Peanut butter Cookies

Here are the peanut butter cookies I baked for my colleagues for Christmas.  I'd stopped doing Christmas goodie bags for awhile.  Only because Christmas time always gets so hectic, I eliminated some things to alleviate stress and this was one of them.  But this year I opted to go ahead with the Christmas bags at work, as I was going to be in a new role the following year which meant I will not be working with the same people anymore.  I wanted to show them how much I enjoyed working with them and what better way to do that than with cookies.  Peanut butter cookies.

I have to say, readers, that these cookies taste better than their scrumptious appearance, if you can believe it.  They really are amazing cookies and should definitely be in everyone's baking repertoire.   They freeze very well, too.  Oooh, almost forgot.  I used crunchy peanut butter - which is the best kind of peanut butter.  I also used regular sugar to coat the cookies but the crystalized(?) ones (the bigger sugar) will probably work better - as is shown on Smitten Kitchen's post. 

Here's the Smitten Kitchen link to the recipe.  She got it from the Magnolia Bakery book.    :)
By the way.  How was your Christmas and New Year's?

Milk Chocolate and Hazelnut Cookies

   

So, out of no where, this recipe sprung up on the blog, Wee Treats by Tammy.  It had no rising agent and no milk.  But by the power of her delicious photography, I was persuaded and decided to quench my thirst for some choc chip cookies and baked these.  They were interesting.  The dough was crumby.  Don't know if it was supposed to be but it was.  So, I had to really mold the crumbs into the shape of a cookie.  I think next time I might add a bit more liquidy agent like milk or egg, and yes I pledge to a next time for these cookies.  

I added toasted walnuts instead of hazelnuts.  I chopped them up and just toasted them on a frying pan on medium heat (with no oil or anything) until the aroma of roasted walnut filled up the kitchen.  Yes, I went by my sense of smell to decide whether they were done roasting.  I probably roasted them for about 3-4 minutes or a little bit more.  I really think that walnuts were an ingenious choice for these cookies. 

The vanilla was very pronounced but these cookies really were D-licious.  

The Recipe

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Let's talk about what stirs your pot.
What stirs your pot?  What rattles your cage?  What kills your buzz? What annoys you? (An endless array of idioms may be???)
For me, movies like 'Nights in Rodanthe' - they made me all excited with Richard Gere and Diane Lane... and then when I finally got around to seeing it?  Zip. Nothing. Nada.  What about rain on the day you planned a beach picnic - grrrrrrrr~!!!!!  Talk to any Aucklander and they'll know what I'm talking about.  How about when people cancel on you when you've been looking forward to seeing them all week.  Bastards!  >:-[
I'm not trying to entice you to the dark side of negativity, I'm just trying to transition into talking about my cookies.  My chocolate chip cookies...... :)

I had one of those days.  Y'know, one of those days when you need someone, something, some song to make you feel better?  Well, I was having one of those days so, I decided to bake me some chocolate chip cookies.  I have about a million chocolate chip cookie recipes and, yes, I do plan to try aaaall of'em.  But that wasn't the day to trial a recipe.  No.  I wanted a foolproof recipe that would sweeten up my cloudy day.  So, I used the best chocolate chip cookie recipe that I know - The Nestle Tollhouse recipe.  Yea Yea Yeah~~~ baby~~~
Can anything go wrong when you've got chocolate chip cookies?  I don't think so~  :)

The Recipe

BTW, the myth about chilling the dough?  Not a myth.  I believe in it.  Use these chocolate chip cookies to try this out and you'll know what I mean.  I put'em in the fridge overnight.  You can freeze the dough, too.  Just transfer them to the fridge a few hours before you plan to bake them.  They'll be as crispy as fresh bed of autumn leaves and goo-hoo-hooey on the inside. Enjoy.  :)

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Every week, I have this routine.  It is this:  After church, I would go to a petrol station (that's gas station in the American language).  There's this petrol station near my church that I can earn reward points from and also where I can get an amazing white chocolate macadamia nut cookie.  Sometimes I'll go a little later in the day and their cookie won't be as fresh as I'd like but it still manages to kill it every week.  But today, I thought I'd break out of that habit.  I baked my own cookies.  Yeah baby~  That's what it's all about, right?

As always, there were some choices but I thought my first attempt would be the recipe from allrecipes.com.  Even on that site, I had many to choose from.  I went with the one that looked the most promising with over 200 reviews rating it 4.5 stars out of 5.  That's a pretty good grade, wouldn't you say?

This is a very delicate and light cookie.  I also liked that it didn't overpower me with its sweetness.
Next time I will try chilling the dough before popping them in the oven.  :)

White Chocolate Macadamie Nut Cookies

Allrecipes.com

• 1 C butter softened (225g) room temp (I used salted but you'd probably use unsalted)
  
• 3/4 C packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 C white sugar
• 2 eggs room temp
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (I used 1tsp of vanilla and no almond extract)
  
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt (I skipped this cuz I used salted butter)
• 1 C coarsely chopped macadamia nuts (I used about 130g which was perfect)
• 1 C coarsely chopped white chocolate (of course...I used whittaker's)

1. Preheat oven to 350deg F (175 deg C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugars until smooth using an electric mixer or a stand mixer.  
3. Beat in the eggs, one at a time then stir in the vanilla and almond extract.
4. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt.  Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture.  Do not overmix.
5. Fold in the macadamia nuts and white chocolate.
6. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.  (I made a big ball of about 1 1/2 inch drops)
7. Bake for 10 minutes or until the top is golden brown.  (I baked for 11 minutes and watched the bottom of the cookie which turned golden brown.  The dome of the cookies were very pale and inflated.  The deflate as they cool)
8. Cool on pan for a few minutes then cool completely on a wire rack.
9. I made 28 cookies.  :)
   

Double Chocolate Cookies

So. I was thinking about how I could introduce these cookies to you. I thought may be something poetic like - if heaven existed on earth, it'd be these cookies. Or something more tangible like if Brad Pitt were a cookie, he'd be these (even though for me comparing them to John Krasinski or Jimmy Fallon would be more accurate). But I couldn't make up my mind so I'm just gonna say it straight: These cookies are a-mazing. I think my taste buds were surprised at such level of goodness. They're still in shock. Really. Let me put it this way. Think of the best chocolate chip cookie you've ever had. You thinkin' about the gooey, chewy cookie? The one that makes your mouth water just picturing it? I can confidently tell you that these cookies will take that cookie down any day of the week.
Have I convinced you yet?

This is Martha Stewart's recipe and I have to say, the lady knows her stuff.
A note about the dough. Although, I always try the dough before I pop my baking in the oven, I've never been a 'lick-the-bowl' kinda gal. I usually let the raw dough on my mixing bowl or whatever get washed away in the sink. But this dough - my goodness - I couldn't stop eating it!
It is velvety and shiny and quite irresistible.



























Double Chocolate Cookies
Martha Stewart.com
Makes about 3 dozen (I made 2 dozen - but I made mine pretty big)

• 1 C all-purpose flour
• 1/2 C unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (I used sweetened - which made the cookies turn out a tad bit sweet but it was still mind-blowingly awesome so I think it's safe to use whichever)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp coarse salt (I skipped this cuz I used salted butter)
• 1/2 lb good-quality milk chocolate, 4oz coarsely chopped and 4 oz cut into 1/4 inch chunks (I used Whittaker's creamy milk chocolate and used 250g which is a bit more than the recipe calls for - if you can get your hands on Whittaker's USE THEM!)
• 1/2 (1 stick, 113 g) unsalted butter (I used salted)
• 1 1/2C sugar (I used caster)
• 2 large eggs - room temp
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 325 deg F/162 deg C.
2. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside
3. Melt 4 oz coarsely chopped chocolate with butter in a small heatproof bowl set over simmering water. Let cool slightly (I cooled it to lukewarm - close to room temp)
4. Put chocolate mixture sugar, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until well combined. (I used a hand-mixer)
5. Reduce speed to low and gradually mix in flour until just combined. Fold in chocolate chunks
6. Using a 1 1/2 ice cream scoop, drop dough onto parchment0lined baking sheets. Leave 2 inch space between cookies.
7. Bake until the surface cracks - about 15 minutes. (I baked for 13 minutes in my oven). The cookies will be very soft to the touch and a little bit inflated when you take them out. It will deflate as you cool them on the pan. Let cool on pan for a few minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
8. Can be stored airtight container at room temp up to 3 days.

Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies

A hundred and twenty-seventh. This feels like my hundred and twenty-seventh chocolate chip cookie recipe that I've collected in the last month. I believe that I'm the last blogger to bake this recipe? That's okay. Cuz, if we reverse orders, it's like I'm first. I'm the first last person. :-P

The first time I saw this on Martha Stewart's site, I drooooooled and had to sit on my hands so that I won't run off and bake these. Finally, last night, I got to bake these gorgeous cookies. Aren't they gorgeous? :)

Want a bite? Go on. Take it! I won't tell. Shhhh :)

Yyyyyup! Whittaker's it is. Whittaker's.

LOVE the sight of chopped up chockies.
So beautiful.

Have you met my hand mixer, yet?
This is my bestest friend in the kitchen.
I plan on buying a stand-mixer in the future
but this one will always remain to be my very first mixer.
'Firsts' are some serious stuff.
First word
First love
First hand mixer... :) hee hee

These cookies are very honest. Half of the flour used in this recipe is bread flour and like a good ol' honest cookie, the bread flour is very evident when you take a bite. The bites were quite a mouthful. Thsee cookies aren't famously "crispy on the outside and chewy, gooey on the inside." But it's got its own charm, I'd say. If I were to personify them...I'd use the word...manly..?

They were gone in approximately two minutes. I only got to have two cookies. But I'm very happy with that. :) I find the best part about baking is watching others enjoy the goodies.

Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies
*I halved this recipe.

• 1 lb unsalted butter
• 1 3/4 C granulated sugar
• 2 1/4 C packed light-brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 3 C plus 2 tablespoons pastry flour
• 3 C bread flour
• 1 Tbs salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 Tbs pure vanilla extract
• 2 lb Jacques Torres House chocolate or other best-quality semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (60% cocoa)

1. Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Reduce speed to low and add both flours, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, and chocolate; mix until wel combined.
3. Using a 4 oz scoop for larger cookies or a 1 oz scoop for smaller cookies, scoop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 2 in apart. Bake until lightly browned, but still soft, about 20 min for larger cookies and about 15 min for smaller cookies. Cool slightly on baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

P.S. - I just found another choc chip cookie recipe. Dang it. Gotta sit on my hands again.

Honey Lemon Cookies

When I see 'lemon' in a recipe, I think delicate, sunny, light, sweet. And I needed some of those with my horrible sinus infection and the fickle fickle New Zealand weather. (C'mon! Make up your mind, already! Four seasons in one day - totally confusing!)

These cookies are closer to cake, like madeleines. They're very soft and subtle. And these aren't one of those cookies that would dazzle you at first bite (or sight). Rather, these will subtly grow on you like....your new jeans you have to wear a few times until you declare it your favourite......Just this morning, I, inadvertantly, ate four cookies in one sitting. Oooops!

The original recipe calls for sugar icing but I coated the cookies with chocolate ganache, instead. I had some cream that I needed to use up. The ganache, I liked very much. :) (Although, they are fantastic on their own, too)


Honey Lemon Cookies
From Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 7 Tbsp butter, softened (about 98g)
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 3/4 C all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 C honey
• 1/4 C plain yogurt (I used sour cream because it's what I had)
• 2 tsp grated lemon peel
• 1/2 tsp lemon extract (I used 2 Tbsp of lemon juice because, again, it's what I had)
• ICING
• 1 C confectioners' sugar
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp grated lemon peel

What you do

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F
2. In a small mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Combine honey, yogurt, lemon peel and lemon extract. Add dry ingredients to cream mixture alternately with honey mixture.
3. Drop by tablsponfuls 2 inches aprt onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks.
4. In a small bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Brush over the warm cookies; sprinkle with lemon peel.

Chocolate Ganache (I made very little ganache, so you may want to double this recipe if you want to coat all of your cookies)

1. In medium-high heat cook 1/4 C of thickened cream to boil in a saucepan.
2. When the cream comes to boil and is smooth, turn the heat off and pour 100g of bittersweet dark chocolate chips into the saucepan and sir until all is smooth. Remove from heat and cool for about 30 minutes or until ganache is lukewarm.
3. When the cookies have cooled, spoon 1-2 tablespoons of ganache over cookies that are on a tray with parchment paper.
4. Refrigerate cookies until the ganache sets.

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Cookies

(A redo of Honey I Shrunk the Kids Cookie blog entry)
Remember the scene in 'Honey, I Shrunk the Kids' when the shrunken kids come across an oreo cookie in the backyard? These cookies look exactly like that cookie. Exactly.

I worked really hard with these cookies. Like really hard.
I used an electric hand mixer for all the food-processing steps and oh boy oh boy oh boy..it made up for not going to the gym. Definitely need to get me one of those food processors.

And. That damned cream. That damned cream just would not cream so I stood in my tiny little kitchen with my arm around my mixing bowl and the other hand trying to control the electric hand mixer to stay at an angle to keep my crumbly cream from going everywhere - which it did. I've got splashes of the cookie and cream mixes all over my kitchen walls. Nice.

I made these last night. With all that hard work, I had 'great expectations' for these cookies. I was pleased with the appearance - very 'Honey I shrunk the kids.' I wasn't so sure about how they tasted, though. But today, I think they actually taste a lot better than last night. I might do a rerun of these cookies..probably after I purchase a proper food processor. (Also, if I can find some proper vegetable shortening. I used 'shredded' shortening - have no idea if there's a big difference. I used this shortening cuz I couldn't find any other kind of shortening. Am I not looking hard enough or do New Zealanders not use veggie shortening?)

Anyhoo...
Here's the recipe from Smitten Kitchen.
Makes 25 to 30 sandwich cookies
For the chocolate wafers:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar [see recipe note]
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg
For the filling:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375°F.
2. In a food processor, or bowl of an electric 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.
3. Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately two 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.
4. 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 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.
5. To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center 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. Dunk generously in a large glass of milk.

I'd like to dedicate these cookies to my electric hand mixer who worked really hard with me. Well done mixer. Well done.

Chocolate Crinkles - to make the world a better place

Have you seen this movie? It's one of my favourites. It's definitely a unique movie that has ejected itself from the mainstream of Hollywood movies. It's got wit, charm, heart. I especially love the fact that the movie features writers and bakers. :)
In the movie, Will Ferrell meets a quirky baker, Maggie Gyllenhaal. And, of course, they meet to fall in love. (What other reason could there be??) Will Ferrell asks the quirky baker how she came to be baker and she replies that she initially wanted to be a lawyer to make the world a better place but dropped out of law school to become a baker. She figured that she would make the world a better place with cookies instead of with law as the latter wasn't working out for her. Isn't that great? Isn't that what all of us should strive to do with what we do, whether we end up where we planned to be or not? To make the world a better place - by baking, waitressing, or dog-walking, if we all did what we do with this mindset, we can totally improve the world, right?

So here's my contribution to healing the world and making a better place - Chocolate Crinkles. Yeah~I have nick-named these 'brownie cookies' - if you love brownies you cannot not love these little babies.




Chocolate Crinkles
adaptd from Joy of Baking (Stephanie Jaworski) -> Have you been to this site? It's totally amazing! I'll probably end up downloading all of the recipes on this site!!!

You need:

• 4 Tbsp (56g) unsalted butter
• 8oz (225g) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 C (100g) granulated white sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 C (210g) all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• Topping: 1 C (110g) confectioners sugar, sifted
• I didn't have enough chocolate to melt so I added 2 Tbsp of cocoa powder - I did see another Chocolate Crinkle recipe that added cocoa powder.

1. In a stainless steel bowl, over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter. Remove from heat and set aside
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until thick, pale, and fluffy. (When you slowly raise the beaters the batter will fall back into the bowl in slow ribbons.) At this point beat in the vanilla extract and then stir in the melted chocolate mixture.
3. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder. Add dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to shape into balls (3-4hrs or overnight)
4. Preheat oven to 325 d F (170 d C) and place rack in the center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
5. Place the confectioners sugar in a shallow bowl. With lightly greased hands, roll a small amount of chilled dough to form a 1 inch diameter ball. Place the ball of dough into the confectioners sugar and roll the ball in the sugar until it is completely coated and no chocolate shows through. Gently lift the sugar-covered ball, tapping off excess sugar, and place on prepared baking sheet. Place the cookies 2 inches apart. (If you find the dough getting too soft for rolling into balls, return to the refrigerator and let chil until firm) I was a little impatient (I wanted the cookies NOW) so I stuck the dough in the freezer for 30 minutes. The dough was very flaky so I took the amount I needed for a cookie and squeezed them a few times with my hands like I was playing with a playdough and it was quite easy to mold.
6. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes or just until the edges are slightly firm but the centers are still soft. (For moist chewy cookies do not over bake. Over baking will give you dry cookies) Leave on the pan until the cookies are set. Place on a wire rack to cool.
7. Makes about 3 dozen.

P.S. - I had my first baking burn today. I burned my index finger and thumb. Now, I'm a real baker..right?

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

Joy the Baker has become one of my favourite blogs to visit. Not only does she concoct unique and yummy looking recipes, she's a discreetly talented & funny writer. Just yesterday, I came across this flourless peanut butter cookie recipe on her blog and was itching to try them out. I also had a jar of peanut butter that I had since last December and this was about to expire. So, it was the perfect recipe.

Here it is:
1 C all-natural chunky or smooth peanut butter
1C sugar (1/2 brown sugar, 1/2 granulate sugar) - I used 1/3 of each, ending up with 2/3 of sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (about 180 degrees C). Grease a baking sheet with butter and set aside. In a mixer combine peanut butter and sugars until well combined, mix for about 2 min. Add egg and baking soda and mix for another 2 min. Roll into walnut sized balls and create a criss-cross pattern with a fork. Remember to leave room between the cookie drops because they spread. As you can see in the picture, I forgot to do that!

If you'd like, add a few chocolate pieces to the top of the cookies. (I added the wrong kind of chocolate and they didn't melt!!! - as you can see in the picture. :P) Bake for 10 minutes until lightly browned (My oven took 15 minutes). When they're right out of the oven, they will look bloated and will feel too soft. It will calm down and harden as it cools. Cool on baking sheet before enjoying them.

The cookies would do better with the name biscuits. They were cripy, airy, and very, very light. I personally prefer dense, chewier cookies but I'm sure these will grow on me. I still gobbled down two cookies. :D

(21 July) I now realise that the choclates need to be smeared with a spoon or a knife after it's been baked. ah..........