Undisputed Best??

I have already shared my family recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies. I have long believed that this was the best recipe to be had. Whenever I come across new recipes that claim to be the best, I have to give them a try to make sure they really aren't better than mine.

So, you can imagine what I felt when I came across this blog: Good Things Catered. She has a list of popular recipes on the side, and one of them is for Chocolate Chip Cookies. UNDISPUTED best, she calls them. This woman used to be a caterer, and all of her food looks perfect and delicious. I was enthralled. I had to make them.

And guess what? They ARE the best. They really are delicious. They are big and chewy and chocolatey, and they look like the type of cookie you can buy at a bakery (only they taste better than bakery cookies usually do).


Her recipe is very specific and detailed, so I would recommend taking a look at it in her own words on her blog here: Best Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Here's the recipe in my words:

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies*
Ingredients:
2 c. plus 2 T. flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter**, melted & cooled until warm
1 c. brown sugar, packed (I used my traditional dark brown, but I think she uses light brown)
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 yolk
2 t. vanilla
1 1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips

*OK, I realize that different people look for different things in a chocolate chip cookie. But as far as my experience goes, this is the best traditional, no-frills recipe I have come across.

**Her recipe specifies unsalted butter, but I didn't have any when I first tried the recipe and they were still delicious. The second time I made them I used unsalted, and they were even better.

Directions:
The original recipe has you combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, but you know me, I didn't do that. ;) You can choose for yourself.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Melt butter in the microwave and set aside to cool until just warm (if it's too hot it will cook the egg). I found it best to partially melt the butter and then stir it until it is completely melted. That way the butter wasn't too hot from the start. In a large bowl, mix together both types of sugar and the melted butter. Add the egg, the egg yolk, and the vanilla and mix until combined. Add salt and baking soda, and briefly mix. Add flour and mix well. Add the chocolate chips and combine either with the mixer, a spoon, or your hands. I really find that my hands work the best. ;)

Prepare cookies by rolling a scant 1/2 cup (just estimate) of dough in your hands. This is quite a bit of dough. Remember, the cookies are big, and this ball of dough is for two cookies. Pinch the dough slightly in the middle and pull it apart. Place balls of dough, rough side up, on two ungreased cookie sheets (she says to line the cookie sheets with parchment paper, but I don't have any). Continue preparing cookies until you have 24 cookies, 12 per cookie sheet (I use light metal jelly roll pans). Place both sheets of cookies in the oven, one on a lower rack and one on an upper rack. Switch the cookie sheets halfway through baking. Bake for 16-18 minutes total. Cookies will be slightly golden. Allow cookies to cool on the cookie sheets for a while (roughly 5 minutes), until they can be moved without breaking. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely before storing. Makes 24 big (delicious) cookies.


Enjoy!

Kaylene's Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies

This is a recipe I got from my friend, Kaylene. They are always a big hit with whoever I make them for. :) Even if it's just me. Ha ha. I made them for playgroup last week, and the little kids loved them even though they have oatmeal in them.

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients:
1 c. (2 sticks) soft margarine or butter
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla
1 c. peanut butter
2 c. and 2 T. flour
2 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 1/3 c. oatmeal (not instant)
1 bag chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Blend butter with sugar and brown sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, and peanut butter, mixing well. Add salt and baking soda. Add flour and blend well. Add oatmeal and chocolate chips. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until lightly browned.


The recipe makes tons of cookies (I was living off of them for a few days after I made them ;) ). Enjoy!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've always liked pumpkin cookies, but I had never actually made them before. These turned out yummy! They are very cake like as many pumpkin cookies are.

Ingredients:
1 cup pumpkin
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. milk
1 cup chocolate chips
1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:
Dissolve baking soda in milk; set aside. In large bowl add pumpkin, sugar, oil, and egg; stir. Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda mixture. Mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and vanilla. Spoon onto cookie sheets. Bake at 375 degrees 10-12 minutes.

Rolo Cookies

How can you go wrong with a chocolate cookie that has a rolo in the middle? The chocolate cookie has a great flavor and the rolo melts to make them caramel filled.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
48 rolos (one package)
2 tbs. sugar

Directions:
Combine flour, cocoa, and soda and set aside. Beat sugars and butter until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla. Add dry mixture and blend well. Shape cookies into small balls. Press rolo into center of ball and cover with dough (I just sort of form a dough ball around a rolo). Roll cookie in sugar. Bake on un-greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes, until tops of cookies are slightly cracked. Cool on racks.

*As you can see this recipe makes about 48 cookies. So if you don't want tons of cookies you could do half of the recipe. But, the girl who gave me this recipe said that the dough balls freeze well and then you can make them whenever you want fresh cookies. I haven't tried that yet.

Oreo Chunk Chocolate Chip Cookies

I discovered this recipe on a blog called Baked Perfection. Everything she makes looks delicious! There are tons of recipes I want to try on her site. These became my entry for the dessert competition of the ward cook-off last night. (Unfortunately, I didn't win. :( They were all eaten though!)

This was an interesting recipe. The dough was pretty hard to handle because of all the oreo chunks. They're quite delicious, though!


Oreo Chunk Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients:

2 1/2 c. flour

1 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

1 package vanilla instant Jell-O Pudding (not prepared, the smaller size box)

1 dash of cinnamon

2 c. (2 sticks) butter, softened (I did my half butter, half margarine trick)

3/4 c. sugar

3/4 c. brown sugar

1 t. vanilla

2 eggs
2 c. chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate chips because that's what it looked like she used in her pictures, and it sounded yummy to me.)
30-40 double stuffed Oreos*, crushed into medium chunks (you really need the double stuffed kind)

*I really think this is a ton of Oreos. One package had 36 Oreos in it, so I just used the whole pack. It was a little overwhelming, and like I mentioned, made the dough a bit tough to handle. I think next time (and oh yes, there will be a next time ;) ) I will use more like 20-25 Oreos.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat together butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each one. Add baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add pudding mix. Add flour. (Yes, you guessed it! She has you mix the dry ingredients separately! My laziness strikes again!) Stir in chocolate chips and Oreo chunks. Usually I just use my mixer for everything when I'm making cookies, but I really did stop and use a wooden spoon to stir in the Oreo chunks and chocolate chips. The dough was very thick. Roll into balls and bake for 10-11 minutes. Makes 4 to 5 dozen cookies.

It was hard for me to get my cookies to stay round, and they certainly don't look as beautiful as hers, but they sure taste good! Here's a link directly to the original recipe: Oreo Chunk Chocolate Chip Cookies. Check it out! Her pictures are wonderful.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

This recipe came from Chef Britta's dessert blog, Sunday Sweets. As soon as she posted it, I knew I had to try it. I mean, how can you beat peanut butter cookies with chocolate ganache in the middle?

Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
Ingredients:
1 c. flour
1/4 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped (I just used semisweet chocolate chips)
2 T. heavy cream (I used whole milk, because that's all I had)
1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 c. creamy peanut butter
1/3 c. packed brown sugar

Note: Do you notice anything unusual about these ingredients? I didn't either until I started making them. There are no eggs in the recipe! Because of this, the cookies are not soft and chewy. They're kind of crumbly and have the texture of shortbread. That really took me by surprise.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare chocolate ganache filling by melting the chocolate in a heat-proof (pyrex glass is perfect) bowl on top of a pot of simmering water (the double-boiler method). Stir frequently until chocolate is smooth. Add cream and continue to stir until smooth. Set aside chocolate to cool and thicken for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, beat together butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. (This is when I noticed the recipe didn't call for eggs. ;) ) Add salt, baking soda, and flour, and mix until just blended (do not overmix). Roll dough into 1" balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. I fit all of them on one big cookie sheet (it made 24 balls). They can be close together because they don't expand very much. Flatten the balls of dough into a disc shape with the bottom of a dampened glass. Bake until golden around the edges, about 12 to 13 minutes. Now here's where my directions stray from Chef Britta's (well, aside from mixing the dry ingredients in a separate bowl...that's a given for me ;) ). She said to remove cookies immediately and transfer them to a wire rack. I attempted this, and the results were disastrous (see below). The cookies fell apart as I tried to move them. Instead I let them cool for at least ten minutes before moving them to a wire rack. They held together much better after having cooled for a little bit.

Allow cookies to cool. Stir chocolate topping and spread generously on the bottom of half of the cookies. Top with the other half of the cookies. Allow to set for about 15 minutes before serving. Store leftovers in the fridge.

So, mine turned out pretty good, even though they don't look quite as beautiful as Chef Britta's:


Although, we did have two complete casualties, and one more that underwent reconstructive surgery:


All in all, the cookies were delicious! But be sure to eat them with a tall glass of milk. You also can really only eat one or two at a time. They are on the intense side, even for me. ;)

Here's a link to Chef Britta's recipe (and I recommend looking at it because she has some good pictures of the steps along the way): Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies.

Soft Gingersnaps

I've been feeling festive because of the crisp fall weather here, and I wanted to try making gingersnaps. I prefer them soft, so if you're like me, this recipe is for you! I found it at allrecipes.com. They turned out really yummy, though I undercooked the first batch because I was paranoid I would overcook them.


Soft Gingersnaps
Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. (3 sticks) butter (no substitutes), softened
2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c. molasses
4 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
3 t. baking soda
2 t. ground cinnamon
1 t. ground ginger
1 t. ground cloves
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
additional sugar (to roll the cookies in)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in molasses. Add spices, baking soda, and salt and mix well. Then add the flour and mix well. (As you might guess, the recipe has you mix the dry ingredients separately, but you know me, I'm an impatient baker.) If the dough is too sticky, you may want to refrigerate it for a bit (the recipe says to refrigerate it for an hour...again, I'm too impatient). I just put mine in the fridge between batches. It wasn't too hard to work with. Roll dough into 1 inch balls, and then roll them in sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-12 minutes. It takes some experimentation to get them perfectly baked. Ten minutes worked just right for me and my oven. I just waited until there were large cracks in the cookies.

Here's a link to the original recipe: Soft Gingersnaps.

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I made these cookies this past Saturday for my co-workers at Barnes & Noble. We were gonna be up all night for the Breaking Dawn release party. These cookies were definitely quick and easy and delicious! I got a ton of compliments! Sorry, I didn't take a picture, I was in a hurry! Here's one from the Ocean Spray website.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened (I used both; see Jennie's tips for chocolate chip cookies)

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt1

6-ounce package Ocean Spray® Craisins® Original Sweetened Dried Cranberries

2/3 cup white chocolate chunks or chips (I used Ghiradelli chocolate, YUM!)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter or margarine and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mixing well. Combine oats, flour, baking soda and salt in a separate mixing bowl. Add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition. Stir in sweetened dried cranberries and white chocolate chunks.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack.

P.S. I like to use a small ice cream scoop from Pampered Chef to scoop the dough. I love how the cookies come out about the same and they seem to cook a little more evenly.

P.P.S. Sorry about the weird spacing. My computer is freaking out and my "U" is deciding to be difficult. Sorry if I am missing any of those! :-)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I got a craving today. :) Most of you have this recipe already, but I figured I'd post it here along with my cookie-making tips.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
1 c. (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened (I use half butter and half margarine. See tips.)
3/4 c. white sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 T. vanilla
3/4 t. salt
3/4 t. baking soda
3 c. flour
1 bag chocolate chips

Directions:
Beat butter and/or margarine until smooth. Add both kinds of sugar, mixing thoroughly. Add vanilla and eggs, mixing thoroughly. Add salt and baking soda. Add flour. If it's hard on your mixer, add flour about half at a time. Add chocolate chips. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Jennie's Cookie Making Tips (sorry if I've already told you these tips, I just figured it would be good to have them written down):
1. Use real vanilla. Always let the measuring spoon overflow into the bowl just a tad. ;)
2. Use dark brown sugar.
3. Use half real butter and half margarine (margarine helps keep the cookies soft, and butter makes them taste good).
4. Do your best not to overcook your cookies. I always check them after 9 minutes and add time in increments of 1-2 minutes depending on how they look.
5. Store cookies in a ziploc bag. I know cookie jars are cute, but they're not air tight. Cookies should stay soft if they are stored in a ziploc bag.

Dessert in a Hurry

We got invited on Saturday to dinner on Sunday by one of Bryce's old roommates. Wanting to be a good guest (and not seem lame to Bryce's old roommate and his spouse), I said we would bring dessert, and then tried to think of what I could make with out going to the store. The end result was simple, yet incredibly delicious. I just stole the idea from Smart Cookie: homemade ice cream sandwiches. So much better than store bought. Now, you can probably use any combination of ice cream and cookies that you want, but we did strawberry ice cream (because we already had it) and Double Chocolate Dream Cookies. I think you guys already have that recipe, but here's a link to it, just in case: Double Chocolate Dream Cookies