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Do You Prefer Chewy or Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies?

partysugar — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 01:30:52 -0800

Do Cookies Make You Shop?

YumSugar — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:14:18 -0800

The smell of a warm chocolate-chip cookie is enough to drive anyone crazy. The warm, sweet aroma permeates the brain and makes you forget everything else. At least, that's what a recent study for the Journal of Consumer Research has (sort of) concluded.

Research done by Xiuping Li of the National University of Singapore showed than when exposed to a hidden chocolate-chip cookie scented candle, female consumers were more likely to make an unplanned purchase - even those on a tight budget - than those exposed to a hidden unscented candle. In fact, it wasn't just a little more likely, it was a lot more likely. In the chocolate-chip cookie group, 67 percent of those purchased, while only 17 percent of the unscented group purchased.

Unsurprisingly, Li concludes:

If retailers want to push their customers to shop more rather than stay longer, they should not only maintain a pleasant environment but also an environment full of temptations and excitement.

So have you guys experienced anything like this? Do you think the smell of chocolate-chip cookies would affect your shopping habits? If not chocolate-chip cookies, then what food?

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Yummy Link: Bacon Cookies

partysugar — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 03:17:51 -0800

Everything tastes better with bacon, right? So what do you think about chocolate chip cookies?! These bacon chocolate chip cookies with a maple cinnamon glaze look like the breakfast of champions. - Never Bashful With Butter

Think You Know Chocolate Chip Cookies?

partysugar — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 13:29:33 -0700

Since we are celebrating National Cookie Month, I thought it would be fun to test your knowledge on America's most beloved cookie: the chocolate chip. Think you know everything about chocolate chip cookies? Take the test to find out!

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Take the quiz

Love Chocolate Chips? You Better Thank Ruth Wakefield

YumSugar — Tue, 15 May 2007 01:01:01 -0700

As much as I love fancy pastries and innovative desserts, nothing can take the place of a really great chocolate chip cookie. Everyone's familiar with chocolate chip cookies and almost everyone has a memory related to it, but how long has it existed and who invented it?

Since today is National Chocolate Chip Day, I thought I'd let you in on how they came about, and surprisingly, it seems that chocolate chips may have been one of those happy kitchen accidents. In 1937, Ruth Wakefield - owner of the Toll House Inn near Whitman, Massachusetts - decided to make a chocolate butter cookie by putting together dough and chocolate. She assumed that the chocolate chunks would melt and mix into the dough, fortunately for us, they did not melt and kept their shape instead. Ruth called her happy mistake the Chocolate Crunch Cookie and went about making herself a deal with Nestle: they could put the recipe on their chocolate bar and in return she could have all the chocolate she needed. Initially they sold the bar with a mini chopper to help cut it up into pieces, but in 1939 they began distributing chocolate morsels aka chocolate chips. I love a great chocolate chip cookie, but I also love just snacking on these right out of the bag...

To check Ruth Wakefield's original chocolate chip cookie recipe, read more

Mrs. Wakefield's Original Toll House Cookie Recipe
From The Kitchen Project

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 2/3 cups (11-oz. pkg.)
1 cup chopped nuts

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

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Source: AmericanHeritageRecipes/ChocolateChipCookie/">The Kitchen Project

52 Weeks of Baking: Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

YumSugar — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 16:08:31 -0800

This past weekend I hit the slopes with some friends. We ended up renting a place for three days and took turns splitting up the meals. On Saturday, after a full day of snow-shoeing, I decided to delight my pals to a baked treat (and, I knew I wanted to do something for my self-imposed 52 weeks of baking mandate). However, the place we were staying wasn't fully stocked (no mixer, a few bowls and utensils), so I went into robot mode and whipped up a batch of my chocolate chip cookies. This is the one thing I confidently know by heart, everyone loves them and I can make them anytime, anyplace and with any amount of wine in my system. Also, it's great because you don't need a fancy mixer or any special ingredients. To check out my cookies, read more

Fatty Chocolate Chip Cookies
From YumSugar - slightly adapted from the old fashioned Tollhouse recipe

This is the one recipe that my brain has memorized. It's my go to recipe whenever I need a quick homemade treat. And bonus, you don't need any kind of fancy mixer.

2 1/4 cups flour (this time I used all-purpose, but it works great with 1 1/2 cups wheat 3/4 cups all-purpose)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

2 sticks of unsalted butter (room temp)
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs (room temp)
1 tbsp milk
1 12oz package of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F.
Sift together flour, baking soda and salt into small bowl. Set aside.If you don't have a sifter, a sieve will work really well. Just fill and tap the sides gently.
In large bowl, beat butter until creamy - add granulated sugar and brown sugar until smooth.
Mix in vanilla extract.
Add 1 egg, mix well. Add 2nd egg, mix well.
Gradually mix in flour mixture (I do it in thirds).
Mix until all ingredients are incorporated. Add in milk. Mix well - batter should be slightly creamy, but not smooth like cake batter.
Once batter is thoroughly combined, mix in chocolate chips.
Using a large ice cream scoop, scoop out the mixture (level off with the back side of a knife) and place onto baking sheet (lined with parchment paper or silpat).
Scoop dough out until pan is full (about 2-3 inches apart).
Bake for 11-13 minutes or until golden brown.
Leave on pan for 2 minutes then transfer to wire rack for cooling.

Makes 15-20 cookies depending on the size (and how much batter you nibble on).

Note: When cooking next batch, be sure pan is completely cooled before placing cookie dough.

Note 2: When making these cookies at home, I often beat the butter for several minutes before adding in the sugar.

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Food Review: Kodiak Cakes Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

FitSugar — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 09:00:44 -0800

By the time the actual day of Christmas rolled around I was so over baking that I didn't want to make dessert for my own dinner. Instead of dealing with mounds of flour or cookie cutters, I just wanted to relax and watch the yule log on TV. Weeks earlier I was given a box of all-natural oatmeal chocolate chip cookie mix from Kodiak Cakes, which seemed perfect given my laziness on Christmas morning.

Like most packaged dessert mixes, the big draw of Kodiak cookie mix is its ease. All you do is beat together an egg, 1/2 cup of butter, and the mix. Roll out some dough balls, bake in the oven for about ten minutes and you're done. Easy peasy. What I didn't expect was how good the cookies would taste.

To hear what I thought of them, read more.

I was doubtful before digging into the first one, especially since they looked more ginger, molasses than oatmeal chocolate chip. The dough is brown because the base flour is a whole grain blend. I suspect that the rolled oats are blended pretty well into the flour because unlike most oatmeal cookies where you can see the individual oats, the Kodiak cookies looked really uniform and smooth on the surface.

Everyone that tried the Kodiak cookies were astonished that they came from a mix. The cookies were crisp on the outside and chewy in the middle, and the chocolate chips were rich and gooey. The whole grain flour gave the cookies a nice texture but were not too "grainy" like other whole grain cookies I've tried. The subtle taste of brown sugar came through, and one cookie was extremely satisfying - probably because it's made from whole grains.

Beyond tasting good, Kodiak cookies are much better for you then any other pre-mix dessert I've come across. The ingredients are completely natural, and each cookie contains 110 calories with only 20 calories coming from fat. The calories can also be cut down since there are alternate directions that replace half the amount of butter with applesauce.

I've definitely become a fan of Kodiak Cakes and will be trying the other cookie mixes soon, as well as the brownies and waffle mix!

Serving Size	1 cookie (28 g)
Calories	110
Total Fat	2 g
Saturated Fat	1 g
Cholesterol	0 mg
Sodium	90 mg
Carbs	22 g
Dietary Fiber	2 g
Sugars	13 g
Protein	2 g

Ingredients: 100% Whole Grain Blend (Whole Wheat Flour, Whole Oat Flour, Rolled Oats), Brown Sugar, Dark Chocolate Chips (Evaporated Cane Juice, Unsweetened Chocolate, Cocoa Butter, Soy Lecithin, Natural Vanilla), Natural Vanilla, Leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate), Salt

52 Weeks of Baking: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

YumSugar — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 08:18:11 -0700

I love this time of year mostly because I have a great excuse to put pumpkin into my baking. I love pumpkin cakes, pumpkin pies and most of all, pumpkin cookies. The other day I pulled out my favorite pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe and headed to the kitchen. Half way there I had decided to make a few tweaks to it. The end result ended up being more like a muffin than a cookie; however it was perfect right after dinner, as well as first thing in the morning. To get your hands on a muffin-top styled pumpkin chocolate chunk cookie, read more

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cobbled together by YumSugar

Note: These come out fluffy like muffin tops. I should have smashed them down so they would have a wider spread. However left as is, they are perfect for breakfast.

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp clove
pinch of ground ginger
1/ 2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, room temperature
15 oz can of pure pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 cups chocolate chips (depending on your taste - I actually used cut up bars of dark and milk chocolate)

Preheat oven to 375F.
Sift together (or whisk in small bowl) flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and ginger together and set aside.
Beat butter, brown sugar and sugar together in a large mixer bowl.
Add pumpkin and vanilla and mix until incorporated.
Add egg and beat well until fully incorporated.
Gradually (I do it in 3 batches) beat in flour mixture.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop rounded spoonfuls onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
Bake for 13-15 minutes until edges start to brown. Remove from oven and let sit on hot baking sheet for 2 more minutes.
Move cookies to wire rack to cool completely.

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Come Party With Me: Sex and the City Marathon - Desserts

partysugar — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 09:15:51 -0700

To celebrate her new apartment, Fab and I are hosting a Sex and the City marathon. The entire menu is inspired by scenes from the show. Carrie and the gals are often seen enjoying cupcakes, so we'll serve mini ones. The cupcakes will be chocolate since Miranda ate chocolate cake from her garbage can.

Another Miranda scene inspires the second dessert, a chocolate chip cookie cake. To take a look at these sweet recipes, read more.

Mini Chocolate Cupcakes
Modified from Epicurious

Ingredients

Cupcakes
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup pitted dates, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Vegetable oil cooking spray
1 teaspoon confectioners sugar for dusting
Frosting
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 drop red food coloring
3–4 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions

Bring water and dates just to a boil in a 1-quart heavy saucepan, then transfer mixture to a food processor and add cocoa powder and chocolate, pulsing once to combine.
Let cool 2 minutes, then add brown sugar, egg, vanilla, baking soda, and a pinch of salt, then purée until smooth. Add flour and pulse just until incorporated.
Spray mini muffin cups with cooking spray. If pan is not nonstick, line sprayed bottoms with rounds of wax paper, then spray paper.
Spoon batter into cups, dividing it evenly, and bake in middle of oven until a wooden pick or skewer comes out clean, 18 to 22 minutes. Cool cupcakes in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack (remove wax paper, if using) and cool completely, right side up.
While cakes cool make frosting. Place butter, milk, vanilla, food coloring, and 2 cups of the confectioners' sugar in a mixing bowl. Beat on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Gradually add remaining sugar until light and fluffy.
Ice tops of cupcakes with pink frosting. Serve on a beautiful tray or tiered cake plate.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Make ahead: cupcakes can be made and cooled (but not dusted with sugar) 1 day ahead and kept in an airtight container at room temperature.

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
From Martha Stewart

Ingredients

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
3/4 cup heavy cream
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
40 ounces (5 packages) cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. To make an even circle of batter, trace an 8-inch plate on the underside of a piece of parchment paper, repeat five times.
Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
Put butter and brown and granulated sugars into mixer bowl; mix on medium until pale and fluffy. Mix in vanilla, eggs, and yolks. Reduce speed to low.
Add flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the cream. Stir in chocolate chips.
For each of the 5 layers, drop 1 level cup batter onto center of a baking sheet lined with parchment (keep unbaked dough refrigerated). Using a small offset spatula, spread into an 8-inch circle. Bake until edges are pale golden brown, about 12 minutes. Remove from oven. Use offset spatula to reshape circle.
Return to oven; bake until edges are golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes more. Transfer to wire rack; let cool. Can be stored airtight up to 1 day.
Mix cream cheese and confectioners' sugar in clean mixer bowl on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Spread onto 4 cookies.
Stack cookies, placing unfrosted cookie on top. Refrigerate until frosting is set, at least 20 minutes or up to 4 hours. Serve at room temperature.

Serves 16.

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Stuffed Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

YumSugar — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:08:11 -0700

YumJimmy recently had a birthday, and to help him celebrate, I thought I'd send him off to work with some sweet treats for his co-workers. Last year's treat was an intense labor of love, so this year I decided to take it easy.

I was inspired by the million-dollar winning Pillsbury Bake-Off recipe and used it, along with a delicious peanut butter recipe from Melissa Murphy's new book, to come up with some treats. The cookies are deliciously chewy peanut butter cookies, with chocolate chips and a surprise mini Reese's Peanut Cup in the middle. To make these treats for yourself, read more.

I used the recipe below and made three different types of cookies. First I used 1/3 of the dough and made regular peanut butter cookies as instructed. Next I used another 1/3 of the dough and shoved a mini peanut butter cup in the middle. Finally I used the last of the dough, added a few handfuls of chocolate chips, and then shoved a peanut butter cup into that. These were the favorite, although the plain recipe is quite delicious.

The baking time didn't change: It was about 12 minutes for all three types. In total I made 18 cookies. There are captions on all of the photos if you're wondering how to make the variations.

Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
From The Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy

Ingredients

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

Position a rack in the top and bottom thirds of your oven. Preheat the oven to 325F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the peanut butter with the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Beat in the egg.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture and mix until combined. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl so that everything is combined evenly.
Scoop dough by the rounded tablespoonful and roll into balls. Place the balls about 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets, and press down slightly. Using a fork dipped in flour, press down on the cookies first one way and then the other to form an "X" pattern, creating the crosshatch effect. (The cookies should now measure approximately 2 inches in diameter.) Bake for 10 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden. Overbaking will cause these chewy cookies to become crunchy, so try to avoid it.

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