Sandwich-a-licious Cookies

I bet you guys thought I was long gone. Well... I was for a while, but I'm back, I promise! In fact, to make up for my long gone-ness, I have an awesome recipe that any self-respecting cookie lover should have in their collection.

Now, what comes to mind when you hear the phrase, 'America's favorite cookie?' apart from a nice warm, chocolate chip cookie, that is. You know, that one well-known name brand that will forever cause family divisions over the table about what's better, the creme or the cookie. Ringing any bells? Good, because I have one that's even better.That's right, you read that correctly. I've found a recipe that will make it easy to walk right on by that classic blue package without a pause.

Look at these beauties: crunchy cookies with a deep, rich chocolate flavor and and smooth, creamy vanilla center. Makes you just want to pour a tall glass of milk and have at 'em. Well, soon you'll be able to. I tried out three different recipes that all boasted having the best texture and flavor.

One had melted butter and chocolate, the second was a classic sounding recipe using the classic cocoa powder and creamed butter technique, and the last recipe used powdered sugar. One full day of shifting things around in my overstuffed fridge to precariously balance a cookie sheet to cool rolled dough and cutting little circles as fast as I could to avoid the stifling heat in the kitchen finally gave way to three very different cookies.

The recipe that involved powdered sugar was the worst. It was too sticky and took forever to cool down only to result in dry cookies with all the oomph of an old piece of toast. It wasn't even worth a picture, so it was out of the running as soon as it left the oven.

Next was the classic cocoa powder and creamed butter recipe, which was okay, but okay isn't going to make people demand more of these every time dessert comes around. I didn't bother with any filling for them, but they did earn a picture:

And then, just as I was losing hope, the first recipe I'd chosen came out of the oven and even the color was perfect. Add the heavenly smell and I was sure I had a winner. Once I tasted them I did a little dance, they were so good. It was a recipe I found in the flour cookbook, by Joanne Chang, who owns Boston's Flour + Cafe, and I have to say, this woman is an excellent storyteller. Every recipe has a tale and the whole book balances the perfect line between a bakery recipe book and enough details to work well for the home baker. She's got a creme filling recipe in the book to for these cookies, but I chose to make my own with coconut oil instead of butter, which gave it the perfect consistency.

Before you go and jump into making this recipe, know that you can go with two different techniques. Either rolling the dough into a log and storing it in the fridge until it is hard enough to slice into circles (a quicker method for sure, but for some reason one I've never really been able to pull off. Eh, apparently I'm not happy unless I'm doing things in the most difficult way possible.) 

Or, you could do it the long, hard and time-consuming, but more precise method (for me, at least) of rolling out to 1/8" thick and cutting out circles with a cookie cutter. And the cookies look so much prettier and uniform if you refrigerate the dough before cutting it and before it goes in the oven. This will prevent the cookies from spreading and bubbling as they bake.

Here's the recipe along with both the original creme and my own substitute. (I know, I know, took me long enough.)

Homemade Oreos from flour by Joanne Chang

1 C unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

3/4 C granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled slightly

1 egg

1 1/2 C all-purpose flour (unbleached is best)

3/4 C dutch-processed cocoa powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

- In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter and sugar until well combined. Whisk in the vanilla and chocolate. Add the egg and whisk until thoroughly incorporated.

- Add the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda. Mix well until fully incorporated. The dough with pull together and become easier to finish mixing by hand. It should have the consistency of play-doh. If the temperature of your kitchen is on the cool side, leave the dough to sit for about an hour to set up, if not, move right onto the next step.

- Now drop onto a sheet of parchment and either roll into a log about 10 inches long and about 2 1/2" thick, roll in parchment and twist ends to seal. Or, set another sheet of parchment/wax paper on top and roll out to 1/8" thick, slide onto a baking sheet and place in fridge (or freezer if you are short on time.)

- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and ready a baking sheet pan with either spray or parchment/wax paper

- When cooled enough to be firm, pull dough out and either slice to 1/8" thick slices, or use a 2 1/2" cookie cutter to make circles and place on ready baking pan. 

- Bake for 10-15 minutes, turning the pan around halfway through the baking time. Remove from oven and let cool for five minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Vanilla Cream Filling

1/2 C unsalted butter

1 2/3 C confectioner's (powdered) sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon milk

pinch of salt

- While the cookies are cooling, grab a spoon and beat the butter in a medium mixing bowl. Add half the sugar and mix completely. Add the vanilla and beat until smooth. Then add milk and salt along with the rest of the sugar and mix until smooth again.

- Scoop by rounded tablespoon onto the bottom side of one cookie, then top with a second cookie, bottom-side down and press gently to spread filling out to the edge. Repeat with until all of the cookies are filled.

BakerNerd's Vanilla Cream Filling

1/2 C expeller-pressed coconut oil (raw or virgin coconut oil tastes like coconut while expeller-pressed has a very neutral taste, which is better for flavoring. But if you want coconut flavor, feel free to go with raw or virgin coconut oil.)

1 C confectioner's sugar

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Note: coconut oil is best beaten with a whisk and using as few additional liquids (such as extracts and flavors) and do NOT mix with milk, it will make a curdled mess. I know, because I tried it. It was ugly.

- While the cookies are cooling, grab a whisk and beat the coconut oil in a medium mixing bowl. Add half the sugar and mix completely. Add the vanilla and beat until smooth. Then the rest of the sugar and mix until smooth again. thickness will depend on how warm the mixture is so try cooling it a bit in the refrigerator if it is too thin. If still too thin, ad a bit more confectioner's sugar until it reaches a consistency you like.

- Scoop by rounded tablespoon onto the bottom side of one cookie, then top with a second cookie, bottom-side down and press gently to spread filling out to the edge. Repeat with until all of the cookies are filled.

Grab a glass of milk, and maybe a spoon to smack away sneaky cookie-snatching fingers, and enjoy!

Double the chocolate, double the fun!

This was supposed to be last weeks post, but I ran a little short on time, so this week is Double post time!

Today we have Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies. Sounds good already, doesn't it?

Now, this recipe is much easier to mix with a machine, but seem to get a kick out of getting hand cramps. I usually ignore my shiny mixer for a good old fashioned wooden spoon. Please use some of the sense that I am clearly lacking and use an electric mixer.

On to the recipe!

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened (salted, if using unsalted, add 1 tsp salt to flour)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups (or 1 12 oz bag) white chocolate chips

Anyhow, you'll want to start with creaming the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla.

In a sperate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda (and salt if needed.)

Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and stir until just combined, mix in the chocolate chips.

It should look something like this:
Maybe not quite as appetizing as the last chocolate chip cookie dough, but just you wait.

You can make mini cookies like these...

Or larger cookies for those times when you need a fix...
Any way you make them, they're always delicious.

Yum.

Finished... for now

I had a little more time this week than expected, so I finished up my chocolate chip cookie try-outs. I've still got a ton of recipes, but I found an awesome recipe that's simple, delicious and holds well. My chocolate chip rampage is over... for now. But let's start at the beginning:

This week I had three variations of a recipe to try out. The first was kind of blah, but that was because I ran out of some ingredients and had to use substitutes. Not worth talking about really. The second try (with all of the ingredients) was a completely different story though. It was the only recipe I chose with melted butter rather than creamed.

And I got a camera! (well, borrowed one.)

Looks tempting doesn't it? Well, resist the urge to devour so we can reach step two! I left my trusty scoop for a regular spoon to make larger cookies.

These baked at a slightly lower temp for a little longer (325 degrees rather than the usual 350 and for 15-18 min instead of the usual 8-10.)
You'll be glad you saved some of that batter once you see these.

These cookies were the most delicious of all the recipes, but the texture was just a bit off, a little too grainy and crumbly for my tastes. So I tried the recipe again, but this time creaming the butter. And they were even better! A crisp outside to a tender, moist, chewy inside.

And below is a comparison of the two. If you want crackly cookies, just drop them from the spoon onto your cooking pan, if you're like me and like a smoother looking cookie than roll the dough into balls before placing them on the pan. (The left is the creamed butter and the right is the melted.)

Well, I'll keep on trying more of these recipes I've collected, but much more slowly and over time, rather than crammed into just a few days. Up next is either oatmeal raisin or some cupcake recipes. Hmm...

Here's the winning recipe for anyone who'd like to try it:

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup butter (salted), softened (or melted if you prefer cookies with more texture)
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 (or 1 ½ if you want really loaded cookies) chocolate chips
Oven pre-heated to 325 degrees F

1. Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
2. Cream the butter with the sugars, add the vanilla and eggs, beating until a few shades lighter and a bit fluffier (if using melted butter, just beat until completely mixed in.)
3. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended together (as in no clumps of flour,) add the chips and mix in (do this by hand with a wooden spoon if you’ve used a machine so far.)
4. Drop cookies onto non-stick/greased/parchment paper-ed baking sheet about 2-3 inches apart. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until golden brown. (Those of you with temperamental ovens, remember to turn your cookie sheets halfway through baking.)

Enjoy!

Getting Started

Well, I'm a little new to this whole blogging thing. So I guess I'll start with introducing myself. I am BakerNerd, a young pastry chef in training. I am slowly building my own business and I started this blog to help me keep track of things. I make hand-rolled truffles, and while they are pretty awesome, I need to expand my recipe collection to include cookies, cupcakes and the like. I've started searching for and experimenting with recipes to find the ones I'll use for my business.

As anyone could probably guess, I am not only a baker, but I'm also a nerd. I love comic books and play D&D every weekend, which will probably result in bad gaming jokes being made every now and then. I might even build up enough courage to throw some art in here. Anyhow, back to baking, I've started with the basic of any cookie collection. The chocolate chip cookie. The only problem is that there are a LOT of recipes out there for me to try (luckily my gaming friends don't mind being bombarded with baked goods whenever they come over.) I'll be testing out only the recipes that have proven tried and true and I've narrowed it down to seven for now, though I'll always be on the lookout for even better ones. When I think of the perfect chocolate chip cookie, I imagine one that is nice and thick, but not cakey, golden brown and cripsy on the outside while still chewy and wonderful inside. The toughest part of getting this right isn't just a good recipe, but also keeping a close eye on my tempermental oven.

So far I've tried three recipes, two last weekend and one more yesterday. The first was okay tasting but was far too cakey and a little bland. The second was my favorite of the three, the cookies held their shape without losing that great cookie texture. And while they were lightly crispy on the outside, they stayed chewy inside even after cooling completely. The flavor was pretty good too. But I couldn't stop there, so I tried another last night. The flavor was great but the cookies were flat and a little too crispy for me. I might try it one more time making larger cookies (I made mini cookies with my trusty 1 oz scoop) to see if it makes a difference in the texture.

Well, that's it for today, I've got one recipe to retry and four more to test out. I should have two or three done by next week and hopefully some pictures too!

Here's the recipe for the second (and most successful) batch:

Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)
2. Cream together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Sift together the flour baking soda and salt and stir into the batter. Add in the chocolate chips and nuts. drop by large spoonfuls (use a small scoop for evenly sized cookies) onto ungreased pans (I used a non-stick cookie sheet, otherwise I usually have a parchment sheet under the cookies to avoid any sticking.)
3. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely brown. (You may need to rotate the pan halfway through to make sure the cookies bake evenly if you have an oven as tempermantal as mine.) Let sit for a few miutes then move cookies to a cooling rack to finish setting up. Or you could eat them while they're warm and gooey. Just saying.