Flip for Cookies and for Kids

So back in December (uh huh), OXO, one of my favorite brands of kitchen stuff, sent me two really cute Cookies for Kids cookie spatulas – one for me, and one to give away for holiday baking.  Now, the cool thing here is OXO’s Cookies for Kids Cancer program.  They ran a national bake sale campaign to raise money to help support research for new therapies for kids cancer – and I thought it was great, because cookies, bake sales and kids – they all go together!   And now it is January, and while I’ve already confessed to them that I missed their Dec. 31 deadline for holding bake sales, they said I could still give away the spatula and you can still buy it at Bed, Bath & Beyond, too (although I think you have to go a store; I didn’t see it online).  Hurray!

And then I saw my friend Ellise’s recipe for Flat & Bumpy Chocolate Chip Cookies on her blog, Cowgirl Chef, and I finally found time to make cookies, et voila,  the Oxo “Be a Good Cookie” spatula give-away is finally happening!  Hurray again!

So instead of sharing my own recipe, I’m sharing my friend Ellise’s from Cowgirl Chef  from Jan. 15.  Look how yummy they look!

These cookies are easy to make.  Ellise (who has a cookbook coming out in May chronicling her adventures of moving from Dallas to Paris and cooking her head off, adding a Texas twist to French recipes – more on that as May approaches) uses  chopped chocolate; I used chocolate chips (I did hack a knife through them just a bit to chop them, but not too much – I went a bit lazy on that).  And I used walnut chips (who knew you could buy so damn many sizes and types of walnuts?), and I liked them.   The cookies come out flat, bumpy, crispy, chewy and delicious.  I might have one for breakfast, since I got up at 5:45 this morning to write this (when inspiration strikes…).

And here’s a tip: if you don’t need or want to make the entire batch, you can freeze the dough.  I just put cookie-size blobs of raw dough into zip-top freezer bags, and then whenever you want or need fresh, warm chocolate chip cookies – voila! – you can pop them into the oven, straight from the freezer.  Just add a couple of minutes to the bake time.  It’s like money in the bank, especially next time you have friends over.

To win this super cute (and functional) cookie spatula, comment on this post by Feb. 1 and I’ll pick a random winner and send them their spatula.  And Ellise’s Flat & Bumpy Chocolate Chip Cookies are a great recipe to give your spatula a test drive!

Let me know how your Flat & Bumpies come out.  And thanks to OXO for sharing Good Cookies spatulas and helping fund kids cancer research!

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Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever!

Hi, Everybody!   So last week, a friend at work helped me out and I promised him some homemade chocolate chip cookies to repay the favor.  I must say – these are no toll-free, tollhouse, whatever cookies (actually those are perfectly fine, but…).  No, these are adapted from a recipe from Mr. Chocolate himself, Monsieur Jacques Torres.  The recipe was in The New York Times in July 2008, and it’s been my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe ever since.  There is a catch however — as there sometimes is in the Crazy Cook’s life: you have to let the dough take a long  nap in the fridge before baking it – at least 24, and up to 36 hours.  So ya gotta plan ahead.  But it’s worth it, I promise!  These cookies are so flavorful, crisp on the outside, a little chewy in the middle (but not mushy; I’m not a fan of “soft” cookies). 

Letting the dough rest allows it to fully absorb all the liquid (eggs, in this case, and some vanilla), which results in a crisper, somehow better cookie!  And with some apologies to Monsieur Torres, I did take a few creative liberties, based on personal preference.  Mainly, I don’t use the giant chocolate disks that are called for; I like smaller chocolate chips, for a better balance of cookie to chocolate.  I also use a mix of chips – white chocolate, milk chocolate and bittersweet chocolate.  You could also use butterscotch or whatever you like – it’s fun to mix it up a little.  Ready to bake?  Come on!

Ingredients (makes 60 cookies, about 2 inches each in diameter)

2 C minus 2 Tbl  (8.5 ounces) of cake flour (I actually do weigh my ingredients because measuring cups differ so much in size)

1 2/3 C (8.5 ounces) bread flour (whoopsies, I used all-purpose flour; no biggie if you ask me)

1 1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp coarse salt

2.5 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/4 C (10 ounces) light brown sugar

1 C plus 2 Tbl (8 ounces) regular white sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 to 1 1/8 pounds chocolate chips of your choosing!

What You Do

1) Mix both flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl with a whisk; set aside

2) In the bowl of a stand mixer (such as my cobalt blue KitchenAid mixer, Chuck – he’s the strongest helper in my kitchen), put the soft, room-temperature butter and both sugars.  Using the paddle mixer attachment, let ‘er rip on one step above low for a good 5 minutes, so the butter and sugars get really creamy and light (in color and in texture).

3) Add one egg, turn on mixer, just until it’s mixed in.  Turn it off, add the other egg and mix til that one gets all mixed in. Turn it off, add the vanilla and mix that in. 

4) Now add all your dry ingredients, and carefully turn the mixer on, to low (I cup my hands around the edges to prevent a flour hurricane).  IMPORTANT: Mix only until the dry stuff is mixed in.   As I like to say: do not manhandle the dough!  It takes only about 10 seconds.

5) Add your chips, and stir manually, with a study spoon, folding them in gently until they’re incorporated through-out.  Now, transfer the dough to the bowl you used for the flour, and cover the entire surface with plastic wrap.  (I don’t like to refrigerate it in the KitchenAid bowl, only because after refrigeration, that bowl stays cold for a long time – plus it’s so big.)  Into the fridge!  For at least 24 hours, up to 36 hours.

BAKING

Preheat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.  Wake up your dough (that is, set it on your counter for 15 or 30 minutes so it’s not rock-hard) and form into little cookie dough balls about an inch in diameter.   To make them extra-fancy, you can sprinkle a few grains of sea salt on top.  I love that sweet-salty zing.   I bake on a silicone mat, set on top of a regular sheet pan and love it – no greasing, no cleaning the pan.  Love these things.  Bake each batch for 20 minutes.  Cool, and enjoy!

My other great tip: I keep a zip-top bag of dough balls in the freezer, so I can bake a few at a time for me or friends.  Having homemade cookie dough in your freezer is like some sort of sweet insurance!

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