Milk & Cookies

Devils Food was actually sent from heaven.

Devil’s Food is one of my favorite desserts of all time. Right up there with cheesecake, blueberries, and dark chocolate. Zoe stumbled upon the following recipe on the internet and it was so simple and easy, I knew that I was going to have to try them sooner or later. Well, sooner won.

We have both been so busy with work/school that it has been getting difficult to maintain the motivation to keep making cookies every week. Recipes like this one are perfect because they don’t require a big time commitment, or a bunch of ingredients, so really there is no excuse not to make them. Yes, I am talking to you…. go make them!

The results of this week’s baking experiment are below:

INGREDIENTS (makes 25-30 cookies)

• 1 box devils food cake mix (18.25 oz.)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• …thats it?
• yep. crazy simple!

DIRECTIONS

Preheat your oven to 375°F and prepare a baking tray with parchment paper.

Mix (by hand) the cake mix, eggs, and oil together in a large mixing bowl. Whew, these cookies are so complicated! There you go, stick that dough in the fridge for 15-30 minutes while your oven heats up.

Put the powdered sugar in a small bowl. Now start scooping the dough into ~1″ diameter balls. I prefer my cookies a little larger so don’t worry about them being a bit big. The larger dough balls will actually crack better during the cooking. Take each ball and roll it around in the powdered sugar. Try to get them as coated with sugar as you can. Place them a couple of inches apart on the baking tray. I was able to get 15 cookies on one tray, but they were just starting to touch, so maybe 12 is better.

Bake the cookies for 8 minutes. If you overcook them they will be a bit dry (like the edges of brownies) which some people seem to prefer, but not me. Let them cool for a minute before moving them to your serving plate. These cookies are so fast and easy that I think you should serve them right away. If you want some more later, just make some more then!

Seriously, don’t forget the milk with these bad boys. They go together like…. well, like milk and cookies, but you know, like, to the extreme!

Whats black and white and red all over?

Baking ritual part II. Scotch. As I mentioned before, nothing is as good as turning up the music and tuning out the world. As a part of that goal, I love to have a glass of scotch while I make cookies. Somehow music, a smooth scotch, and baking unite to form a trifecta of awesome that turns my kitchen into a temporary sanctuary from the world. I suggest that you try it, at least once.

These cookies come (yet again) from Joy the Baker. The results of this week’s baking experiment are below:

INGREDIENTS (makes 10 huge cookies)

For Cookies:

• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbls cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 5 Tbls butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbls red food coloring
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

For Vanilla Glaze: (OR VANILLA FROSTING)

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp light corn syrup
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 Tbls hot water

For Chocolate Glaze:

• 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
• 3 Tbls butter
• 1 Tbls light corn syrup

DIRECTIONS

Preheat your oven to 350°F and prepare a couple of baking trays with parchment paper.

Now, I needed to make cookies for more than 10 people so I doubled this recipe. I don’t recommend this. These cookies are HUGE, and you can get away with just making more smaller cookies if you so desire. Anyways, lets get started. Stir together the flour, cocoa, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Set it aside for now.

In another medium bowl, beat together the sugar and softened butter until fluffy (~3 min).  Then add in the egg, vanilla, and food coloring and beat until well mixed.  Next, slowly incorporate the buttermilk and the flour mixture beating them in until the whole thing is smooth.  Nice red dough huh?

Now start spooning 1/4 cup scoops of dough onto the baking trays.  Spread them around a bit with a spatula so that they are nice and round.  The dough tends to want to puddle anyways, so it shouldnt be to hard.  Leave 2″ gaps between cookies, as these suckers will expand.  These cookies will be very large.  I was only able to get 6 per cookie tray without them merging during the baking process.

Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes or until they pass the toothpick test. Let the cookies cool and then set them aside until you are ready to glaze them.

The vanilla glaze is very easy to make…just combine the powdered sugar, vanilla, corn syrup, and water in a bowl and mix it together with a fork (or whisk). The glaze immediately begins hardening and crystallizing so make sure you are ready to put the glaze on right away. I made the mistake of letting mine sit on the counter for a while and when I went to use it, it was virtually un-spreadable. Alternatively, you could use vanilla frosting from a mix. I would like to try this recipe again later and try that, as I felt this glaze was way too sweet.

The chocolate glaze is made by melting the chocolate and butter together in the microwave. Then add the corn syrup and mix it a little bit more. Voila!

Spread the glazes onto the cookies 1/2 and 1/2 with a butter knife or a spatula. Then pop the cookies into the fridge for 20+ minutes to set the glaze. These cookies can be very beautiful, but its not actually that easy. Maybe a few more tries and I can get it right. Thanks for reading…

blah blah blah... more cookies

No insights, no gimmicks, nothing fancy what-so-ever. Also, I am late posting this. Not my best job so far. Whatever… the cookies turned out really good so what more do you expect? Just eat…

These cookies come from Average Betty, who did a much better job capturing these cookies on film than I did. In fact, I am pretty embarrassed… maybe you should just read the recipe from there instead.

The results of this week’s baking experiment are below:

INGREDIENTS (makes ~4 dozen cookies)

• 3/4 cup salted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
• 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar (lightly packed)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 large eggs
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 2 cups roasted, salted macadamia nuts (chopped)

DIRECTIONS

In a large mixing bowl beat together the softened butter and the sugar on medium speed until it is fluffy and smooth. Then add in the vanilla extract, salt, and baking soda and mix it a bit more until it is evenly blended. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides and add the eggs. Beat on medium until it is creamy.

Lastly, add the white chocolate chips and fold/mix them in. Once this is done, you are going to want to cool the dough down considerably. Either give them 24 hours in the fridge, or put them in the freezer for 1 hour. Make sure the dough is covered with an air tight seal.

When you are ready to bake the cookies preheat the oven to 300°F and prepare a couple of baking trays with parchment paper. Now, chop the macadamia nuts. Just put them in a food processor and chop chop until they are a good size for sprinkling on top of cookies.

Start making little ~1 tsp. sized balls of dough. Take each ball and press it into the bowl of macadamia nuts. The goal is to coat the top half of the dough in nut chunks and even get some pressed into the dough. Then place the dough on the baking tray with the nut-side up.

Once your tray is covered in little dough bowls bake them on the top rack for 12 minutes. That’s it. Easy, delicious, cookies.

Cookies made with love.... and chocolate

I am going to let you in on a little secret. I have a Wednesday night ritual that has completely changed the way I approach my week. Wednesday…. humpday…. the worst day of the week (many will say). I used to hate Wednesdays. Now I look forward to them.

Every Wednesday I come home from work and plug in my Ipod. I find an album that suits my mood (unless I am grumpy) and turn it up… way up. This week it was Radiohead – In Rainbows. I pour myself a glass of scotch… Then I bake.

I think that setting your mind to look forward to something can really change your overall attitude for the better. It turns out that I feel happier, not just on Wednesday, but every day.

The results of this week’s baking experience are below. These cookies were the most recent post on Joy the Baker. Instead of using fruity jam (PB&J cookies), I decided to fill the thumbprints with chocolate. Here is my recipe:

INGREDIENTS (makes ~3 dozen cookies)

• 1 3/4 cups finely ground honey roasted peanuts
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 tspn. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar (optional)
• 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (or 1 cup jam if you want to make them fruity instead)

DIRECTIONS

First thing to do with these cookies is to crush up the peanuts. Just put them in a food processor and chop chop until they are finely ground. Then mix them up with the flour in a medium bowl. Set this mixture aside.

These cookies are really easy and quick, so you might want to get your oven pre-heating early this time around. Set it to 350°F.

In a large mixing bowl beat together the softened butter and the sugar on medium speed until it is fluffy and smooth. Then add in the vanilla extract and mix it a bit more until it is evenly blended. Then set the mixer speed to low and slowly add in the peanut and flour mixture. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides if needed. Try not to over mix, its ok for the batter to be a little uneven.

Prepare a couple of baking trays with parchment paper. Start making little ~1 Tblsn. sized balls of dough. Just roll the dough around a little bit in your hand and then plop it down on the parchment paper. Then using your pinky (not your thumb) press a narrow hole down the center of the dough. Don’t go all the way through the cookie though, you want a little well for the filling. I did my first batch with my thumb (I mean, they are thumbprint cookies), but this dough spreads more than I expected during baking, so my wells were really shallow. Using your pinkie and going pretty deep will make it work better.

Once your tray is covered in little dough bowls, go ahead and bake them on the top rack for 15 minutes. They won’t look completely cooked at the end, but its ok, they will stiffen up as they cool. Once removed from the oven, let the cookies sit for a couple of minutes and then move them to a cooling rack if you have one. After all of the batches of cookies are complete, dust them with the powdered sugar. (This was my favorite part since I finally got to use our sifter.)

Time to prepare the filling. If chocolate, melt the chocolate chips down in either the microwave using the 15 second – stir – repeat method, or on a double boil on the stove. If you are using Jam, bring it to a boil on the stove or in the microwave. Take your filling and either pipe it into the cookies, or just spoon it in to fill the wells up with delicious. Be careful of lurking spouses during this process… they will often strike when your back is turned and try to eat up all the filling!

Rocky Road? ... nope thats the cookie dough!

I keep running into recipes for “Dark Chocolate”, “Double Chocolate”, “Super Chocolatey”, even “Triple Chocolate” cookies. Well eat this one all you wannabee’s! These are QUADRUPLE chocolate cookies! “Ridiculous!” you say…
yes, ridiculously good!

This recipe is based on a couple of different recipes from the Food Network, America’s Test Kitchen, and AllRecipes.com. It is far enough from them that I will not link to them since this recipe is truly my own.

If you don’t like these cookies… you must be dead already. Go see a doctor immediately.

INGREDIENTS (makes ~3 dozen cookies)

• 16 ounces semisweet chocolate (chopped, chips, or morsels)
• 10 Tbls. (1-1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tspn. baking powder
• 1/2 tspn. salt
• 4 large eggs
• 2 tspn. vanilla extract
• 6 oz. white chocolate chunks (or chips) (recommended improvement – 8 to10 oz. instead)
• 6 oz. bittersweet chocolate chips (60-70% cocoa)

DIRECTIONS

Start by (slowly) melting your semi-sweet chocolate in either the microwave or on a double boil on the stove.

In a large mixing bowl beat together the softened butter with the two types of sugar for about 1 minute.

Add the eggs and vanilla and beat for another 45 seconds or so.

Now pour in the melted chocolate and beat again until combined.

Now stir in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Do not over mix these ingredients, its ok if it isnt completely smooth.

Finally stir in the two types of chocolate chips / chunks. This recipe reflects the actual quantities that I used, and I would recommend adding more white chocolate since it seems to get lost in these cookies. Maybe use 8-10 oz. instead.

Now your dough is complete, you can either start making the cookies now, or refrigerate the dough for a while to let it stiffen up.

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a couple trays with parchment paper. Start placing tablespoon sized scoops onto the trays with a least an inch of clearance around the dough. Cook each tray for 13-15 min. Let each tray cool for a few minutes before moving the cookies to a cooling rack or tupperware container or (best of all) your mouth.