Month: March 2020

Grown Up Chocolate Chip Cookies

I hope everyone is hanging in there.  Given that this blog is called the Misanthropic Hostess, you can probably tell how I’m doing.

People keep asking me if I’m doing lots of baking and are surprised to hear that I’m not.  Like most (I hope) people, I’m sequestered at home and adjusting to a for-now normal.  For me, a big part of this is establishing a consistent and doable day job schedule.

For me, baking isn’t work (I’m not saying people shouldn’t bake or do whatever they can to get through these days–I just personally don’t want to confuse work and baking modes).  So, I’ll be sticking to doing my baking on the weekends.  Something to look forward to.

In the weeks before social distancing, I baked all of the sweet stuff that was in my freezers to make room for more sensible things like frozen ground turkey and a few trays of a dish TD and I call Shizzyladas.  Giving away the baked goods was fun as always.  But, I made very fatal error on my part: I forgot to hold anything back for me and TD.

So, last weekend, I made up a batch of dough for one of the few cookies TD and I agree on: Chocolate Chip. These are a little fancier than the norm with browned butter, a bit of rye flour and lots and lots and lots of chocolate.  Really, get creative with the chocolate.  The great thing about these is that you can make the dough, portion it, chill it and freeze it for on-the-spot baking.

Early returns show that I’m going to have to limit the number of baked cookies available to my housemates and I.

Grown Up Chocolate Chip Cookies

NYT/Toll House/Yo’ Momma Inspired

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 C cake flour
  • 3/4 C rye flour
  • 1 1/2 C bread flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 C) unsalted butter at room temp [note--brown the butter if you want to get super adult–if browning, use 3 sticks]
  • 1 1/4 C light brown sugar
  • 1 1/4 C granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 20 ounces (about  3 1/4 cups) dark chocolate disks (you could use any combination of chocolate here.  In the cookies pictured I happened to have 6 ounces of solid 72% chocolate that I chopped and combined with 12 ounces of discs).

Instructions

  1. In a medium bowl, sift together flours, baking powder,  soda and salt.  Set aside.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter until fluffy (if using brown butter, it may only fluff a bit).  Add in sugars and cream until light, 3-4 minutes.
  3. Add in egg, egg yolk and vanilla beating in between each to combine.
  4. Stop mixer and add dry ingredients.  Mix on lowest speed until just combined.  Fold-in your chocolate.
  5. Scoop dough into desired sized balls.  While 1/4 C is a popular size and will give you amazing bakery-sized cookies, I like to use a 2 TBS scoop.
  6. Refrigerate balls for at least 24 hours (or do as I do and refrigerate until cold and then freeze double bagged until you want to use them).
  7. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line your sheets with parchment.  Allow a couple of inches in between smaller dough balls and up to four if you are really going for it with the 1/4 C scoop.
  8. Bake until golden (this is about 11 minutes in my oven from very cold, 13 if frozen).

Chinese Style Almond Cookies

You know the ones.  Crumbly and shortbread-like in texture, satisfyingly rich with  just a hint of almond.

When I first thought I’d try making these, I disappeared down the rabbit whole of origin.  While some sources say they are an adaption of the Chinese walnut cookie, these simple sweet biscuits have an uncertain background.

I reviewed several recipes and decided to dive in with the cookie from Elaine at China Sichuan Food because of the addition of almond flour.   Beware, even a small amount of time spent on her site will make you very, very hungry.

Like most things made from scratch, these were much better than anything I’d ever had from the package.  In fact, found myself returning and trying them several times just to make sure.

Chinese Style Almond Cookies

from www.chinasichuanfood.com

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 C (120g) cake flour
  • 2/3 C (60g) almond flour
  • pinch of kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 C (115 g) butter softened
  • 1/4 C minus 1 TBS (40g) granulated sugar
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1/4 tsp almond extract
  • 16 whole almonds

for egg wash

  • 1 egg plus 1 TBS water lightly beaten

Directions

  1. Sift together the flours, baking soda and salt in a bowl, set aside.
  2. Cream butter and sugar until light, a couple of minutes.  Beat-in the egg yolk and extract.
  3. Add dry ingredient to wet ingredients on low speed until just combined.
  4. On a clean surface, gently kneed the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for an hour.
  5. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line baking sheets with parchment.
  6. Divide dough into 16 equally-sized pieces.  Roll each into a ball.  Slightly flatten with finger or criss-cross with a fork.  Add whole almond to center and brush with egg wash.
  7. Bake for 18-20 minutes.  Allow to cool completely on pans.