{The End To My Quest...?}

Fortunately, it only took me a few months to find this recipe (well, I do look at new recipes from different food blogs almost everyday...). When I first made chocolate chip cookies, I used theNestle Toll House Recipe. I thought that the cookies were already delectable, but when I saw Alton Brown's recipe, I was instantly intrigued. There were so many different instructions and ingredients from this recipe that had to see if the cookies would turn out better than the ones I made using the Toll House recipe.

In Alton Brown's recipe, you need to have one egg and one egg yolk, and you have to melt the butter instead of using it when it is room-temperature. Also, you have to use a lot of brown sugar and less white sugar. A lot of bloggers have said that this is their favorite recipe, and that the brown sugar makes the cookies very chewy. The cookies turned out just how I liked them. When I first bit into one of the cookies, I immediately knew that it was the best cookie that I had ever made. I am very picky when it comes to cookies, and I do not really enjoy cookies that are too dry, crunchy, or cakey. These cookies were perfect - chewy and moist, with a lot of flavor. I will definitely be using this recipe from now on whenever I want to bake cookies!

Adapted from Alton Brown's The Chewy Recipe

Note: I did not have bread flour. I just used all-purpose flour, but the cookies still ended up really chewy. Also, the recipe does not indicate how long you should refrigerate the dough, so I refrigerated it for one hour.

I was baking during the afternoon, and there was a rainbow on the cookie tray because of the sunlight that hit the windows (I just had to take pictures of this!).

This is one of the best things that I have ever baked, and I really hope that you try to make these for yourselves! If you like them as much as I did, you can not eat just one!

{Chewy Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies}

Chewy Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies (try saying that five times fast)

Adapted from Hershey's

As I have mentioned before, I really love chocolate chip cookies. Sometimes, I bake far too many of these cookies and end up looking for a different recipe to try out. I was intrigued by a lot of recipes for chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips on other food blogs, and wondered when I would be able to try to make them. Fortunately, the supermarket had a new stock of peanut butter chips, and I finally found the time to make these cookies.

The cookies were definitely a change from the usual cookie I normally eat. I could really taste the chocolate, and the peanut butter helped to add even more flavor. I really enjoyed making these cookies, but I will continue to find other cookie recipes (after all, who knows how any delicious new cookie recipes that I have not tried to make before are out there?).

Ingredients:

1 cup of butter

2 eggs

3/4 cup cocoa powder (I used Hershey's)

1 2/3 cups Reese's Peanut Butter Chips

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups of sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together. Set this mixture aside.

3. Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until they are combined thoroughly.

4. Add the eggs and the vanilla extract, and beat them until they are fully mixed.

5. Slowly add the flour mixture and beat well.

6. Add the peanut butter chips.

7. Drop the dough on cookie sheets (you can use an ice cream scoop or tablespoon, depending on the size of cookies that you like).

8. Bake for 8 to 9 minutes.

Note: Try not to overbake these cookies, because they will become very hard. Remember that they will puff while baking, but flatten while they are cooling.)

{Peanut Butter Cookies}

Peanut butter has been with me ever since I was a little girl. Peanut butter with chocolate fudge, peanut butter sandwiches - I was even able to try peanut butter frozen yogurt once! I remember when I tried my first peanut butter cookie a few years ago. It was soft, chewy, and had just the right amount of peanut butter, and I have wanted to try and make them ever since. I found a good recipe, but it had a plethora of different ingredients. This is why I was very surprised when I found another recipe that only needed three ingredients. I was delighted to find out that I had all of the ingredients on hand, and went straight to work.

Adapted from Kraft Recipes

Ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)

1 egg
1/2 cup sugar

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (160 degrees Celsius).

2. Beat the sugar, eggs, and the peanut butter until well combined.

3. Refrigerate this for 30 minutes.

4. Once out of the fridge, roll into 15 balls, and place them on a cookie sheet.

5. Flatten each ball by making a criss-cross pattern with a fork.

6. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes.

I was not sure what to expect with these cookies. I had a feeling that they would become hard and very crunchy, which i something that I never like in a cookie. I might try the other recipe sometime, but I was so curious about how the cookies from this recipe would turn out that I just had to try it.


Unfortunately, the peanut butter was very oily, and I needed to use paper towels to blot the oil from the cookie sheet. I also had to shorten the baking time, because they would have burned if they stayed in the oven for a few more minutes. The cookies were surprisingly chewy, and not crumbly and crunchy like I expected them to be. I think that although they turned out not quite what I expected , they were pretty good for my first try. I think that the next time I make peanut butter cookies, I will try and take out most of the oil that comes with the peanut butter.

{A Different Kind of Chocolate Chips}

The cookies that I bake usually consist of semisweet chocolate chips. While I was in the grocery the other day, I decided to try using dark chocolate chips instead of my regular semisweet chocolate chips (I have been wanting to try using dark chocolate chips for a while).




To see the recipe that I used, click here. Just substitute the semisweet chocolate chips with dark chocolate chips.

The first thing I noticed when I bit into one of these cookies was that they were not as sweet as the cookies that I make with semisweet chocolate chips. For me, dark chocolate is always delicious, whether it is eaten by itself or with other food and desserts, like chopped up with bananas or drizzled on cake.




Usually we try to limit the amount of chocolate that we eat all the time, but here's some good news: dark chocolate can actually be healthy for you (sorry, but milk chocolate and white chocolate do not apply to this). It has health benefits such as lowering high blood pressure, and containing numerous antioxidants (even more than some fruit). Keep in mind that although dark chocolate is healthier than other kinds of chocolate, we should not eat more chocolate than the recommended amount.

If you would like to try a cookie that is not as sweet as your regular chocolate chip cookie, try using dark chocolate chips!

{W is for Wacky Winsome Whimsical Wonderful Walnuts}

Wacky

Winsome

Whimsical


Wonderful


Walnuts!


A basic cookie recipe



+ chocolate chips + walnut chunks


=

Delicious Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

Growing up, there were many things I avoided at all costs, like spiders, flies, and walnuts. My parents adore nearly anything with walnuts in them, from crisp salads to warm and chewy cookies. I refused to swallow anything that contained walnuts, because I always thought that they would alter any type of food to become bitter and revolting. I was really obstinate, and I stayed like that for years, until the day my mom told me to try a cookie that she had made.

It was a really different cookie - I had never tasted anything with such a distinct flavor. I asked my mother what it consisted of, and she told me it had - surprise! - walnuts. I was appalled. I thought that walnuts made any treat worse, when in fact I really enjoyed the walnuts that were added to the cookies! My parents told me that I should consume more walnuts, since they are beneficial to your health too. They contain plenty of fiber, B vitamins, omega 3 fatty acids, and magnesium. They may also reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.

These batch of cookies were marvelous; the chocolate chips melted in my mouth, and the walnuts added extra and sought-after flavor and crunch.

Here is the chocolate chip cookie recipe that I used.

Father's Day is coming up soon, and I am planning on baking something special for my dad!

{Peanut Butter Experiment}

The chocolate chip cookie recipe is very simple, but you can add basically anything you want to your list of ingredients. Here are a few to get you started: Nuts (walnuts and pecans make my mouth water), candy (M & M's are good, but I know some people who have tried other types such as caramel or gummy bears!), and peanut butter (you can add peanut butter chips with your chocolate chips, but you can also just use chopped up Reese's pieces).

I have been baking chocolate chip cookies a lot lately, so I decided to add peanut butter chips to my cookies today to add more flavor to them.

(Sorry for the blurry picture)

Here are some of my ingredients.

The first recipe that I posted was about chocolate chip cookies, and I used that recipe for these cookies. I added 1 cup of the peanut butter chips, and you can lessen the quantity of chocolate chips if you desire. I decided not to do that, due to the fact that my family members usually like chunky cookies.

(If you have read my previous post on cookies, then you will know why I scattered the cookie batter on the tray!)

I will always be partial to chocolate chip cookies, but whenever I want to spice things up, I'll be sure to use peanut butter chips.

To view my original chocolate chip cookie recipe, click here.

(Chocolate Chip) Cookie Monster

From cinnamon coated snicker doodles to exotic - tasting coconut macaroons, there is at least one cookie which compels one's eyes to go wide in exhilaration at the thought of biting into it. On dull, dreary days, nothing cheers me up as much as a cookie. What kind of cookie makes my heart pump a mile a minute, and makes my adrenaline race? Is it a dainty thumbprint cookie, with a an exquisite jam topping? How about a light and fluffy meringue, that would melt in your mouth at the first bite? If I could eat just one type of cookie for the rest of my life, it would have to be chocolate chip cookies. They are not as elaborate as an adorned sugar cookie, but when it comes to cookies, I gravitate towards the simpler ones. Once you bite into one, your head will spin with all the flavors. Sweet and buttery, with a slight hint of vanilla. Chewy, with gooey chocolate at every bite.

Ingredients:
2 cups chocolate chips
1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) butter* room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs

The cookies that I made became really ginormous, and we only had about 18. I am sure that you will have even more cookies if you make them smaller (I am going to try to make smaller cookies next time).


1. Set oven to 350 degrees (180 degrees Celsius).
2. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda in a bowl. Set this mixture aside.
3. Beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar with an electric mixer until they are combined thoroughly.

4. Add the eggs and the vanilla extract, and beat them until they are fully mixed.

5. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt mixture.
6. Add 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips.
7. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.

Note: I used an ice cream scoop to put the cookie dough on a cookie sheet. You can also just use a normal spoon to drop the cookies. You can choose what size you want the cookies to be, and it is best to make them 2 or more inches away from each other.

My sister, caught in the act! You can see her hand trying to take some of the chocolate chips. She has a really big sweet tooth!

Some of the cookies were too big, so they stuck to each other a bit. Next time, I am going to put fewer cookies on the tray, and add more space in between them. I might have gotten a bit carried away with the size of the cookies…

If this happens to you, don’t worry! I have a simple little solution – use cookie cutters! Your cookies will end up looking cute, and everyone will want to sneak in one…or two… alright, I admit that I usually take more than three!

These cookies are really easy to make, and my sister wanted to use the heart-shaped cookie cutters.

I learned one more thing – your butter should be room temperature. I forgot to take the butter out of the fridge, and I ended up having to put it in the microwave! I do not recommend doing this, because some of the cookies had little butter bits in them! I love butter (who doesn’t?), but sometimes it is better to eat something without really tasting the butter in them. Before you start baking, make sure the butter is at room temperature! I don’t think I will forget that anytime soon…

A zoom in on my first cookie attempt!

Thirsty? A cold glass of milk has your name on it!