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How is it possible?  In 4 years of writing this blog I have never posted a recipe for a plain old chocolate chip cookie - ever.  They’ve always had peanut butter or pretzels or oatmeal or something else taking away from that tried and true pure Chocolate. Chip. Cookie.

Obviously that had to change, and stat.  And I decided to go big…Baking GALS Round 33 gets these Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies.  And lucky them.  Forget those old school Nestle Tollhouse, or god forbid…Chips Ahoy (yikes!).   This should forever be your go-to recipe.  These particular cookies are huge,  I mean seriously honkin’ but you can always make them whatever size you like.  From the brown sugar to the extra yolk and the melted butter, these are some of the richest, most flavorful I’ve ever had.  The recipe calls for semi-sweet chips.  I felt like a big cookie called for a bigger piece of chocolate, so I went with chunks and I think it worked well.  Let’s get down to business so you can go hit the kitchen…like now.

Don't worry - I ate this one.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups, plus 2 tablespoons All-Purpose flour
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
12 Tbsp. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar (I used ½ of each)
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, plus 1 egg yolk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1-1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

1. Adjust the oven racks to the upper- and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 325º.  Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.

3. Either by hand or with an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended.  Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined.  Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined.  Stir in the chips to taste.

4. Roll a scant ¼ cup of the dough into a ball.  Hold the dough ball with the fingertips of both hands and pull into 2 equal halves.  Rotate the halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, join the halves together at their base, again forming a single ball, being careful not to smooth the dough's uneven surface. (I skipped that part and used a ¼ cup cookie scoop)  Place the formed dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, jagged surface up, spacing them 2 ½ inches apart.

5. Bake until the cookies are light golden brown and the outer edges start to harden yet the centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time.  Cool the cookies on the sheets for about 10 min.  Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets with a wide metal spatula.

Recipe adapted from Baking Illustrated

Potbelly.  Who would have thought they would be my cookie-baking nemesis?!  I certainly didn’t.  I figured it would be some great artisanal baker, but no.  I’ve heard from several people over the years about how amaaazing their cookies and ice cream-cookie sandwiches are….blah, blah, blah.

Challenge accepted and nemesis no more, my friends.  I think I have finally conquered their most popular cookie – the oatmeal chocolate chip, of course.

Like a true professional, I did my research over time.  I made tweaks to a recipe I already know and love, I tried a couple new recipes from other blogs, I bought a Potbelly cookie and tried to figure out if there was some secret spice I was missing (Anyone see that Friends episode with Monica dissecting what turned out to be a Nestle Tollhouse recipe??  Yup, same.).  I even emailed Potbelly’s customer service and asked them about their recipe.  I’ll get to their response in a sec.  But finally, I got the golden ticket one day when a weekly email from King Arthur Flour showed up in my inbox featuring their version…bingo.  I should have thought to go to them first.

Here is their recipe:

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 large egg yolk, at room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups All Purpose Flour

1 cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats 

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt or 3/4 teaspoon regular table salt

3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

·8 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature

·7 1/2 ounces light brown sugar

·3 1/2 ounces granulated sugar

·1 large egg, at room temperature

·1 large egg yolk, at room temperature

·1/2 ounce vanilla extract

·8 1/2 ounces King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

·3 1/2 ounces quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats

·1 teaspoon baking powder

·1 teaspoon baking soda

·1 teaspoon kosher salt or 3/4 teaspoon regular table salt

·18 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

·227g unsalted butter, at room temperature

·213g light brown sugar

·99g granulated sugar

·1 large egg, at room temperature

·1 large egg yolk, at room temperature

·14g vanilla extract

·241g King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

·99g quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats

·1 teaspoon baking powder

·1 teaspoon baking soda

·1 teaspoon kosher salt or 3/4 teaspoon regular table salt

·510g semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

As good as this recipe is, I still make my own adjustments to get the texture I want – I use jumbo eggs instead of large, I add some extra oats (about 1/2-3/4 cup), perhaps a pinch more baking soda or powder.  I will say that their use of a full tablespoon of vanilla is unique – don’t skimp on that, it makes all the difference.  And whatever you do, make sure its pure vanilla extract and not imitation.  Ick.

As for Potbelly’s customer service response….well first, I checked their website and it just says that a particular recipe is used and they are baked fresh daily.  Ok fine, but I wanted more than that.  I asked if the dough is actually made on sight or if they just get dough that they bake at each location.  I also asked if the recipe was Potbelly’s or from a third party bakery.  The response (which to their credit, I did receive within 24 hours) was, “They are baked fresh each day from dough which is made according to a Potbelly recipe.”  Hmmm, they get kudos for using their own recipe, but this is still vague enough, and I’ve watched enough “How It’s Made” in my day to guess that this dough arrives at each store in big gallon buckets (likely with added sodium and preservatives) and just gets scooped out and plopped onto baking sheets.  Nothing horribly wrong with that I suppose, but for all the hype they get, you’d hope that there’s at least some skill and passion involved.  Next time you get the craving, come to my kitchen instead….to borrow from Seinfeld – admittedly the context is a bit different – they’re real and they’re spectacular!!

**Note** – I made these for my Baking GALS Round 31.  While I would love to devour them all myself, I thought it best to get them out of the house immediately and spare my figure.  And no, I did not skip Rounds 29 and 30 – I made repeat cookie and scone recipes the past couple months and therefore didn’t bother boring you with the details.  No worries, the troops were fed!

After almost 2 ½ years of sending baked goods overseas, it’s difficult to come up with something I know will be delicious, but that I haven’t already sent.  I flag tons of recipes to try out, but a lot of them likely wouldn’t survive the shipping (those brownies last month were definitely a risk!).  This time I decided to go with my old trusty White Chocolate Cranberry cookies (Road Cookies) , but with a twist to make them new again…

I omitted the cranberries and instead added both milk and dark chocolate chips to the white.  I left out the nutmeg, but included ¼ tsp of the cinnamon for that warm “Mexican chocolate” touch.  I think they turned out great….in fact, I may make them a new staple on www.bakeridc.com.  I just hope my guy this month likes chocolate!

I have a couple new scone recipes churning in my head – next month I may have to go that route – stay tuned….

*Also, if you feel so inclined, I have a feeling some chopped up bacon would taste absolutely amazing in these!

What’s your oldest memory of eggnog?  Is it something you had with your family during the holidays?  Or still do?  I remember early on in elementary school, our class made a cookbook and one of my classmates submitted a recipe for homemade eggnog.  I’d probably had it at some point before this, but making it from that recipe is the first experience that comes to mind.  I loved it right from the start.  Of course that wasn’t the adult version, which I also am a big fan of!

So, the big question with eggnog in baked goods is, will the flavor actually come through?  I’ve made eggnog scones before and I remember them being good, but not really having a strong eggnog flavor.  Maybe I used a light variety or needed to add more, who knows – but after making these cookies, I’ll be playing around with those scones again as there was no shortage of flavor here!

This recipe actually called for the addition of dark chocolate chunks.  I’m sure that is also delicious, but eggnog to me just screams nutmeg, so I omitted the chocolate and added some nutmeg and cinnamon chips instead.  To me, they are absolutely perfect like this, but if you prefer chocolate, just sub out the same amount that I used for the cinnamon chips.

Recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker (www.browneyedbaker.com) 

Ingredients

1 cup + 2 Tbsp AP flour

½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp ground nutmeg

6 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

½ cup + 2 Tbsp granulated sugar

¼ cup Eggnog (light not recommended)

1 egg yolk

½ tsp vanilla extract

½ cup mini cinnamon chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 300º.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg; set aside.

Using an electric mixer, in a large bowl, beat butter and sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the eggnog, egg yolk, and vanilla.  Continue to beat at medium speed until completely mixed, about 2 minutes.

Reduce mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients in two batches, mix until just combined.  Using a rubber scraper, fold in the cinnamon chips and make sure all flour is incorporated.

Using a small or medium cookie scoop, drop dough onto the cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the edges are set and just starting to turn a golden brown and the centers spring back when touched lightly.

Remove from oven and let rest on the cookie sheets for 1 minute then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.  Store in an air-tight container.

**Note 1** I used a medium cookie scoop and this recipe made about 18 cookies – therefore you may want to double it!

**Note 2**  Order a batch and let me do the work - check out Bakeri and let me know what I can make for you!

Back to Baking GALS!  August is always a hairy month for me in the kitchen – I feel like I’m running around non-stop the whole month between vacations and generally just spending as much time outdoors as possible…not to mention just being exhausted when I get home from work after being so busy doing catch-up work when I actually am in the office.  At any rate, I got my shipment out for September and this was a good one, in my humble opinion.

If I haven’t mentioned it, I’m Norwegian (well, nearly half anyway) and my mom being very proud of that heritage has trickled down to me.  Enough so that I’ve recently even started a little bakery business called what else, Bakeri – the Norwegian word for bakery. I’ll do a full post about the business very soon so stay tuned (and start thinking of what you’d like to order!), but as I’m creating the menu, I of course need to make sure I have a couple Norwegian staples on it right?  Enter these pepper cookies.  Scandinavians like things with a little kick – think of all those Swedish ginger snaps that are out there…slow, warm heat.  Same idea here.  Mix some black pepper with the favorite ingredient of cardamom and again, slow, warm heat.  Sweet, savory and spicy all at once – it’s unique and delicious.  I found this recipe while searching online and I’m declaring it a keeper!

Recipe adapted from Embassy of Norway, Washington DC

Ingredients

1 1/8 cups butter

1 cup granulated sugar

¼ cup heavy whipping cream

1 tsp baking soda

3 ¼ cup AP flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 ½ tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp baking powder

Water

*Note, it is not an omission – this recipe does not call for eggs.

Instructions

I don’t think anyone would argue that the combination of salty and sweet is one of the best flavor profiles out there.  If something is cloyingly sweet I can only handle a few bites – and if it’s too salty, ugh, give me some water immediately!  When the two come together though, it is a dangerously magical mix.  That’s these cookies – beware.

If you like peanut butter, then you probably love peanut butter cookies, I mean, how could you not?  Add a little chocolate and you’ve stepped it up a notch.  Add crushed pretzels and your mind will be blown – they not only add some salt, but the texture is awesome.  This peanut butter cookie recipe isn’t the hard, almost crumbly variety you have probably had at some point – this is chewy, so the crunch from the pretzels is welcome, as is that gooeyness from the chocolate chips. Mmmm!  Ok, I think I’ve made my point – the word for these: amazeballs.

Thankfully the recipe didn’t make a ton, so I had one to try them (it’s a requirement), then immediately packed up the rest and shipped them out.  I hope the guys liked them as much as I did!  Here’s how it’s done:

INGREDIENTS:

(Recipe adapted from www.browneyedbaker.com) 

1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup finely crushed pretzels (I used about a cup)
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
1¼ cups light brown sugar
¾ cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup vegetable shortening
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 egg
⅓ cup mini chocolate chips (I think I used about ½ cup)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Line baking sheets with parchment or a silicone baking mat.

2. Whisk together the flour, crushed pretzels, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside.

3. Combine the brown sugar, peanut butter, shortening, milk and vanilla in a mixing bowl.  Beat at medium speed until well blended.  Add the egg and beat just until blended.  Reduce speed to low and add the flour mixture gradually, mixing just until combined.  Using a rubber scraper, stir in the chocolate chips.

4. Use a medium cookie scoop – about 2 Tbsps - to scoop dough and roll into a ball between the palms of your hands (I skipped the rolling).  Place on the baking sheets, about 2 inches apart.  Optional - Dip the tines of a fork into a cup of water and make a crisscross pattern on the cookies, flattening them slightly.  Repeat dipping the fork in water as necessary if it starts to stick to the dough.

5. Bake for 8-9 minutes or until set and beginning to brown around the edges.  Cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet before removing to a cooling rack.  Can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week, though I doubt they’ll be around that long.

Wow – these cookies pack a serious punch of flavor.  I know spice cookies are generally made more around the holidays, but when I saw this recipe on one of my favorite blogs (www.browneyedbaker.com) I knew they would be perfect for my troop shipment.  What is a more homey comforting thing than the aroma and taste of warm, sweet, earthy spices, particularly cinnamon?  When they were baking I definitely felt comforted, so hopefully as the guys are chowing down on them, they will too.   My suggestion, pop them in the microwave for just 10 seconds or so to get that smell wafting through the air….and a soft warm cookie ain’t bad either.

I’m thinking I might have to make these more summery as I definitely don’t think I can wait until next winter to make them again.  How so??  Make ‘em a little bigger and sandwich some homemade vanilla ice cream in between them – Y.U.M.

INGREDIENTS:

2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
1½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground allspice
¼ tsp ground black pepper
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
⅓ cup granulated sugar
⅓ cup dark brown sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup molasses

For Rolling:
½ cup granulated sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375º F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice, pepper and salt; set aside.

3. Using an electric mixer, beat together the butter and both sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium-low, add the egg yolk and vanilla, then increase the speed to medium and beat until thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds. Again reduce the speed to medium-low and add the molasses, beating until fully incorporated, about 30 seconds, scraping the sides of the bowl halfway through. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the dry ingredients, mixing until just incorporated, about 30 seconds. Use a rubber scraper to give it a final few mixes to ensure no flour remains.

4. Place the sugar for rolling in a small bowl. Using a tablespoon or small cookie scoop, scoop the dough and roll into a smooth ball, then toss in the sugar to coat and place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, until the cookies are browned, still puffy and the edges have begun to set but the centers are still soft, about 11 minutes. Be sure not to over bake the cookies.  Otherwise - crunchy, not chewy - blah.

5. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

*A couple notes:

These cookies flatten out quite a bit as they cool, I’m wondering if adding the full egg and some baking powder may make them puff up a little more - I tend to like a thick chewy cookie.  Even thin though, these are really great – I may just play around a little next time J

She says to use a small cookie scoop and that it will yield about 24 cookies – well we must have different definitions of small, because I used my small scoop and got a little over 40 cookies!  Just a heads up.

Just when I was starting to think I could no longer be WOWed by a cookie (other than all those crazy novelty cookies with Oreos/Snickers/etc. hidden inside), I discovered this recipe.  I’ve eaten white chocolate macadamia cookies before, but believe it or not, I don’t think I’ve ever even had a macadamia nut in my own kitchen – ever.  I needed a new cookie to send to the guys this month and since this one is new to me, it was getting its turn. 

I allllmost made this recipe as is – just one minor tweak.  I’m still not sold on coconut so I omitted the coconut extract and subbed in more vanilla.  Do what you like though.  I’ll tell ya, I could have stood there with a spoon and eaten this dough straight out of the bowl, and that’s not usually my M.O.  I can take a bite or two of chocolate chip cookie dough, but then it gets to be too much.  I had to get these baked ASAP (not to mention take a guilt trip down to the gym for a 45 minute run while the dough was chilling) in order to avert diet disaster.  Why do these ingredients work so well together?  I guess it’s the creaminess of both, if a nut can be creamy (no comments please), not to mention the couple sticks of butter in the dough.  Whatever it is, it makes these freakin’ awesome.  Definitely give them a try, and good luck actually getting them into the oven – though I promise, they have two sweet spots: 1) dough form, and 2) approximately 6-7 minutes post oven-removal, trust me.

Recipe adapted from Annie’s Eats (www.annies-eats.com)

Ingredients

3 cups AP Flour

1 tsp coarse salt

1 ¼ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold and cut into chunks

1 cup granulated sugar

½ cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp coconut extract (optional)

12 oz white chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 ½ cups macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

Instructions

Whisk together the first four ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside. 

Combine the butter and sugars and beat in stand mixer or by hand until smooth and just combined - couple minutes (I have a hand mixer and I found that mixing these with a pastry blender first, then beating, helped tremendously).  Beat in the eggs one at a time just until incorporated.  Blend in the vanilla and coconut, if using.

With mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients slowly, just until combined.  Fold in the white chocolate and macadamia nuts with a spatula.  This dough is chock full of chocolate and nuts, I promise, it’s not too much!

Cover and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350º.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  Roll a scant ½ cup of dough into a ball.  Holding dough in fingertips of both hands, pull apart and rotate 90 degrees then place jagged side up on the baking sheet.  **This is supposed to improve the appearance of the cookies when baked, but I just used my large cookie scoop and scooped dough directly onto the sheets – as you can see in the picture, they turned out fine.**

Bake the cookies, rotating halfway through, until golden and just set – about 14-16 minutes.  Let cool on the cookie sheets for about 2-3 minutes then transfer to cooling racks to cool completely.

Round 12?  Really?!  I can’t believe I’ve been doing this for a year already.  It’s definitely been one of the most fulfilling things I have done this past year.  And when something you do for fun because you love it ends up also being rewarding, that is one of the greatest feelings.  Enough about me though – thanks again to all the troops who are putting their lives on the line every day.  I hope the treats you’ve received from this organization bring you at least a small piece of the comforts of home.

On to the cookies.  Salted Espresso Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies – wow, now that’s a mouthful.  These cookies are pretty basic, but with a couple little touches to amp up the flavor.  Everyone has had oatmeal chocolate chip at some point in life, but with the addition of a little espresso powder to enhance the chocolate and some salt sprinkled on top to create a great salty-sweet balance, you get something super tasty.  Something new but familiar enough to comfort…perfect.

*I’m taking the lazy way out today – for the recipe check out Brown Eyed Baker -  http://tinyurl.com/6oeu5zw

Who doesn’t love funfetti cake right?  It’s so festive and a fun surprise when you cut into an iced cake and see all the colors inside (and not to ruin the surprise, but “funfetti” is just sprinkles in the cake batter – hopefully you knew that, but I did burst the bubble for one friend…).  Well take all that and put it in cookie form – voila!  Funfetti cookies!

These are super chewy cookies and taste like an amped up sugar cookie.  I know I know, sugar cookies are a little boring as I’ve mentioned before, but in addition to adding cake batter to this cookie dough, you also add vanilla pudding mix – the combination makes for a rich vanilla flavor and awesome texture.  I’m a chewy cookie fan, so these seriously hit the spot.  Thankfully I made them for a birthday party (what up – J-Day Twenty-Twelve!!) and for the troops (Baking GALS Round 10) so they have successfully been removed from my house before I plowed through the entire batch myself.  They aren’t the most inventive or decadent cookies you’ll ever have, but they are definitely a great tag-along to any ice cream or cookie platter.  Enjoy!   

Recipe courtesy Chef in Training (www.chef-in-training.com) 

Ingredients 

§     1 1/2 sticks (or 3/4 cup) unsalted butter

§     3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

§     1/4 cup granulated sugar

§     1 (3.4 oz) package instant vanilla pudding mix, dry

§     3/4 cup yellow cake mix, dry

§     2 eggs

§     1 tsp vanilla

§     1 tsp baking soda

§     2-1/4 cups flour

§     1/2 tsp salt

§     Colored sprinkles

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Stir together flour, salt and baking soda and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars together.

Add in pudding package and cake mix and beat until well blended.

Add eggs and vanilla and mix until smooth.

Add flour mixture slowly until well incorporated.

Mix in sprinkles.

Roll into 1″ balls and place on greased baking sheet, or sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 350 F for 10-12 minutes.  They will be puffy and very slightly golden on the edges.  They will collapse a bit as they cool – don’t worry about it.

So it’s officially fall, and better yet, officially the best month of the year – yeah that’s right, October – you didn’t know?  Well consider yourself informed! J  Don’t get me wrong, I love a good hot sticky DC summer night and a warm breezy day on the beach, but when that cool crisp air rolls in and ridiculously delicious apples appear at the markets, you know it’s October and it’s awesome.

October also means pumpkin season, so for this month’s BakingGALS shipment I thought I’d give the guys a little taste of the season.  I know I have semi-bashed snickerdoodles before, claiming they are overdone/boring, but when I saw this recipe for a pumpkin version I knew I had to try it.  I love the texture of a snickerdoodle – soft and a little cakey – and we know I love cinnamon, so add pumpkin to that and voila, not so boring anymore!  The flavor of these cookies is subtle but satisfying – almost like a pumpkin pancake with the syrup baked in – and the pumpkin puree keeps the texture just right with a moist soft crumb.  Yum.