Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Honey Spice Cookies

I'd actually set out to make chocolate chip cookies (I swear I was actually planning on making something normal) but as I started getting the ingredients together I realized I was out of brown sugar. I thought about trekking down to the grocery store to get some more, but then I got lazy and instead started to look for something else to make with what I had.

I came upon the Honey Spice Cookies in my High Altitude Baking cookbook and was happy to see that I had everything needed for them. I resumed mixing in the ingredients when I realized that although I did have clove, I had whole clove and not ground clove. I decided to improvise and ground it on my own. I don't have a mortar and pestle (cause really, when does someone ever actually need that?), so I had to use the method I used to crush pills before I learned to swallow them like a normal person (which wasn't until I was in high school). Yup, the tried and true "two spoons" method.
It took a bit of time and effort but I think I got it fairly well crushed.

The dough will be really sticky so you may want to cover your hands with flour before handling it. Also, the cookies spread quite a but, so make sure to place them pretty well apart on the cookie sheet or else they will run into each other (which happens to be a huge pet peeve of mine).

Honey Spice Cookies

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup butter
2 eggs
1/3 cup honey

Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt and baking powder. In a large bowl, cream sugar and butter. Add eggs and honey and beat until smooth. Add flour mixture slowly and thoroughly, a little at a time. Drop cookies, about an inch around, onto an ungreased cookie sheet about 1 1/2 or 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove cookies from the cookie sheet immediately (they will stick to the cookie sheet if you wait) and place on a cooling rack or wax paper.







Friday, June 21, 2013

Chocolate Chip Potato Chip Cookies

There was a gathering at my husband's workplace last night and I wanted to bring something to the event. I asked my husband for some inspiration and without skipping a beat he tells me a story about how one day he and his former roommate ate raw cookie dough and potato chips and how amazing the combination was. At first I thought he was suggesting I serve raw cookie dough and I was like, "Yeah...no, I'm not comfortable with that" but then I realized he just thought I should put potato chips into chocolate chip cookies. And this I could totally get behind because I love salty and sweet combinations.

I did a quick search on the Googles and realized that this was actually a thing and there were quite a few recipes out there (none for high altitude, of course). Many of the recipes called for potato chips and pretzels, but I decided to just add potato chips.

Rather than mess with a good thing, I used the standard drop cookie recipe from my High Altitude Baking book that I've used for my Caramel Bacon White Chocolate Chip Cookies and my Maple Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Per my usual, there was no way that my baking experience was going to be flawless. This time, when I grabbed the brown sugar, I realized it had gotten hard.
Luckily, this was an easy fix. I put the brown sugar in a bowl and popped it into the microwave for 10 seconds and it softened enough for me to measure it. Once it was creamed with the sugar and shortening it was like there was never even an issue in the first place.

There was one more moment of panic when my guinea pig/husband did the taste test. He stood there for a few moments with the strangest and (and from what I perceived) non-positive expression on his face. I thought, "Oh no! They are terrible!" but it turns out they weren't and then he proceeded to eat 10 more.

Chocolate Chip Potato Chip Cookies

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups crushed potato chips

Preheat oven to 375.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt and baking powder. In a large bowl, cream sugars and shortening. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add flour mixture slowly and thoroughly, a little at a time. Stir in chocolate chips and potato chips. Drop cookies, about an inch around, onto an ungreased cookie sheet about an inch apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove cookies from the cookie sheet immediately and place on a cooling rack or wax paper.


Sunday, June 16, 2013

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies used to be my go-to back in day, so I figured I should go back to my roots and whip up a batch. I found an awesome recipe online that had conversions for high altitude (side note: did you see how many changes had to be made?!?!) and decided to try it. I was pumped, until this happened:

Yup, the peanut butter chips melted. I'd left them on a side counter and in the afternoon that part of the kitchen gets quite a bit of sun. I panicked for a minute, because I was making these at the last minute and didn't have time to head back to the store. But then I remembered I had some leftover semi-sweet chocolate chips and realized all was not lost (yay!).

Another side note, when I bake, I tend to make a mess. Like, a huge mess. I don't know how others are able to keep their kitchens clean when baking. I spilled a lot of flour onto the stove this time, and when I turned my back for a second, my husband, who is apparently 12 years old, had done this:


Isn't he sweet?

 Everything else went off without a hitch and the cookies ended up tasting awesome. I mean, seriously, who doesn't love chocolate?!?!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

 2 cups + 2 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons water
1 1/4 cups butter, softened
1 2/3 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium sized bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and water.

Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with a mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Slowly add flour mixture, a little at a time until it's all well mixed. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop cookies, about an inch around, onto an ungreased cookie sheet about an inch apart. Bake 7-8 minutes. Cookies will be soft and puffy when you take them out of the oven.


They will flatten while cooling.

Once flattened, remove from cookie sheet and place on cooling rack or wax paper to cool.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Cupcake Shout-out



I mentioned in my previous post, The Story of Us, that my husband and I eloped. This weekend, we threw a party to celebrate our nuptials. One of the best parts of the wedding was the cupcakes. And while I would love to claim that I had slaved over a hot oven the day of my reception, it was my sister-in-law, Liz, who tackled the feat. Did I mention she's 7 1/2 months pregnant? Here are a couple of pictures that do not rightly do these amazing cupcakes justice:


Our reception was Irish themed, so Liz concocted Irish Cream, Irish Milkshake and Irish Car Bomb cupcakes for the occasion. They were a huge, delicious hit. You can check out more of her awesome cupcakes (or get in contact with her to hire her) on her Facebook page.

Thanks, Liz, you are amazing!