perfect chocolate chip cookie

I have made a lot of cookies. So very, very many cookies. It is difficult for me not to, because as soon as I make them, they disappear nearly instantly. Quite miraculous. The more I make them, the faster they disappear. Perhaps my technique is improving?  My technique of demolishing them before they even hit the cooling rack.

One thing I do know, is that despite my vast amount of cookie consumption, is that the cookies found here, and here, are good. Quite good in fact.  The best part is the sprinkle of fleur-de-sel over the top, but I found it worked best if the cookies were removed from the oven part way through their journey for a little salt shower.

And I have this complex about cookies, specifically chocolate chip cookies. You know, how chocolate chip cookies seem to only be good for only the split-second they come out of the oven. Well, these cookies are amazingly delicious even the very next day. That is, of course, if they last that long.
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chocolate and peanut butter sandwich cookies

oatmeal peanut butter chip AND chocolate chip cookies sandwiched with chunky peanut butter and nutella I am a sucker for cookies. Particularly ones with oatmeal. Or is it the chocolate? Or perhaps the peanut butter chips? Who cares when the cookies are soft and oh so very gooey? I found the inspiration for these fun little sandwiches in the adorably delicious book by Alyssa Torey, More from Magnolia Bakery. Yes, the same NYC bakery with equally delightful cupcakes. I just loved the idea of having peanut butter chips in an oatmeal cookie. And, while peanut butter chips are good on their own, I had to experiment of course, they seem just a little bit better when half the chips are chocolate. Butterscotch chips are an awesome stand-in for the peanut butter chips on short notice. When paired up with nutella or peanut butter into cute little sandwiches, things get even more enticing. Your kitchen will soon be standing room only, just wait. Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chip and Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches with Nutella and Peanut Butter Ingredients: 3/4 cup butter, softened 3/4 golden yellow sugar 1/2 cup white sugar 1 egg 2 tsp best-quality vanilla 1 cup flour 1 tbsp cornstarch 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp cinnamon 2 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips 1/2 cup peanut butter chips or butterscotch chips 1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 2. Cream the butter and sugars as much as you can. A mixer is great. 3. Add the egg, and vanilla. Stir, stir, stir. 4. Then simultaneously add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix, mix, mix. 5. Add the oats, and work those forearms, or get a mixer. 6. Add the chips of choice. I love the chocolate peanut butter combo. 7. Using an ice cream scoop to dole out the dough, place teaspoon size amounts onto a baking sheet. Bake for approximately 5-6 minutes. Remove from the oven, and gently flatten with a spatula. Place back in the oven for another minute or two. The cookies should still be quite soft and appear nearly raw in the center. This is key to achieving perfectly soft cookies. Remove the cookie sheet, and allow the cookies to cool for a minute or two before removing to a cooling rack. 8. Devour as many as you can before your newly found friends do.
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chocolate chip cookies for the new house

This cookie looked lonely. So I helped it. Yes, I made chocolate chip cookies. I had to test the oven of this new house to make sure it didn't just look pretty. I thought about calling the new house a home, but the thing is, not all the cookies have been devoured yet. Although, the house is getting there. Probably having some furniture in the living room and the kitchen would help the home front along. The cookies were a good start though. I know I don't need an excuse to make chocolate chip cookies, but how else was I to know if the oven will really cut it? I mean if it burnt all the cookies, or wouldn't bake them at all, then surely we would have to move out, right? Maybe not, but I do like to test out an oven based on it's cookie baking abilities. They can be finicky you know, and I had to double check...just in case. Yes, this IS coming from someone who in her student days was able to bake chocolate chip cookies in a toaster oven. It's not impossible trust me! Just laborious. One of my favourite chocolate chip cookie recipes is from Anna Olson (yes another one of her cookie recipes, but they are great recipes!). Simply fabulous. No extra ingredients for flavour or texture, but this recipe is classic. And yes, the cookies stay soft on the inside from the addition of the corn starch. I now add a couple teaspoons of cornstarch to nearly every cookie recipe, it works that well. Once I have the batter made, I scoop out slightly smaller than golf ball size amounts, with an ice cream scoop, onto a silicone lined baking sheet. The trick is to put the cookies into the oven for a few minutes before removing them to slightly squish with a spatula. Before I squish them, they look a little less than raw, but not too cooked either. I find this keeps the cookies softer, and helps them cook evenly for the last few minutes. I place the squished cookies back into the oven for another 4-6 minutes. It is important to pull the cookies out while they are just a tad golden around the edges, but still appear just a little raw in the center as they will continue to cook. Chocolate Chip Cookies Adapted from Anna Olson Ingredients: 3/4 cup butter, softened 1 cup golden yellow/light brown sugar 1/4 cup granulated white sugar 1 egg 1 tbsp vanilla 2 cups flour 1 tbsp cornstarch 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp kosher salt 1 cup chocolate chips 1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. 2. Thoroughly combine the butter, and the sugars. Add the egg and vanilla until well combined. 3. Add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Thoroughly mix. Add the chocolate chips until combined. 4. Using an ice cream scoop, place 8 pieces of dough onto silicone lined baking sheets. Place the sheet into the oven for 4-6 minutes. 5. Remove the pan from the oven and slightly squish the cookies using a spatula. If the dough appears to be too gooey to squish, then place back into the oven for another minute or two. 6. Continue to bake for another 4-6 minutes until the cookies are just barely golden around the edges, and still have a slightly raw appearance in the middle. This will help to keep them soft. 7. Allow the cookies to firm up on the cookie sheets for another couple minutes before removing them to a cooling rack. Allow to cool only briefly before transferring to a sealed container, that is if there are any left of course! Enjoy! And do be kind enough to share.
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scrumptious oatmeal raisin cookies

Cake is great, and so is pie. Cobbler is nice. But, I really love a good cookie. What should a cookie have to make it so very, very good? Nothing makes a cookie so very good as a little crisp on the outside with a soft and buttery inside. A little bit of surprise is also extra nice, whether it's chocolate chips, nuts, or raisins. And I'll admit that there is no comparison between homemade cookies and nearly anything bought, unless of course you can enjoy them freshly out of the oven. There has to be that little something that makes you coming back for more, yes? There has to be at least a million different versions of recipes for chocolate chip cookies, but finding a really delicious recipe for a cookie without chocolate can be a bit of a challenge. Sometimes the perfect oatmeal cookie is just what is on order. It has a little sugar, a little spice, and similarly is very, very nice. I've made these cookies for a few years now, thanks to Anna Olson, but more recently the recipe has taken a twist; when I didn't have all of the ingredients, but sometimes you just can't stop the urge to make some cookies. I use maple syrup instead of molasses, and light brown sugar instead of demererra, and a couple little tweaks here and there. Luckily, they turned out better than ever. Oh darn. I do have one apology; these cookies will not last long. Not because they will become dry or stale, but because you probably will need to make a double batch. Your doorbell will ring with long lost visitors, and perhaps even strangers. Be prepared. Oatmeal Raisin Cookies 2/3 cup softened butter 1 cup golden brown sugar, packed 1 egg 1 tbsp vanilla 1 tbsp maple syrup 1 cup flour 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp baking soda 2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp nutmeg (preferably freshly grated) 1 cup slow cooking oats 1/2 cup quick oats 1 cup golden raisins 1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit. Beat together the sugar and butter, until well combined (I use an electric mixer, but this can also be done without. You will deserve at least one extra cookie straight away) 2. Add the eggs, vanilla, and maple syrup, and mix well to combine. 3. All at once, add the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix to combine, but don't overdo it. 4. Add the oats, raisins, and then combine. 5. Prepare two large baking sheets with silpats, or parchment paper. I like to use an ice cream scoop to release the dough onto the sheets, but I do not fill the scoop. I fill the scoop 1/3 to 1/2 full, and then release. Shocker, I don't even press the dough down. Just trust me. 6. Allow the cookies to bake until just barely cooked on the outside, but still quite raw on the inside, approximately 8 minutes. Remove from the oven, and squish down with a spatula. Immediately, place back into the oven. This technique helps me to keep the inside nice and soft, but the outside of the cookie will have a hint of crispness. Bake another 3-5 minutes, about 10-12 minutes in total.
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dulce de leche cookies

Just look at that sweet little filling, just barely peeking out of the middle, acting so very innocent. I'm sure your mother told you that looks can be deceiving, don't you know. Because soon these cookies cause everyone in their path to swoon, and lust after every single bite. I still find this especially impressive for a cookie that maybe doesn't even look like much. I mean really, it doesn't even have chocolate. Gasp, I know. When my friend Joel introduced me to these cookies, I though, nah they can't really be that good. Was I ever wrong, thankfully oh so wrong...remembering that everything Joel makes is absurdly and wickedly good. Like over the top, lick your fingers in public, good. I vividly remember every bite of every single tasty morsel that I have ever tasted of Joel's cooking. Really these delightful cookies should be renamed Joel's Peruvian cookies. Or at least that is what my family has fondly come to name them, referring to Joel's heritage, and the cookies too. Joel and I used to galavant about Toronto, constantly trying to find the most tempting palces to eat and then we would gleefully celebrate every single morsel, as if it was our last. I was living in perhaps the most dilapidated apartment imaginable, consisting of a sad cold narrow hallway in which only one appliance could be plugged in or the whole world would come to a crashing halt. A toaster oven for an oven. I suppose that could be fine, if it wasn't also a basement apartment with a screaming baby above my head, a shortage of hot water, a stove that was a hotplate, oh and if it wasn't a long and very cold winter. I was in music school, and Joel was in between his music studies, and living with his folks. Joel's parents used to be so excited when I called, they assumed I was his girlfriend. Joel and I would giggle when his Dad would excitedly answer the phone, since a girl was calling and all. Except, that Joel couldn't be less interested, in girls that is...then a few minutes later we would erupt into beyond-giddy laughter, absolutely howling, at this predicament. I suppose it didn't help that we both also spent the summer together at the Aspen Music Festival and School. We studied music, but we were mostly obsessed with the next thing to eat. I have to tell you that Joel has this phenomenal gift of being able to walk into a kitchen, and literally know where everything is within seconds. So of course, he's known to everyone as a fabulous host, even in the homes of complete strangers. Joel never ceases to amaze, you can't help but immediately take a liking to Joel, and he has this uncanny ability to be asked to cater parties on a whim, or to house sit in the most fabulous homes, him being so likable and all. Luckily for me, he'd bring me along, and we'd cook and cook and cook, just adding ridiculous amounts of butter as we went, and here and there I'd pick up a few of Joel's secrets. At one of Joel's infamous gatherings; I arrived quite early. I just couldn't wait, who could stand the suspense? Soon, I was watching Joel meticulously sandwich these delicate little cookies together with ease, and I was just barely able to maintain my enthusiasm over these most perfect bites. Somehow, I guess he thought it would be a good idea to let me lick the spoon. Hah! If he only knew what a monster he just created. ummm....a sweet monster, but one that would run away with the pot and never stop until it's all gone. And no one could lay blame for it being so very clean. Okay, I didn't run off with it, but it I snagged the recipe instead. Joel calls this dulce de leche, but it isn't just condensed milk. It is thinned out a bit, and then sweetened(!) with a cinnamon stick. Perhaps this recipe should come with a warning label: it might be wise to make the filling with supervision. Preferably in the presence of someone who might think lesser of you, or at least disciplined enough NOT to join in, if the filling is devoured right before their eyes, when it is supposed to be destined for the cookies. Patience my friend, if you manage it just right, then it usually works out that there is a nice helping left to top some ice cream. That is, of course, if fights don't break out first... Dulce de Leche Cookies For the cookies: 1 cup flour 1 cup cornstach 1 ¾ sticks of unsalted butter, chilled 6 tbsp icing sugar 2 pinches of salt For the filling: 1 small can evaporated milk (160mL) 1 can condensed milk 2 tsp vanilla 1 cinnamon stick (3-4 inches) For the cookies: 1. Start by mixing the ingredients with a food-processor. Then remove and begin to work the dough (crumbs at this point) by hand. At first, it will seem that a dough will never appear. Be patient, and the pieces will come together. Although, do work quickly so that the butter does not melt. 2. Roll the dough very thin, 1/4cm or so, using extra flour as needed. Cut the dough into thin rounds with a 1.25 inch cutter - a shot glass rim works well. Carefully place the cookies on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. 3. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 12-15 minutes, until just starting to have a slight golden appearance. Let them cool. For the filling: 1. Heat all the ingredients in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan, on medium/low for about 45 minutes. Stir occasionally in the beginning and then constantly towards the end. Caution - it will burn! It will become thicker as it cools. Sandwich two of the rounds together with the filling - while the filling is still quite warm. Use a small spoon to add the filling to one cookie. Let cool a few seconds, and then place another cookie on the top. Apply slight pressure until the filling is visible from the side. Although the goal is to get as much filling as possible without it going over the edge! To serve, these look especially pretty when arranged on a plate, and dusted with icing sugar.
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