It's 5:50 in the morning. Why am I awake you ask? Terrific question, one I will most likely be asking myself in the middle of the day. It's 5:50 in the morning and I'm perusing Food & Wine, searching for a good breakfast sandwich to make Jam when he returns from the gym. That's right, I said the gym. Now, you may think by waking up at this time, doing a bit of light writing, a little recipe recipe research, that it's productive, and, well, I guess it is. But Jam's gym routine proves to be a bit more ambitious and extremely productive. About a month back, when he started going to the gym at this ungodly hour, I thought for a brief moment that I should join him, ,maybe some rigorous yoga perhaps? To say the least, that never happened. I prefer to practice when I'm fully awake. As he was climbing out of bed this morning, I remembered that initial desire...which was quickly followed by this thought:"there is just no way." I have come to like early mornings though. When our bed is warm, the coffee is hot. The mornings are best when I know I have the whole day to myself, no work in the evening, I allow myself to move at a leisurely pace.
It's almost Thanksgiving. Almost as in, we all still have some time to prepare and no, this won't be a post devoted to turkey and cranberry sauce. That will come later on in the week!
Instead I will tell you about my cookie debacle. To me, the traditional chocolate chip cookie is a blank canvas. I'm all about chocking them full of dried fruit, nuts, candy, pretzels, etc. While working at Milk Bar, I got somewhat attached to their Compost cookie. A cookie that is full of pretzels, potato chips, coffee grounds, graham crackers, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, oats. It's heaven. When making cookies, I generally will build off a base recipe. Cookies are pretty forgiving, as long as you understand the basic procedure, you can add whatever you feel like. I love making cookies for others. Truth be told, everyone loves a good cookie. I learned early on that the key to Jam's heart is either in the form of a cookie or brownie, simple pleasures.
So this past weekend, I dove head first into cookie making. After a bit of hemming and hawing, I settled on a chocolate chip cookie with a ritz cracker crunch and marshmallows. It sounds extreme, and it was extreme. The ritz cracker crunch is a Milk Bar recipe, ritz crackers are crushed, melted butter is added along with a bit of sugar, salt, and milk powder. This glorious mixture is baked until roasty toasty- cooled, then thrown into the cookie mix. I strayed from my original recipe a bit, added a little too much of the ritz crunch. The results were overly buttery, spread-everywhere cookies. Initially I thought the cookies spread because I hadn't mixed the butter in properly. So I remixed the dough, just a tad longer, not too long though as I didn't want to develop too much gluten which would result in a hockey puck cookie. The 2n'd tester spread just as much. It was at this point that I realized there was just too much butter in the cookie. Not wanting to throw away the dough, I decided to bake them as cookie-blondie-bars. The bars came out looking far more attractive, and super tasty. Cut into triangles, they were perfect for a quick pick-me-up bite.
Today I share with you the most basic cookie recipe. You can add this or that, let your imagination run wild.
The Basic Cookie
16T (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup tightly packed light brown sugar
2T corn syrup
2 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup bread flour
1/2t baking powder
1/4t baking soda
11/2t salt
2 cups of add-ins (chocolate chips, dried fruit, nuts)
1. Combine the butter, sugar, and corn syrup in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream on medium-high for 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the eggs, and beat for 7-8 minutes.
2. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix just until the dough comes together, no longer than 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with the spatula.
3. Still on low speed, add your mix-ins until they are incorporated- no more than 30 seconds.
4. Using a 1/2 cup measure, portion your cookies and place on a parchment lined sheet pan. Pat the tops of the cookie dough domes flat. Wrap the sheet pan tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to one week. Do not bake your cookies from room temperature- they will not bake properly.
5. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
6. Arrange the chilled dough a minimum of 4 inches apart on your parchment-lined sheet pan. Bake for 9 minutes, then rotate, then another 9 minutes. Cool the cookies completely on the sheet pan before transferring to a plate or to an airtight container for storage.
It's almost Thanksgiving. Almost as in, we all still have some time to prepare and no, this won't be a post devoted to turkey and cranberry sauce. That will come later on in the week!
Instead I will tell you about my cookie debacle. To me, the traditional chocolate chip cookie is a blank canvas. I'm all about chocking them full of dried fruit, nuts, candy, pretzels, etc. While working at Milk Bar, I got somewhat attached to their Compost cookie. A cookie that is full of pretzels, potato chips, coffee grounds, graham crackers, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, oats. It's heaven. When making cookies, I generally will build off a base recipe. Cookies are pretty forgiving, as long as you understand the basic procedure, you can add whatever you feel like. I love making cookies for others. Truth be told, everyone loves a good cookie. I learned early on that the key to Jam's heart is either in the form of a cookie or brownie, simple pleasures.
So this past weekend, I dove head first into cookie making. After a bit of hemming and hawing, I settled on a chocolate chip cookie with a ritz cracker crunch and marshmallows. It sounds extreme, and it was extreme. The ritz cracker crunch is a Milk Bar recipe, ritz crackers are crushed, melted butter is added along with a bit of sugar, salt, and milk powder. This glorious mixture is baked until roasty toasty- cooled, then thrown into the cookie mix. I strayed from my original recipe a bit, added a little too much of the ritz crunch. The results were overly buttery, spread-everywhere cookies. Initially I thought the cookies spread because I hadn't mixed the butter in properly. So I remixed the dough, just a tad longer, not too long though as I didn't want to develop too much gluten which would result in a hockey puck cookie. The 2n'd tester spread just as much. It was at this point that I realized there was just too much butter in the cookie. Not wanting to throw away the dough, I decided to bake them as cookie-blondie-bars. The bars came out looking far more attractive, and super tasty. Cut into triangles, they were perfect for a quick pick-me-up bite.
Today I share with you the most basic cookie recipe. You can add this or that, let your imagination run wild.
The Basic Cookie
16T (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup tightly packed light brown sugar
2T corn syrup
2 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup bread flour
1/2t baking powder
1/4t baking soda
11/2t salt
2 cups of add-ins (chocolate chips, dried fruit, nuts)
1. Combine the butter, sugar, and corn syrup in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream on medium-high for 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the eggs, and beat for 7-8 minutes.
2. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix just until the dough comes together, no longer than 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with the spatula.
3. Still on low speed, add your mix-ins until they are incorporated- no more than 30 seconds.
4. Using a 1/2 cup measure, portion your cookies and place on a parchment lined sheet pan. Pat the tops of the cookie dough domes flat. Wrap the sheet pan tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to one week. Do not bake your cookies from room temperature- they will not bake properly.
5. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
6. Arrange the chilled dough a minimum of 4 inches apart on your parchment-lined sheet pan. Bake for 9 minutes, then rotate, then another 9 minutes. Cool the cookies completely on the sheet pan before transferring to a plate or to an airtight container for storage.
I promise to return later this week with a Thanksgiving post!
For now I leave you with this inspiring film about building a bakery. A dream-goal that I hope to one day reach
Josey Builds a Bakery! from Najeeb Tarazi on Vimeo.
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