Vanilla Toffee Chippers

This might be a new fave!
(do I say that every week?)

One bite of this cookie and you'll know you recognize the flavor, but what is it?

pudding?
vanilla bean?
something...birthday-esque?

People will be guessing what complicated list of ingredients went into this fabulous chewy cookie.


The secret?
It's ridiculously easy...


The Recipe
(adapted from Once Upon a Gourmet Gin)

One (18.5 oz) box of yellow cake mix
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
6 full-size heath bars crushed
1 tsp vanilla
~ 4 Tbsp flour (I threw in a small handful to make them less sticky)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix cake mix, oil, eggs, vanilla, and flour in medium bowl.

3. Crush heath bars in plastic bag with mallet. Stir into batter.

4. Using a cookie dough scoop, drop dough onto cookie sheets sprayed with non-stick coating or use parchment paper about 2 inches apart.

5. Bake 9-11 minutes until edges are just starting to brown. They may look underdone in the middle, but that's OK.

6. Let cool ~10 minutes on cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack to cool.

Nice firm outside, wonderfully chewy inside, and tastes kinda like birthday cake - go cake mix! The chocolate toffee bits add a wonderful buttery crunch, and well chocolate never hurts.

Enjoy!

World Peace Cookies

I wish I could come up with a more clever title, but if you've ready a cookie/cooking blog in the last year, then you'd know that all the clever, pun-tastic titles for Dorie Greenspan's World Peace Cookie have already been taken.

I also wish that the sun wouldn't set before I get home from work so I could take some natural-light photos, but alas, we'll have to settle for adjusted, low-light photography (because I refuse to use the flash).

After reading blog post after blog post and drooling over foodgawker photos, I was actually a little reluctant. I mean, can a cookie this talked-up really deliver?

Well, for someone who thinks cookies should be chewy, soft, and gooey, this little sandy chocolate nugget was rather addictive.

They definitely needed a day to rest. The one(s) I tried right out of the oven crumbled at the first bite, but the next day, these had firmed up delightfully leaving a chocolate-y pleasant (not overpowering) cookie. Well done bloggers, well done.

Recipe

(from Dorie Greenspan but I actually used the recipe from Smitten Kitchen to make the cookies - I'm assuming they're the same)

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (11 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or a generous 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips

Directions

1. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.

2. Beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, the salt and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more.

3. Turn off mixer, pour in the flour, drape a kitchen towel over the stand mixer to protect yourself and your kitchen from flying flour and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time. Take a peek — if there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple of times more; if not, remove the towel.

4. Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough — for the best texture, work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added, and don’t be concerned if the dough looks a little crumbly. Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.

5. Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half. Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours.

6. Getting ready to bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

7. Working with a sharp thin knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick. (The rounds are likely to crack as you’re cutting them — don’t be concerned, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie.) Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about one inch between them.

8. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12 minutes — they won’t look done, nor will they be firm, but that’s just the way they should be. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cookies rest until they are only just warm, at which point you can serve them or let them reach room temperature.

For me, the dough was really crumbly and I was sure I did something wrong. But I just kept pushing it together (when making the log and cutting them into discs) and everything turned out just fine!

Second-Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever!

It pains me a little bit to refer to these as the "second-best" chocolate chip cookie, but my heart goes out to the classic Tollhouse recipe. That will always be my #1, but these....

come pretty gosh-darn-diddly close.

Introducing one of my favorite chocolate chip cookies, the "Best Big Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie"

I've been making these for years and they always make a great impression. They've got that bakery storefront appeal.

Let's start with the basics of what makes this cookie amazing.

1. Size

Most cookies recipes say "drop by tablespoon" onto cookie sheet. This recipe?

Drop by 1/4 cup.

Dude.

Look out behind you!

2. They're soft and chewy.

mmmmm....chewy.

3. They're super easy!

The Recipe

(from allrecipes.com)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy.

4. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.

5. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

6. Prepare to bask in the cookie-loving admiration of friends and co-workers.

Enjoy!