It's the Chocolate

As a kid my favorite kind of cookie was Toll House chocolate chip cookies. I like 'em with nuts and without nuts, with pecans, with walnuts, with macadamia nuts...but they have to have chocolate and lots of it.

Today I made a version of the Toll House chocolate chip cookie. Knowing my you are already waiting for the changes I made to the recipe, and you're right, I made changes.

First, I used some safflower oil in place of some of the butter. I also adjusted the sugar. Usually you use equal amount of white sugar and brown sugar, with the total being one and a half cups sugar. I went with 1/2 cup white sugar and a full cup packed brown sugar because I wanted some chewiness...and it worked. I also added a tablespoon of white vinegar. It reacts with the baking soda to lighten the dough a bit, which is important when you realize how much chocolate there is in proportion to the dough.

For the flour I decided to use a mixture, so I used a combination of all-purpose flour, Irish wholemeal wheat flour, barley flour, and ground flaxseed. It's not healthy (and cookies aren't health food anyway, right?), but you get a nice hit of fiber and good for you things from the wholemeal and flaxseed. The barley flour is milled very fine, which is great when you are also using fiber-rich flours. The all-purpose is a workhorse flour and evens things out nicely. You get a little crispy effect at the edges, but a nice, soft chewy center.


I combined regular semi-sweet chocolate chips with Scharfenberger chocolate semisweet chocolate chunks. For nuts I used chopped pecans. There is a lot more chocolate than nuts, but you could add more nuts if you really want them to show up.

All in all this is a great cookie recipe. Do let the batter sit for an hour. Do leave some space between mounds of dough because the cookies spread a bit. If you make these, eat one for me, OK?

I treated Sweetie to a nice plate of cookies. They were still warm from the oven, with melty chocolate. Yum! Tomorrow I'm taking some gift bags with a few cookies in each to the gym for the trainers. Early Valentine's Day gifts.

Classic Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies
King Arthur Flour website Makes about 33 cookies

¼ cup (1/2 stick, 2 oz.) unsalted butter (or, in my case, non-dairy margarine)
½ cup vegetable oil
Note: I used a full stick of soft margarine and ¼ cup safflower oil instead
½ cup granulated sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3//4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼  cup whole barley flour (If no barley flour available, substitute unbleached all-purpose flour) ¼  ground flaxseed flour
½ cup whole wheat flour, traditional or white whole wheat flour (I used Irish wholemeal flour)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup (8 oz) semisweet chocolate chips
6 oz. semisweet chunks (or use 2 cups chocolate chips total)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease or line with parchment or a silicon baking mat) two baking sheets.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter, oil, sugars, vanilla, and salt until smooth.

Beat in the egg to combine. Beat in white vinegar. In a large bowl combine the baking soda and baking powder, the barley flour and whole wheat flour, and the all-purpose flour and the ground flaxseed flour. Combine thoroughly, then add to the egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add the chocolate chips. It looks like too many chips, but don’t worry. Add the chopped nuts. Beat just to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for at least an hour and up to four hours. If room temperature is above about 68 degrees F, put dough in the fridge for the standing time.

Drop the dough, by tablespoonfuls, onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving room for cookies to spread a bit. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes, until the cookies are an even golden brown, with just a hint of softness in the center. Remove from the oven, and allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

If you manage to nudge a side of a cookie with the pot holder while turning the pan in the oven about halfway through (optional, but a great idea) like I did...that cookie is for you!

Multi-Grain Cowboy Cookies

I've had the same toaster oven for a long, long time. It has finally gotten to the point where it doesn't work very well, so I started looking for a replacement. Recently the one I most wanted became available on sale online. It takes up some counter space, so I had been holding off for about 6 months, but seeing it at such a good sale price finally convinced me to buy it. It arrived day before yesterday in the evening, and yesterday I toasted some buns in it, just to try it at its most basic, but today I finally had time to bake some cookies in it. They were just beautiful and the browning is so much better than my big oven.

It's hard to know if the cowboys of old would have had a mixture of rolled grains to use in cookies, or even, frankly, if they had baked cookies while out on the trail herding cattle. Still, I recently purchased a bag of mixed-grain rolled grains, similar to oatmeal but with other grains like barley and rye, too. The brand is Bob's Red Mill and if you haven't tried any of their numerous grains, especially for gluten free baking, do think about buying some. They are always top quality and there seem to be a huge variety of offerings. Their barley flour is the first one I bought, for bread baking, but I like their corn meal, dark rye flour, almond flour, and others. This mixed rolled grain produce is also great for use in bread baking...just cook them in half as much water, and cool, then use as part of the water and part of the grain for a hearty bread.

For the cowboy cookies, I used the rolled grain mixture instead of the rolled oats. It made the cookies a bit chewier, and added flavor, too.

Multi-Grain Cowboy Cookies
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups rolled multi-grains
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature (or margarine)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cups packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 cup chopped toasted pecans

On a sheet of waxed paper, combine the flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugars, white and brown, until well mixed. Add the eggs and vanilla. Mix until light and well mixed. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips, cranberries and walnuts.
Cover dough and chill 1 hour.

Preheat over to 350 degrees F. Form dough into balls, using a melon scoop of dough for each. Place on greased baking sheets, spacing cookies 1 inch apart. These will make appetizer size cookies. (For larger cookies, make balls from teaspoons of batter up to 1/4 cup of dough for super sized ones.) Bake 8-10 minutes for small cookies or until cookies are golden brown around the edges. transfer to cooling racks to cool completely. (For larger sized cookies, cook longer, up to 15 minutes.)

Classic Toll House

There are numerous chocolate chip cookie recipes around, but the one that started it all, if legend is to be believed, is the classic Toll House Cookie. The cookies are a mixture of white sugar and brown sugar, with butter and vanilla, eggs, flour, baking soda and chocolate chips. Usually there are also walnuts, but this time I skipped them. The cookies are a bit fluffy, a bit chewy, soft and delicious. Sweetie loves chocolate chip cookies this way. I prefer mine a bit crisper, but can eat a handful of these anyway.

One of the secrets to a very flavorful rendition of this cookie is to make up the batter, but then let it sit in the coldest part of the fridge for a few days. Somehow the waiting time improves the overall deliciousness...and it's useful when, like me, you think you will have time to bake but find you don't until days later! Also useful to have on hand to bake when that odd relatively cool day shows up in summer.

I also want to share some photos of my lovely summer poppies. I just love their colors!

Toll House Cookies
Makes 4-5 dozen cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) non-dairy butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (if omitting the nuts, add 1-2 tablespoons extra flour)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl (flour, baking soda, salt) or on a sheet of waxed paper. Set aside.

Beat non-dairy butter (or real butter if you prefer) and both sugars, plus the vanilla, until creamy.

Add eggs, one at a time, scraping bowl and beaters after each egg has been incorporated.

Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in the morsels and (if using) nuts. Chill batter in bowl, covered, for 1 hour or for up to 5 days.

Drop batter by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets or silicon baking mats or parchment. Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes, then remove to wire racks to cook completely.

French Toll House Cookies

Apparently the French like our Toll House chocolate chip cookies but in creating their own version, Parisian bistro owner Edouard Bobin played around a little with the classic recipe and created a cookie that has much the same flavors, but is a bit chewier (due to some almond flour) and utterly delicious. I found the recipe in Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. The cookies went well with a wonderful fresh fruit compote we were served recently at a winery picnic. Because they were scooped with a disher the shape was pretty round and much the same size for each cookie. Because the recipe asks the baker to flatten the top half way through the baking, they were sort of puck shaped. They made a slightly more elegant presentation than my usual ragged edged, bumpy chocolate chip cookies. I think next time I'll include some white chocolate chips and maybe a few dried cranberries. They might be bumpier, but still delicious that way.

French Chocolate Chip Cookies

3 1/2 cups (476 grams) all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons fine sea salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 sticks (8 oz; 226 grams) butter at room temperature
1 cup (200 grams) sugar
1 cup (200 grams) packed brown sugar
1  1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
12 oz. (340 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped or 2 cups chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups (150 grams) hazelnut or almond flour

Whisk the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder together in a medium bowl.

In a large bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter on medium speed for about 1 minutes, until smooth. Add both sugars and beat for another 2 minutes or so, until well blended. Beat in the vanilla. Scrape bowl and beaters.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating for a minute after each egg goes in. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients in 4 or 5 additions, mixing only until each addition is just incorporated.

Still on low speed, mix in the chocolate and the nut flour.

Chill the dough at least 2 hours (up to 3 days).

After dough chills, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

Scoop the dough into mounds the size of golf balls, about 1 1/2 tablespoons to a mound. Space about 2 inches apart.

Bake one sheet at a time for 8 minutes, then use a metal spatula to gently flatten just a little. Rotate the baking sheet and bake for an additional 7 minutes. The cookies will be a fairly pale brown and will still be slightly soft in the middle...which is good. Remove from the oven and cool for 1 minute, then use a spatula to transfer the cookies to a cooling rack. Cool to room temperature.

Bake the next sheet and continue to shape and bake the cookies the same way, making sure that the baking sheet is cool before putting the dough onto it.

Makes about 50 cookies.

Experiment #1

Well, the GI situation has encouraged me to try some diet changes, including going caffeine free, dairy free and gluten free, plus no red meat. Although this is a pretty dramatic change for me, I'm looking on it as a chance to expand my baking skills.

Yesterday I tried my first GF cookie recipe. I took the Giant Party Cookies recipe and substituted non-dairy margarine for the butter and made up a GF mix which included white and brown rice flours, tapioca flour, cornstarch, oat flour, millet flour and xanthan gum. I didn't remember to write down the amounts I used, so I can't actually give you the recipe for it, but you can used a GF mix...just be sure it contains xanthan gum or add your own...about 2 tablespoons.

I also took out the nuts, substituted white chocolate chips for half the dark chocolate ones, added 1/4 cup dried cranberries and 1/3 cup golden raisins, plus increased the oatmeal by 3/4 cup so that the cookies wouldn't spread too thin.

The cookies were great and Sweetie, who can eat anything, really liked them. I even made some individual sized cookies ( 6 to a baking sheet) that are still oversized, but perfect for those non-party snack attacks. Yay for #1 GF recipe. Will probably try making bread next.

GF Giant Party Cookies

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

2 ½ cups Gluten Free flour mix
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) non-dairy margarine, softened
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup brown sugar, light or dark, packed
2 tsps. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1½ cup quick rolled oats
1 cups (6-oz. package) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup  white chocolate chips/chunks
½ cup golden raisins
1/4 cup dried sweetened cranberries (sub dried apricot pieces and raisins for nuts)


Combine flour, salt and baking soda in a small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl and beat until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape bowl and beaters. Gradually beat in flour and beat until mixed. Beat in oatmeal. Mixture will be stiff. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

Line a 12” pizza pan or large baking sheet with foil. Spray with cooking spray. Put 2 cups of the dough on the foil. Using floured fingers, shape dough into desired shape, circle or heart, square or oval. Make shape about 10” in diameter. Exaggerate the shape since cookie will spread.

Bake one sheet at a time in middle of oven for 15 - 18 minutes until golden brown. Let sit on sheet for 10 minutes, then slide shape on foil onto a cooling rack. Continue to bake the rest of the dough. You can make regular drop cookies with the remainder of the batter if desired.

If desired, once the cookie has cooled, decorate for a party! Mix 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar and enough milk to make a thin icing and drizzle over the cookie in a random pattern. While it is still wet, sprinkle cake decorations (sprinkles, dragees, mini chocolate chips,colored sanding sugar) over as desired.

Orange Complements Chocolate In These Cookies

One of the pleasures of being a baker is spending time paging through cookbooks and surfing online on cooking sites to find ideas and recipes. Many experienced cooks then make little changes to the recipes they find to make the recipe their own. The important thing with baking recipes is to keep the proportions very close to or exactly like those in the recipe since baking is really chemistry and the right proportion of leaveners and salt and liquids to starches is important to avoid baked bricks or items that run all over the pan. An easy change is to swap out flavorings. Often you can jazz up a recipe by just exchanging almond extract for vanilla or coconut extract instead of lemon extract. Citrus zest...the colored part of the skin that has lots of essential oils...is another way of perking up a baked good.

These cookies are ones I found online at bettycrocker.com. They were called the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie and I was drawn to them because they make a soft cookie and that's the kind that Sweetie likes. I wasn't feeling like having nuts in them and I had a beautiful orange sitting on the window sill almost begging to be used, so I took out the nuts and added orange zest since I think that orange and chocolate is a great pairing. You may get a few less cookies without the nuts, or you can add in 1 cup chopped nuts of your choice as well as the orange zest, but these were really nice just the way I made them...soft, a little cakey in the center, crisp at the outer edges and truly delicious.

Because the garden continues to demand attention, today I planted some sprouted seeds of blue morning glories into pots. I had saved the seeds last fall from the plants that grew and twined around the tomatoes and the beans on the netting. They seem pretty vigorous so I hope to get enough plants to set out around this year's veggie seedlings in the next week or so. Hope you are thinking of growing something too. It's a great way to honor the coming of spring and having the mindfulness to keep plants going is a handy skill to develop. If you plant flowers you'll get something beautiful to make you smile and if you plant veggies, herbs or fruits you get the added bonus of something to eat.

Betty's Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies

a variation of a recipe found at bettycrocker.com

3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Make sure you have a couple of baking sheets/cookie sheets

.

In a large bowl, cream the sugars and the butter. Add the vanilla and egg. Mix thoroughly. Add the flour, baking soda, salt and orange zest. Stir until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop by generous 1 tablespoon dollops onto an ungreased baking sheet/cookie sheet, spacing 2 inches apart.

Bake 8 - 10 minutes until light brown. The center will be soft. Cool slightly on the pan, then transfer with a spatula to a cooling rack and finish cooling. Store in an airtight container.

Makes about 48 cookies.

Buttery Good

The December 2012 issue of Saveur Magazine has a selection of recipes using white chocolate, including the cover recipe for white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. The cookies are a bit crispy and a bit chewy and infused with the complementary flavors of macadamia nuts and white chocolate...always one of my favorite combinations for cookies.

Recently I decided to make a batch of them to bring as dessert for a dinner we were invited to. When I went to the store for the macadamia nuts, I found that a can of nuts with a coffee glaze were far less expensive than plain macadamias. This gave me an excellent opportunity to play with the recipe.

A hallmark of these cookies is a buttery goodness and the almost butterscotch flavor from the brown sugar. Since the nuts had a coffee glaze, I decided to add the flavor of coffee to the batter, too. Some espresso powder took care of that. You could really taste it in the uncooked cookie dough, but it was just a hint of coffee in the baked cookies, so the buttery aspect was still dominant. Every once in a while you also bite down on a bit of the glaze, so you get a sweeter hint of coffee. These were good cookies in the original recipe, but now they are outstanding. The white chocolate is very mellow but a nice counterpoint to the coffee and the nuts keep the buttery flavors going. I used Guittard white chocolate discs, unchopped, but any good quality white chocolate will do. Chop it into chunks if it is a whole bar.

Two parts of the instructions are very important: be sure to beat the butter and sugar for at least three whole minutes. It may seem like a long time, but this helps the sugars dissolve a bit and makes sure that there is enough air in the dough. Also, leave the full two inches between dough balls. These cookies tend to spread a lot.

 

I made super sized cookies that were about 6 inches across when baked, just because it is a fun presentation. No one needs more than one cookie, although I made sure there were extra, just in case.

I know that macadamia nuts are expensive, but once in a while it's nice to treat oneself to a buttery, sweet, nutty indulgence.

White Chocolate Coffee Macadamia Nut Cookies
based on a recipe in Saveur Magazine, Dec. 2012

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons espresso powder
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
1 cup sugar
16 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (1/2 pound)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 oz. roughly chopped white chocolate
8 oz. roughly chopped coffee glazed macadamia nuts
(or use plain macadamia nuts if coffee glazed ones are unavailable)

Whisk together flour, salt , baking soda and espresso powder in a bowl; set aside. In a large bowl, beat sugars and butter on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition until smooth; beat in vanilla. Add dry ingredients and beat until just combined; stir in white chocolate and chopped macadamia nuts.

Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Using a large spoon, shape dough into balls and place 2 inches apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Bake until golden brown, about 14 minutes.

Remove to a wire rack to cool. Store airtight up to 3 days (if they last that long!).