Chocolate Chip Walnut Toffee Cookies

I saw this recipe over at Cookie Madness quite a while ago, and have been dying to make it ever since. It actually is supposed to be a copycat recipe for the cookies they sell at the Doubletree Hotel. However, I know nothing about those cookies or that hotel, so I thought it wouldn't be fair to name my post "Doubletree Copycats" when I can't tell you anything about the originals and how they compare to this recipe (as opposed to the Levain copycats, in which I've never tasted the original, but at least I know a bit about them to compare). So why was I so attracted to this recipe then? Well, Anna's photo got me hooked, and as I read further, I saw that they had not only chocolate chips and walnuts in them, but toffee bits too! The toffee bits in particular made me want to try this recipe. I haven't used toffee bits in forever, so a cookie that contained all that wonderfulness sounded amazing.

But here's the reason why it took me so long to make them...I couldn't find toffee bits! Every store I went in that sold grocery items, I checked for toffee bits. Not a one had them. Finally, about a week ago, I went into a grocery store that I hardly ever go in to take advantage of some sales I saw in their circular. I thought I would take a stroll around the store just to see what they had, and when I hit the baking aisle, lo and behold. There were Heath Bits o' Brickle. I didn't think twice before snagging a bag off the shelf, inwardly squealing for joy, and making a mental note that this store carried toffee bits for future reference. So how were the cookies? Delicious! The toffee bits really paired nicely with the chocolate chips and walnuts. An interesting thing about this recipe is that it's very similar to the fake Neiman Marcus recipe, which I'm sure you all have heard of at least once. It contains oatmeal that you grind into a fine powder before adding, and a grated milk chocolate bar (although I omitted). I've actually made the fake NM recipe, and I remember it being delicious as well, but with the addition of walnuts and toffee bits that this recipe has, it's even more special and definitely worth making again and again.

Chocolate Chip Walnut Toffee Cookies (from Cookie Madness)
This is a smaller batch that makes a little more than a dozen. For the full recipe, go here.

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons oatmeal (measure, then grind), ground in a coffee grinder or food processor
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 scant teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup toffee bits
• 3/4 cups walnuts, chopped

Directions

1. Mix flour, oatmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside. Cream butter and sugars in large mixer bowl. Add egg and vanilla and stir until mixed.
2. Add flour mixture and oatmeal gradually, stirring until incorporated. Stir in toffee bits, chocolate chips, and nuts. Scoop dough up with a quarter cup measure and shape into big balls. Press them slightly to make discs. Set the discs on a plate and chill for a few hours or until firm. (I didn't bother with this, I just wrapped all of the dough in plastic wrap, chilled completely, and then scooped round balls onto the baking sheet. Not flattening the dough = thicker, chewier cookies.)
3. Place on parchment lined cookie sheets about 3 inches apart. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-13 minutes. Cookies should still be slightly underdone. Move to wax paper lined counter to cool, do not use wire racks. (I'm not sure the reason for this or what it achieves. Again, I just skipped it, and used wire racks.)
   

Daring Bakers September 2010: Decorated Sugar Cookies

Oh my! I actually almost forgot about this post! Luckily I remembered early on in the day, otherwise I might not have been able to get this post up on time. Phew...anyway, time for another round of the challenges presented by the Daring Bakers! This month I was super excited when I found out what we'd be doing. It was almost as if Mandy from What the Fruitcake?! was reading my mind! I had been looking at intricate, decorated sugar cookies using royal icing on other blogs and had really been wanting to try it out myself, and then boom. I look at the Daring Baker challenge for September, and that's exactly what it is! For those who don't know, royal icing is a type of icing made from egg whites, powdered sugar, and then sometimes lemon or lime juice. It dries hard and shiny and creates the perfect finish for professional-looking decorated sugar cookies. You generally pipe fine lines using a small round piping tip to outline the shape you've created and then use a technique called "flooding" where you water down the royal icing and then use it to fill in the cookie where you've outlined. Then you go back after it's dried with the small piping tip and pipe on details. You can make it as intricate or simple as you like, but the finish product always is impressive.
For the challenge this month, Mandy wanted us to make cookies that were September-themed. She said we could do anything that September meant to us. To me, September means my birthday and the start of fall, my favorite season. The problem is, I only have winter/Christmas themed cookie cutters. So instead of going out and buying more or even making my own, I just free handed them with a knife. It actually wasn't too hard, and of course, if you don't like the shape you've cut, you can always roll it back out and try again. For my birthday, I made birthday cakes, a party hat, and circles with the number 20, the age I turned this month. (Admittedly, I just used a round glass to cut out the circles...no way can I free hand circles that well!) For the fall, I made pumpkins and red/orange/yellow leaves. I actually ended up pretty proud of my cookies. They're not as pretty as other decorated cookies I've seen, but they were pretty good for my first try. I definitely look forward to trying out more in the future! I encourage you to try making some...it's fun, and they taste good too!

Basic Sugar Cookies (adapted from Peggy Porschen)
Makes approximately 36 4" cookies

Ingredients

• 14 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3 cups plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup caster/superfine sugar
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Cream together the butter, sugar and any flavorings you’re using. Beat until just becoming creamy in texture. (Don’t over mix otherwise you’ll incorporate too much air and the cookies will spread during baking, losing their shape.)
2. Beat in the egg until well combined, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a non-sticky dough forms.
3. Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces. Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 1/5 inch. Refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes.
4. Once chilled, peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife. Arrange shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for another 30 minutes to an hour. (It's very important to chill the cut-out shapes before baking so they do not lose their shape and spread in the oven.)
   
5. Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake until golden around the edges, about 8-15 minutes depending on the size of the cookies. Leave to cool on cooling racks. Once completely cooled, decorate as desired.

Royal Icing (adapted from the Joy of Baking)

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 to 3 cups confectioner's sugar
• 2 large egg whites
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon almond extract, optional

Directions

1. Beat egg whites with lemon juice until combined. Sift the icing sugar to remove lumps and add it to the egg whites. Beat on low until combined and smooth. Add almond extract, if using, and mix until combined. Use immediately or keep in an airtight container.

For decorating tips and all that jazz, please check the printable pdf of this month's challenge here: The Daring Bakers September 2010 challenge.
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.

Chinese Marble Cookies

Here on the east coast, we have a chain supermarket called Wegmans. It's an absolutely fantastic store to just walk in and look around. They have a regular grocery store part, but then they have another section of the store that is filled with pre-made food stations. They have an Asian bar, Indian cuisine bar, pizza, sandwiches, bread bakery, sushi bar, even a little coffee bar that also sells gelato! I love going in there, but unfortunately, their prices run pretty high and so I usually don't end up buying things there. (I pretty much just go for the Asian bar for lunch, and that's the only thing I buy there.) The first time I went to Wegmans, they had a cookie bar, and I got a couple cookies. But they were ridiculously expensive...about 9 or 10 bucks per pound!! But one of the cookies I got was called a Chinese marble. It was very good, with a nice almond extract flavor and swirled with chocolate. I mentioned before about the time that I first discovered almond extract, and realized that it was the flavor in these cookies. Right after that moment, I went on a frantic internet search to find a copy cat recipe. My search led me to this forum thread, where I found a recipe that seemed very close. I did a little tweaking, and voila! I found the perfect Chinese marble clone.

Well...I say I did some tweaking...but more like minimal. One of the things I noticed was that the recipe didn't call for almond extract. I absolutely knew that these cookies had almond extract in them, so I added it myself. The only other change I made was to use butter instead of shortening, because that's just my thing (although feel free to use shortening...I won't judge!). The result was a cookie that tasted EXACTLY like how I remembered them, and a heck of a lot cheaper too! It produces a nice crispy edge, and a chewy middle. When I first made them, I was a little skeptical, as the chocolate that is swirled in is unsweetened. I've had a bite of unsweetened chocolate before out of curiosity and it was quite unpleasant...very bitter!! However, the sweetness of the cookies kind of blend into the unsweetened chocolate, and you don't get any bites of bitterness at all. The unsweetened chocolate was actually a great compliment, in my opinion! I took some to work with me, and they seemed to be pretty well received. If you've had the Chinese marble cookies at Wegmans, definitely try this recipe, as it tastes exactly like them and at much less of a cost...it won't disappoint! And if you haven't, try this recipe anyway, because it's a good one!

Chinese Marble Cookies (adapted from this recipe here)
Makes at least 2 dozen

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter or shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Beat the butter or shortening with sugar and egg until light and fluffy. Add dry ingredients and beat until well combined. Add vanilla and almond extracts. Add chocolate a little at a time, cutting in with a knife. Do not stir.

3. (I, as I've stated many times, always refrigerate my dough before this step, and ALWAYS recommend doing so as well.) Form dough into balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes until lightly golden. Enjoy!

Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

Some people out there don't like milk chocolate in their cookies. Generally it's too sweet for an already sweet cookie. But sticking true to my blog name, I have a monster sweet tooth, so I say bring on the milk chocolate! It's actually my favorite type of chocolate, and I know, I know, it's the worst kind out there for you, but still so amazingly milky and creamy and sweet that I just can't get enough of it! I started getting a craving for some milk chocolate chip cookies, so immediately went on a little search. My search took me to this blog where she originally got the recipe off of Hershey's Canadian website and the cookies looked and sounded fantastic! I immediately put the recipe on my to bake list and waited for a time when I had a chance to make them.

As I've mentioned practically every time I post a cookie recipe, I ALWAYS refrigerate the cookie dough because it just makes better cookies. They're thicker and chewier, which is my favorite type of cookie. But every once in a while, I don't feel like waiting so I'll just make 2 or 3 cookies before putting the rest of the dough in the fridge. I did with this recipe and...big mistake. The cookies were extremely cake-like, which I should have realized being as the recipe uses baking powder. The were also kind of dry and just not that flavorful. That made me a little scared. Could refrigeration even help this recipe? I wasn't so sure. But I stuck the rest of the dough in the fridge and hoped anyway. So after chilling overnight, I again went to make cookies and...success! I underbaked them slightly and it resulted in a wonderful, slight puffy and very chewy cookie! I did think the cookies needed a bit more salt in them though. I used salted butter and didn't add any additional salt, and I think they need a bit. They were very good, but just needed that extra little edge that salt gives, so I'll keep that in mind if I make them again.

Also, did you notice? I finally did away with the letters on my pictures. I've never been completely sure about the letters, but for a while now I've been considering getting rid of them, so now I finally have and I think I like it a lot better. And stay tuned for my very own coconut muffin recipe! Yes, I took a basic muffin recipe, and tweaked and tweaked it and finally have my very first recipe that I can call my own. I'm so happy! Please look forward to them!

Chewy Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies (from Hershey Canada)
Makes about 5 dozen small cookies, less if making them larger

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup melted butter (I used salted, and I would suggest that)
  
• 2 cups lightly packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons hot water
• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (Make sure to add this even if you use salted butter. If you use unsalted butter, I would increase this to about 3/4 teaspoon.)
• 1 (12 ounce) package milk chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, beat melted butter, brown sugar, eggs, and hot water until smooth.

3. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into the butter mixer until well blended. (The dough will be really liquidy looking, so don't worry about it.)
   

4. Stir in the milk chocolate chips. Drop from small teaspoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet. (I used probably more like 1 1/2 tablespoons per cookie.)
5. Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool 1 minute on the cookie sheets, then remove to a wire rack. (I baked my refrigerated dough for only about 6 minutes. If you don't refrigerate your dough or make your cookies smaller, I would suggest and even shorter cooking time. Just be sure to watch them.)
   

Honey Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Surprise! I thought I wasn't going to be posting anything between my last post and my Daring Bakers post because I thought Father's Day was sooner than it actually is. I though I might have too many desserts in the house, so I wouldn't be baking anything else, but because it's not coming up for about another week, I decided to go ahead and make some cookies. The theme I was thinking for these cookies was honey nut. But I didn't actually want nuts in the cookies, and thought of peanut butter instead. And then I thought, why not add oatmeal too? By using Allrecipe's nifty little ingredient searcher, I came across this recipe that had a perfect 5-star rating. Although it didn't have that much oatmeal in it (which is why I left 'oatmeal' out of the title), it still sounded like a winner and with a 5-star rating and chocolate chunks added in, how could I refuse?

The cookie was excellent and oh, so chewy which is what I love so much about peanut butter cookies. They practically never lose their chewiness. The honey and oatmeal are just barely detectable and add a nice little twist to the cookies. For the chocolate chunks, I used the rest of a Ghirardelli's Intense Dark 72% bar that I had leftover from an unfortunately failed dessert. I was so upset about wasting 1 1/2 bars in a dessert that I messed up that I chopped the rest up and put it in these simple peanut butter cookies just to spite the dessert. Ha ha, I'm silly aren't I? But I digress... (More on the failed dessert in a later post.) The resulting cookie was extremely tasty with the chocolate, but of course, feel free to use whatever kind of chocolate you like. Maybe even some chopped up peanut butter cups in them? I'll definitely try it out sometime because this recipe is a keeper that I'll make again and again.


Honey Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies (from Allrecipes)
Makes about 2 dozen good-sized cookies

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup crunchy peanut butter (I used smooth)
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 (1 ounce) squares semisweet chocolate, chopped

Directions

1. Mix together flour, oats, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat peanut butter, brown sugar, butter, honey, egg, and vanilla until well blended.
3. Stir dry ingredients into the peanut butter mixture in 2 additions. Stir in chopped chocolate.
4. Cover and refrigerate until the dough is firm and no longer sticky, about 30 minutes. (I refrigerated mine for several hours.)
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 heavy, large baking sheets. (I used parchment paper.) With hands, roll heaping tablespoons of dough for each cookie into a 1 3/4 quarter inch diameter ball. Arrange cookies on prepared baking sheets, spacing 2 1/2 inches apart. (I used probably more like 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie.)
6. Bake cookies until puffed, beginning to brown on top and still very soft to the touch, about 12 minutes. Cool cookies on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Levain Copycats

Happy June, everyone! I hope everyone had a great Memorials Day weekend. This is an amazing recipe to start off the new month. I think this cookie has just become my new favorite chocolate chip cookie! This is a copycat recipe of the chocolate chip walnut cookies from Levain Bakery. Levain seems to be pretty well known, but if you don't know what I'm talking about, they're a bakery up in New York that sells monstrous 6 oz. cookies of four different kinds: chocolate chip walnut, dark chocolate chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and dark chocolate peanut butter chip. They're famous for being crazy ooey gooey on the inside, with a nice crunch on the outside and of course, their monstrous size. If you go to their website, you can see some pictures of the inside of their amazing cookies. The funny thing about all this? I've never actually had one of their cookies. I've only been to NY once, and we never got a chance to go up there, but I've still dreamed about having one of those amazing chocolate chip walnuts since I heard about them. I actually had walnuts in the pantry for once, so I had to settle for the copycat for now.

A baked cookie compared to a fortune cookie. (The cookie dough ball below step 4 is compared to a quarter.)

The copycat recipe that I used seems to be the one that's pretty much settled on as THE copycat recipe to use. If you type in "Levain copycat recipe" into Google, this particular recipe is the one that always comes up. The only difference I spotted was varying amounts of baking powder/soda. One version of the recipe contains more baking powder than soda (which was the one that I used) and one contains more baking soda than powder. I may try the other one next time, but the one I used was so amazing that I'm not sure if I want to! The cookie was wonderfully chewy and had great flavor, and honestly made me wonder why I don't put walnuts in my chocolate chip cookies more often. The recipe doesn't have any vanilla in it (which the owners of Levain have stated that they don't use) and I actually did taste a difference in the dough. As a lover of vanilla extract, this has kind of boggled me. Maybe I might try not putting any vanilla in some of my tried and true cookie recipes just to see what a difference it makes? All I know is that you have to try this recipe. If the actual Levain cookies taste anything like these copycats, they have to be out of this world!

Levain Copycats (from the commenter Lisa on Su Good Sweets)
Makes 12 BIG cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I only needed 3 1/4 cups...more notes below)
• 3/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (I used a rounded 1/4)
• 12 oz (2 cups) good quality semisweet chocolate chips (I only used 6 oz of semisweet chunks and it was plenty, but feel free to use however much chocolate you want)
• 1 cup walnuts

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside. (For the flour, Lisa said to go by the feel of the dough. You want the dough to be workable by your hands without it being sticky or sticking very little. I only needed 3 1/4 cups of flour and the dough was perfectly workable without being sticky at all. She didn't clarify on the baking soda, however, so I just put in a rounded 1/4 teaspoon.)
   
2. Place the cold, cubed butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium speed until it becomes creamy. Add both sugars and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at time, mixing until fully incorporated.

3. Add the dry ingredients a little bit at a time until fully incorporated. Add the chocolate and walnuts and mix in by hand or on the lowest speed of your mixer.


4. Portion the dough into 12 equal portions (Lisa said that each portion will weigh more like 4 oz. instead of 6. I don't have a scale however, so I'm going by her word.) Refrigerate the dough until completely chilled or overnight. (You can skip this step, but I highly recommend that you don't. Refrigeration allows for a much chewier cookie.)


5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Situate the cookies about 2 inches apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (they don't spread that much, so don't worry about that). Bake for 16 to 20 minutes. (I baked for 16 minutes at 350 and then turned it up to 375 and baked for 5 minutes more and they were perfect. Use your better judgement.) Cool on the cookie sheet slightly and then remove to wire racks.
   

Everything-but-the-Kitchen-Sink Cookies

So finally, here is recipe #3. It's been crazy here recently with me baking up a storm, what with preparing for two birthdays as well as the upcoming Daring Bakers Challenge. But of course, I always love an excuse to bake! I came across this recipe when I was actually just looking for a spice cookie recipe. I came to a conclusion that there must not really be any spice cookies worthwhile that didn't contain molasses in it, something I didn't have, so gave up on it. But the search led me to this cookie, and I'm very happy it did! I've seen recipes for "Everything" cookies before, but my picky-eating-ness would always spot multiple things in the recipe that I wasn't a fan of. Either that, or I found that the recipe just didn't have enough ingredients in them to warrant being called "Everything-but-the-Kitchen-Sink." But this recipe on Allrecipes sounded great, with a lot of things I like, from everything to oatmeal and cornflakes to walnuts and chocolate chips, had great reviews, and used spices that I had been wanting to use.

The everything! (Also, apologies for all the brand-name dropping. It wasn't intended.)

These cookies have great flavor and all of the elements work really well. The poster of the recipe said that by underbaking the cookies slightly would yield a nice chewy cookie, and she was right. The gooeyness firms up when you let them cool and you're left with a chewy center, but still a nice crunch from the ingredients. I do have to admit that I left out the coconut since I'm usually not a fan, but I think it'd work really well in this cookie and I'd be willing to give it a try. I would advise, however, to maybe cut down on the sugar slightly or add less chocolate chips. My cookies turned out quite sweet, even for someone with a monster sweet tooth like me. I also might try them at some point without any spices, as I think they'd be great too. But I'd definitely suggest trying the recipe as is first, since it really is a great recipe.

Everything-but-the-Kitchen-Sink Cookies (from Allrecipes)
Makes about 4-5 dozen cookies

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground mace (I didn't have this, so I substituted with just an extra pinch of nutmeg)
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup cornflakes cereal, crumbled (I used frosted cornflakes so they wouldn't get soggy in the cookie dough)
• 3 cups rolled oats (I used quick-cooking, since that's all I had)
• 1/2 cup flaked coconut (I omitted)
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, mace, nutmeg, and cloves; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in milk and vanilla. Gradually mix in the sifted ingredients until well blended. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the cornflakes, oats, coconut, chocolate chips, and walnuts. (I just used my mixer on the lowest speed.) Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls, and place 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets; flatten slightly. (I refrigerated my cookie dough over night.)
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. (I baked my refrigerated dough for 10 minutes, so I'd suggest baking unrefrigerated dough for only 8.)
   

Ultimate Stand Mixer Chocolate Chip Cookies

Springtime has gotten the best of me. I'm currently typing this up with a horrible sore throat and stuffy/runny nose, most likely thanks to all of the pollen and whatnot in the air. I baked these up two days ago when I felt the sickness coming on, so as to bake them when I was still well enough and when I was still able to taste things. I came across this recipe on Cookie Madness and they sounded really great, so I knew I had to try them. They're called "Ultimate Stand Mixer" CC cookies because you use a stand mixer to beat a ton of air into the butter, sugar, and eggs. I started out with cold butter that I beat for 5-6 minutes until creamy. Then you add the sugar and beat for another 4-5 minutes, and then add the eggs and vanilla gradually, beating again for about 4-5 minutes. You end up with an extremely delicious light and fluffy cookie dough that I honestly had trouble keeping my fingers out of.

I ended up having a serious soft spot for these cookies because they reminded me of my childhood. I think that's because their flavor is extremely similar to Tollhouse's chocolate chip cookie, which I always used to bake up with my mom when I was little. The difference is that these cookies are wonderfully thick and chewy. When I was little, the Tollhouse CC cookie was the best thing in the world to me, but in recent years, I've found that they're just too thin and crispy for me. I like a nice, thick cookie, and these cookies have that. I don't think these beat my current favorite CC cookie, the Cook's Illustrated CC cookie with that wonderful browned butter flavor, but they're still really great cookies with the traditional CC cookie flavor.

Ultimate Stand Mixer Chocolate Chip Cookie (W. Richard Stevens' recipe. A more printer friendly recipe here.)
Makes about 30-35 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature (as I said, I just started out with cold butter)
  
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (Generally I fluff up the flour and then measure, but I packed a little bit more flour into my measuring cups than usual. This helps to make the cookie thicker. Just know that the heavier handed you are with the flour, the thicker the cookies will be.)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 cups walnuts, coarsely chopped (I omitted)
• 3 cups chocolate chips (I just put in enough for my liking)

Directions

1. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
2. Beat butter using a stand mixer at medium speed until it is lighter and clings to the bowl (30-45 seconds). (If starting with cold butter, beat until creamy, about 5-6 minutes.) Keeping the mixer at medium speed, add the sugars in a steady stream. Cream the sugars and butter for 4-5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl as needed.
3. Whisk the eggs and vanilla together in a small bowl. Add the egg mixture very gradually, keeping the mixer on medium speed. Continue to beat 4-5 minutes.
4. Turn the mixer down to the lowest speed and gradually add the dry ingredients. Add the walnuts and chocolate chips just before the flour is completely incoporated. Mix just until the dough comes together.
5. Shape the dough into golf ball-sized balls and place on a baking sheet. Place in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight. Remove and let warm for 30 minutes at room temperature. Flatten slightly into hockey puck-like shapes. (Alright, I must admit...I didn't follow this exactly. I refrigerated all of my dough together over night, and then just scooped dough onto a cookie sheet. I didn't leave them out for 30 minutes, I basically put them in the oven from the refrigerator. I also didn't flatten them. But I do this because I like the thickest cookie possible.)
6. Bake at 400 degrees F for 8-10 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes on the sheet, then remove to wire racks. (400 degrees was a bit too high for my cookies. I turned down to 375 and it was perfect.)

Snickerdoodles

I baked these up about two days ago, but am just now getting around to blogging about them. Oh, but happy news...I finally got up to the store...and got some dulce de leche! Yahoo! Expect those duos up here in a day or two. But anyways, back to the current cookies at hand. I was really craving snickerdoodles, and I already had a recipe that I had tried before, but this time decided I wanted something a bit different. Most snickerdoodles are fairly thin and while they are chewy, they become crispy soon after. And so I decided to go on a search for a thick and chewy one. But as I was searching, I again experienced a phenomenon that seems to be happening a lot to me lately...basically all the recipes I came across were the same! I began to wonder if there actually was a different recipe for snickerdoodles out there. So I turned to google and after a bit of searching, I came across this recipe; finally something different. It looked promising, and so I tried it...and it was great!

Okay, so my cookies really weren't any thicker than the other snickerdoodle recipe I've tried, but I think that has something to do with the fact that I use butter and not shortening. Shortening usually helps cookies keep their shape more since it doesn't melt as easily as butter does. But in all honesty, I've never used shortening in my life and don't really know what it's like, so I just stick with butter (which is kind of funny, because the blogger that I got the recipe from talked mostly about her reasoning for using shortening and told a funny story about using it over butter). But at any rate, I was just happy to find a different recipe and the cookies are so wonderfully chewy that I could care less about their thickness. They were still awesomely chewy before I refrigerated the dough, and even more so after I refrigerated it. I definitely think this will be my go-to snickerdoodle recipe from now on.

Snickerdoodles (from Gild the Lily)
Makes a little more than 2 dozen.

Ingredients

• 1 cup shortening (I used butter)
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 whole egg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Cream shortening (or butter) and 1 1/2 cups sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add a teaspoon of vanilla. Beat in egg and egg yolks one at a time and mix until thoroughly combined.
2. Add salt and then add the cornstarch. Beat in the baking soda and then the flour a little bit at a time and mix until combined.
3. Combine 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon in a small bowl. Roll the dough into balls and roll in the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Place on an ungreased cookie and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until crackly and set. (I baked my unrefrigerated dough for about 8 and my refrigerated dough for about 10-11.) Store in an airtight container. Add a piece of bread to keep them soft, if you wish.

Ha ha! My spatula broke while I was making sure the dough was thoroughly mixed. That's okay though, I have two others. Also, while you're waiting for your cookies to bake up, you could clean some dishes, or...

You could sneak in a picture of your cat. I had to sneak a picture of my cat into this post in particular because I often call her my "snickerdoodle"...or "snackerdoodle." Why? I have no idea. I have a bunch of crazy nicknames for my cat, all of which sound nothing at all like her actual name, which is Pinky. (Hey, my brother named her, alright? It was when we were young too, so don't blame me.) At any rate, try these cookies, because they are delicious!

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

In all honesty, this wasn't a cookie I was planning on making at all. In fact, I had the plan to make the Dulce de Leche Duos from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours that I've been DYING to make. The only problem was that I was running low on flour and didn't have any dulce de leche. A couple of times I almost made a trip to the grocery store, but since I needed a couple of hygienic necessities from Wal-Mart, I thought I would go ahead and get them there. But much to my dismay, it turned out my Wal-Mart doesn't carry dulce de leche and I just didn't feel like making a trip to the grocery store too. But, I plan on going to Costco tomorrow and so I decided to put off my trip to the grocery, which is luckily right across the street from there, until then. So now, being as I was in need of a sugar fix, I turned to a different cookie to tie me over.

I thought about making a chocolate chip cookie recipe that I've been wanting to try, but decided I wanted something different. I picked up some nutmeg and cloves, two spices that I've miraculously never used, from Wal-Mart so I thought about a spice cookie. I turned to my trusty recipe website Allrecipes and ran a search. But that lead to me looking at a banana spice cookie recipe, and then that in turn lead to looking at a banana oatmeal cookie recipe! I decided that that was what I wanted, and so took a look around at the different recipes. Turns out, nearly all of them are the same. In fact, I even looked at a Martha Stewart banana oatmeal cookie recipe, and that one was nearly the same too, ha ha! The reviewers informed me this was a cakey cookie, which I almost never make, so I thought it would be good to try. I was a little wary because the recipe had really mixed reviews, some saying the cookie was dry, some saying that it was bland, etc., but since I've never tried a cookie like this, I thought I would go with it and add a few things to make sure the cookie was full of flavor. A couple substitutions and some add-ins did the trick, and the resulting cookie was DELICIOUS! I think they may even have better flavor than my favorite banana bread! But expect to see those Dulce de Leche Duos on here soon, because as soon as I get my hands on some dulce de leche, I'm definitely making them!

Banana Oatmeal Cookies (adapted from Allrecipes)
As always, my changes and additions are in green. I really encourage you to make these changes. Recipe says it yields about 3 1/2 dozen, but again, if you make yours bigger like me, you'll probably only get about 2 dozen.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I added an extra tiny pinch...be careful with nutmeg, it can be a bit strong)
  
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I added an extra shake or two)
• 3/4 cup shortening (I used butter)
• 1 cup white sugar (I used 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup white)
  
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup mashed, ripe bananas
• 1 3/4 cups rolled oats
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon honey
  
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I omitted)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars; beat until light and fluffy. Add egg, banana, vanilla, and honey and mix until well incorporated. Add oats and mix until combined. Slowly add dry ingredients and mix until incorporated.
3. Drop cookies onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (I ran out, and so used aluminum foil sprayed with a little non-stick cooking spray to be safe. I definitely think they would have stuck if I hadn't). Bake for 9-12 minutes or until edges begin to brown. (The original recipe called for 15 minutes!! Mine were done at 9! Though I might suggest turning the oven down to 375.) Cool on sheet slightly then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in a closed container.

I made a couple of cookies right after I made the dough and then the rest after I'd refrigerated the rest of the dough. These are the juxtaposed refrigerated dough cookie (left) and nonrefrigerated dough cookie (right). This is a cakey cookie, so the refrigeration actually doesn't make a load of difference besides it being thicker and puffier, but I thought maybe it was a little more moist. If you decide to refrigerate your dough, I'd advise turning the oven down to 350, as mine started to burn around the edges before the cookie was done! Definitely try this cookie, though. It's great!!

Chocolate Cookies

I think what I love about this recipe is its wonderful simplicity. No having to melt chocolate, or sift flour, or go through any complicated process really. In fact, it's so simplistic that it's been kind of hard to come up with what I want to say about them. I baked these cookies a couple of days ago, and started this post a couple of days ago...but for some reason I've felt a little unmotivated and unsure of what I wanted to say. But don't let that put you off of these cookies...they may be simplistic, but they're still delicious.

These cookies are buttery, chewy, and have a light chocolatey-ness about them, and I really love that. Not every recipe that has chocolate in it has to be deeply rich and dark. Of course, that's delicious every once in a while too, but now and then I like to have a much simpler chocolate treat and these cookies fit the bill. Made simply with cocoa powder and a nice dose of butter gives them a simple but tasty flavor and a chewiness that actually doesn't even require refrigeration. I'm usually a hugely strong supporter of refrigerating cookie dough, but this cookie will be chewy regardless of whether you refrigerate the dough or not, which is great when you're craving a nice, chewy cookie right then and there. White chocolate chips can be added if you like, although I actually prefer them plain. I'm not too sure where I found this recipe, as I printed it out a long time ago and the paper has been fortunate enough to not get ingredient spills all over it, so just know that this isn't my recipe.

Chocolate Cookies
If you're like me and make slightly larger cookies, this recipe should yield about 2 dozen.

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups white chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Cream butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy.
2. Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; add to creamed mixture. Stir in white chocolate chips if using.
3. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet, or chill until firm enough to handle and shape small amounts of dough into 1 inch balls. (I just use two spoons to drop dough onto the sheet. I used probably at least 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough for each cookie.)
4. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes, or until edges seem set and crisp while inside still appears puffed and chewy.

I forgot that I wanted to make some with white chocolate chips, so I hurriedly pressed some into two of the cookies halfway between baking.

But like I said, I do still enjoy these best when they are plain and simple without anything to hinder the wonderfully chocolate, buttery flavor. Enjoy!

Lost Obsession: Fish Biscuits

So...I didn't end up making anything for Valentine's Day. In the end, I just didn't feel up to it. But never fear...I do plan on making both things I considered at some point. The first thing I thought about making was a red velvet cheesecake, but discarded it being as I didn't feel like leaving the house to get cream cheese, sour cream, etc. Then I thought of Mexican chocolate cupcakes filled with homemade caramel and then topped with a boiled frosting...but like I said, I lost motivation, ha ha! But I still would love to try both of those, so I'll keep them on my To Try list and eventually I'll get around to them.

Anyway, if you don't watch Lost, you're probably wondering what the heck a fish biscuit is...and it probably doesn't sound too appetizing either! Well, here is the ultimate display of how obsessed I am with Lost. In season 3, one of the characters, Sawyer (played by the gorgeous Josh Holloway...certainly an incentive to watch!) is captured by a group dubbed "The Others" and is put in a cage for keeping. In this cage is a contraption, and if you're able to figure it out, it rewards you with a fish biscuit! As I was rewatching this episode, I had the craziest urge to try and make some. So I went on Google and lo and behold, I found this blog that had a recipe, instructions, and she even included a template for the fish biscuits! Awesome! Glad to know I'm not the only one with this Lost-obsessive idea! Of course, the "biscuits" are actually just a rolled sugar cookie recipe, so there's nothing fishy about this recipe except for the shape. If you aren't a fan of Lost, you should become one, as it's an excellent show. Hulu is streaming every single episode of Lost through December 31 this year, so even though the last season is now airing on ABC, it's never too late to become a fan! Or, of course, if you're not interested in becoming a fan (I'll just pretend like I didn't hear that), this is still a great dough for any shape you want it to be.

Rolled Sugar Cookies for Fish Biscuits (adapted from Epicurious)
Makes about 5-7 large fish biscuits

Ingredients

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I used bleached, since that's what I had)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/4 teaspoons grated lemon peel (I omitted)
• 1 1/4 teaspoon grated tangerine or orange peel (I omitted this as well)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla butter & nut extract
• couple drops red food coloring
• couple drops yellow food coloring

** This sugar cookie recipe can pretty much be flavored with whatever you like. The original recipe on Epicurious used citrus zest, but I used McCormick's vanilla butter & nut extract, the same I used for the yellow cupcake recipe. You can easily substitute any extract you like, such as vanilla or almond, etc., to taste.

Directions

1. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, grated lemon peel, and grated tangerine/orange peel until light (since I didn't use zest, I just beat the butter by itself. Don't add any extracts yet.) Add the sugar and powdered sugar and beat until fluffy.
2. Beat in egg and extract. Add food coloring a little bit at a time, working until you have a nice, rich salmon color. Keep in mind that the color will fade slightly when baked.
3. Add dry ingredients a little bit at a time until fully incorporated. Divide dough in half and wrap the dough in plastic wrap, forming two disks. Store in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight until set.

This is the color you're looking for.

Making the fish biscuits:

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Generously flour your work surface and rolling pin. (I rolled out my dough on a piece of parchment paper which I also floured. I found that this really worked best.) Place one disk of dough on the floured surface, and flour the top. Roll out dough to about half an inch in thickness. Place fish biscuit template on the dough and cut around the template using a sharp, floured knife.
3. Continue rolling and cutting dough, making sure to keep leftover dough scraps for additional cookies and placing the cut out fish biscuits on your prepared cookie sheet. Depending on your estimated thickness, you should get about 5-7 fish biscuits. (I got 7, but the original blogger said 4-5...I guess I wasn't making mine as thick as hers!)
4. Once all fish biscuits have been cut out, fold the template in half and place on fish biscuit. Using a small rounded butter knife (I actually found that a toothpick works best!!), gently press in the top or bottom half of the Dharma logo letters. (Do whichever side you're more comfortable with. The original blogger pressed in the bottom half of the letters first, but I found it easier to press in the top half of the letters first.)
5. Remove the template and then press in the other half of the letters. Continue doing this for each fish biscuit. (The name DHARMA comes from a group called the DHARMA Initiative who were scientists who came to study the island and who were supplied with food with their logo on it...for more info on them, you can click here.)
6. Bake the fish biscuits for 15 to 20 minutes until they no longer give when pressed. Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to wire rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature and watch your favorite Lost episode as you enjoy! For the fish biscuit template and printable recipe and directions, please visit the original blogger's file here. (Must be able to see pdf files.)