Tate’s Bakeshop Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tate's Bakeshop Chocolate Chip Cookies

When I hunted down this recipe my intention was to make the cookies so that I could use them in Ina Garten’s Mocha Chocolate Icebox Cake. I was going to serve it for dessert with friends, but once I made the cookies I realized that the cookies were too good to bury in icebox cake. No doubt the cake would have been good, but it’s hard to believe we would have enjoyed it more than we enjoyed the cookies.

The cookies are thin, buttery, and crispy. Normally I like to bake cookies on air bake cookie sheets, but these turn out best if you use non-insulated cookie sheets. I’ve never had an actual Tate’s cookie so I can’t compare these to the original but we thought these were fantastic.

The recipe is available numerous places on the web including  Cookie Madness and Wives with Knives.

Turtle Cookies with Browned Butter Icing

Turtle Cookies with Browned Butter Icing

First off I apologize for the photo. I snapped these off pretty fast and didn’t get a good photo. By the  time I realized how poor they were the cookies were gone.

This is a recipe my Mom let us make in the summer when it was too hot to have the oven on. It also kept a couple of us busy for a little while on a hot summer day. My older brother and I both liked to cook and bake which worked out well for my Mom. The funny thing about this recipe is it is written in my sister’s handwriting. To this day she isn’t a big fan of sweets, and she avoids time in the kitchen as much as possible so I’m not sure why she’s the one that wrote down the recipe. It might be the only recipe ever in her handwriting, so I’ll be sure to hang on to it as proof that she must have dabbled in the kitchen at least a little.

Sadly, I never made these for my kids growing up. Until recently our only waffle iron was a Belgian waffler with very deep grooves and I didn’t think it would be good for these cookies. Our new Belgian waffle iron doesn’t have such deep grooves so I thought it was time to give this recipe a try. The cookies are soft, and in my opinion benefit from a day in a tightly sealed container. The browned butter icing is an update. When we were kids we just mixed up powdered sugar and butter with a little milk and vanilla and called it good. I loved the browned sugar icing on these.

Turtle Cookies

1.5 c. sugar
1c. margarine (I used butter)
4 eggs
2 t. vanilla
1/2 c. cocoa
1/4 t. salt
2 c. flour

Preheat the waffle iron to the medium setting. (I had to use a lower setting and cook them longer.)

Cream together the margarine and the butter. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until incorporated. Add the cocoa, salt, and flour and stir until just mixed.

Drop onto heated waffle iron. Bake for 1 minute. (Mine turned out better at a lower setting with a longer cook time.)

Frost the cookies. (We made either chocolate or vanilla depending on our mood.)

Browned Butter Icing

1/4. c. butter
2 c. powdered sugar
2 T. cream or milk
1 t. vanilla

Place the butter in a stainless steel pan over medium heat. (Not non-stick. You want to be able to see the butter brown and non stick pans are too dark.)
When the butter is melted swirl the pan occasionally and watch closely as the butter browns. Don’t walk away from it or it will get too dark. When the butter has golden flecks remove from the heat and put it in a bowl to make the frosting. If you leave it in the pan it will continue to cook and may get too dark.
Add the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Frost the cookies.

Friendly Kitchen Cookies

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip

This weekend I had a friend coming over and almost no time to whip together a treat to serve. It was a personal challenge to see if I could get these mixed together and at least one tray baked between the time I hung up the phone with her and her arrival. I managed to get three trays baked, and a pitcher of iced tea made!

I was going to make the recipe on the back of the chip bag, but I realized it would be faster to make a recipe that uses weights. I had printed off one of Anna’s comparison charts for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and I knew she had used weights.  Since I had already made the Frog Commissary cookies I decided to give the Friendly Kitchen cookies a try. I liked these cookies a lot. They have good structure and aren’t too sweet. The Frog Commissary cookies are good too. I’d be hard pressed to choose between them, but these were a little sturdier so I might choose these.

Most of the cookies were given to our kids. Today I baked the rest of the cookies from the dough that I didn’t get baked yesterday. I think the cookies are even better today. They browned a little more and like most chocolate chip cookies they benefited from chilling time in the refrigerator.

You can find the recipe at Cookie Madness. Coconut was optional, and I skipped that, but I think it would be very good in these cookies.

Gigantic Chocolate Chip Cookies

Gigantic Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’ve come out of food blogger hiding to share the above photo with you and a link to the recipe. Anna from the Cookie Madness blog whipped  them together after a recent trip to Disney World where she enjoyed something similar in Minnie’s Bakeshop.

These are the biggest cookies I’ve ever made! Not only is the circumference huge, but they are also very thick. Almost an inch! They have a unique texture that is difficult to describe. The closest I can come is that the inside is similar to the texture of  a bar cookie, while the outside has a crispy cookie edge.

I’m glad to have successfully made some gigantic cookies. They taste very good, but I think that for the most part I like thinner, smaller cookies better.

On a different note. I’ve been on the fence for months now about whether or not I should continue to blog. Any thoughts?

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

About a week ago I was so hungry for a chocolate chip cookie. I’d been wanting to make them for days, but it’s so hard to justify such indulgences when it’s just the two of us here to eat them. I was headed to a meeting out of town with four other friends and our departure time was too early for dinner, but not eating before the meeting meant we were going to have to eat very late. Being the baking fiend that I am I decided this was the perfect excuse to make some chocolate chip cookies to carry us until dinner. In order to make it so they weren’t totally devoid of good nutrition, I conceded and made an oatmeal chocolate chip version. The cookies were appreciated by all, and everyone asked for the recipe so either everyone was really hungry or they’re really good, or both. I froze what my friends didn’t eat and shared them with the kids when they were home for Thanksgiving. I think they were sad when they were gone.

The recipe for these cookies can be found here on the old Baking Sheets blog, and you can read about Anna’s experience with them here where she compares three different oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipes back to back.

Another chocolate chip cookie!

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Bailey's Irish Cream

One of my favorite cookies from Anna at Cookie Madness is the Masterpiece White Chocolate Chunk Cookies. There aren’t a lot of recipes that get an “Excellent” rating from me, but that recipe definitely deserves the excellent ranking.

I wasn’t going to blog about this variation but Louise provided a link in the comment section on Cookie Madness that declares May 15 National Chocolate Chip Day. Today I made a half batch of the recipe with a few toasted pecans left over from another baking project and chocolate chips. The dough makes a cookie that is crispy on the edges and chewier in the middle than some recipes. This version could use fewer chocolate chips and more pecans, but they’re a very good chocolate chip cookie. For the record I like Anna’s version with the white chocolate and macadamia nuts better, but these were made spur of the moment, so I used what I had on hand.

I rarely weigh my ingredients because I don’t own a kitchen scale, but today to satisfy my curiosity I measured 1 c. of flour with the dip and sweep method and then weighed it on my husband’s quirky postal scale. I did it several times to see how consistent I am, and one cup weighed 5 oz. Depending on your hand, flour, humidity levels etc., your 1 c. may measure differently than my 1 c., so if your cookies turn out flat or don’t spread enough you may need to make adjustments.

If it weren’t for an email from Anna I wouldn’t have tried this today, so thank you Anna! Now I have cookies to share with my kids when I see them tonight.

This is a half batch, and makes 24-28 cookies.

Update: Once these were completely cooled I could taste a nice hint of Bailey’s in the background so I don’t feel that the amount of chocolate chips is overpowering.

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Bailey’s Irish Cream

8 oz. regular butter

1/2 c. brown sugar, packed

1/2 c. white sugar

1 egg

1/2 t. vanilla

1 T. Bailey’s Irish Cream

1 1/4 c. + 1 T. unbleached all purpose flour

3 T. cornstarch

1/2 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

2 T. toasted and chopped pecans (I will use more the next time I make these)

1 c. chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cream together the butter and sugars. Beat in the eggs, vanilla, and Bailey’s. In a seperate bowl stir together the flour, cornstarch, and baking soda and salt. Stir the flour mixture into the creamed mixture. Stir in the pecans and chocolate chips. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 11 minutes. Allow the cookies to set for a minute or so and then remove to wire rack to cool completely.

I love Chocolate Chip Cookies

Modified Hershey's Special Dark CCC's

This afternoon I found myself with some unexpected extra time and instead of doing chores, or relaxing I decided to make some chocolate chip cookies. Earlier this week I made the Cook’s Illustrated Perfect Chocolate Chip cookies but I gave them to a friend who did a huge favor for me. I’ve been craving chocolate chip cookies ever since then. It was difficult for me to move beyond the Cook’s Illustrated cookie, because I love everything about them, but today I just wanted a quick cookie to satisfy the craving. I was going to make the recipe on the back of the Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Chip bag, but when I went to measure out the flour I realized that I didn’t have enough all purpose flour so I made some substitutions which worked out fine. I only baked twelve of the cookies. The rest of the dough is in the refrigerator and I’ll bake more of them tomorrow.

These cookies are very good and I would make them again. They are crisp on the edges, and chewy in the center. They are not at all cakey.

Modified Hershey’s Classic Special Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c. softened butter

3/4 c. sugar

3/4 c. light brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 c. all purpose flour

1/2 c. cake flour

3/4 c. bread flour

1 t. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

 2 c. Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Cream together then butter, sugars and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat well. Add the dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 minutes rotating the cookie sheet after 5 minutes. Cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes. Remove the cookies and cool on a wire rack.

Perfect? Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thick and chewy but not gooey in the center.

Two days ago I received my May/June issue of Cook’s Illustrated. On the front cover I could see “Chocolate Chip Cookies, Reinvented”. That alone was enough to pique my curiosity, but when I flipped to page 22 and saw “The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie” I couldn’t help but think it takes a lot of ego to call a recipe or a baked good “perfect”. Despite the arrogance of the title I had to make the cookies to find out what constitutes the title “perfect” in the test kitchen at CI.

Basically they’ve tweaked the Nestle Toll House recipe by browning most of the butter, removing some of the egg white, changing the ratio of brown to white sugar, and using a larger scoop of dough for each cookie. Does it yield a “perfect” cookie? The cookies are thick and chewy and are not gooey in the center. The edgesw are crisp. They aren’t greasy, and they have just the right sweetness without being sugary or grainy. The toffee flavor that I like in chocolate chip cookies is pronounced due to the browned butter and dark brown sugar.

In my vocabulary the word perfect doesn’t apply to food, but these are truly excellent cookies, and even if you have to buy the issue off the rack it’s worth the $5.95 to get the recipe, at least if you’re a chocolate chip cookie aficionado. Besides, there is a recipe for the “Best Blueberry Muffins” that looks very good. Apparently they aren’t “perfect”, but I’ll give them a try anyway.

 

FYI the recipe for Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies appears on page 24 of the May/June issue of Cook’s Illustrated.

This post has been updated to include the recipe with permission from Cook’s Illustrated!

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 3/4 cups (8 3/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter

1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar

3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) packed dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon table salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks

3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted (optional)

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 large (18- by 12- inch) baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

2. Heat 10 tablespoons butter in 10 inch skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and, using heatproof spatula, transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl. Stir remaining 4 tablespoons butter into hot butter until completely melted.

3. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Add egg and yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds. Let mixture stand 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds. Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth and shiny. Using rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if using), giving dough final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.

4. Divide dough into 16 portions, each about 3 tablespoons (or use#24 cookie scoop). Arrange 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets, 8 dough balls per sheet. (Smaller baking sheets can be used, but will require 3 batches.)

5. Bake cookies 1 tray at a time until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, 10 to 14 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Transfer baking seet to wire rack; cool cookies completely before serving.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies

The Almost No Knead Bread baking did in my flour and parchment paper supplies so I had to go the grocery store to replenish. Gold Medal Flour was on sale. Two five pound bags were on sale for $5.00. This is quite a bit less than the brand I usually buy so I decided to give it a try. As I was putting away the groceries I noticed a chocolate chip cookie recipe on the back of the bags. I didn’t think much of it and went on with my chores. Later when I used the new roll of parchment paper I noticed that there was a chocolate chip cookie recipe on the inside of the box and I started thinking that maybe it was a sign that I was supposed to make CC cookies. I continued on with my day and checked one of my favorite blogs Cookie Madness. On that particular day (January 5) Anna had blogged about a new cookbook and CC cookies. I knew at that point that I had to make some and I knew that my son would be pleased with the choice.

I decided to go with the recipe on the inside of the Reynold’s Parchment paper box. I’ve made many different cookie recipes over the year, and may have even made this one, but since I couldn’t remember for sure I decided to go with it. These cookies are good. With more care with the scooping they would be really pretty cookies. They are a nice thickness. Not too thick or thin. Both my husband and I thought they tasted a little less sugary than some other CC cookies but the ratio of sugar to flour isn’t that different so I’m not sure why we felt that way, and they weren’t less sugary in a bad way.

Adjectives used by my husband and son to describe these cookies. Outstanding, and great. I think they’re a good cookie.

The recipe can be found here.

On a different note. The new box of Reynold’s parchment makes a big note of saying that it’s oven safe to 420 degrees. I don’t know what happens at 425 which is what the Almost No Knead bread is baked at, but I think it’s time to find a different kind of parchment paper for that use.