Archive for the 'Cookie' Category

A week before last winter’s Eat My Blog charity bake sale, I received a package from my cousin Timmy and his girlfriend Jessica who live in San Francisco. Inside was a plastic freezer bag filled with several dozen cookies baked by the thoughtful duo. The cookies looked like regular chocolate chips at first glance, but upon further inspection I found that crushed Oreo cookies were used in place of semi-sweet morsels. A most brilliant substitution.

Timmy and Jessica were hoping to contribute to the Eat My Blog spread, but unfortunately, they mailed the goodies a week too soon due to a date mix up. Rather than sell slightly stale cookies to our crowd, I made a donation in their names and ate the entire box by myself. It was a delicious and fair trade off.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Timmy and Jessica’s genius cookie-within-a-cookie creation since I polished off the final one months ago: brainstorming how to tweak it, refine it, and make it my own. These Salted Cookies ‘n Cream Cookies are the result of far too many hours spent dreaming up ways to punctuate simple cookie dough with sandwich cookies.

While Timmy and Jessica employed Toll House’s popular recipe for their mother dough, I decided to use Jacques Torres “Perfect” Chocolate Chip Cookie batter for the base of mine. Aging the dough for 36-hours might seem like an unnecessary step, but it helps the cookies to brown more evenly and imparts intense toffee notes.

I really liked how Timmy and Jessica crammed large Oreo chunks into their cookie, so I kept that element the same. And to top it all off, each cookie was sprinkled with gray sea salt, because sweet and salty always trumps plain ‘ol sweet in my world.

After thinking and rethinking this recipe for months, I was supremely happy with the results. The cookies struck a delightful balance between sweet and salty, crunchy and creamy. It’s an instant favorite in the Astro-Gastro household.

• 8 1/2 ounces (2 cups minus 2 tablespoons) cake flour
• 8 1/2 ounces (1 2/3 cups) bread flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
• 10 ounces (1 1/4 cups) light brown sugar
• 8 ounces (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
• 13 ounces Oreo cookies (33 cookies)
• Sea salt

Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Press plastic wrap against the dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. The dough can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator one hour prior to baking to allow it to soften some. Once the dough has come to room temperature (cooler is perfectly fine, just as long as the dough is malleable), incorporate the Oreo cookies using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.  To distribute large cookie chunks throughout the batter, mix for 5 seconds.  If you prefer smaller chunks, mix for 10 to 15 seconds.

Continue reading ‘Salted Cookies ‘n Cream Cookies’

A few weeks ago, I received a review copy of Maida Heatter’s Cookies from the good folks at Andrew McMeel Publishing. The soft-covered tome contained an extensive collection of unique and homey recipes curated by Ms. Heatter, “the Julia Child of desserts.” Reading through hundreds of pages of delectable creations, I unsurprisingly developed an intense hankering for freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. I can be so very predictable sometimes.

Ironically, the cookie bible did not contain a single straightforward chocolate chip cookie recipe. I could’ve baked “Extra-Bittersweet Chocolate Chunk Monster Cookies” or “Key West Chocolate Treasures,” but I desired something simple and soulful, and no fancy substitute would do.

To cure my very specific cookie craving, I turned to an article published in the New York Times in 2008 about the quest for the “perfect” chocolate chip cookie. The promise of perfection motivated me to go through the trouble of procuring bread flour, bittersweet chocolate disks, and French sea salt. Not to mention, the dough needed to rest in the fridge for 36 hours. Though not technically difficult, it was easily the most high-maintenance cookie I’d ever attempted.

After everything was sifted, creamed, mixed, portioned and baked, I was left with a dozen and a half really amazing cookies. As promised, the exterior was golden and crisp, while the interior was slightly gooey and stratified with chocolate. The flakes of salt atop each cookie kept the sweetness in check and added depth of flavor. It was the most perfect chocolate chip cookie I’d ever eaten.

• 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
• 1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content
• Sea salt

Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds.

Continue reading ‘The “Perfect” Chocolate Chip Cookie’

I don’t mean to brag or anything, but these Orange Spice Cookies are Ludo-approved. The chef and I were both guests at a wonderful oyster tasting party last weekend where I brought these lovelies for dessert.   Since I’m usually the one dolling out criticism [See: LudoBites 2.0, LudoBites 3.0], I thought it was only fair to offer Chef Ludo the chance to scrutinize my humble creations. “They’re not too bad,” he declared after a couple of hearty bites. “They’re good,” he added as he polished off the final chunk. Granted, his praise wasn’t glowing, but coming from the man who invented the black croque monsieur with ham, foie gras, and cherry amaretto jam, it pleased me to no end. “Ludo likes my cookie!” I yapped to anyone who would listen for the rest of the evening.

What makes these Orange Spice Cookies really fantastic is their crinkly and sugary exterior. The cookie’s ever-so-light crust gives way to innards that are delicate, moist, and packed with an array of warm spices. I prepared this recipe once by hand and another time with the help of a stand mixer. While using a stand mixer was easier on the muscles, I preferred the texture achieved with the handmade version. Grease up those elbows, the results are worth it.

• 1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup light or dark molasses
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon orange zest

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix together 1/2 cup of sugar plus 2 teaspoons grated orange zest in a shallow bowl for coating and set aside. Whisk the flour, baking soda, spices, pepper, and salt together in a large bowl and set aside.

Beat the butter, brown sugar, and remaining 1/3 cup granulated sugar together in a large bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 6 minutes. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla until combined, about 30 seconds. Beat in the molasses and maple syrup until incorporated, about 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl and beaters as needed.

Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly mix in the flour mixture until combined, about 30 seconds (the dough will be soft). Give the dough a final stir with a rubber spatula to make sure it is combined.

Using wet hands, roll 2 tablespoons of dough at a time into balls, then roll in the sugar and zest mixture to coat and lay on two parchment-lined baking sheets, spaced about 2 inches apart.

Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, until the edges are set and the tops are cracked but the centers are still soft and underdone (peek through the cracks to check the centers), 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through baking.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then serve warm or transfer to wire rack and let cool completely.

Makes 2 dozen cookies.

Recipe adapted from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook