Heather's Bytes

It was a mistake to make these cookies. It was an even bigger mistake to make these cookies when no one else was home.

But it’s okay, because even though no one’s here to hold me accountable (“Mom, you had a cookie! Can I have one too?”) I’m making myself be very, very good. But I still won’t tell you how many I’ve had.

Anyway, making these cookies for this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie was a last minute decision. I love the TWD project and didn’t want to be kicked out because I haven’t participated as often as I should be. So, after double checking this week’s recipe (which was chosen and is hosted by Ugly Dude Food), I determined that even though I didn’t have the called-for ground hazelnuts (which I don’t like anyway) or raspberry jam, I could make do.

In place of the hazelnuts I ground my own walnuts and used strawberry jam. And, once again, my beloved almond extract made an appearance, which made me very happy.

My dough, like many others have noted, was also pretty dry and crumbly. I added about a tablespoon of milk during the mixing process which really helped hold things together. I also refrigerated the dough for about an hour before I rolled out the first batch, and put it back in the fridge while each batch was in the oven.

And even though I mixed the dough a heck of a lot more than just to get the ingredients combined, the cookies still turned out very light and shortbread-y, so keep in mind that it’s pretty forgiving even if you have to beat it into submission.

Let’s get on with some pictures: Read More

The other day I mentioned that I had a recipe for my most favorite chocolate chip cookies ever — and here it is!

My favorite kind of chocolate chip cookies are thick and chewy, the ones that keep their shape when they come out of the oven. I’m not crazy about cookies that flatten out, thin as pancakes, though the ones I made Tuesday were very tasty.

I’ve been making these for a while and they never fail to hit the spot. I like to use the 60% Ghirardelli chocolate chips for these.

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups + 2 Tb all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 sticks butter (3/4 cup)
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix flour, baking soda and salt together, set aside.

Mix butter and sugars in mixer until well combined. Beat in egg, egg yolk and vanilla.

Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.

Using a cookie scoop, place cookies two inches apart on greased or parchment-lined cookie sheets.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until cookies are golden brown.

 Print this recipe!

I (and about 20 other co-workers) got some really crappy, crummy news today, and since I don’t comfort eat, I decided to do some comfort baking. It works for me!

So, it’s been a little while since I did a Tuesdays With Dorie post, but it wasn’t for lack of wanting to! With the big holidays now out of the way I have more time to focus on the stuff I truly enjoy doing, and unsurprisingly, baking is one of those.

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie is My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies, selected by Kait of Kait’s Plate.

I love chocolate chip cookies — who doesn’t? But I tend to like the ones that are thick and chewy, not thin and crispy. In fact, I call those cow patty cookies because, well, that’s what they look like! These, however cow patty-ish they may look, tasted like anything but. They were amazing! Though I don’t know that I’d call them the best I’ve ever had (I’ll write about those later), they are very, very good.

I had everything on hand except some good bittersweet chocolate, though I did have a couple of bars of Hershey’s Special Dark in my chocolate drawer (you don’t have a chocolate drawer?). Since Hershey’s is better baked with than eaten plain (yuck), I chopped it all up (very therapeutic) into some nice chunks.

Like Kait, I also ended up bringing down the baking time to nine minutes and kept the dough in the fridge while the cookies in the oven baked.

Kait’s got the recipe on her blog.

My happy place

Once in a while I like to add a little more sweetness to pecan sandies, and this recipe works really well with some added mini chocolate chips, or a drizzle of melted chocolate on top after they’re done baking. This also works well with chopped almonds instead of the pecans, and taste even better when the vanilla extract is replaced with almond extract.

Chocolate Pecan Sandies

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups chopped pecans
1 cup chopped chocolate or mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup white sugar for decoration

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, vegetable oil, 1 cup white sugar and confectioners’ sugar until smooth.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.

Combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in the pecans.

Roll dough into 1 inch balls and roll each ball in remaining white sugar.

Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are golden. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.

 Print this recipe!