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.

Tasty Tuesday: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream

Chocolate.

Chocolate chip cookie.

Cookie dough.

Ice cream.

Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.

Any way you look at it, it's good.

I'm not sure what I like more: the raw cookie dough or the freshly baked cookies. I just can't decide! Leighton, though, has no desire to eat the raw dough, (How crazy is that?!?)  but he does like cookie dough ice cream. A little strange, but I love him.

In his post about the UM Natural History Museum, Leighton mentioned that we stopped at Border's on the way home. There, I bought Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book. It's filled with recipes like orange cream dream ice cream, raspberry sorbet, fried ice cream, hot chocolate float, and hot butterscotch sauce. It's Ben & Jerry's - it's gotta be good.

Ben & Jerry’s Sweet Cream Base #1
Ingredients:

2 large eggs                                   2 cups heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup sugar                                 1 cup whole milk

Directions:
1. Mix the cream and milk together and heat over medium-low heat.
2. While that’s heating, beat the eggs in a separate bowl, until they turn lighter in color. Slowly, add the sugar while continuing to whisk the eggs

3. When the cream/milk mix reaches about 140 degrees F (60 C), remove it from the heat. Gradually stir small amounts of the cream/milk mix into the egg/sugar mix until about a third of the cream and milk have been added. Then pour in the rest of the cream and milk and mix it all together.

4. Heat the mix over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until it reaches175 degrees F (79 C).

5. Chill the mix until it’s below 40 degrees F (5 C).

6. Freeze according to the manufacture's instructions. It’ll come out like stiff soft-serve ice cream. If you like it firmer, put it in an air-tight container in the freezer for a couple hours.

Let me say, tempering while taking pictures is much easier when you have a little helper. Thanks, Alyssa!

Ben & Jerry’s Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
1/2 c (1 stick) butter, at room temperature                1 c + 2 tbp flour                                                    
1/4 c granulated sugar                                               1/2 tsp salt
1/3 c brown sugar                                                      1/2 tsp baking soda
1 egg                                                                          1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 tsp vanilla                                                             1/2 c coarsely chopped walnuts, optional

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. Beat the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well.
3. Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda in another bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until well blended.Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
4. Drop the dough by small scoops 2-3 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten each scoop with the back of a spoon until about 3 inches in diameter.
5. Bake until the centers are still slightly soft to the touch, 11-14 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Then transfer to the racks to cool completely.

Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream
Ingredients:
1/2 recipe (1 1/2 c) raw Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Sweet Cream Base
2 tsp vanilla

Directions:
1. Chop the cookie dough into bite-size pieces. Place in a bowl, cover, and freeze.
2. Prepare the sweet cream base.
3. Once chilled, add the vanilla and blend.
3. Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacture's instructions.
4. When the ice cream is quite stiff (about 1 minute before it's done) add the chopped cookie dough. Be sure to wait until the very last moment, otherwise, the dough will get sticky and unmanageable. Continue freezing until the ice cream is ready.

So, I'm not really sure how you chop cookie dough. It's soft and sticky and messy. I used a 1/4 teaspoon to drop little dollops on plates (so they didn't all freeze together.) Eventually, I just used my fingers to break apart pieces. I thought that the bits of dough in the ice cream were slightly too big. Personal opinion. Also, I found it to be a little too salty. Mini chocolate chips are perfect for this recipe. 

Since the ice cream required only half a batch of dough, we were forced to bake the other half. Oh, the things we have to endure! I didn't flatten them, but rather plopped them on the cookie sheet and baked. The seven cookies were inhaled within minutes of exiting the oven. Other than the saltiness, they were perfect. Crispy edges, soft chewy middle.

The cream base is another story. I have made the cooked bases a few times. No one in our family cares for this type of ice cream. The flavor is just . . . different. I have recipes that do not require eggs. We will stick to those from now on. Although, I'm thinking about trying this recipe again with pasteurized eggs. These are eggs that are quickly dipped in hot water to kill any harmful bacteria. You do not have to cook the base using pasteurized eggs.

With a little tweaking, this recipe will be perfect. I can't wait to make it again. And eat the extra baked cookies!

Do you have a favorite ice cream recipe? Topping recipe? Please, share it with us! We love trying new things.