double chocolate-walnut cookies

Thin and crispy cookie or soft and chewy?
How can you choose?
Can we add a third option: thick.

This third option, no, let's just call it what it really is: obsession.
This third obsession of mine started when I first discovered Levain Bakery cookies.
Those giant, quarter pound monsters had me at the first bite.
So far I've made:
original chocolate chip cookie
double chocolate with ganache
double chocolate with mint
oatmeal-raisin
sugar cookie (almost a quarter pound!)
What's on the list next is peanut butter with something, carrot cake like cookie--OK this is a healthy version of the quarter pound cookie to see if it can be done.
What else?
Monster?
Coconut?
Cowboy?
And for those of you that are thin and crispy lovers?
Try these cookies I made from past Top Chef contestant Eric Wolitzky.
You may remember that episode where he made those flat, thin cookies from Season 1, Episode 7.



Choose whatever size you want to make these, just adjust the baking times according to size.

double chocolate-walnut cookies

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3 sticks unsalted butter (24 TB), room temp

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

3 TB half & half (or cream), might need more

1 ½ ts pure vanilla extract

3 cups all purpose flour

¾ cup dark double dutch cocoa powder (regular dutch ok too, but flavor isn’t as intense)

½ ts cinnamon (I used Vietnamese cinnamon for a deep intense flavor)

Oversized ¾ ts sea salt

1 ½ ts baking powder

½ ts baking soda

1 ½ cups of 60 % (or higher cocoa) dark chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

1 cup of toasted walnuts, rough chop

In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, or by hand beat butter and both sugars just until creamy. Don’t overbeat. Add in the eggs, vanilla, and half & half and beat just until incorporated.

In another bowl mix the flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt. When thoroughly mixed, add to batter and stir just until blended. Lumps are good.

Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.

Keep in mind this dough is very hard and thick.  It’s also very sticky, and might be a little dry.

OK to add a dash or two more of half & half to mixture to make it come together only if it’s really dry and too crumbly.

Cover and chill this at least 3 hours before baking; this will help it come together.

When ready to bake:

Always keep the dough cold as you can—this lends a nice tender/flaky cookie that won’t spread much.

Warm dough will yield a flatter cookie. Bake first batch, keep remaining batch in fridge till ready to use. Or shape all cookie dough balls, place on a plate or tray, and keep in fridge as they are ready to bake.

Preheat oven to 385 degrees.

You can either make them into huge cookies (as I did) or smaller ones.

Whichever you choose, keep the dough in balls, do not flatten.

Divide dough into 12-14 big lumps. Mold into HUGE golfballs; do not press flat! 

Keep them as balls on the cookie sheets.  Bake on ungreased cookies sheets (one sheet at a time).

For larger cookies bake 13-16 minutes, smaller cookies 10-15 minutes.

Rotate pan halfway through.

It will be hard to tell when the cookies are done.  Look for crackles on side, cooked/semi-firm tops; they should be a bit soft in the middle.  They will set up as they are cooling (trust me).

Don’t overbake or they will turn into scones.  Once baked don’t try and move the cookies off the pan, they will break apart, let them chill a bit before touching.

Makes 12-14 giant cookies or 22-24 smaller cookies.

homemade double chocolate mint filled Oreo's

I love Oreo's.
I do, BUT....
I cannot take all those chemicals in them.
Sure as a kid I could eat a ton of Oreo's and never have that "crash & burn" feeling.
But now that I'm older,  if I have a few, about an hour later I feel like taking a nap for days.
Always wondered what would Oreo's taste like without all those chemicals?
And, what would they taste like if I used high-quality cocoa powder?
I just always felt as if the chocolate Oreo could use a lot more deeper, darker chocolate flavor.
And I wanted an Oreo filling that did NOT leave a waxy coating in your mouth.
Don't you hate that?
So I made my own....



They look hard to make, but really they aren't if you do them in steps.
Dough and filling made 1-2 days ahead.
Roll and bake next.
The only hard part, if you have to call it that?
The rolling out, as the dough is a bit sticky, so you need patience to roll, cut, and place on cookie sheet.
After that, it's easy. I mean who doesn't like the "filling the cookie" part?
Right?
These cookies look like they are soft, but trust me, they are crunchy. If you look closely at the bitten cookie you will see the "crunch".

This is the best high quality dark cocoa powder.
From King Arthur Flour.
Invest in some. It has so many other uses.


Oh yeah, I always keep Oreo dough next to my healthy green drinks. Ironic?

homemade double chocolate mint filled Oreos
recipe adapted from so many sources online

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Cookie base:

7 TB unsalted butter, room temp

½ cup sugar

3 TB brown sugar

3/4 ts salt

¾ cup double Dutch DARK cocoa powder (+more for dusting board for rolling dough)

¾ cup all purpose flour

½ ts baking powder

¼ ts baking soda

1 ts pure vanilla extract

2 egg yolks

mint filling:

4 TB unsalted butter, room temp

1 + ¼ cups powdered sugar, sifted

¼  ts  pure vanilla extract

¼ ts (or more) pure mint extract

a pinch of salt

Cook notes:

If you can’t find double dutch dark cocoa powder then use regular DARK cocoa powder but you might need more than ¾ cup; possibly a cup? Not sure since I haven’t made it with regular cocoa powder.  I highly suggest investing in some double dutch dark cocoa powder.  King Arthur Flour sells it.

If you don’t want mint filling then you substitute the mint extract for vanilla extract; use ¾ ts vanilla extract. Do a taste test of filling to see if it needs more mint.

I used 4 inch cookie cutters, feel free to use 2 inch or whatever shape you desire.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, baking powder; set aside.

Using a mixer cream butter and both sugars. Add in the egg yolks.

Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Next add in the dry mixture (the flour mixture).  And mix until combined.  It will be a thick, sticky dough. Place dough in plastic wrap, shape into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and flatten into a disc.

Chill dough for at least a couple hours.  When ready to use, let it sit at room temp for 20 minutes or when it’s ready/easy to roll.  Don’t let dough get too warm; we want it to stay fairly cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Dust your board and rolling pin with cocoa powder, and roll out dough to about 1/8 of an inch thickness

Cut out circles with a 4” or 2" round cutter or whatever shapes you desire.   Use a thin metal spatula under the dough to move it to the cookie sheet.

Place a couple inches apart on cookie sheet. They don’t spread much, but if your dough is too warm they might.  If you think your cookie dough got too warm then just pop them back in the fridge before baking.

Knead the scraps of dough together, re-roll and cut out until all or most of the dough is used.

Bake 10 - 12 minutes, or until almost firm.  You need to let these cool on the cookie sheet (about 8-10 minutes); they need to set up.

Mint filling:

Using a hand or stand mixer cream together butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, mint, and salt on medium speed 5-7 minutes until light, creamy and fluffy.

I found that using a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip worked best.  But you can use a ziploc bag with a hole in the corner or simply use a spoon/knife to place filling into center of cookie.

Should make:

12-14 (4 inch cookies)

22-24 (2 inch cookies)

Store in airtight container. Keeps 2 days if that.

pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

You've heard me 1000 times complain about the worst part of making cookies is waiting for that darn butter come to room temperature.
And I have made a few cookie recipes using melted butter with great success. (thank goodness)
And here is another one.
Seeing so many delish pumpkin cookie recipes in the food blogging world, I wanted to make them NOW.

I go looking for recipes at night and get incredibly hungry: bad combo.
Not wait for butter to come to room temp here on a cold fall day---will not happen.
And, I do try the 'microwave till soft method', but I always end up melting half and the other half is hard--fabulous.
I do not trust those microwaves at all.
Call me old fashioned--hate using microwaves.
With these cookies, I used milk chocolate chips, but you could try semi-sweet.
If I make them again, I will use salty pecans instead of chocolate--just been dying to try that.
Also, I barely used any pumpkin pie spice, so only a few dashes in this recipe.
If you want more then go right ahead.  Do a quick taste-test of the batter to see if you like it.




Use a small or medium ice cream scoop. This dough is very sticky.

pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

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1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted & cooled

1 cup light brown sugar, not packed

½ cup dark brown sugar, packed

2 large eggs

1 ts pure vanilla extract

1 cup plain pumpkin puree

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 ts baking powder

1 ¼ ts baking soda

½  ts salt

4 quick dashes of pumpkin pie spice (or more if you like the flavor, I don’t like a lot)

3 dashes of cinnamon

2 cups milk chocolate chips

Mix the butter and all sugars together. I did this by hand; feel free to use a mixer.

Mix until smooth.

Add in the eggs 1 at a time, then the vanilla & pumpkin puree.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice.  

Slowly add, in batches, the dry mixture to the wet mixture. 

Do not over mix!  Lumps are good!

Stir in the chips.   Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill at least 2 hours or overnight.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees, Line a couple cookie sheets with parchment paper or spray with nonstick cooking spray, or whichever method you like.

Using a medium or small ice cream scoop, scoop the cookie dough onto the prepared cookie sheets.  Do no press them flat, leaven them round. 

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until the cookies are browned around the edges.

Let cookies cook on wire racks.

Should make about 36 cookies if using a medium ice cream scoop, more if you use a small ice cream scoop.

Seven Layer Bars with Pumpkin

Those infamous 7 layer bars now made with pumpkin.
Have I lost my mind? No, just really into the pumpkin cooking spirit.
I've been dying to do this for a while now, but weary of how it would turn out because well, now there are 8 layers, so things could get sloppy, not set up, be too sweet, etc...
That buttery graham crust layer was just yearning for a nice layer of pumpkin.
It came out really good.
The pumpkin layer is very gentle in flavor, and adds a nice savory touch.
I went easy on the pumpkin spice flavoring, as I'm not a big fan of it.
I do like extra cinnamon in my pumpkin.
Made this in a 9 or 10 inch cake pan (just for something different).  It should work in a 9x13 pan, might be "just enough" or "slightly short" on ingredients--I don't know I haven't done this in a 9x13 pan yet.


Seriously?  These were insanely good.  The butterscotch with the pumpkin with the buttery graham cracker crust?  Oh heavenly food combo.






buttery graham layer first

pumpkin layer next--don't spread to the edges

pecans next, or use walnuts

chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips

coconut then pour on the sweetened condensed milk

time to bake!




Look at that crust!

Seven Layer Bars with Pumpkin

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Pumpkin layer:

1 egg

8 ounces of plain pumpkin puree

½ ts pure vanilla extract

a few dashes of cinnamon

a few dashes of pumpkin pie spice

1 ½ - 2 cups crushed graham crackers (depending on how thick you like the crust)

12 tbsp. unsalted butter

¾ cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

½ cup white chocolate chips

½ cup butterscotch chips

¾ cup sweetened flaked coconut, toasted (optional to toast)

1 (14-oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat the oven to 350° F. 

Heavily spray with nonstick or line a 9 or 10-inch cake pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil.  If using parchment or aluminum make sure to spray that too with nonstick cooking spray. 

Melt the butter over medium heat; add in the graham crumbs, and mix well.

Using your fingers or a spatula spread crumbs into pan, making sure to get all the edges. If you want to prebake this for 10 minutes to help it get crisp then go ahead.  I did not. 

In a small bowl mix the pumpkin puree with the egg; add in the vanilla extract and as much spice as you want. I did about 4 shakes of cinnamon and 2 shakes of pumpkin spice. 

Then place a layer of the pumpkin mixture on top of the graham.  Do not spread the pumpkin mixture to the edges (see photo)—you don’t want it to seep out.

Then add the layer of pecans, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and toasted coconut.  Next pour the condensed milk evenly over the entire dish. 

Bake until the top is golden brown and mixture is set in the middle (no jiggly), about 25-28 minutes. 

Cool on a wire rack for a couple hours.  I then put mine in the fridge to help it firm up to make the slicing much easier. 

Remove the bars from the pan.  Then using a very sharp knife, cut into bars in small pie slices.  If the slicing is sticky, it helps to wet the knife with warm water.

It’s best to store this in the fridge. Keeps about 2 days then it gets soggy. 

(cake like) pumpkin cookies w/ nutella-cream cheese frosting

This weekend I set out to create a pumpkin cookie that was soft and cake-like.
And hopefully next weekend I can create one that is crispy--is there such a thing as a crispy pumpkin cookie?
Have you had one?
I got a ton of requests for pumpkin this and that.
Amazed at how many of you love your pumpkin.
Did you see my version of NY style pumpkin crumb cake?
Or my pumpkin-nutella fudge puddles?
So, if you love cake-like cookies, then this one is for you.
It's soft and a bit chewy.
The best part is the frosting.
Hands down Nutella pairs really well with pumpkin.
So if you're going to make pumpkin anything  make sure to add some nutella in there.




Really sticky dough.  Make sure to chill the dough before using.
Make sure to use a small or medium ice cream scoop.
I used medium and got about 28 cookies.
If you use a smaller scoop you might get 35 cookies?

pumpkin cookies (cake-like) with nutella-cream cheese frosting

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cookies:

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 ts baking powder

1 ts baking soda

2 ts ground cinnamon

1/2 ts ground nutmeg

1/2 ts ground cloves

1/2 ts salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp

1 ¼ cups white sugar

1 cup canned PLAIN pumpkin puree

1 egg

1 ts vanilla extract

frosting:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp

6 ounces cream cheese, room temp

½ cup ( + a bit more if needed) Nutella

2 TB confectioners sugar

small pinch of salt

¼ cup crushed walnuts or pecans, for garnish (optional)

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, all the spices, and salt; mix and set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar.  Next add in the pumpkin, egg, and vanilla extract, beat until creamy. Then add in the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined—do not overmix!

Cover the batter and chill for at least an hour or overnight. 

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Using a medium or small ice cream scoop, drop on baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches space per cookie since these do expand when baking.  I did not flatten then, I kept them as balls to ensure a soft cookie.

Bake about 15 - 18 minutes.  To tell if the cookies are done the tops will be set and the bottom slightly browned.

For the frosting: 

cream butter, cream cheese and Nutella together. Slowly add in the powdered sugar and mix well.

Let cookies cool completely before frosting.  After you’ve frosted them you can decorate the tops with crushed pecans or walnuts.

Yield: using a medium scoop about 24-28 cookies; using a smaller scoop about 30-35 cookies (?)