KA Flour Essential Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I haven't posted in awhile. I was in the post-Christmas baking exhaustion. I know that I have posted so many chocolate chip cookie recipes, but they are all so different. These are wonderful. For Christmas I got the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion. I love the book because it has "essential recipes" for making chewy, crunchy, cakey, etc. baked goods. They also have instructional reads for making cookies such as what exactly is creaming and it gives some tips on how to shape cookies and it has a list of essential tools for excellent cookie making. I haven't been able to tackle but this one recipe so far, but I have already made them twice! I wanted to try these because they have 2 things I have never seen in a chocolate chip cookie recipe before and those are vinegar and corn syrup. These cookies were more cakey to me than chewy. I guess the vinegar gives them a "lift." But what is different is that yes they are cakey, but they are very moist and not in the least bit crumbly. I would say they are a perfect medium. They are DELICIOUS and definitely different from other chocolate chip cookies.

King Arthur Flour Essential Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 cup unsalted butter

2/3 cup dark brown sugar

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1 tablespoon cider vinegar or white vinegar

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F. Lightly grease(or line with parchment) two baking sheets.

In a medium-sized bowl, cream together the butter, sugars, corn syrup, and vinegar, then beat in the eggs. Beat in the vanilla, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir in the flour and chocolate chips.

Drop by tablespoonful onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, until they're just set; the centers may still look a bit underdone. Remove them from the oven, and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

English Toffee

This is my mom's recipe that she has made for years. She makes it every Christmas and gives and it is just a part of my childhood. I love English Toffee because it has that almost burnt flavor and it is crisp and just slightly sticks in your teeth (if you make it right). Candy can be tricky because you have to know about the different stages. Soft ball, hard ball, hard crack, etc. A good definition of all of these stages can be found here. Toffee is cooked to a higher temperature so that it reaches the hard-crack stage. If you don't have a candy thermometer, which I didn't have until this year, you can test your candy by dripping a little of the mixture into a cup of cold water. When it is crunchy it is ready.

My original recipe looks like this

1 pound butter

2 cups sugar

2 Tbls. water

Cook over high heat.

Color of a new penny

Pour in pan.

Melt chocolate, pour over toffee. Nuts.

I think I will give a little more instruction here.

English Toffee

1 pound butter (I use salted)

2 cups granulated sugar

2 Tbls water

1 pound milk chocolate, chopped

1 cup finely chopped almonds (I used roasted salted and my mom always uses smoked)

Line a large rimmed cookie sheet with foil and set aside.

In a heavy saucepan, melt butter over med. low heat. When melted, add the sugar and water. Turn the heat to med. high and stir until sugar dissolves. The mixture will begin to bubble. Continue to stir until it reaches hard crack stage (305F on a candy thermometer). It really is about the color of a new penny.

Immediately remove from heat and our into prepared cookie sheet and spread evenly with a wooden spoon.

In a microwave, melt the chocolate in 30 second increments until it is fully melted. Pour over the toffee mixture and spread to cover evenly. Sprinkle with the chopped almonds.

Let stand until it is completely cooled. Break into pieces.

Homemade Oreos

Now how can you replicate an Oreo? When I was first married we used to buy Oreos and the entire bag would be gone in two days. They have that delicious crunchy chocolate cookie on the outside and the super fattening and sugar filled frosting in the center. I am a twist and lick person myself, but I also love dunking them in an ice cold glass of milk and then you get to drink the milk when you are finished with the little pieces of chocolate cookie floating around. So yummm...

I don't eat Oreos like I used to, but I still love them. This homemade version is a really great recipe. I thought the mixing process was odd for a cookie. You put it together backwards by adding the wet ingredients last and there is no "creaming" of the butter and sugar. This makes for a sandy textured cookie, crisp on the outside, but slightly chewy in the center. The frosting is really good too. Very vanilla tasting. This cookie is definitely hard to resist. A definite winner for a Christmas cookie.

Homemade Oreos

Makes 25 to 30 sandwich cookies

For the chocolate wafers:

1¼ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup unsweetened cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 to 1½ cups sugar*

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (1¼ sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter

1 large egg

For the filling:

¼ cup (½ stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter

¼ cup vegetable shortening

2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Set rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375 degrees.

In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, (I used a mixer)thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar.

While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.

Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately 2 inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.

To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2-3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.

To assemble the cookies, put the frosting in a large ziploc bag and cut off a 1/2 inch tip from the corner. Pipe about 1 teaspoon of filling onto the bottom side of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream.

*These are really good small so be careful about sizing your balls of dough.

Caramel Candy Bars

I have been baking, just nothing new. I have a few favorites that people request which also make great holiday cookies. I came across this recipe because I was looking for a way to use up a 14oz bag of Kraft Caramels that I had in the cupboard. This was easy to make and was very delicious. I didn't use the nuts because not everyone likes nuts and I was sending these off to school with my husband. I was surprised at how well these bars held together because the dough was so crumbly. Nice and rich and overall a great recipe.

Caramel Candy Bars

1 bag (14oz) caramels

1/3 cup milk

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups quick cooking or old-fashioned oats

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts or dry roasted peanuts

Heat oven to 350F. Spray a 9x13 baking pan with non-stick spray

Heat caramels and milk in 2 quart saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently, until smooth

Stir together, flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, salt and egg in large bowl. Stir in butter with fork (I usd my hands) until mixture is crumbly. Press half of the crumbly mix in the pan.

Bake 10 minutes. Remove from the oven sprinkle chocolate chips and nuts over the baked layer then drizzle with the melted caramel. Sprinkle with remaining crumbly mixture. Gently pat together. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 30 minutes. Loosen edges from sides of the pan; cool completely.

Giant Ultra Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

When my husband took a bite of these he immediately said, "Mmmm. These-are-so-good," with extreme empahasis on each word. I really think these are his new favorite. Even though chocolate chip cookies are such a basic kind of a cookie, it is still fun to try new recipes because they all come out so different. The special little addition in these is an extra egg yolk. The added fat gives them a great chew and that is how I love my chocolate chip cookies. CHEWY! I used these adorble little striped Christmas white chocolate chips. They were delicious as are chocolate chips I am sure. The butter is melted and so I just whipped the whole thing by hand. No electric appliances necessary. If you love chewy cookies you should really give these a try and they would make a great Christmas treat for friends and neighbors.

Giant Ultra Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 c plus 2 Tablespoons flour, spooned and leveled

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3/4 c butter, melted and cooled to warm

1 c brown sugar

1/2 white sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk together the dry ingredients and set aside.

In a mixing bowl whisk the melted butter and sugars by hand. About 2 minutes.

Beat in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until it still has some flour streaks. Add the chocolate chips and stir until just incorporated.

Scoop into scant 1/4 cups and bake on prepared baking sheet for 15-17 minutes.

*I only put 4 on a pan at once. They need room to spread. Yields 18 giant cookies.

*Another note: I also like to use salted butter when I make chocolate chip cookies. I think they taste better a little saltier.

Lemon Bars

I love lemon bars. Desserts with citrus in them have the illusion of tasting like a "light" dessert. I think this is finally the lemon bar recipe that I will return to whenever I decide to make them. This is one of those things that I always try a new recipe for, but I have no complaints with how these turned out, except that I ate too many of them.

Lemon Bars

Crust:

1/2 c butter, room temperature

1/4 c powdered sugar

1 c all purpose flour

1/8 tsp salt

Filling:

1 c sugar

2 large eggs

1/3 c fresh lemon juice (approximately 2 large lemons)

1 Tablespoon grated lemon zest (2 lemons)

2 Tablespoons flour

Topping:

Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350F and place rack in the center of the oven. Spray an 8x8 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

For Crust:

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the flour and salt and beat until the dough just comes together. Press into the bottom of your prepared 8x8 inch pan. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack while you make the filling.

For Filling:

Beat the sugar and eggs until nice and smooth. Add the lemon juice and zest. Fold in the flour. Pour the filling over the shortbread crust and bake for about 20 minutes, or until filling is set. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

To serve: Cut into squares or triangels and dust with powdered sugar.

Incredible Brownies

These brownies were one of the best that I have ever made. They were so rich and very moist and ever so chocolately. I made them awhile ago and I know I haven't posted any baking delights of late, so I will make two posts today. Again, I know everyone has a preference for the "perfect brownie," but I happen to really like these. The cake flour makes them a little lighter and not quite as dense but still moist.

Brownies

1 c pecans or walnuts, chopped (optional)

1 1/4 c cake flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine

12 Tbls butter, cut into 1 inch pieces

2 1/4 c sugar

4 large eggs

1 Tbls vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325F. Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with foil and let it hang over the edges. (This makes for an easy lift out of the pan and then you can cut the brownies outside of the pan).

Spray foil-lined pan with non-stick cooking spray.

If using nuts, spread nuts evenly on rimmed baking sheet and toast in oven until fragrant, about 5 to 8 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Whisk to combine flour, salt, and baking powder in medium bowl; set aside.

Melt chocolate and butter in a alarge heat proof bowl set over a saucepan of almost-simmering water, stirring cooasionally until smooth OR place the bowl in the microwave, heat butter and chocolate on high for 45 seconds, then stir and heat for 30 more seconds. Stir and repeat in 15 second increments until mixture is completely smooth.

Gradually whisk in sugar to the chocolate mixture. Add eggs one at a time, whisking after each addition. Whisk in vanilla. Add flour mixture in three additions, folding with a rubber spatula until batter is completely smooth and incorporated.

Transfer batter to prepared pan; using spatula, spread batter into corners of pand and smooth surface. Sprinkle toasted nuts (if using) evenly over batter and bake until toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs, 30-35 minutes. Cool on wire rack to room temperature, about 2 hours, then remove brownies from pan by lifting foil overhang. Cut brownies into 2-inch squares and serve.

Yummy Turkey Treat

I found this at familyfun .com. It was so easy to put together and I loved how it turned out and the preschool kids loved it at our Thanksgiving feast.

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
Bosc pear (head)
Melon (body)
Cheese (beak and tail feathers)
Red pepper (snood, feet and side feathers)
Raisins (eyes)
Grapes (tail feathers)
Mini Marshmellows (Tail feathers)

Bamboo skewers
Toothpicks

1. Stabilize the melon body by cutting a shallow slice off the rind to form a flat base. Using a section of bamboo skewer, attach a Bosc pear head to the melon, as shown. 2. Cut a cheese triangle beak and red pepper snood. Attach both, along with raisin eyes, to the head with sections of toothpick. 3. Cut red pepper feet and set them in place. (I used the yellow pepper)For tail feathers, skewer cheese cubes and red grapes, then insert the skewers as shown. Pin pepper side feathers in place with toothpicks. I then topped the skewers with mini marshmellows.