Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 14:28:01 -0600

I have a new found obsession.

My wheat grinder.

I got it a couple weeks ago and I have been using the freshly ground wheat for EVERYTHING.

Jeremiah likes to refer to me as, “the little red hen”.

I don’t care. It’s really fun and knowing that it is super healthy and good for my family makes it even better.

So basically all this recipe is, is the nestle tollhouse recipe from the back of the bag of chocolate chips but with a couple adjustments.

If you do not have access to freshly ground wheat this wont turn out the same. Don’t bother trying to use the store bought stuff. You know how usually you can tell a huge difference when things have been switched to whole wheat flour?

These you can’t tell. Jeremiah (who normally HATES it when I bake with whole wheat) even thought these were better than normal.

VICTORY!!!!!

They are soft and chewy but with a bit of a crunch on the outside.

The only problem I keep finding with them is that since they are whole wheat I keep telling myself, “It’s ok to eat 5 cookies, they’re whole wheat, they’re good for you.” and then I eat like 5 of them.

Or more.

Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups freshly ground whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup gluten flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preparation Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375º.

In the bowl of a mixer with the paddle attachment fitted, cream together the butter and both sugars, then add the vanilla.

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

In a separate small bowl combine the wheat flour, gluten flour, baking soda and salt, stir with a whisk to combine.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix on medium speed until completely blended.

Add in the chocolate chips.

Using a tablespoon or a 1 1/2” scoop, scoop the dough out and drop onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or a baking mat.

Bake for 10 minutes.

They will still look dough-y when you take them out but don’t worry, they’ll be fine.

Allow to cool on the pan about 3-5 minutes and then move to a cooling rack and cool completely.

Serve with a tall glass of milk!

Butterscotch Coconut Cookies

Tue, 1 Feb 2011 11:40:28 -0700

I have craving cookies for the last several days but have been out of chocolate chips. I remembered last night right before dinner that I had butterscotch chips so I went online and started perusing recipes and found this one. Sort of.

I changed a few things.

It was necessary.

The result? Some of the most amazing cookies I have ever eaten. Soft and chewy and a little crisp all at the same time. I thought for sure Jeremiah would hate them since he likes neither butterscotch nor coconut and had prepared myself for the fact that I was likely going to have eat the entire batch myself.

Then he liked them.

On things like cookies I have a tendency to leave them out on the counter and not warn him that he is going to hate them. I let him just find out for himself.

It backfired this time. Oh well.

Ingredients
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups coconut
1 2/3 cups butterscotch chips

Preparation Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375º. In the bowl of a mixer or food processor, cream together the butter and both sugars.

Add the eggs and vanilla.

In another medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and add to butter mixture.

Add the coconut and chips and stir just until combined.

Drop heaping tablespoons onto an un-greased baking sheet, making sure they have room to spread.

Bake for about 10 minutes or until golden brown and have spread out and are nice and flat.

Allow to cool on the tray for about 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.

Chocolate Cookies with Cream Cheese and Peanut Butter Frosting

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 21:53:21 -0700

I made these on a whim the other day cause we had some other kids over. What would a play date be with out cookies?

Well, then there was the fact that Juliette didn’t have a friend over so she was left with no one to play with except Christian and he was being a grouch. So I bribed her to leave the big boys alone by asking her to help me make cookies.

I find I can usually pacify her with baking.

Ingredients
FOR THE COOKIE:
2 whole Large Eggs
½ cups Vegetable Oil
¼ cups All-purpose Flour
1 box Devil's Food Cake Mix, 18.25 Oz

FOR THE FROSTING:
4 ounces, weight Cream Cheese, softened
¾ cups Smooth Peanut Butter
1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
2-½ cups Powdered Sugar
3 Tablespoons Milk
Preparation Instructions
For the cookies:
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly whisk eggs and oil in a medium bowl. Mix in flour and cake mix until well blended. Roll into 1 inch balls and bake for 8-10 minutes on an ungreased cookie sheet. Cool completely on a wire rack.
For the frosting:
In a medium bowl cream together cream cheese, peanut butter and vanilla. Add in powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Add in milk a little at a time until you get the desired consistency.
Spread about 2 Tablespoons of frosting onto the bottom of one cookie and then place another cookie on top, bottom sides facing in. Repeat with remaining cookies and frosting.

Thanks: http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/desserts/chocolate-and-peanut-butter-sandwich-cookies/

Salted Caramel Brownies

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 21:41:43 -0700

I made these to take to a women’s retreat, they are pretty much amazing.
Brownie Ingredients
Makes 9 brownies
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon best-quality cocoa powder, preferably
Valrhona
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for pan
5 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light-brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup (4 1/2 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips, optional
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-by-8-inch square baking pan. Line with parchment paper and butter parchment.
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, and salt; set aside
In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine butter and espresso. Place over low heat and stir until butter has melted. Add chocolate, and stir constantly until mixture is smooth, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in both sugars until well combined.
Add eggs and vanilla and continue stirring until well incorporated and mixture no longer appears grainy. Sift flour mixture over batter, and stir until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips, if using.
Pour batter into prepared baking pan; smooth top with the back of a wooden spoon or a spatula. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs, 28 to 30 minutes. Be sure not to over bake. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

FOR THE CARAMEL GLAZE:
½ cups Heavy Cream
2 cups Sugar
½ cups Water
¼ cups Unsalted Butter, Cut Into Pieces
2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
2 packages (about 1 Tablespoon + 1 Teaspoon) Powdered Gelatin Mixed With 1/4 Cup Water

In a small saucepan over low heat, warm heavy cream. Do not boil.
In a separate tall saucepan, combine sugar and water. Do not stir. Place over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Cook until the mixture turns an amber color—not too dark, but definitely amber. Remove pan from stove.
Add warm cream, butter, and salt. Stir gently until mixture is smooth and well combined. When it is smooth and calmed down a bit, pour in gelatin/water mixture and stir. After it has cooled a tiny bit, about 6-7 minutes pour over the brownies and let cool completely. Cut into bars and serve!

Note: I liked the caramel when I ate some of these the day I made them, but then next day they got pretty gelatinous so if you know you are going eat them the same day go ahead and add the full 2 packets of gelatin but if you are going to wait a while I would add less, maybe somewhere between 1 and 1.5 packets.

The Ideal Sugar Cookie

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 21:40:54 -0700

These are pretty much amazing. They are supposed to have brandy in them, I was out of brandy (last of it used in creme brulee :) so I used rum. I love the extra, umm, dimension?, it adds to the cookies. Of course probably don't want to let the kids eat the cookie dough....

These happen to be the kind of cookie that gets softer when they have been sitting under some plastic wrap or something like that. I do not have a cookie jar (in the worlds smallest kitchen I just don't have the space) so I always just leave them on a plate covered in plastic wrap.

Oh and the colors in the picture, well that is what happens when Linus is in charge.

Ingredients
Makes 2 dozen
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons brandy, or milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Royal Icing for Sugar Cookies, optional

Directions
Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar; mix until light and fluffy. With mixer running, add egg, brandy, and vanilla; mix until well combined. With the mixer on low, slowly add reserved flour mixture. Mix until just combined.
Transfer dough to a work surface. Shape into 2 discs, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with nonstick baking mats or parchment paper; set aside.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes, and transfer to prepared baking sheets, leaving an inch in between. Leftover dough can be rolled and cut once more. Bake until lightly golden, about 10 minutes; do not allow to brown. Transfer to wire racks to cool.
Decorate with Royal Icing, optional. (I used a regular white (well, blue really) frosting that I had left in the freezer from the last time we made sugar cookies but normally I use Royal Icing.)

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Ideal Sugar Cookies Recipe - MarthaStewart.com

Favorite Sugar Cookies

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 21:40:13 -0700

I have been using this recipe for a few years and it is undoubtedly my favorite. The dough itself is very simple and makes for very soft, yummy cookies. The work is in the decor, as with any sugar cookie I suppose. I will put the instructions here for what I do, but you can certainly just use your favorite white frosting for these.

Ingredients for the Cookies
1 pound butter, divided
1 white cake mix
2 3/4 cups flour

Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 350º.
Melt 2 sticks of butter completely. Cut the other two sticks into small cubes and add to the melted butter. Stir until all the butter is melted. Combine butter, cake mix and flour in a stand mixer and beat with paddle attachment until smooth. Roll out 1/8” thick and cut out with cookie cutters. Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake about 10 minutes or until just slightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool on the tray about 8-10 minutes. Remove from tray and place on a cooling rack until ready to frost.

Ingredients for Frosting
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon merengue powder
5-6 tablespoons warm water (amount will depend on if you are making the thick frosting for the edging or the watery frosting for the middle)

Preparation Instructions
Combine all the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer with the wire whisk attachment. Whisk until smooth.

To make the thick icing, I usually add 4 tablespoons of water to the whole batch and then after I have separated it I add more to the larger portion.

This is where things get tricky. You could just make it thick and slap it on with a knife. I would not blame you at all for that. But if you want things to be neat and orderly, this is what you are going to do. Get out a piping bag and fit it with a small round tip. Take about a 1/3 of the frosting and put it in a small bowl. If you want to color it, do so now. After you have colored it, put it into the piping bag.
Add another tablespoon of water to the larger portion of frosting and mix, if you need to add more go ahead. You want it fairly runny but not watery if that makes sense. Go ahead and tint this also if you want to.
Next, get a line of cookies ready to frost and pipe the outline each cookie with the piping bag. Next, fill the inside of where you piped with the watery frosting, if you need to move it around with a knife do so quickly as the frosting starts to harden fairly quickly. For this reason I usually like to just do circles because then you can just swirl cookie around to get the frosting all the way to the edge, but circle just are not satisfying for kids.
The frosting will harden in about an hour and a half.

We have discovered that these are pretty good if eaten the day you frost them. But they are WAY better if you cover the plate with plastic wrap and let them sit overnight. They soften up nicely and are absolutely perfect.

If you need a visual of how to decorate the cookies like this go to this link:

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/ideal-sugar-cookies?backto=true&backtourl=/photogallery/sugar-cookie-recipes#slide_6

Cream Wafers

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 21:39:19 -0700

I hope Jeremiah’s Grandma doesn’t mind that I keep posting all her wonderful recipes. They are just so amazing! These simple little cookies are absolutely to die for, they take some time but are perfectly worth it. They are just the thing for a tea party.

Ingredients
1 cup butter
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 cups flour

Frosting
1/4 cup soft butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
food coloring if desired

Preparation Instructions
Combine ingredients, chill for 1 hour. Roll out on lightly sugared surface. Yes, that’s right, sprinkle your counter with granulated sugar just as you would with flour normally. Roll about 1/8” thick. Cut out 1/2” rounds and place on ungreased baking sheet. Prick all the way through with a fork - I like to use one with tines that are close together and do 3 rows. Bake at 375º for 5-9 minutes. Remove and allow to cool a few minutes on the tray, then remove to a cooling rack until completely cooled.

Combine your frosting ingredients in a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Tint pink or blue if you want. Put frosting into a piping bag fitted with a star tip and pipe a little dab of frosting on half of the cookies, top with the other half.

Soft and Chewy Gingerbread Cookies

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 21:37:00 -0700

These are my favorite Gingerbread cookies. I don’t like them to be crunchy and hard, I like nice soft gingerbread and these are IT.

Ingredients
1 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 2/3 cups flour
2 teaspoons ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
white sugar for rolling out the dough

Preparation Instructions
Combine the brown sugar, molasses, melted and cooled butter and egg until smooth.
In a separate bowl combine the flour, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Mix with the wet ingredients.
Cover and refrigerate at least one hour.
Preheat oven to 350º. Working with a couple cups at a time, roll out the dough using sugar on the counter surface instead of flour. Cut out gingerbread men or whatever shape you want and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or a baking mat.
Bake about 8 minutes or until lightly brown but still soft. Allow to cool on pan about 10 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack.

Magic Bars

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 20:48:41 -0700

Up until recently, these were the main reason I could not WAIT until Christmas. Then I finally remembered to get the recipe from my mom and now I can make them whenever I want. And I do. The problem with them is the recipe makes a 9x13 pan and I will eat the entire pan by myself if I don’t have someone around to push me out of the way to get them. That’s about the only way anyone else gets any, you have get through ME first.

AND they are so easy that even my sister Rachel makes them. She’s the one who likes to remind me that I shouldn’t bother telling people recipes are easy cause my perspective is off. So if she thinks they are easy then you know it’s true.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter
1 package chocolate chips
1 1/3 cups coconut
1 cup chopped nuts
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk

Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 350º (325º for a glass pan). Melt the butter in a 9x13 pan. Sprinkle cracker crumbs over melted butter, mix together and press into the pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips, coconut and nuts. Drizzle sweetened condensed milk all over so there is an even layer. Bake 25-30 minutes or until the edges are brown. Cool completely before cutting.

Now I am regretting sending the entire pan to work with Jeremiah, should’a kept some for myself...