Chocolate Chip Cookies Mk. 3

In my quest for the best chocolate chip cookie, I tried another recipe. I still think the pudding version wins compared to this one for flavor.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp hot water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. 
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. 
4. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. 
5. Stir in flour, in small batches.
6. Fold in the chocolate chips.
7. Drop by large spoonfuls onto parchment paper covered cookie sheets.
8. Bake for about 10-13 minutes, or until edges are nicely browned.

Thoughts:
These were ok. I feel like there needs to be more salt. They also took a while to brown, 15 minutes or so, but then again, my oven is slow.

Next Time:

• 1 tsp of salt

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

This is pretty old school and pretty amazingly delicious. I've made it twice now and you can vary the amount of cherries on top to suit your needs. The cast iron skillet is also not a requirement, but I think it adds some charm. You can also use a package of cake mix if you're lazy. You can also slice your own pineapple. Basically, make this as complex as you want.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp innamon
• 1 (20 ounce) can sliced pineapple (save the juice)
• 12-ish maraschino cherries
Cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pineapple juice from above and any extra pineapple

Directions

Prepping:

1. In a 12 inch cast iron skillet, melt the butter over medium heat.
2. Remove from heat and add in brown sugar evenly over skillet bottom.
3. Sprinkle cinnamon on brown sugar
4. Lay out pineapple rings in desired pattern. If you have extra rings, you can chop them and add them as well.
5. Add cherries as desired. (Inside rings, around rings, whatever)

Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and baking soda.
3. Make a well in the center and add the eggs, vanilla, and pineapple and juice.
4. Mix well to blend. 
5. Pour cake evenly into skillet over the brown sugar and fruit.
6. Place into over and cook for 45-50minutes, checking frequently towards the end.
7. Cool for 10 minutes, then flip over onto a serving plate or cooling rack. Don't wait too long or stuff will start to stick.

Thoughts:
It came out seriously delicious. I'm going to definitely add this to my roster of cakes.

Next Time:

• Add more pineapple to the cake mix
• Use fresh pineapple
• Add more cinnamon.

Eggnog Cake

I found this recipe online and it makes a pretty amazing cake, even if the recipe is a tad labor intensive. Especially the frosting. I made it twice over the holidays for various company parties and plan to make it again. The cake is pretty white, so is the frosting, so you can obviously color it to suit your needs.

Ingredients

Cake:

• 4 eggs, at room temperature

• 1/2 cup eggnog, room temperature

• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 
1 3/4 cups cake flour
• 
1 1/2 cups sugar

• 2 tsp baking powder
• 
3/4 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 16 pieces  

Frosting:

• 5 egg whites
• 
1 cup sugar
• 
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

• pinch of salt

• 2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature

• 1-2 Tbsp eggnog
• 
1 tsp vanilla extract 

Directions

Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Spray 2 9-inch cake pans with non-stick cooking spray and line the bottom with parchment paper
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, eggnog, and vanilla.
4. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. 
5. With a mixer on medium low, add the butter one piece at a time to the dry ingredients until the mixture looks sandy, and just start to come together. 
6. Add half of the wet mixture and mix on low until it just comes together. 
7. Increase the speed to medium high speed and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. 
8. Reduce mixer speed to medium, and add the remaining egg mixture in a slow, steady stream.
9. Continue mixing until thoroughly combined, scraping the bowl, as needed.
10. Pour batter evenly into the pans and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs clinging to it.
11. Cool for a few minutes, the run a knife around the edges of the pans and flip cakes onto a cooling rack.

Frosting:

1. In a medium bowl set over a pot of simmering water, combine the egg whites, sugar, nutmeg, and salt. 
2. Heat the mixture, whisking often, until it reaches 160 degrees and the sugar is dissolved. Be careful, the mixture temp rises quickly.
3. Pour into a large bowl and whisk on medium high speed until stiff peaks form, about 8-10 minutes. The mixture should also be room temperature, at this point.
4. With the mixer on medium speed, add the butter, 1 piece at a time, and beat until incorporated before adding another piece. 
5. Continue to beat until thick and smooth (if it looks curdled or soupy, just keep beating it until smooth again, another 3 minutes or so).
6. Stir in the vanilla and eggnog until incorporated and tint with food coloring, as desired.

Thoughts:
This cake is like the holidays in cake form to me. I might try upping the eggnog flavor in the cake next time I do this.

Next Time:

• Maybe some allspice?
• Add more eggnog to the cake

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Some mornings you just wake up and it's time for chocolate.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 
3. Add eggs one at a time until completely incorporated.
4. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl. 
5. Add the flour to the butter mixture, alternating with the milk, while continuing to beat until just mixed (ending with flour). 
6. Stir in the vanilla and chocolate chips.
7. Line 8 cups in a standard muffin tin with cupcake liners. (I did mini-muffins)
8. Mound the batter into the liners, filling almost to the top. Cook the muffins for 20 - 25 minutes, until a toothpick come comes out clean when inserted into the muffin. (Start checking at 20 minutes, making sure not to overcook the muffins.) 
9. Allow to the muffins to cool directly in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack.

Thoughts:
These were pretty great. They're also pretty easy for a morning with pretty standard ingredients.

Next Time:

• Large muffins

Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Buttercream

Not the best photo, I know, but these cupcakes are amazing, labor intensive beauties. If you can enlist a helper, there's plenty of work to go around.

Ingredients

For the Pumpkin Pies:

• 1 batch of pie crust dough 
• 1 15 oz. can Libby's pumpkin pie filling
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 2 large eggs
• 1 can (12 fl. oz.)

For the Cupcakes:

• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/3 cups whole milk
• 2 1/2 cups flour

For the Frosting:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup cinnamon chips
• splash of whole or 2% milk 
  

Directions 

Pumpkin Pies:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees (F).
2. Combine sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in small bowl. 
3. Beat eggs in large bowl. 
4. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. 
5. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.
6. Roll out the pie crust dough and cut it into small circles that are large enough to cover the bottom and sides of mini cupcake tins. A biscuit cutter works well for this.
7. Press the dough into the lightly greased mini cupcake tins, and then fill them with the pumpkin pie mix. (Don’t go all the way to the top, the filling will expand a little while baking.)
8. Bake the pies for about 7 minutes at 425 degrees (F), and then turn the oven down to 350 degrees (F) and bake them for another 10 minutes or so, until the crust is brown and the filling is completely set.
9. After taking them out of the oven, cool them on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then take them out of the pan and allow them to cool further while you mix up the batter.

Cupcakes:

1. Combine the butter and the cream cheese together on medium speed for about 90 seconds—you want the ingredients to be well incorporated.
2. Then mix in the sugar until the mixture is fluffy.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
4. Then mix in the milk and the flour, alternating between the two ingredients. 
5. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, to make sure everything is getting well-mixed—beat again on med-high speed for about a minute. It should be smooth and creamy.
6. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of batter into regular-sized, paper-lined cupcake tins. 
7. Plop a cooled pumpkin pie into the center, and press gently into the batter. GENTLY. You don’t want it to touch to the bottom of the pan. 
8. Cover the pies with another heaping tablespoon of batter, so the top and sides are completely covered.
9. Bake at 350 degrees (F) for about 25 minutes, until the cake is set and the edges and tops of the cupcakes have turned golden brown.
10. Allow them to cool in the cupcake tray for at least 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack—they’ll be a little fragile at first. 
11. Once the cakes are cool, frost ‘em!

Frosting:

1. Put the cinnamon chips with a splash of whole milk in a microwave safe bowl. 
2. Put them in the microwave for about 45 seconds on high. 
3. Remove and stir until all the chips are melted, and allow it to cool a bit while you whip up the rest of the frosting (you can put the bowl in the fridge, it’ll cool faster that way, and the milk will keep it from solidifying). 
4. Cream together the butter and cream cheese until they’re well incorporated. 
5. Then whip in the powdered sugar, a cup at a time, until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
6. With the mixer on low, drizzle in the cooled cinnamon chip “ganache” (if it’s too hot it’ll melt the buttercream and ruin it—you don’t want that). 
7. Put in about half, then stop to taste it and decide if you’d like to add more. Some like it strong, others like it milder.  

Thoughts:
These are pretty amazing. When I first read about them, I didn't realize how good they would be. They're definitely worth the effort

Brownies

So today I attempted to make homemade brownies from scratch that didn't taste horrible compared to the box mix. I don't know what it is about box mix brownies, but they are always miles beyond from scratch mixes. What I made came out to be pretty good, but I'm not really sure it compares.

Makes: Roughly 16-20

Ingredients

Brownies:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chunks
• 1 Tablespoon chocolate syrup

Frosting:

• 4 Tablespoons butter, softened
• 3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 Tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 Tablespoon milk

Directions

Brownies:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 inch square pan.
2. In a medium sized bowl, sift together the cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder.
3. In a large bowl, add the sugar, eggs, and vanilla but do not mix.
4. In a small saucepan, melt the butter. 
5. Remove from heat, and by hand, stir in with the ingredients in the large bowl until combined.
6. Add in the sifted ingredients and mix by hand, being careful not to over mix.
7. Add the chocolate chunks and chocolate syrup and mix in.
8. Spread batter into prepared pan.
9. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not overcook. 

Frosting:

1. In a small saucepan, melt the butter
2. Once melted, add in the cocoa, honey, vanilla, milk, and confectioners' sugar. 
3. Frosting should be liquidy.
4. Frost brownies while they are still warm.

Thoughts:
Overall the brownies came out much better than I imagined. I only frosted half of the brownies to see if I would like the frosting. The frosting is bitter, which helps counter the sweetness of the brownies, overall, I would do another 50/50 round, but would probably halve the frosting ingredients to not be wasteful. But in the end, I'm not really sure they stand up to the bag mix.

It is really important to hand mix the brownies, otherwise you put in too much air into the eggs and they become cake like.

If you are going to double the recipe and do a 9x13 cakepan, only use 3 eggs instead of 4.

Next Time:

• Halve frosting ingredients but keep the honey where it is to add more sweetness.
• Try milk chocolate chips, instead of semi-sweet
• Add another 1/2 Tspn of chocolate syrup.
• Double the recipe.

Snowy White Chocolate Crescents

I got this recipe from this old Mrs. Fields cookbook that I was gifted with the other week, since no one else was using it at my dad's place. These cookies aren't the most aesthetically pleasing cookies. Perhaps it is my sub-standard rolling techniques, but mine came out like weird space invader ships and not like the fancy pictures in the cook book. Plus, I think I put my powdered sugar on too soon or they need to still cool outside of a container once the sugar was on. We had some problems with melting sugar when you touched them.

Makes: Roughly 2 1/2 dozen.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder, unsweetened
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter - softened
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. In a bowl, sift together flour, salt, and cocoa.
3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
4. Add vanilla and egg and beat until smooth.
5. Add in flour/cocoa mixture a bit at a time until fully incorporated.
6. Shape a level tablespoon or 1/2 tablespoon full into a 3 1/2 inch log.
7. Slightly bend the log to form crescent shape.
8. Place on baking sheet, about 1 inch apart (They don't really spread much)
9. Bake for 15-17min or until outside is hard but center is soft.
10. Cool on pan for a few minutes, then transfer to another surface to cool.
11. While still warm, roll cookies in powdered sugar until coated.

Thoughts:
These don't really require a lot of ingredients, which is why I made them as opposed to something more fancy. There isn't a whole lot of places to tweak since it is so minimal. Perhaps adding mini chocolate chips to the dough would spice things up. Also, the shape makes people thing of non-tasty things, so perhaps ill shaped crescents aren't the way to go.

Next Time:

• Mini-chocolate chips to add some flavor since everything is bitter?
• Make fun shapes? Spell out names? Since there is no leavening agent, the cookies don't change shape while baking really.

Snickerdoodles

So, tonight was my first attempt at Snickerdoodles. I had heard good things about them, but have never tried them.

Recipe:
I got this from the internet, but I altered the recipe somewhat from what I found based on previous baking endeavors.

Makes About: 4 dozenish

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar - I used White Vinegar instead

Coating:

• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 3.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar.
   
3. Add the eggs and the vanilla and mix together.
   
4. In a seperate bowl, sift together the flour, soda, and salt.
5. Add dry ingredients a little at a time to wet bowl and mix well.
6. Add vinegar and mix in, being careful not to over mix.
   
7. Shape dough by rounded half tablespoon scoops into balls.
   
8. Mix the 3 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon in a ziplock baggie. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets covered in parchment paper.
9. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.

Additional notes for my kitchen: I have an airbake cookie sheet, which needs longer in the over, so the cookies went for 10:30 on it, and a non-airbake which only went in for 9. My oven is woefully imbalanced in terms of heating, so I let things go a little longer than most recipes call for.

Thoughts:
While they smell awesome while cooking, the flavor isn't as strong as I would have expected, they seem a little bland to me. Maybe that's a good thing? We shall see what the judges think.

Next time:

• Don't knock cooked cookies into the oven causing burning and a frantic attempt to pick out cookie bits of a 400 degree oven.
• Maybe a little more salt to add flavor?
• Maybe a touch more vanilla? The cookies don't have brown sugar like most others, which could be part of the deficit of flavor.
• Perhaps instead of 1/2 cup shortening, using butter flavored shortening? Or maybe just 1 whole cup of butter instead.