Classics: Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have to be honest here.

Part of me chastised myself for a moment for even considering posting what has become known as my signature chocolate chip cookies, often complimented among my circle of friends as the best they've ever had (which is the best compliment you can give, in my opinion).

But then I thought - this recipe is not all that different from most chocolate chip cookie recipes out there. There's nothing secret or earth shattering about the ingredient list. There is, however, the inclusion one step that is usually neglected by impatient cooks and PMSing women who must have chocolate rightnow.

You must let the dough refrigerate for quite some time before you bake the cookies. A good 24 hours in the fridge or overnight in the freezer changes the texture of the final product. I'm terrible at explaining it, but somehow the cookie tastes less...something. Raw, perhaps. Or young. Like a baby cookie. Refrigerating the dough matures the flavors and texture noticeably.

But what about when you NEED A COOKIE RIGHTNOW? It's not going to help you immediately, but if you can wait for the first 24 hours, I've successfully frozen bags of the dough for weeks. Perfect for when the craving hits. And as evidenced above, baking it right away isn't necessarily bad, it's just not the same.

You will need:

2 sticks softened butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tbs pure vanilla
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt (I prefer kosher)
1 teaspoon baking soda
10 oz bag chocolate chips

Combine butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl. With the paddle attachment of your mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add one egg and beat until combined. Add second egg and vanilla; beat until combined.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking soda. While the mixer is on low, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in thirds, combining after each addition. If you like your chocolate chips intact, mix them in with a wooden spoon. To break them up a bit, add to the mixer bowl and combine with your paddle attachment.

Transfer dough into a gallon ziplock bag and refrigerate for at least 24 hours, or freeze for at least 8 hours.

To bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scoop spoonfuls of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. Do not overbake - it is better to remove them from the oven while slightly undercooked and let them stand on the cookie sheet for a few minutes than to overbake in the oven.

Alternative: spread dough into an 11x17 baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes (watch it!) to make cookie bars. Cool completely and turn dish onto a cutting board or platter. Cut into squares.

One Giant Cookie

Even though this is just one cookie, this is so not a cookie for one. Jenny over at Picky Palate would like you to think it's a cookie for one. It's a cookie for four or five, Jenny.

You can easily turn this one cookie into four individual servings by simply splitting up the dough as you would with any other cookie recipe. Either way, it's freaking amazing and you should really give it a shot, and not just for the novelty of pulling one giant cookie out of the oven.

You will need:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons beaten egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup Reese's Pieces or M&Ms

Note: how do you measure out  two tablespoons of egg? Simply beat the egg in a bowl, then measure out two tablespoons and discard the rest. Couldn't be easier!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl whisk the butter and sugars by hand until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, mixing until well combined. Stir in peanut butter with a wooden spoon, then add flour, baking soda and salt.

Mix until not quite combined, then add the Reeses Pieces or M&Ms, then mix until combined.

Scoop one giant cookie (I used an ice cream scoop) or 4 large indiviudal cookies onto a baking sheet and bake for 18-20 minutes for the large cookie, or 8-10 minutes for the individual cookies, until cooked through. Let cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes then transfer to cooling rack.

Spicy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Man, has it been dull around here lately.

Not that there hasn't been plenty to do - birthday parties, Predators games, lunch dates and deadlines continue to punctuate everyday life - but dinner? It's not been much to write about. In fact, it's been downright sad.

For the last week and a half, Josh has been on a fruit and vegetable detox which allows minimal protein and no sugar (I say Josh has been on the detox, but I have been too - only I lasted 6 days and he's still trucking along). The cravings for so many bad things I never typically want were overwhelming and I had to get back to my normal way of eating. So here we are out of the gate with good, old fashioned chocolate chip cookies - only these cookies aren't as classic as they appear. Along with chocolate chips, they are studded with chopped sweet and spicy pecans from Trader Joe's and kicked up by cayenne and cinnamon in the batter.

The detox helped me lose 5 pounds, but these cookies helped me to feel normal again.

You will need:
 
2 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup white sugar
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup Trader Joe's sweet and spicy pecans, coarsely chopped

Melt butter, waching closely, until it begins to brown. Do not allow to burn! Add to mixing bowl. In another bowl combine flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and cayenne.

Add sugars to mixing bowl with butter. Cream butter and sugar on medium speed. While mixing on medium speed, add eggs, milk, and vanilla. Slowly add in flour until well incorporated.

Stir in chocolate chips and pecans with a wooden spoon.

Chill dough for at least 24 hours, up to 36 (trust me on this one).

The next day, preheat oven to 375° F. Grease your cookie sheets or line them with parchment paper. Place cookies about an inch apart on baking sheets, and bake each sheet 8-12 minutes or until golden and puffy.

Adapted from Alton Brown's "The Chewy."

Mexican Wedding Cookies

When I was young, and (I'm ashamed to admit this), up until about 3 years ago, I was convinced that these cookies were my mother's. By that I mean her recipe that she was brilliant enough to dream up. I guess my mind as a child associated the "Mexican" in the title with my mom's Spanish (as in, from Spain) heritage...which shouldn't have made much sense 3 years ago anyway.

Imagine my surprise as I perused the grocery store (3 years ago) and came upon a pink Keebler box entitled "Danish Wedding Cookies," complete with a picture of powdered-sugar coated balls.

Could these...

Were these...

Were the Mexican Wedding Cookies that had always been a staple during Christmases of my childhood not been an example of my mom's brillance at work?

Apparently not, I soon confirmed with a quick Google search. The exact same cookies are not only known as Mexican Wedding Cookies, but also as the Keebler box suggested, as well as Russian Tea Cakes and, not so subtly, Pecan Snowballs.

Regardless of what you call them or what culture you associate them with, these cookies are often the only one of their kind on holiday potluck tables. They bake up much like shortbread, buttery and crumbly, and after a quick roll through powdered sugar, are irresistible at best and dangerous at worst. You may find you need to double the recipe (this one yields about 36).

You will need:

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cups powdered sugar, plus 1 cup for dusting
1 tbs vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup - 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Knead all ingredients except pecans together until a ball forms, but do not overmix or the cookies will be tough. Knead in pecans.

Wrap the ball of dough in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until chilled enough to handle (about an hour). Form dough into balls, and bake 12-16 minutes until the balls are golden brown.

Allow to cool. Put the rest of the sugar in a large bowl. When the cookies are cool to the touch, place 2-3 at a time into the bowl, and shake to coat with sugar. Once all the cookies are coated once, sift the remaining sugar over the cookies to give a second coating.

September Daring Baker's Challenge: Decorated Sugar Cookies

The challenge this month was to not only bake and decorate sugar cookies, but to settle on a theme that represents September to the baker. Easy: my birthday is on the 26th of September, and I for some reason already had a birthday cake cookie cutter.

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.

For me, the only challenge this assignment posed was figuring out a better way to mix and pipe royal icing. I have used it in the past with success; however the process was always a little tricky. While workable, my icing was always very runny, which made outlining difficult since the icing would dribble out of the bag before I even started squeezing. I always forged ahead without outlining, which definitely makes for a messier-looking cookie. Nevertheless, I made piped cookies for Christmas (be kind - these snowmen were my first ever experience with both royal icing and piping bags):

And, if you may remember, I turned tiny heart cookies into strawberries for Andrea's birthday cake:

But back to my runny icing. Some why-didn't-I-think-of-that fixes: start with thicker icing, and use gel food coloring instead of liquid so the consistency of the icing doesn’t change. Another great tip I picked up for ease in filling a piping bag: stuff the bag with the tip into a tall glass, then fold the open end of the bag down over the glass…the icing stays contained and you don’t have to try to balance a bag in one hand while filling it with the other.

To add a bit of depth to the plain sugar cookie, I added lemon zest and lemon extract to both the dough and the icing. It wasn’t a very strong flavor, but what did come through was pleasant enough.  I also happen to dislike royal icing (I much prefer buttercream), so I only ate half a cookie, because I figured I should.

Happy birthday to me!

Original post and recipe here.

Oatmeal-Raisin-Chocolate-Chip Cookies

Before baking these, I had eaten precisely one oatmeal cookie in my entire 26 years. That statement alone probably sums it up - the cookie to blame for such an opinion was consumed years ago, given to me by my piano teacher. It was crumbly, improperly sweetened, studded with parched raisins and reeked of cinnamon (perhaps this is the origin of my cinnamon aversion as well). I promptly wrote them off as repulsive non-cookies I would never go near again, and never accepted another baked good from her - having later learned that she baked everything with whole wheat flour and used carob instead of chocolate. I am of the opinion that dessert should just be dessert...if you're going to do it, don't health it up.

As Josh and I were daydreaming about the impending shipment of the oven control board last month, his eyes lit up with the spark that accompanies a sudden great idea. “Hey, here’s an idea,” he said. “let's make some oatmeal-raisin cookies. Could you do that?”

I sneered. I certainly could make them, though I would have zero interest in eating them. But, maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing to quell my next baking impulse with cookies I wouldn’t want to shove in my face straight out of the oven.

I searched Smitten Kitchen (always a reliable source) for oatmeal cookies, and came across one recipe that I figured Josh would probably enjoy. Deb claimed the cookies were chewy and thick if you refrigerate them for a while after the dough comes together, which I'd never considered before. For my own twist on the recipe, I supplemented about half the amount of raisins in the recipe with chocolate chips.

I've seen the light.

One taste of the cookie dough later, and I can now call myself an oatmeal-raisin cookie convert. I’m smart enough to know that 1) the cookie I ate as an 8 year old was just poorly done, no two ways about it, and 2) tastes change as we age. The majority of foods I turned up my nose at as a teenager are now among my favorites (hello green beans).

So much for my cookie kryptonite…I ate two.

You will need:

½ cup (one stick) butter, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla
¾ cup flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
1 ½ cups oats (not quick oats)
Scant ½ cup raisins
Scant ½ cup chocolate chips

In a mixing bowl with an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and beat to combine. Beat in dry ingredients until combined. Stir in oats, raisins and chocolate chips.

Refrigerate for at least 10 minutes, then roll tablespoon-sized balls and drop onto a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.