Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Alternate Title: “Use Good Cocoa Powder”

These cookies came to be because I wanted something sweet, something easy to bake and something with chocolate. I knew that if I was going to make a chocolate cookie, I wanted to use white chocolate to offset the color, as well as complement the flavor.

Beh. That’s all I have to say about these cookies. Beh. Not my favorite for sure. MC ate it up, but he’ll basically eat anything with sugar. Hubby thought it reminded him of a brownie in cookie form. Sure, the texture was there and the white chocolate was great. But, I think the cocoa powder I used is what made this cookie “meh” for me.

I usually buy Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder. But, last time I bought some Nestle Tollhouse Cocoa Powder. (These are really the only two easily available to me, without purchasing online or paying out the wazoo.) I don’t think I’ll be making that purchase again. The flavor of the Nestle cocoa powder was somewhat bland and the color was not as deep and rich as the Special Dark.

Next time I’ll use the good stuff.    In defense of the original recipe, it did say to use dutch processed cocoa powder.

Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Yield: 20 cookies
Adapted from Joy of Baking
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
¼ cup cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups white chocolate chips
2 oz white chocolate, chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, sift the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, and salt.

In your mixer bowl, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes). Add the egg and vanilla and beat until incorporated. Add the flour mixture and beat until incorporated. Stir in the white chocolate chips.

Using a small cookie scoop or two spoons, place about 1 ½ tablespoons of batter on the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches apart. Top each cookie with a chunk of white chocolate.

Bake for approximately 8-9 minutes or until the cookies are still soft in the center but are firm around the edges. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheet for about 5 minutes before removing the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Snickerdoodle Dandy

If you’ve never had a snickerdoodle, you don’t know what you’re missing.  And if you think it’s just a gussied up sugar cookie, you’d be wrong, wrong, wrong.  It has so much more flavor and depth than that. These cookies are cinnamony and soft and delicious. 

MC’s teachers know how much I love to bake and I’ve told them before, if they need treats for any of his class picnics or activities, to just let me know.  This week is Hawaiin Luau week and MC’s teachers asked if I’d bring some cookies.  I thought about trying to match the theme and discussed it with the teachers, but  we decided on these instead.  That way we didn’t have to worry about allergies or anything like that. 

I used the recipe from The Secrets of Baking cookbook and ended up having to make two batches because, despite the fact that Miss Sherry Yard says the recipe should make 3 1/2 dozen cookies, I ended up with 1 1/2 dozen.(The recipe below reflects a double batch.)  I mean, yes, mine were bigger than her recommended 3 inches, but not double. Oh well.

Since I had to make another batch, I decided to try it out with margarine, just to see if I could tell the difference.  I think I actually like the one made with margarine a little bit better.  Maybe it was the texture or maybe because the flavor was just a bit different, I’m not totally sure.  The dough made with butter was definitely firmer than the dough made with margarine.   I think that’s why the butter doodles were a little rounded; they kept their shape.  But, I liked the way the margarine snickers cracked a bit on top. I flattened the second tray of butter doodles and got a less rounded cookie than the first tray. 

Snickerdoodles
Yield: 3 dozen
Adapted from The Secrets of Baking
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
½ pound cold unsalted butter or margarine*, cut into ½ inch pieces
1 ½ cup sugar, plus ½ cup for dusting
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, plus 2 tablespoons for dusting
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs

Directions:
In a medium bowl whisk flour, baking soda and cream of tartar; set aside.

Cream butter on medium speed until pale yellow, about 2 minutes. Add 1 ½ cups sugar, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, salt and vanilla. Cream the mixture on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute.

Add the eggs and beat on low until fully incorporated. Do not overbeat.

On low speed, add the flour mixture and beat until fully incorporated. Remove dough and wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine ½ cup sugar and 2 tablespoons cinnamon in a small bowl.

Pinch off pieces of chilled dough and roll into 1 inch balls. Drop the balls into the cinnamon sugar and coat thoroughly. Place balls 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the cookies look dry and feel firm.

*If using margarine, omit or decrease salt amount. Also note, the cookies spread just a little more with margarine, but I liked it that way.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Thanks to the 11 of you who voted in my poll. I ended up making a Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake that turned out fabulous. I even did something I probably shouldn’t have done and used a new-to-me Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. It’s out of a cookbook I’ve had for almost two years now (The Secrets of Baking) and finally got around to trying the cookie recipe.

Whenever we go to the in-laws I always bring them leftover goodies, or make something to specifically take to them. Everyone in the family has a sweet tooth and love the fact that I bring anything at all. For Father’s Day I wanted to do something kind of special and different so the cookie cake won out. My original thought was something you see at the mall, like at Great American Cookies.  But I didn’t have a pan big enough and didn’t want to go out and buy something just for this.  So I went with a “layered” cookie cake. 

The recipe from The Secrets of Baking was the perfect size to make two rounds.  I divided the dough among the two pans and flattened them out with my hands.  I baked them for just a little bit longer than the original called for and they came out great.

It doesn’t matter which way you layer the cookies.  Just make sure the top one is “top” up, so you can tell it looks like a big chocolate chip cookie.  I just used store bought chocolate frosting and smeared a thin layer in between the two cookies.  I wanted to pipe a line around the outside between the two cookies, but the frosting was too loose, so I ended up just frosting the entire thing. The top looked a bit bare, so I piped some stars around the edges too. You could always make your own.  I almost went with a white chocolate cream cheese frosting, but I barely had time or energy to get this cake made!

my nephew’s finger – he really wanted the frosting

I ended up taking this cake, the Strawberry Cheese Pie and some homemade hamburger buns (I’ll post about these in the future, after I’ve perfected them) with us.  Everyone loved them.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
Adapted from The Secrets of Baking
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ pound cold unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch pieces
½ cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
½ cup + 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
¼ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
8 ounces chocolate chips/chunks

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Spray two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans; set aside.

In a medium bowl sift or whisk the flour and baking soda; set aside.

Cream butter until pale yellow, about 2 minutes. Add sugar, brown sugar, salt and vanilla. Cream the mixture until smooth.

Add egg and beat on low until fully incorporated. Do not overbeat.

Add flour mixture and beat until just incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips or chunks.

Divide the dough between the two cake pans. Pat into the cake pans and bake for approximately 15-18 minutes.

Allow cookie cakes to cool completely before decorating.

Deluxe Strawberry Cheese Pie

Remember when I professed my love for strawberries? Well, I’ve found another use for them. Fresh strawberries on top of a cheese pie.

I’ve been looking for something to make and somehow incorporate fresh strawberries.  I didn’t want to make any type of cake, I’d already made a cookie and I didn’t want to make a sauce.  I could have taken hubby’s suggestion and made us some strawberry shakes, but I was looking for something new.

When I first saw this recipe, I thought it sounded an awful lot like a cheesecake.  Which, I guess it is essentially.  It has a graham cracker crust, cream cheese, eggs, sugar and vanilla.  I mean, doesn’t that sound like a cheesecake to you? The difference?  It’s in pie form.   

I ended up using a store bought graham cracker crust (from Big Lots – I love Big Lots!) since I had one.  But, you could totally make your own.  The original recipe also called for red currant jelly, which, I didn’t have, so I just used some seedless blackberry jam.

Call it what you like, Strawberry Cheescake or Strawberry Cheese Pie, the taste is the same – delicious!

Deluxe Strawberry Cheese Pie
Adapted from The All New Good Housekeeping Cook Book
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
Graham Cracker Crust (store bought or make your own – mine was store bought)
12 ounces cream cheese, softened
½ cup sugar
2 large eggs
½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1-2 pints of strawberries, hulled and cut in half
1/3 cup seedless jelly (I used blackberry)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla; beat just until combined.

Pour cheese filling into crust (cooled, if you made your own). Bake until set, about 30 minutes. Cool pie completely.

In a small saucepan, heat jelly over medium-low heat until melted.

Arrange strawberries on top of pie. Brush with melted jelly. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

Fresh Blueberry Sauce

Fresh Blueberry Sauce
Yield: approximately 1 cup
Adapted from Joy of cooking
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
½ cup water
½ cup sugar
1 ½ cups blueberries
Pinch of cinnamon
Zest of 1 lemon

Directions:
Bring water and sugar to a boil.
Add blueberries, cinnamon and lemon zest.
Simmer on medium-low heat for approximately 10 minutes, until sauce has thickened.

Serve on top of some fluffy blueberry pancakes!