Chocolate Chip Cookies

Let's just put it out there-I hate chocolate chip cookies. I hate eating them, I hate the way they smell, I hate making them. I just hate them.

Everyone has they're own particular idea of how the cookies should be-soft, crunchy, crunchy outside, soft inside. So for years I wouldn't make them, because it stressed me out thinking that everyone would hate them-and what kind of baker are you if you can't make good chocolate chip cookies?!

Well I still don't feel like I can make good ones, I still hate making them, but the difference? Someone pays me to make them. That's right, I have literally been comissioned with cash money for make chocolate chip cookies. Yesterday was the second time I made them for pay, and I have three more  times coming up in the next 6 weeks. It's unreal! I always think people won't pay for something they can easily make themselves, but apparently that's just not the case. Sometimes ease outweighs the cost of having them made.

I've decided not to spend my time rewriting recipes from other blogs that I can easily just link to, but I will give a few pointers, or tips that I follow.

• Use good quality chocolate. It doesn't have to be something hand made in Incan Mexico that's only available online two weeks every year. I just mean, don't use Nestle. I stick with Ghiradelli Bittersweet with 60% cacoa. It's easily purchasable just about everywhere, and it's good quality. Valrhona is also a good brand, but I don't have anywhere Whole Foods near me.
• Be organized. One of the two keys of this recipe that divides it from others is the resting period on the dough, and the salt sprinkle. So plan ahead when you know you'll need them, and make them 24-36 hours ahead of time and let the dough sit in your fridge until you're ready.
• Salt! It sounds gross and counter-productive, but sweet and salty is the best combination ever. That little extra sprinkle of sea salt makes all the difference!

So there it is. The tricks of the trade using the New York Times recipe they published a few years back. One batch makes about 3 dozen medium/large cookies.

To be honest, like I said about hating them and all, I'm not totally in love with the final product. I always take them out earlier than suggested and still end up with cookies that are crunchier than I would prefer. But the women paying me likes this recipe, so it's staying around for now. But in the future, I think the three tips above, used on a different base recipe will kick them up a notch!

Gimme s'more!

Summer's on it's way, and all I want to do it sit around a camp fire making s'mores. I want to have a big kid s'more party and have fun, different ingredients and we can all make our own unique s'mores. Let's do it!!

Mmm graham cracker crust and melted chocolate!

Top is off with some toast-y marshmallow goodness.

Okay, maybe just a s'more cupcake party! My old coworkers like these so much they called them s'moregasms. Trust me, they'll be a hit!

This s'more tart couldn't go to the party, but I'll enjoy it anyway!

And all that toast-y marshmallow love will definitely get you in the mood for some fun summer nights!!

Who needs Girl Scouts?

Finally, I'm on top of things this week!!

Tonight is the monthly women's group get together at my church and we're all bringing food and recipes. So I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone and bring cookies! So I sorta fudged my own rule of only making cookies I've never made before. I hate bringing things to a potluck if I've never made them before because I'm pretty critical of my baking. So, while I've never made these in cookie form before, I have made them as bar cookies before. Medium cheat, but what are ya gunna do?

I made Samoas! These are my absolute favorite Girl Scout cookies. They turn out chewier than the originals, but equally delicious.

Samoas Girl Scout CookiesFrom Baking Bites

Cookies
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Cream together butter and sugar. Slowly mix in flour, baking powder and salt. Add vanilla and slowly add milk until the dough comes together-you may not need all the milk. Roll your dough out to 1/4 inch on a floured surface, and you may need to add flour to keep dough from sticking. Cut into desired shape and place on lined/greased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes until cookies are slightly browned.

*On a side note-as legit as the cookies look with the center cut out, it's a total hassle when adding the topping, so if you don't mind the difference, just go with a circle!


Topping
3 cups shredded coconut
12 oz. chewy caramels
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tbsp milk
8 oz semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Spread shredded coconut on a cookie tray. Toast for 10-12 minutes, strirring every three minutes. Let cool.
Unwrap caramels and place in a microwaveable bowl. Add milk and salt; microwave for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Fold in coconut. Spread topping onto cooled cookies.
After all your cookies are topped, melt chocolate chips in the microwave, stirring frequently to prevent it from burning. Dip the bottom of the cookies into the chocolate. Place the remaining chocolate in a plastic bag, snip off a corner, and drizzle across tops of cookies. Eat one. Or two. Or 12.

World Peace Cookies

Watch Megan's 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies fall apart spectacularly.

Sorry! I really shouldn't be apologizing, because really I'm only wrecking the experience for myself. Between starting a new job and first time apartment hunting, I've had just zero time to worry about recipes and baking and writing. So this was the first thing to go. And I won't even try and say that in the future when things get crazy hectic that I'll try harder. Cause, if I'm being honest, this would be the first thing to go again. The worst part is, I anticipated this very thing and have multiple posts already typed with pictures in place ready to go! None of them are cookies, but even if I was skipping the 12 Weeks posts, I still could have been putting something out there! Lame, Megan. Lame.

Oh well, no more excuses, I completely skipped last week, but this week I'm armed with World Peace Cookies! I'd love to say something fun about how they filled me with peace through my apartment hunt but...since I just made them this morning, that's not true. Any peace I had definitely came from above, but these cookies are still FANTASTIC. I mentioned in the beginning that I'm not a huge cookie fan, but shortbread is my total downfall. I could eat a whole batch of shortbread without sharing. This ones are still sandy and buttery, but also rich and fantastic. Make some. Eat them. You won't regret it.

World Peace Cookies
From Dorie Greenspan

1 1/4 cups flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
11 Tbsp butter, room temperature
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
generous 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Mix together flour, cocoa and baking soda; set aside.

Cream butter until light and fluffy. Mix in both sugars, salt and vanilla until well blended. Dorie then has an interesting way of mixing in the flour. Add the whole flour mixture into the bowl, and cover your bowl and mixer with a towel. Slowly pulse your mixer four or five times to combine the majority of the flour (the towel keeps you from ending up with a kitchen covered in flour!). Take the towel off and finish mixing until the flour is just combined, and mix in the chocolate chips.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and divide in half. Shape both parts into a log, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for two hours before baking. Dough can also be frozen, simply add an extra minute to the baking time.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. After dough has been refrigerated, cut logs into cookies and place on greased/lined cookie tray. Bake for 12 minutes (or 13 for frozen dough). Cookies will look doughy and not finished, but after cooling will be sandy and, mmm, so delish.

I only baked a quarter of the recipe, and then I ate three of the cookies before I even took pictures so I tried to fake it...

But my tray is depressingly empty...

Grown Up Baileys Creme Brownie Oreos

Here it is-my first official 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies post!

(Such great camera skills-too much bottom, not enough top...)
Like I mentioned in my last post, I've never been much of a cookie baker. That probably stem froms the fact that chocolate chip cookies totally intimidate me. Everyone likes their chocolate chip cookies slightly differently and I just don't know what to do since I have no opinion on them.

So, in order to expand my horizons, I decided to join 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies, and at least try 12 new recipes!

So my own personal prerequisite is that I can't use a recipe I've tried in that past. That's right, even my absolute favorite Christmas cookies won't make the cut (although, naturally, they'll make it on the blog some other way!).

Also, because of the way my hours were going at Safeway the last couple weeks, funds were...nearly nonexsistent. So the biggest challenge for me was figuring out what ingredients I had on hand, and using only those. Thus, the only things I had to buy was sugar, flour, and shortening. Not too bad. (Don't you just hate running out of kitchen staples like that all at once?!)

So, this weeks ingredients were espresso and Baileys! I decided to use a brownie roll out cookie recipe I've been hoarding for a while, and wanted to fill them with something, and finally settled on an oreo cookie filling.

I had a very small cookie cutter (well actually I left all my cookie cutters in Phoenix, and had to use the large end of a frosting tip to cut my cookies), and I ended up with 163 cookies. I was able to make 81 cookies with this recipe. And you'll probably curse me after you mix your filling thinking, "Megan, there's no way I can fill all my cookies. Now I have to mix more!" But fear not, you'll be amazed at how far the filling goes. I even had a tablespoon left over at the end.
Now, enough talking, finally on to the recipe!

Brownie Roll Out Cookies
Adapted from Technicolor Kitchen

3 cups flour
½ tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
2 sticks butter, room temperature
1 ½ cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp espresso powder
2/3 cup cocoa powder (*note-the original recipe calls for unsweetened, I used dark cocoa powder cause 1. I had it on hand, 2. I liked the dark cocoa with espresso/Baileys combo better, anyways.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix together flour, salt and baking powder; set aside. In a large bowl, mix together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Mix in vanilla, espresso powder, and cocoa powder. Slowly add in flour mixture. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least one hour.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface to 1/4" thick, and cut as you wish! Bake for 11 minutes, or until set. After they've cooled, you can fill them with the oreo filling!

See, you may want to create bigger cookies...or else you get to fill all 81 sandwiches!

Baileys Oreo Creme Filling
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1/2 stick butter, room temperature
1/4 cup vegetable shortening (ie. Crisco)
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp Baileys Irish Cream

Place the butter and shortening in a large bowl. Slowly add in sugar and Baileys. Mix on high for 2 to 3 minutes, or until light and fluffy.

This feeling holds endless flavor possibilities, and can easily be made kid friendly by replacing the Baileys with vanilla. Ooo like peppermint oreos at Christmas time! The cookies are fudgey and so delicious. I brought them into work and overheard a coworker tell someone else she'd eaten 8 of them! They're that good.

Now, what to make next week...?

Softest Chocolate Cookies EVER

Quick, easy, and to the point tonight-Chocolava Cookies! Weird name, I know, but I love it because it's perfect. Crackly outside, with an incredibly gooey, soft chocolate center.

Chocolava Cookies
Recipe from Michelle-Meals

1 1/3 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. cocoa (I prefer dark chocolate powder for these)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 stick butter, softened
3 egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla
powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, brown sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add butter and mix until dough is crumbly. Add the egg whites and vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix until the dogh begins to come together.

Roll dough into 1 in. balls and roll them in powdered sugar. Place 2 in. apart on a greased cookie sheet. Don't worry and think 2 in. is two close, these cookies won't spread much.

Bake for 10 minutes, cookies should be set around the edges, but still soft in the center. Let cool, and enjoy!

S'mores Cupcakes

Taking such a long break in the beginning is not the best way to start a blog. But having a friend in from out of town, and still working everyday, sort of took it all out of me. But I'm back, and ready to go at it again!

So for my second start, here's s'mores cupcakes! Little did I know that it was National S'mores Day when I made these. But it definitely let me celebrate!

They're especially s'mores-like with the graham cracker crust and the melted chocolate chips under the cake.

The recipe (found here) is from Trophy cupcakes, which is a cupcake shop up here in Seattle. I recently stopped by one while I was downtown, and it's so adorable! Like a cute, friendly version of Sprinkles. I had a Samoa cupcake, which wasn't mindblowing, but it was fresh and clearly not mass produced, and yummy. :)