March 22: Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies

My friend Joanna gave me this recipe and I was very excited to try it. I'm sure it's clear by now that I prefer my cookies chewy, and this recipe marries that with my love of gingerbread.

You know those Chewy Ginger Cookies from Starbucks? These are them.

After making the dough, simply pinch off walnut-sized (or bigger!) pieces, and roll them into balls. Roll the balls in granulated sugar, flatten slightly, and bake!

Rolling these in sugar before baking give the cookies a nice sparkly look!

It's tempting to roll a ball, roll it in the sugar then place it on the baking sheet and start again, however your fingers get covered in sugar, which you then roll into your next ball of dough. This adds a) too much sugar to your dough, and b) prevents the sugar from sticking properly to the outside of the ball. Instead, I recommend that you roll all the balls first, and then roll them all in sugar. Then place them all on the baking sheet; there's no need to flatten them, just bake as is.

These were so good that upon tasting one, a coworker bought my entire supply.

Final Grade: A+. Thanks Joanna!

You can find the recipe for Chewy Ginger Molasses cookies on my Recipes Page. I'm already sold out out of these, but please consider sponsoring me for the Daily Bread Food Bank's Spring Challenge! I have other cookies for sale, so make your donation, then email me your order!

March 21: Pumpkin Currant Cookies

Me and pumpkin? We're friends. I love it, and it loves me. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin loaf, roasted pumpkin, pumpkin pie ice cream, all permutations of pumpkin are impeccably palatable!

As such, when I saw a recipe for Pumpkin Currant cookies, I knew right away that I HAD to try it.

They were really tasty, and even my manfella--who isn't a fan of pumpkin (this may be the reason we break up)--really liked them.

Orange pumpkin-y goodness!

These cookies are really moist, and the currants provide tasty little bursts of sweetness.

My only complaint is that these cookies are almost too soft; the combination of pumpkin--which already retains its moisture in baked goods--and the use of cake flour made these cookies more like little muffin tops. That in itself isn't a bad thing, but nothing about these screams "cookie". I think next time I make these I would use all-purpose flour instead of the called-for cake flour to give them more structure.

You can SEE how moist these are. The moisture makes these cookies delicate, but delicious.

Flavour Grade: A+. These cookies are really yummy! The combination of pumpkin and spices with currants is an absolute winner.

Texture Grade: C. Somehow...they're not cookies. This recipe as is would be best used with a muffin top pan, or substitute all-purpose flour to achieve something closer to a cookie.

FINAL GRADE: B.
You can find the recipe for Pumpkin Currant cookies on my Recipes Page.

If you'd like to order some of your own Pumpkin Currant cookies, please sponsor me for the Daily Bread Food Bank's Spring Challenge! Simply make your donation, then email me your order!

March 20: Snickerdoodles

The only thing better than saying the word "Snickerdoodle" is eating one! These crispy cookies are coated in only cinnamon and sugar, and you would be amazed at how yummy these simple little cookies are. They're one of those recipes that have been around for ages, but don't mistake them for any old sugar cookie - traditionally Snickerdoodles are leavened by baking soda and cream of tartar, rather than baking powder.

Bake until golden around the edges for a crunchy cookie.

The acidity of cream of tartar helps soften the protein strands of the eggs and flour, which results in a chewier product when slightly underbaked, although a crispier product can be achieved by slightly overbaking.

I chose to overbake my Snickerdoodles when I made them, because for some reason these struck me as a cookie that would be better crispy. When I bit into one I was instantly reminded of Cinnamon Toast Crunch--one of my favourites as a kid--and my FAC (friend and coworker) Sarah said the exact same thing. Spooky!

The characteristic crinkled look of the Snickerdoodle.

Final Grade: A. These cookies are easy to make out of basic ingredients and will not disappoint.

You can find the recipe for Snickerdoodles on my Recipes Page.

If you'd like to order some of your own Snickerdoodles, please sponsor me for the Daily Bread Food Bank's Spring Challenge! Simply make your donation, then email me your order!

March 19: Vanilla Bean Spritzgebäck (Spritz) cookies

AAAAAAAAAAAnd we're back!

You cannot believe how much it's bothered me how far behind I've gotten on my baking and this blog, but I was so sick that at one point I was convinced that I was going to the hospital. I still have a bit of a cough but for the most part I'm well, and have upped the baking tempo to prestissimo.

Let me start the catch up with Vanilla Bean Spritz Cookies. Spritzgebäck (from spritzen, the German word for "squirt") is a cookie traditionally served around Christmastime. The dough is too soft to handle, so it must be squirted through a cookie press or a piping bag fitted with a tip. I don't own a cookie press (the last one I had was a cheap plastic one from Wal-mart that literally cracked under the pressure) so I used my piping bag and a large open star tip. The problem with this method, at least for me, is it's more difficult to get a consistent look to your cookies (although the photo from the Wikipedia article would have you believe inconsistency is just fine). However, if you don't spend your days typing like me, and you have strong tendons in your wrist (unlike me), you might be able to achieve consistent-looking cookies by not shaking when you pipe.

Some of these are lop-sided, the result of shaky wrists and uneven piping pressure. This is a skill that I may never be able to master due to my day-time profession, so I should buy a cookie press STAT!

I changed up the Joy of Baking recipe by adding a vanilla bean to the mix, giving these cookies the telltale vanilla bean speckle and richer, more genuine vanilla flavour. Also, just prior to baking, I added slivers of candied cherries to the tops to a) fancy them up, and b) give the cookies a little extra burst of flavour.

Seeing the vanilla bean speckles make these cookies instantly more delicious; after all, you eat with your eyes first!

These buttery biscuits almost melt on your tongue, largely because of how soft the dough is to begin with. Since they do not need to be handled, they require less flour which gives the cookies a lighter, airier texture and allows more of the butter flavour to shine through.

You can find the recipe for Spritz Cookies on my Recipes Page.

If you'd like to order some of your own Spritz Cookies, please sponsor me for the Daily Bread Food Bank's Spring Challenge! Simply make your donation, then email me your order!

Technical Difficulties

Sorry for the delay folks, but I've been down for the count for a few days while I recover from some chest-cold-lung-infection-type thing. I'm behind on my baking, but I promise that 31 cookie recipes in March will be delivered!

March 18: Brownies

Mmm...brownies. Although these goodies seem to stand in a class by themselves, (as my friend and coworker Sarah said, "But, but... those aren't cookies, they're brownies!") they are actually a sheet cookie just like Nanaimo Bars. Brownies tend to be categorized as either "cakey" or "fudgey", and since neither of those descriptions scream "cookie", therein lies the confusion. However an excerpt from Wayne Gisslen's Professional Baking will explain:

Sheet cookies are one of the easiest and least labor intensive of any category. A batter, which can be thin or stiff, is made up and evenly spread into a pan with sides. Some recipes include a cookie or crumb base that is pressed onto the bottom of a pan before a batter is poured over it. After baking, the cookies are cut into squares or even triangles or diamonds. There are endless varieties (e.g., Fudge Brownies).

• A "cakey" brownie is achieved by using less chocolate and butter, creaming the butter with the sugar rather than melting it with the chocolate, and aerating the batter.
• A "fudgey" brownie is achieved by using more chocolate and butter, melting them together and using more egg yolks.
• A "chewy" brownie is achieved by using more flour and more whole eggs.
  

See this wonderful article on the nuances of brownie creation for more info.

Anyway, I once again relied on my go-to website, Joy of Baking, for the recipe, because it featured my favourite kind of brownie: chewy. A chewy brownie is half fudgey and half cakey, so you get the best of both in one.

"Gggggaaaaaaarrrrr! Arrrrhhhn."
(Chewie likes his brownies...uh, chewy.)

Le Creuset love!

Cutting the brownies into 2-bites. I love the crinkle texture on top.

These brownies were perfect, in my humble opinion, and I was especially pleased to once again get to use the Le Creuset square baker in kiwi that I won from Carol Ann's giveaway. That reminds me, your THANK YOU brownies will shortly be on their way, CAM!

You can find the recipe for Brownies on my Recipes Page.

If you'd like to order some of your own Brownies, please sponsor me for the Daily Bread Food Bank's Spring Challenge! Simply make your donation, then email me your order!

Oops!

On Wednesday night, when y'all were out drinking green beer, I was at home making Pfeffernüsse and while the dough was chilling for an hour, I figured I'd make more Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies, since I kind of oversold them (Oops #1).

Since they were so popular I decided to make a double batch, and used the yield calculator tool on the online recipe to double the measurements. I measured out my butter, then my brown sugar, then when I got to the white sugar for some reason I doubled the measurements again in my head (it's like I remembered I was doubling the recipe, but forgot I'd already done the calculations) and poured in 2 cups of white sugar (Oops #2).

There was no way to pull out all that white sugar, so I just decided to quadruple the recipe, and add more butter and brown sugar so that it was proportional. At that point, however, I was frustrated, and it was getting late, and I still had Pfeffernüsse to roll and bake. I covered the butter and sugar and left it to be made up the next day.

So last night, Brownies were on the agenda, but I wanted to finish making up that Chocolate Chip Cookie dough (estimated bedtime: 10:45pm). I put it all in my Cuisinart Stand Mixer (thank goodness for the 7-quart bowl) and 8 (E-I-G-H-T) cups of chocolate chips later (which used up ALL of my chocolate chips [Oops #3]), I had cookie dough. A LOT of it:

There's something odd here...oh yeah, it's the biggest pile of cookie dough you've ever seen. That's what.

ZOOM IN ON THE MASSIVE...uh...MASS OF DOUGH.

Perhaps these photos don't convey the sheer magnitude of this dough, so I plopped the whole thing on my digi-scale to give you a better idea:

ELEVENTY POUNDS (and 1.2 oz) OF DOUGH...and that doesn't count the bits I kept snitching from it. Mmm...chocolate chip cookie dough.

There was a little something inside me that wanted to keep this precious precious five-year supply of cookie dough all to myself...

WAPS, yo! (Wicked-Assed Photoshop Skillz)

It occurred to me that my manfella and the rest of the crew were scheduled to be stuck at work until after midnight, so I baked some off and took them to his work as a "You have to work until midnight and that sucks, but here are fresh out of the oven cookies, and that doesn't suck!" surprise. That's a +1 for me, however I didn't get home until after 10:30pm, and still had brownies to bake (Oops #4).

1/8 cup scoop versus 1/4 cup scoop...

1/8 cup: Good












1/4 cup: Better










At least I was smart and had the batter half made by the time I got back. It was a matter of mixing the flour in, prepping the pans, pouring and baking. Actual bedtime: 12:35pm (Oops #5).

No wonder I'm getting sick!* Duh.






*Don't worry, I always employ proper handwashing procedure in my kitchen. None of you will get sick eating my cookies...although, if you did, it would be totally worth it.