Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Tasty Tuesday: Chocolate Chip Cookies

My hubby has been begging for weeks for me to make chocolate chip cookies. Weeks, I tell you. I used to make them for him all the time, but since we've started adding recipes to the blog, I've been slacking in the cookie making. His pleas have really gotten stronger since getting a morsel when we made chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and baked half a batch. I've had an agenda for Easter treats though, and promised him that I would bake him cookies as soon as Easter was over. Guess what? It's over.

Ingredients:
1/2 c rolled oats, finely ground                            3/4 c granulated sugar
2 1/4 c flour                                                          2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp baking soda                                          1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt                                                           2 eggs
1/4 tsp cinnamon                                                 3 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 c (2 sticks) butter, softened                              1 1/2 c chopped walnuts
3/4 c firmly packed brown sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350° F. 
2. Combine oats, flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl.
3. In another bowl, cream butter, sugars, vanilla, and lemon juice. Add eggs and beat until fluffy.
4. Stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture, blending well. Add the chocolate chips and walnuts. Mix well.
5. Using 1/4 cup of dough for each cookie, scoop round balls with an ice cream scoop and place 2 1/2 inches apart on baking sheets.
6. Bake until cookies are lightly browned, 16-18 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Store in a sealed container to keep them soft and chewy.

We got an overwhelming amount of candy on Easter Sunday. It's enough to make even Willy Wonka jealous. I used Hershey kisses and chocolate bunnies in place of chocolate chips.


I didn't take all that many pictures this time. Well, that is if you consider 54 not "all that many." I do. You would not believe how many I snap in a single day. I blame my mom. She's the same way. Leighton keeps saying we need a bigger hard drive. I say I just need to delete some of the thousands of pics I'll never use.

Ok, back to the point. My 2 little ones are feverish and coughing, so I wasn't really worried about taking the proper pictures. In fact, I made these cookies by myself. Gasp! I can't remember the last time I baked alone. If Alyssa isn't in the kitchen with me, you know she's not well. Though, she keeps telling me, "Mommy, I feel better," as she sounds like a seal and looks at me through red, puffy eyes.

All that to say, I'm going to skip the nitty-gritty, step-by-step process and just show you the final product.



Now, don't let that picture fool you. These cookies, these monstrous cookies,  bake up big and thick. Usually. Just make sure you have fresh baking soda . . . unless you like flatter cookies, then by all means, use very, very old stuff. I'm so bad about that. I said the other day I needed to replace it. Now I'm kicking myself for forgetting.

They taste great.

They look not-so great.


These babies are huge. Even more so when the baking soda is fresh and they rise like they should. Sigh. I don't usually use the 1/4 cup dough that the recipe calls for. The little tummies of my kiddies would not appreciate it. I use a smaller amount and cut back on the baking time. Also, sometimes I add the walnuts to the cookies. (Not this time.) I'll toss them in my food processor until they are chopped into tiny pieces. It gives the cookies a delicious flavor without the chunk of nut. No one complains when they're added because they don't even notice.

I made a double batch: one to bake now and one to freeze. Next time Leighton wants cookies and I have a predetermined baking schedule, I can easily pull them out and bake.  Now my poor hubby won't be deprived of his beloved cookies for so long!

There are a couple different ways to freeze cookie dough. One is to make individual balls and freeze on a cookie sheet or mini-muffin pan before transferring to a freezer bag. Instead, I refrigerated  the dough, shaped it into a log, wrapped it in wax paper, and put it in a freezer bag.

My loaf is more the size of a bread loaf. Either we'll have big cookies or I'll cut each slice in half.



Oh, here's one more tip for assembling the dough: Do not make cookies in front of an open window, especially on a windy day. Unless you find the sight of flour blowing all around your kitchen soothing . . . Not that I know from experience or anything. Ahem.

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