Saturday, June 23, 2012

The Cookie Weeklies

Nothing says I love you like a freshly baked cookie! So for all our friends at the Tuesday Night Concert on the Plaza I've been baking up a new batch every week - thought I should catch you up with the recipes - sorry not all have pictures! This day was the first concert and I made Tutu's Super-Crispy Sugar Cookies - and the secret ingredient was... rice krispies! I thought they were really good - like a crispy shortbread cookie. Next week was Brown Butter Chocolate Chip cookies - also from Food & Wine. The only trick with these is you have to make them the night before -which makes them perfect if you plan ahead. The brown butter was pretty subtle, but nicely nutty if you went looking for it. My next week's were Chocolate Snickerdoodles. These were just ok. The recipe says to cook for 12 to 14 minutes - I took them out at 10 and I still felt they were overcooked, so just remember that if you want to try them. Other than being a little too done I reduced the sugar to only 1 cup. This last week Sarah picked out Toffee Bittersweet Chocolate Chip - Fantastic! Lacy and gooey. Haven't picked out this weeks yet, better get on it! Adapted from Milk & Cookies - great book - this is the Vanilla Base dough that you make and then add in your extras - this time it was toffee and chocolate chips.

Vanilla Base Dough makes a ton! - I even froze some of the dough

2 & 1/2 cups of old fashioned rolled oats put in a food processor until finely ground - this gives them a great texture
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 sticks unsalted butter soft
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla

Mix together all the dry ingredients. Beat the butter in a mixer and add the sugars and beat until light and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time then add the vanilla and mix. Finally stir in the dry stuff until incorporated. Finally mix in your additional ingredients - in this case 2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips and 1 and 1/2 cups toffee bits (they sell them next to the chips).  I use a little scoop that holds about a tablespoon and half and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 12 min - they spread out during baking so place them apart on your baking sheet.

Post Note: Ok, now that I'm caught up I'll try to keep up! Except I'm not sure what this weeks will be yet... stay tuned.


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