Thick, chewy cookies: 2 ways

My mom is chocolate-chip-walnut-cookie fiend. She loves them. Every time I come home from school she pretty much doesn't let me go back until I've whipped her up a batch. She leaves a few out, and then wraps the rest individually in saran wrap and places them in the freezer: that way, every night she snatches one out, pops it in the microwave and then devours it with a glass of cold milk. It's pure genius. And I always get to bring a few back with me as well :)

While my sweet tooth and I love any cookie, I have to say that oatmeal raisin might be my new favorite. Unfortunately, I'm the only one in my family who feels this way....well, at least until they tried this batch of cookies.

There's something about soaking the raisins in egg and vanilla that leaves you with perfectly sweetened and plump raisins that make and already amazing cookie exponentially better. That, plus freezing the dough before popping them in the oven ensures a thick, chewy, almost gooey cookie that's perfect both fresh out of the oven or later on that day.

I wrote up this recipe the exact way I made them: half for me, and half for the rest of my family...that is, until they daringly tried the oatmeal raisin and fell in love. I guess that just means I need to make more, always a good thing.

Thick, chewy cookies: 2 ways

For cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1/2 + 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups oats (not quick cooking)

1/2 cup golden raisins*

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Make cookies:

Preheat oven to 350F and line baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, whisk together 1 egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract: add in the raisins, stir to evenly coat, and set aside.

In the base of a standing mixer, or a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Add in 1 egg and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and cream until smooth. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture and mix only until just combined. Stir in the oats, and then transfer half of the dough to a medium sized mixing bowl.

In one of the bowls, stir in the chopped walnuts and chocolate chips. In the other bowl, stir in the raisins (try to separate them as best as you can from the excess egg/vanilla mixture), cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Here, I find it best to wrap the doughs in saran wrap and place them in the freezer for 30 minutes to ensure a super thick and chewy cookie, but if you can't wait that long scoop them out by the tablespoon full and bake them for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool for at least 3 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire wrack, or to your belly :)

*Of course you can still use regular raisins, but I prefer golden raisins as they are a tad sweeter.

Chocolate Espresso Snowcaps

While I was still on my baking escapades this year, and don't worry there's still more to come, I realized we never do anything really chocolately around in terms of cookies. Yes, I make fudge, and don't forget about the chocolate coating which envelops peanut buttery delicious buck eye balls, but other than that it's all sugar cookies, shortbread type sandwhich cookies, sweet meats, and other non-chocolately treats.

I had seen this recipe quite a few times floating around the blogsphere so I figured if it was made so many times by different bloggers, all with fantastic results raving of the "snowcaps" then I just had to try it- and yes, I'm very glad I did.

Chocolate is always intensified in flavor when paired with anything coffee related, and that trick of the trade shines through in these cookies. Soft and delicate texture, accentuated by the sweet snowcaps of powdered sugar makes these cookies not only look appealing but taste just as good. And, might I add, would be perfectly paired with a steaming mug of hot cocoa :)

Chocolate Espresso Snowcaps

From Martha Stewart

For cookies

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

4 teaspoons instant espresso

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

4 ounces bittersweet (or semisweet) chocolate, melted then cooled

1 tablespoon milk

confectioners sugar for coating

Make cookies:

In a medium sized bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, espresso, baking powder and salt. In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until well combined, then add in the chocolate, once again mixing until well incorporated. Turn down the mixer speed to low,and gradually add in the flour followed by the milk . Transfer the dough to a large piece of saran wrap, flatten into a disk, and freeze until firm, or about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Pinch off sections of the dough and roll into 1 inch balls. Once all of the cookies have been formed, roll them in 1 cup of confectioners sugar placed in a shallow bowl. Bake for 12 minutes, or until they have spread out and the coating has cracks in it.

Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies

I have to admit, I've never been much of a sugar cookie fan. The whole make the dough, let it chill, roll it out, cut shapes, bake, and then nom on a slightly crisp sugar cookie really doesn't appeal to me. And don't forget about the fact that sugar cookie recipes make tons of cookies. So not only do you have to eat them all, you really don't enjoy eating that many, it's more like a chore. I mean, if I'm going to do all that work and eat all them, at least make them more flavorful or chewy, I love chewy cookies: it's how they're meant to be.

My sugar cookie dilemma was solved however, with these little babies. And it's actually really funny, because my best friend at school showed me the recipe on another blog as a joke saying "those cookies are so ugly, who would put up not cute sugar cookies?!" I, however, was intrigued. Yes, those weren't your stereotypical sugar cookies, but they looked giant, soft, chewy, and I decided I had to make them.

Boy, am I glad I did. The batter is unlike any other cookie batter I have ever made. Light, fluffy, and so aromatic it's a wonder I didn't eat more than just scraping the bowl (..and maybe some extra off the spatula, but a baker's gotta taste her goodies!) And don't mention the fact I had three immediately when they came out of the oven...and two more later. They're that good.

Old fashioned sugar cookies

From Tate's Bake Shop

For cookies

3 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking power

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 cup sour cream

Make cookies:

Preheat the oven to 350F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

With a standing mixer, or in a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar on medium speed until they are extremely light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Add the vanilla and the egg; mix well, and scrape down the sides once to ensure it all gets incorporated evenly. Add the sour cream and mix until combined. With the mixer on low, slowly add in the flour in three or four batches until combined.

Drop the cookies on the prepared baking sheets about three inches apart as the cookies will flatten and spread. Bake for 12 minutes or until they are pale/golden brown. Allow them to cool for 3 minutes on the pan before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have an excuse for the lack of pictures...they were gone before I got the chance to take some- they were that good. Also this recipe, and a few others I've made, have been a little postponed due to a lovely night in the er, but they're coming!

I had been searching around for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe for quite some time, and didn't want to do the usual NYTimes one (although I will someday, along with the infamous world peace cookies) and stumbled upon the 250$ Neiman Marcus Recipe. I wanted to do my own thing with the recipe though, so after researching I decided to replace some of the regular flour with bread flour, as it has a higher gluten content to keep the cookies from spreading out too much, the corn starch does this too- aka a thicker, richer cookie. Just how I like it. Also, semi-sweet chocolate is good, but to go along with the espresso powder I wanted the bittersweet to make the cookie even more rich and decadent. After one cookie, everyone in my family was drooling for more...

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 cup light brown sugar

3 tbs. granulated sugar

1 large egg

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tbs. milk

1 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup bread flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. corn starch

1 1/2 tsp. instant espresso powder

4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Preheat the oven to 300F. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Then add in the egg, vanilla, and milk and beat until well incorporated.

In another bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, corn starch and espresso powder. Beat the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in about three batches, mixing well after each addition. When combined, stir in the chopped chocolate. Form the dough into a ball, and refrigerate for about 30 minutes to really allow the flavors to come together.

Scoop out the dough with a ice cream scoop into large sized golf balls, and place about 2 incehs apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 20 minutes or until perfectly golden. Serve warm with a glass of milk :)