Cook's Illustrated Chocolate Chip Cookies

I finally got around to doing some more baking this past weekend. I have been so busy lately that I've really only been cooking and eating the bare necessities (you know, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and some snacks in between ;)). Last week we went to visit some close friends who recently had their first baby (yay!!). We brought them dinner and enjoyed a great evening with them and their new little one. :) That evening, my friend Mary told me about this great new chocolate chip cookie recipe she had recently tried and loved from Cook's Illustrated. And naturally I just had to make it! So part of this past Saturday afternoon I spent making these delicious gems:

To get this recipe, you actually need to become a member of Cook's Illustrated online (you do have to pay for it, but they allow you a 14-day free trial first). So, to save you the trouble of signing up, I've shared the recipe with you below. They do give you some more information online about what makes this recipe different, and according to them, it's an improved version from Nestle Toll House's recipe. I'll share more about those points later on...

Ingredients:

-1 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-14 Tbsp. unsalted butter (1 and 3/4 sticks)

-1/2 cup granulated sugar

-3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar*

-1 tsp. salt

-2 tsp. vanilla 

-1 large egg

-1 large egg yolk

-1 and 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks

-3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted (optional)

*You can use light brown sugar (which I did). Cook's Illustrated says the cookies will be "less full-flavored" if you do though.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

Heat 10 tablespoons of the butter in skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has a nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and, using a heatproof spatula, transfer browned butter to a large heatproof bowl. Stir in remaining 4 tablespoons of butter until it is completely melted.

Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Add the egg and yolk, and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining (about 30 seconds). Let the mixture stand for 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds more. Repeat the process of resting and whisking 2 more times until the mixture is thick, smooth, and shiny. Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in the flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if using), giving dough a final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.

Divide dough into 16 portions, each about 3 tablespoons. Arrange 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake cookies one sheet at a time until cookies are light golden brown and still puffy, and the edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, about 10 to 14 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely.

Some points for you (according to Cook's Illustrated website) about why this is a new and improved classic...

More brown than white sugar in this recipe makes for a chewier cookie than the Toll House recipe, which calls for equal amounts brown and white sugar.

Melted, brown butter in this recipe adds to the cookie's chewiness and enhances the flavor, making it more nutty, as opposed to creamed solid butter.

The Toll House recipe calls for two eggs, which contributes to a drier cookie texture; using one whole egg and one yolk in this recipe increases chewiness.

The method of whisking and waiting in this recipe allows more of the sugar to dissolve, which increases flavor and texture when compared to beating the dough and baking it immediately after beating.

Finally, creating larger cookies (3 tablespoons of dough per cookie!!) increases the contrast of the chewy and crispy characteristics of the cookie, whereas smaller cookies are more uniform in texture.

I do agree that these cookies were full of flavor and had a great crisp-chewy contrast in their texture. I was very pleased with them! If you're looking for a new recipe and method of making your traditional chocolate chip cookies, I'd definitely recommend that you give these a shot. The recipe doesn't make a lot of cookies (I got about 18 although the recipe says it makes 16), but that's probably a good thing. The more cookies you have lying around, the more likely you'll probably be to eat them... ;)

Also over the weekend, I made White Russian cupcakes (whaaaat?). For these cupcakes, I made a kahlua frosting, and low and behold, I just happened to have some leftover frosting. So what did I do with it? Why naturally I spread some frosting on a cookie and topped it with another cookie to make a sandwich!

A chocolate chip sandwich cookie with a kahlua filling to be exact!

This was soooo good.

If you're looking to change up your chocolate chip cookie routine, try this Cook's Illustrated version! And if you happen to have some leftover kahlua frosting hanging around, make them into sandwich cookies... :)

Chocolate Chunk Toffee Bars

Last Tuesday night I panicked. At the last minute, I remembered that I had committed to baking some kind of homemade treat for an occasion the next day, but I had completely forgotten about it! Oops. Luckily, the occasion didn't require anything fancy. If it had, I definitely think I would have been less likely to forget. Thankfully I remembered my obligation to make something, and thankfully it only took about 30 seconds for me to decide what to make. My chocolate chip graham cracker blondies are one of the simplest and fasted desserts to make, and the ingredients are ones that I always have on hand. So, I got to work making them! This time around though, I changed the recipe slightly (which is so easy to do and a great feature of this recipe!) to add chocolate chunks and toffee bits instead of the original chocolate chips and crushed graham crackers that I added when I first made these. Below are the ingredients I used this time around. Feel free to add different mix-ins to match your own personal preference!

Ingredients:

-2 sticks (16 Tbsp.) butter, melted

-2 cups brown sugar (I used light brown sugar)

-2 large eggs

-2 tsp. vanilla

-pinch salt

-2 cups all-purpose flour

-1/2 tsp. baking powder

-1 and 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chunks

-1 cup Heath English toffee bits

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and butter or spray a 13 x 9 pan. Mix the melted butter with brown sugar, and beat until smooth. Beat in eggs and then vanilla. Add the salt, and stir in the flour and baking powder. Mix in your additions (chocolate chunks, toffee bits). Pour into your prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes, or until the middle is set and a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely before cutting.

Now these first few pictures I took basically as soon as the bars were just cool enough to remove from the pan. So you can definitely tell how warm, ooey and gooey (i.e., slightly undercooked!!) these are. It's my own preference to undercook them a bit, but you can cook them a couple minutes longer if you'd like. The pictures toward the bottom (when the blondies are on the pink plate) are the next day. The gooey-ness goes away slightly, but they're still very soft and yummy. :)

Mmmmmm...

The next time you need a dessert in a hurry, I hightly recommend you keep these in mind. ;) As I mentioned, they are incredibly easy and are made with normal ingredients that most of us have in our kitchens at any time!

Trail Mix Cookies

If you read my last post, you know that I recently made some homemade trail mix. Yummm! I've been enjoying it as a snack these last few days. This weekend I needed to make a dessert to bring and enjoy with friends while we watched the Super Bowl. That's when I remembered that my friend Jeanne from Adirondack Baker recently made trail mix cookies. Voila! I decided I'd make some too. 

Jeanne's recipe calls for trail mix, as well as coconut and almonds. I chose not to add the coconut and almonds to my cookies, but you definitely can. That's the beauty of this recipe. The extra ingredients you can add are totally flexible! I also cut the original recipe in half here. So the proportions below are what I used when I made these. This recipe made 20 cookies for me that were about 2.5 to 3 inches in diameter.

Ingredients:

-1 stick butter, melted

-2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

-1 tsp. vanilla extract

-1 egg

-1 and 1/8 cups all-purpose flour

-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-1/2 tsp. salt

-3/4 cup trail mix*

-1/3 cup mini pretzels, crushed

-1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

*I used my own homemade trail mix that was my previous recipe on the blog, but you can use any homemade or store bought mix that you like. Also of note, with mine, I removed the pretzels from the mix and crushed them separately before adding them to the cookie dough. The trail mix itself had whole mini pretzels in it, and I didn't want pretzels of that size in the cookies. :) You can go back to my trail mix post to get other ideas for ingredients you can add to your own trail mix and/or to these cookies!

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Melt butter and pour into a large bowl. Stir in brown sugar and vanilla. Mix completely and let cool for 15 minutes (you add the egg next and don't want to cook the egg!). To the cooled mixture, add the egg and mix well. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the sugar mixture, a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the trail mix and chocolate chips until everything's well combined.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets, and bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until edges are very lightly browned (I baked mine slightly longer than I wanted to, but they still turned out great).

I love the texture of these cookies. Although I cooked them a little longer than I intended, they were still very chewy with only the slightest crisp on the outer edges. Perfection!

Thanks to the Adirondack Baker for such a delicious, unique cookie recipe!

:)

Oatmeal Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love baking cookies. In fact, I think cookies might be my favorite type of dessert to make. Second favorite? Probably cupcakes. Give me either a cookie or a cupcake (or maybe both? :)), and I'm a

happy gal. 

Not sure if you read it or not, but in the Q & A on the Whole Foods blog earlier this week after I won the pecan recipe contest, I was asked the question: "Is there one ingredient you can't live without?" My answer? "Chocolate chips! If you need a dessert in a pinch, you'll have options so long as you have baking staples and chocolate chips on hand." This recipe of oatmeal butterscotch chocolate chip cookies is a perfect example of that.

Ingredients:

-6 oz. unsalted butter, melted

-1 cup packed light brown sugar

-1/2 cup sugar

-2 large eggs

-2 tsp. vanilla

-2 cups all-purpose flour

-1/2 tsp. salt

-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-3/4 cup quick or regular oats

-approx. 3/4 cup - 1 cup butterscotch chips

-approx. 3/4 cup - 1 cup chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate in this recipe but use your favorite or whatever you have on hand!)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in microwave and allow it to cool slightly. Using a whisk, combine the butters and both sugars together in a large bowl. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Add the flour mixture to the sugar and egg mixture and fold until just combined. Fold in the oats, butterscotch chips, and chocolate chips.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop dough by tablespoonful on baking sheet, placing about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 - 14 minutes. When the edges are slightly brown, remove from oven. Allow the cookies to cool for a couple minutes before removing to cool completely on rack. Makes about 30 cookies.

Hi Mr. Snowman! :)

If you read the recipe closely, you may have recognized that this is the same base recipe as my "award-winning" (it's just fun to say that!) pecan, cranberry, cinnamon chip cookies. I just changed the mix-ins; that's all! Just shows how you can be creative in baking yet still keep things very simple.

I highly recommend these cookies with a nice tall glass of milk or a mug of delicious hot chocolate. Now that's the stuff. ;)

P.S. If you're an email subscriber, I had some technical trouble earlier in the week with the two posts I published on Monday for my baked potato soup and my announcement that I won the Whole Foods recipe contest. Sorry if you missed getting those emails! Please be sure to check them out still!

Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies

I have a new favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. This one! I've been meaning to try this particular recipe for a while now, and I am thankful I finally did. These cookies turned out to be just what I look for in a cookie...soft and chewy yet just very slightly crispy on the outer edge (very slightly). And they were super easy to make too! That's always a bonus.

This recipe is from a fun cookbook my sister gave me a while ago - Gourmet Meals in Crappy Little Kitchens.

Now I wouldn't say that I have a crappy kitchen, nor do I have a little one, but the recipes in this book are right up my alley. They're generally on the easy side, yet they're delicious and unique. A few examples of other recipes include crabtastic avocado cakes, grilled cheese sandwich soup, daylight come and me want pork stew, the mean green frittata, butternutty squash bread pudding, fig and lavender honey yogurt pie, and mexican chocolate soup. Interesting, right? Many of the names of her recipes are hilarious actually (there are probably at least 100 recipes in the book). This cookie recipe is probably one of the more traditional recipes in the book. Some recipes do require ingredients that the average, everyday cook like me might not have on hand on a daily basis. But none of them really require totally off-the-wall ingredients that are hard to find either. There. That was my short and simple review of this cookbook! Now I'll finally get to the point - the cookie recipe!!

Ingredients:

-6 oz. unsalted butter, melted

-1 cup packed light brown sugar

-1/2 cup sugar

-1 whole egg plus one yolk

-2 tsp. vanilla extract

-2 cups plus 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

-1/2 tsp. salt

-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips (or flavor of your choice)

-1 cup pecan pieces (toasted, if desired)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Melt the butter in the microwave but allow it to cool down a bit to keep it from melting the chocolate prematurely. Using your whisk, combine the butter and sugars together in a large bowl. Whisk in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Add this flour mixture to the butter and egg mixture and fold until just combined. Fold in the chocolate and pecan pieces. Be careful not to overmix.

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Drop cookie dough by the spoonful (whatever size you desire; the cookbook said use a 1/4 cup measure, but mine were tablespoon-sized) on cookie sheet, placing at least 2 inches apart. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes. When the edges are just lightly golden brown, remove from oven. Allow the cookies to cool on the sheet for a couple minutes before removing to cooling rack. Once fully cooled, the cookies can be stored in an airtight container.

A couple other points to note... I actually used milk chocolate chips, not bittersweet, simply because that's what I had on hand when I made this recipe (and I didn't plan ahead and buy bittersweet ahead of time; I made these cookies kind of last minute...). Also, initially, the cookie dough was a tad dry, in my opinion. The recipe calls for 1 egg and 1 yolk. I was wondering if it might be okay to add 2 whole eggs? Perhaps that would make the dough less dry. What I ended up doing was adding a couple tablespoons of milk to the dough before forming it into balls to put on the cookie sheets. Perhaps you'll have better luck with the recipe as is if you try it. If you have a similar experience to me though, maybe try adding two full eggs or a teeny bit of milk like I did. It worked like a charm! The cookies likely would have turned out just as well if I hadn't added the milk, but it seemed necessary to me at the time.

As I look at these pictures, I'm thinking that I might need to make another batch of these cookies ASAP! My mouth is starting to water...

:)

Talk to ya again soon!