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Posts Tagged ‘chocolate’

Cookies are a passion with many bakers. They’re quick to bake and fun to eat and share. But people have different preferences when it comes to cookies. Some like crunchier cookies, some like soft cookies, and some like chewy cookies. So how do you make a cookie that’s chewy, for instance?

Baking is a science and one that can’t be rushed or dallied with. You can’t change out ingredients and not affect the whole batter. For chewy cookies, your ratio of wet to dry ingredients is key. For instance, a chewier cookie recipe might include more eggs or an additional yolk. Most chewy cookies have moister ingredients and the batter is more liquid when it comes out.

You can, of course, experiment with different batters. Some just lend themselves better to a chewy cookie than others. But use real butter when butter is called for, not margarine or a substitute. And always use the freshest ingredients you can find.

One final tip is to take the cookies out of the oven before the timer says they are done. Let them cool on the pan for a few minutes and then remove them to a cooling rack. By not leaving them in for the full cooking time, you’re sure to have chewier cookies as opposed to crunchy ones. Just don’t take them out too soon or you’ll end up with raw cookies that no one can eat.

If you’ve never met a chocolate chip cookie that you didn’t like, try this recipe for chewy chocolate chip cookies. It will be hard to resist eating the whole batch. But if you can resist the urge to eat them all, save a few for that christmas cookie exchange that will be coming up soon.

Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie (from allrecipes.com)

Prep Time: 10 Minutes

Cook Time: 15 Minutes

Ready In: 40 Minutes

Servings: 18

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.

4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

It’s certainly not hard to master the art of the chewy cookie. It’s more of the art of keeping an eye on your cookies while they are in the oven and a use of high-quality ingredients. Never substitute amounts and types of ingredients when you are baking as you may throw off the results.

Those who love baking fresh, tasty homemade cookies will love the Martha Stewart Cookie of the Day Newsletter. You can sign up online at www.marthastewart.com and you’ll get a tasty recipe for a new cookie every single day in your in box. Don’t worry if you’ve missed one. You can always go online to get a recap of the day’s recipe. You can also search previous recipes, too. View by the week or even by the month to get all kinds of great ideas for new cookies you can show up at the next bake sale or cookie swap with.

Here are some of the recipes that have been featured in the Martha Stewart Newsletter recently. Sign up today and you’ll always have something tasty in your inbox to look forward to.

Chocolate Sweet Hearts

These crisp, delicate cookies have less than 50 calories each. Swap in different cookie cutters for other occasions; adjust the baking time accordingly.

Prep: 25 minutes

Total: 55 minutes plus cooling

Ingredients

Makes 42

1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar

1 large egg

Directions

In a bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, set over (not in) a saucepan of simmering water; place chocolate, butter, and brown sugar; stir frequently until almost completely melted. Remove from heat, and stir until completely melted; let cool slightly.

Add egg to chocolate mixture. With a mixer on low, beat until well blended. Gradually stir in flour mixture (dough will form a ball).

Divide dough in half; roll out each half on a sheet of parchment paper to a 1/4-inch thickness. Transfer each half (still on paper) to a baking sheet; freeze until firm, about 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Working with one half at a time, flip dough onto a work surface; peel off paper. Using a 2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out cookies; place, 1/2 inch apart, on two baking sheets. Bake until firm and fragrant, about 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool. These would be beautiful wrapped up and given as a chocolate cookie gift.

Helpful Hint

To roll out the dough without using flour (which would mar its color), cover your work surface with parchment paper. Once the dough is frozen, you can peel off the paper and cut the cookies directly on the work surface.

Raspberry-Almond Financiers

These petits fours conceal a honeyed, cakey interior beneath a crisp, crackly surface embellished by hand with hearts of jam.

Ingredients

Makes 45

Vegetable oil cooking spray

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/3 cup honey

2 cups sliced blanched almonds (6 1/2 ounces), lightly toasted and finely ground

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup sifted confectioners' sugar

3/4 cup sifted cake flour (not self-rising)

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 large egg whites

1 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen), pureed and strained (1/2 cup)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat mini muffin tins with cooking spray.

Heat butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, whisking frequently, until golden brown, 6 to 7 minutes. Add honey, and whisk until combined. Remove from heat.

Using a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine almonds, sugars, flour, and salt on low speed. Raise speed to medium-high, and add egg whites, one at a time, beating after each addition until just combined. Scrape down sides of bowl. Reduce speed to low, and add warm butter-honey mixture in a slow, steady stream. Raise speed to high, and beat for 45 seconds.

Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling each halfway. Spoon a scant 1/2 teaspoon raspberry puree near one edge of each cup. Draw a skewer or the tip of a paring knife through puree toward opposite edge of cup to form a heart shape.

Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until edges are golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool slightly in tins on wire racks. Using a small offset spatula, carefully unmold financiers, and transfer to rack. Financiers are best served warm or the same day they are baked, but they can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature for up to 3 days. If desired, serve or package financiers in decorative paper liners.

If you love the idea of home baked cookies but not the time required to stand at the counter doling out the raw batter, opt for the cookie bar. It’s a cousin of the drop cookie. Instead of scooping out mounds of raw batter and refilling the cookie sheets when one batch is baked, you do all the pan filling once and forget it.

Bake your cookie bars as you would a brownie or other pan cookie. You spread the dough after you’ve prepared it and then bake as directed in the recipe. The real key is to wait until the entire pan has cooled before cutting into the bars. If you cut too soon, you’ll only get messy-edged bars that don’t hold their shape.

Have fun with these recipes for cookie bars.

Chocolate Toffee Bars (courtesy of Allhomemadecookies.com)

These cookies are much simpler to make than they look. They are a very decadent candy bar-like cookie that makes for stunning gifts or simple gourmet desserts with your favorite ice cream. These cookies do not freeze well (not that they normally last long enough to freeze anyway!)

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup sliced almonds

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease an eight inch square baking pan. Cream the butter and brown sugar together in a large bowl. Blend in the vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and blend well. Spread the dough evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 17-22 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle the top with the chocolate chips and cover the pan with foil or another pan to help melt the chocolate. After a few minutes, spread the chocolate with a spatula until evenly coated and smooth. If the chocolate does not melt, pop the pan back in the oven for a minute. Sprinkle the almonds immediately over the top and press in gently so they will stick. Let cool completely and cut into desired shapes. Store in an airtight container.

Tasty-Cake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars (courtesy of Allhomemadecookies.com)

I remember my mom making these delicious bars. We all loved the soft "tasty-cake-like" chocolate peanut butter bars. When I make this dessert for my family, it disappears quickly! This recipe won a blue ribbon at a city fair. These bars freeze well and taste great frozen!

Ingredients:

1 c. milk

2 T. margarine or butter

2 c. sugar

4 eggs

2 c. flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Confectioner's sugar for dusting

1 1/4 c. peanut butter

12 oz. chocolate chips (about 1 1/2 cups)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350. Scald the milk and margarine. Cool mixture and add the sugar, eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Then mix in the dry ingredients. Pour the batter into a greased and floured jelly roll pan.

Bake the cake for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and dust with confectioner's sugar. Spread with the peanut butter while the bars are still hot. Refrigerate to cool. Melt the chocolate and spread on the cooled bars. Let cool before cutting into squares.

Yields about 36 bars.

As I wake-up to a thick layer of frost on the ground this morning, I am once again reminded that camping season is over and that means no more sitting aside the campfire making delicious chocolate treats (S'mores) with our kids.  Truth be told, I think I like to eat them even more than they do!  When winter rolls around our house, we turn to these brownies to get our S'mores fix (at least until February and March when the girl scouts go door-to-door selling the real deal).

What You'll Need:

1 package brownie mix (& the ingredients to make the brownies)
2/3 cup chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
6 full sheets of regular graham crackers (broken into quarters)

Mix and bake the brownie mix as directed on the package (in a 9"x13" pan if possible).  Upon removing brownies from the oven, immediately sprinkle them with the chocolate chips and miniature marshmallows while the brownies are still hot.  Then place them back in the oven for about a minute so the chocolate melts and marshmallows melt slightly....CAUTION....keep your eyes on the brownies because the marshmallows can easily burn at this point. Remove from the oven and lightly press a layer of graham crackers on top the melty marshmallows to form s'mores.  Cut the brownies into squares following the lines of the graham crackers.

MY NOTES - If you aren't planning to eat these brownies the same day they are made, you may want to skip putting on the graham crackers and do that as you serve the individual brownies in the days to come.  Otherwise the graham crackers can get soft from the moisture and they aren't as good in my humble opinion.  They good eaten quickly in our house and when I bring them to family celebrations so I almost always put the graham crackers on top right away.  These are the perfect after school cookies for kids.

Looking for more of a challenge? Try baking s'mores cupcakes! They're delicious and just as tasty.

As a Mom, I love to make treats for my kids, but using my time efficiently is a must.  Therefore, I've taken to using brownie and cake mixes as a base for some of my favorite dessert recipes.  Over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing some of my favorite brownie recipes where I use boxes of Ghirardelli chocolate brownies as the main ingredient.  It is no surprise that rocky road brownies are a favorite of mine since I have loved rocky road ice cream ever since I was a kid.  We used to buy Schwann's Rocky Road in 5 quart pails every Friday at my house. Yummy!

Ingredients:

1 brownie mix (store bought 19.8 oz)
1 cup chopped pecans
3 cups mini marshmallows
2 squares of unsweetened chocolate (1 oz each)
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1 package powdered sugar (16 oz)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Mix the chocolate brownies according to the directions on the box.  Mix in the 1 cup of chopped pecans. Then evenly spread the batter in a greased pan and bake for 25 minutes (use the pan size, baking time, and oven temperature recommended on the box). Remove from brownies from the oven. Immediately sprinkle the miniature marshmallows over the hot brownies so they melt a bit. Cool.

In a heavy saucepan or double boiler, melt the chocolate, milk and butter together until combined, stirring constantly. Remove the melted chocolate mixture from the heat and add the vanilla, mix well. Add the powdered sugar to the chocolate mixture a little at a time, mixing with a hand mixer on low speed, until the frosting is the desired consistency for spreading. Spread over the cooled, marshmallow topped brownies. Cool and cut into bars.  I suggest heating them a bit in the microwave when you serve them to guests so that the marshmallows get a little gooey.  And a scoop of ice cream on top never hurts the presentation!

If you have some downtime some day, or want to make the gift of brownie mix, try this recipe for homemade jar mixes.