Chocolate-ginger combination

Chocolate and ginger are good together.  Add a little molasses and you really can't go wrong.  You can get a really nice browned cookie that stays a little chewy thanks to the molasses.  This is a really easy cookie that'll make the house smell great.

Chocolate Chip Ginger Spice Cookies
Recipe from Pastry Affair

Ingredients:

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick or 113 grams) butter at room temp
• 2/3 cup (130 grams) dark brown sugar, packed 
• 1/3 cup (75 grams) granulated sugar 
• 1 large egg 
• 2 tablespoons dark molasses 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1 1/2 cups (188 grams) all-purpose flour 
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 6 ounces (about 1 cup) chocolate chips

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 and line 3 baking sheets with tin foil.  Beat the butter and the sugars in the bowl of your stand mixer for a few minutes, until light and fluffy.  While the mixer is going, in a small bowl dry mix flour, ginger, b powder, b soda, and salt, set aside.  Once the butter and the sugars are fluffy, add the egg, molasses, and vanilla and mix to combine.  Add the reserved flour mixture and beat on low to combine.  Add the chocolate chips and beat once more, until they are distributed.  Drop walnut-sized balls of dough onto baking sheets about 2 inches apart, if you want larger cookies, double the size of the ball but leave more space between cookies for spreading.  Bake small cookies for about 12 minutes, larger cookies add a few more minutes, checking in between until they get golden brown and set to the touch.  Allow time to cool on the cookie sheet so the cookies can firm up before picking them up.

A classic cookie

I like a good old fashioned cookie recipe.  Simple and classic.  All the ingredients are on hand.  How can you lose?

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup whole-wheat flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened but still cool
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1½ cups semisweet chocolate chips

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 and put foil on at least 3 baking sheets.  In a small bowl, mix flour, b powder, and salt.  In the bowl of a stand mixer cream the butter and sugars.  Add eggs one at a time and mix.  Add vanilla and mix.  Add the flour in two additions with the mixer off, then turn it on and watch out for flour spray.  When flour is combined add the oats and chocolate chips and mix to combine.  Spoon walnut-sized balls of dough onto the baking sheet leaving at least 1½ inches between cookies.  Bake for 12 minutes and then check them, if you like a chewier cookie you can take them out, if you like a browner crunchier cookie you can leave them in for 3 minutes and check them again until they are your desired shade of brown.  I like mine pretty brown.

Dump a lot of stuff in a cookie

Sometimes I put too much stuff in a cookie.  And sometimes it works out.  I bought some spelt flour on sale at Whole Foods the other day, not really sure why, just thought it would be nice to try.  And for some reason I thought it was gluten-free, not so though, spelt is a breed of wheat so that was a bust, but it has less calories that regular flour and more protein content, so it is a good flour to mix into a recipe.

Compost Cookies
Recipe adapted from Half Baked Harvest

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cup quick oats
• 1 cup white flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup spelt flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup canola oil (use a little more if batter is too dry, or if adding extra chocolate chips or nuts)
• 3 eggs
• zest of 1 orange
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 handfuls craisins

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 and line 3 baking sheets with foil.  Mix oats, flours, b soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.  In a larger bowl mix sugars, oil, eggs, orange zest, and vanilla in another bowl.  Combine the wet and dry in the large bowl and mix, you may have to do this with your hands.  Add more oil if the batter is too dry, it is supposed to be stiff though.  Now add your chocolate, nuts, and crasins.  Don't worry if all of the chips and nuts don't stick in the batter, you can eat what is left in the bowl when you are finished forming the cookies.  Grab big balls of dough with clean hands and roll into a ball, then drop onto baking sheet and press down with your hand to flatten a bit.  You can also take what chips are left in the bowl and press them on top of the cookies once they are formed on the sheet.  This is messy and the cookies will seem like they are not going to stay together but once they bake and set and cool they will be sturdy.  Bake for about 13 to 15 minutes until deep golden in color, then LET THEM SET on the sheet once out of the oven for at least 10 mins, they need to cool on the sheet or they will fall apart, enjoy!!

It's a cold day... let's make some cookies

Chilly outside, but warm and smelling like baking inside.  Fall is here isn't it?  It sure felt like it today.  Shivering all day at work, but came home to a nice warm fire and a bag of chocolate chips.

Chocolate Chip Walnut and Butterscotch Coffee Cookies
Recipe adapted from A Zesty Bite

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks salted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 lg eggs
• 2 Tbsp plus 1 tsp brewed coffee
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp instant ground espresso
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup butterscotch chips 
• 1 cup crushed walnuts

Method:

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix b soda, flour, salt, espresso, and cinnamon in a small bowl.  Beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy in electric mixer.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Add coffee.  Add dry mixture.  Add chips and walnuts.  Divide cookies between 4 baking sheets and bake for about 14 minutes, until golden brown.  

Illustration credit:  favim.com

Wedding cookies?

I was calling these wedding cookies but apparently they are called "will you marry me cookies" because they are so good that someone will fall in love with you if you bake them. So obviously I made them for my mom.

Will You Marry Me Cookies
(Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Oat Cookies)
Recipe adapted from The Cooking Channel

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup uncooked rolled oats
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup dark  chocolate chips
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Method:

In a small saucepan melt butter, remove from the heat and add the sugars.  Let the pan cool for 10 mins add egg yolks and vanilla and whisk to combine.  In a separate bowl Mix all of the dry ingredients, pour the butter mixture to the dry and combine.  (Can be done in a mixer).  Add the chocolate chips and combine.  Chill the mixture for about 30 minutes and then place walnut-sized balls of dough onto prepared cookie sheets and bake in 325 degree oven 12 to 14 minutes or until golden brown.  

About time I made some cookies

It's been a little while since I got the Kitchen Aid going so I made some chocolate chip cookies last night.  I found a simple recipe and then rolled the dough in coconut and sea salt before putting it on the cookie tray.

Coconut Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe adapted from Verses From My Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• pinch of coarse salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
• sea salt

Method:

Mix together the brown sugar, sugar and butter in Kitchen Aid. Add the eggs, mixing until incorporated. Add in the vanilla and continue to mix. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt and add into the mixture. Pour in the chocolate chips and fold until well distributed.
Drop tablespoon-sized balls of the mixture onto a parchment paper-lined sheet that you have rolled in coconut and sprinkled on top with a little sea salt.
Place the sheet into a pre-heated 325°F oven and bake for approximately 15 minutes, or until the bottom is slightly browned.

Nora's baking too!

My sister Nora sent me this recipe and a picture of the cake that she made for her friend's birthday.  Nora likes very complex desserts, like when she made the tye-dye cake or this cake which has cookie dough baked in the middle!  The recipe calls for cupcakes but Nora just made it as a cake instead.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cake
Adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients:

(for the cookie center)

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

(for the cake)

• 1 (18.25 ounce) box chocolate cake mix
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 3 eggs

Method:

Make the cookie batter

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and sea salt; set aside. Beat the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Add 1 egg and the vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips; mixing just enough to evenly combine. Form the dough into tablespoon-sized balls; place onto a baking sheet, and freeze until solid, about 2 hours.

Make the cake batter
Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans, set aside.
Beat 3 eggs in a large bowl with an electric mixer to break up. Add the cake mix, water, and canola oil; continue beating for 2 minutes on medium speed. Pour batter into prepared cake pans. Place some frozen cookie dough balls on the top center of each cake.  Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the cake portion of the cake (not the cookie dough ball) comes out clean, about 30-35minutes (check cake box for cooking time). Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

Assembly

Using your favorite fudgey choclate icing (home-made or store bought) frost the top of one cake layer and then place the second cake layer on top, then frost the top of the second layer and the sides.  Decorate with peanut butter chips, like Nora did, and write your happy b-day message on top.

Mocha Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yes it is so hot outside that Philly public schools are getting out early and what am I doing besides online job-hunting? Heating my oven to a cool 350 degrees. That's just how I roll- sweaty and smelling like cinnamon.

This recipe comes from Annie's Eats.

Ingredients:

3½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. sea salt
2 tbsp. instant coffee

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tbsp. vanilla extract

1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup shredded coconut



Method:

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix all dry ingredients in bowl and set aside.
Cream room temp butter and sugars in mixer until light and fluffy.
Add eggs one at a time and mix in between.
Add vanilla and mix.
Add flour to mixer in a few additions and beat just til combined.
Add chocolate chips and coconut and mix just til combined.
Spread tablespoon-sized balls of batter onto 4 cookie sheets and bake for 14 to 16 minutes until brown on the edges.

Chocolate Chip Anzac Biscuits

Have you ever heard of Anzac Biscuits? I started seeing recipes for them on taste spotting a few months ago and I loved their golden color. As usual I was sold by the awesome cookie photos. Apparently they are an Australian cookie that used to be made very thick and hardy and they kept well, for this reason soldiers took them to eat during war time.

This recipe comes from Whisks and Whimsy. The only changes that I made were to use honey instead of golden syrup and I added chocolate chips. I baked my cookies in a little longer to get the desired brown-ness, they really can't get over cooked because they're supposed to be really crispy.

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup desiccated coconut or unsweetened finely shredded coconut
1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon honey

2 tablespoons boiling water
1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup chocolate chips

Method:

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix flour, oats, coconut, and salt in bowl and set aside.
Mix boiled water and b soda in small bowl and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter and sugar.
Add honey and mix to combine.
Add b soda/water mixture to bowl and mix just til combined.
Add dry ingredients and mix til combined.
Add chocolate chips and mix in.

Drop tablespoon sized balls on cookie sheet, I pushed mine down to be little discs, they don't have to be really far apart because the cookies don't spread as much as regular chocolate chip ones do.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until cookies have achieved desired brown-ness. I let mine get pretty good and brown.
Let them cool on the sheet, they are really soft when you pull them out of the oven, but they harden on the sheet so don't start picking at them until the coconut really hardens up- about 15 mins.

Ice Cream Sandwich a la Elias Grim

This is what happens when Elias and Jenn come over for dinner and we have ice cream and these whole wheat chocolate chip walnut cookies on the table. Elias- dessert slut that he is- made this beautiful sandwich with softened vanilla ice cream and proclaimed it to be delicious. Good thing Nan and I softened the ice cream for him in the sun on the walk home from Pathmark.

Enjoy Li Li!!

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

Today I bring you one of my favorite Night Kitchen (my mom's bakery) faves. Actually I think that this was my favorite cookie that they made. What sets this whole wheat cookie apart is definitely the powdered milk. It gives it a distinctive flavor that you can't really describe. But it brings back memories....

Ingredients:

1 stick margarine
i stick butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp b soda
1/3 cup powdered milk
2 1/5 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup walnuts
2 cups chocolate chips

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350
Beat the butter and marg with the brown sug and add the vanilla. Then add the eggs and beat again. In a separate small bowl combine all the dry ingredients. Add the dry to the butter and beat until combined. Add the walnuts and chocolate and beat again. These guys should fit on two baking sheets covered with foil and bake about 12 to 15 minutes depending on how hard or soft you like. Honestly these guys can stay in for a while it's hard to overcook them. We actually like them a little on the burnt side.

And while I was making the cookies these guys were taking a nap...

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Coconut Oat Cookies

I knew I was going to see my friend Maya tonight so I searched gluten-free cookie recipes on food gawker (basically just like taste spotting) and came up with a few interesting returns. I liked the looks of this recipe because it uses generic gluten-free flour (which I buy in bulk from the Co-op) and oat flour which I can make in the food processor. However it calls for Xantham Gum and Gwar Gum but I read that you can just sub ground flax seed so I did. I added the chocolate chips to make this the best gluten-free cookie that I have made to date.

1 cup all purpose gluten free flour (like Bob’s Red Mill Brand)
1 cup oat flour
1/2 cup shredded coconut
3/4 tsp ground flax seed
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup oats
1 cup chocolate chips

1. Measure out the flours, coconut, flax seed, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices into a bowl and whisk to incorporate.
2. In a separate bowl cream the butter with the sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
3. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet, then stir in the oats and chocolate.
4. Scoop 2 tbsp-sized balls using a spoon, form into balls, flatten slightly and place on a cookie sheet.
5. Bake at 350°F for 15-18 minutes. You may need to slightly flatten out the cookies before baking to avoid weird shapes because the oat flour is so dense that it doesn't melt into a perfectly shaped cookie like regular AP flour.

The cookies are done when they have a nice brown color and are set to the touch, they will bake more on the sheet once you pull them out of the oven so don't overdo it in the oven.

Cookie Baking 101: For Everyone Who Ever Asked Why?

One of my professors once told me I should go for my masters because I always ask WHY? Never satisfied with just the answer I'm always wondering "but what if I you did this instead of that?" Same thing goes for baking- can I use this sugar instead of that one, what's the difference between baking powder and baking soda? Cake flour or AP flour? Different ways of measuring things and many other musings...

So one day I was fumbling around on Taste Spotting and I found this very informative and simply written answer guide to many of the questions I have been asking. This chick is a professional baker and just a damn good writer. So if you have a few minutes and you are still wondering WHY?- skim through this post and learn something about the science of baking.

Image credit: Dessert First- Pastrygirl