So, it's 11:00pm on a Wednesday night, I'm getting on a plane tomorrow, haven't packed, haven't washed my hair, and I'm baking cookies. Chewy chocolate almond cookies. I just put the dough in the fridge to chill for an hour and it smells ahhhh-mazing! Mmmmm... I love almonds. And chocolate. So I'm very excited for the chilling to end and the baking to start.
Updates will come later!
2:05am
Oh yea.... these cookies are super tasty. It could be sleep deprivation, but I'm so incredibly content right now. Crispy, almond-y, crunchy, chewy and amazing. I tweaked the recipe a bit and added 2 teaspoons of almond extract to bump up the almond flavor. Recipe is below!
Ingredients
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter; room temperature
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs at room temperature
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa (I used Scharffen Berger)
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup blanched slivered almonds; coarsely chopped
Directions
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy.
2. Add the vanilla, then the eggs, one at a time, and mix well. Scrape down the sides of the bowl after the addition of each egg.
3. Sift together the cocoa, flour, baking soda, and salt. Turn your mixer to low and gradually add the sifted ingredients; mix until just combined.
4. Fold in the chocolate chips and almonds. Refrigerate dough for 1 hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone baking mat.
6. Measure the dough using a 1 ½ tablespoon scoop or a rounded tablespoon. Roll the dough in your hands until it forms a uniform ball and place on your lined baking sheet.
7. Bake cookies for 11-12 minutes (the cookies will seem underdone). Remove from the oven and let cool slightly (about 3 minutes) on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Sunday, June 5, 2011
cookies: two kinds
I'm very particular when it comes to my cookies... at least I am when I'm the one making them. They need to be chewy and crisp all at the same time. Not crunchy, not cake-like, and not texture-less. To achieve this, my cookies need brown sugar instead of the plain ol' white stuff, and as much as I hate the thought of it, LOTS of butter. Butter and brown sugar make the perfect base for a chewy crispy cookie.
My all time favorite cookie to bake is this Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookie that I found about a year ago. It's perfect and has only failed me once (still not sure what went wrong with that batch....). I use dark chocolate chips instead of milk chocolate and they have this caramel-ly flavor from the brown sugar that just makes me extra happy on the inside.
The second cookie is a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookie that I made for a little hangout with some people from work. We sat out by the Washington Monument, had a picnic, and played Phase 10. I looked through a few recipes to make for the shindig before settling on this one. I must've been on some "let me try to be at least kinda healthy with whatever I bake" tip because my main reason for picking this cookie was that it only had one stick of butter in it. And that one stick of butter was not nearly enough to make the type of cookie I can fall in love with. Don't get me wrong, the cookies were good, just not my favorite. They were crumbly and had a pretty good flavor, but were best straight from the oven. And even though they didn't pass the "Ave's Fave" test, they were oddly addictive. I guess combining butter and sugar will do that to a girl.
Somehow, I've managed to NOT take pictures of either of these cookies. But here's the setting of picnic. You can close your eyes and imagine the amazing-ness of the cookies and make pretty pictures in your mind. =)
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 tspn vanilla
2 cups oats (not the quick oats, the regular ones)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tspn baking soda
1/4 tspn salt
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1) Cream butter and sugar until light
2) Add egg and vanilla and beat until fluffy
3) Combine oats, flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. Add slowly to sugar mixture until well combined.
4) Add chocolate chips.
Bake at 350 for 9 minutes and let cool.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
from mybakingaddiction.com
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Stir in the peanut butter, vanilla and egg until well blended. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the batter just until moistened. Mix in the oats and chocolate chips until evenly distributed. Drop by tablespoonfuls on to lightly greased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until the edges start to brown. Cool on cookie sheets for about 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
My all time favorite cookie to bake is this Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookie that I found about a year ago. It's perfect and has only failed me once (still not sure what went wrong with that batch....). I use dark chocolate chips instead of milk chocolate and they have this caramel-ly flavor from the brown sugar that just makes me extra happy on the inside.
The second cookie is a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookie that I made for a little hangout with some people from work. We sat out by the Washington Monument, had a picnic, and played Phase 10. I looked through a few recipes to make for the shindig before settling on this one. I must've been on some "let me try to be at least kinda healthy with whatever I bake" tip because my main reason for picking this cookie was that it only had one stick of butter in it. And that one stick of butter was not nearly enough to make the type of cookie I can fall in love with. Don't get me wrong, the cookies were good, just not my favorite. They were crumbly and had a pretty good flavor, but were best straight from the oven. And even though they didn't pass the "Ave's Fave" test, they were oddly addictive. I guess combining butter and sugar will do that to a girl.
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 tspn vanilla
2 cups oats (not the quick oats, the regular ones)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tspn baking soda
1/4 tspn salt
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1) Cream butter and sugar until light
2) Add egg and vanilla and beat until fluffy
3) Combine oats, flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. Add slowly to sugar mixture until well combined.
4) Add chocolate chips.
Bake at 350 for 9 minutes and let cool.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
from mybakingaddiction.com
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Stir in the peanut butter, vanilla and egg until well blended. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the batter just until moistened. Mix in the oats and chocolate chips until evenly distributed. Drop by tablespoonfuls on to lightly greased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until the edges start to brown. Cool on cookie sheets for about 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
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