatula to ensure that no flour pockets remain.
3. If using cookie press to form cookies, follow manufacturer's instructions to fill press; if using pastry bag, follow illustrations 1 through 3 below to fill bag. Press or pipe cookies onto ungreased baking sheets, spacing them about 1-1/2 inches apart. Bake one sheet at a time until cookies are light golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking time. Cool cookies on baking sheet until just warm, 10 to 15 minutes; using metal spatula, transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature.
almond variation: Grind 1/2 cup sliced almonds and 2 tablespoons flour called for in the spritz recipe until powdery and evenly fine; combine almond mixture with remaining flour. Follow recipe for spritz, substituting 3/4 teaspoon almond extract for vanilla.
lemon variation: add 1 teaspoon lemon juice to yolk/cream mixture in step 1 and add 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest to butter along with sugar and salt in step 2.
Exams are over!! This cookie dough has been sitting in my fridge for a long, long time.. well not really, but I wasn't expecting it would take me 3 weeks to finally bake it. I didn't think to wrap it tightly and put it in a ziplock bag so there was the slightest bit of freezer burn.. ick. Freezer burn or not, sugar cookies are still not my favourite. I think it's because they're kind of tasteless. I'd rather save the calories for a really good CCC! The truth is, the only sugar cookies I like are the ready to bake Pillsbury Easter and Christmas cookies. It kinda hurts me to say I love frozen cookie dough over homemade, but the texture is so addicting!
Thanks to Ulrike of Ulrike 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!
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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!
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.
My first TWD since coming back and boy, was I excited it didn't involve pastry crust or fruit! Fun and all, pastry dough can be a little annoying to make when the food processor has to be lugged out and cleaned. I didn't have granola or peanuts so I subbed old fashioned oatmeal and pecans instead. Compared to what I'm usually make, this was one loaded cookie with nuts, raisins, cocunt and wheat germ. When it comes to add-ins I'm definitely not the 'adventurous' type... I've never even mixed nuts and chocolate together. Anyway, that's why I love TWD because I get to try things I would've never done on my own. Overall, it was a good cookie, but not something I would go crazy over. It could have been my fault for using regular oats and ending up with an oaty cookie rather than one with actual oat chunks. This may be my shortest post, but the olympics are on... Go Canada! Thanks to Michelle of Bad Girl Baking for choosing this recipe, which can be found on her site and in Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From my Home to Yours. Don't forget to checkout the TWD Blogroll!
