Tag Archives: chocolate

Raspberry Kisses

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We went in two weeks after Christmas, with the hope that Wal-Mart still had Candy Cane Kisses.  We kept meaning to go earlier, but it kept getting pushed back.  We get to the holiday chocolate area, and there’s Raspberry Kisses.  You serious?  Why would you prepare for Valentine’s Day so freakin’ early?!  We bought some anyway to see what it’s like, and it is pretty good.  Not comparable to the Candy Cane Kisses, but they’re nice enough to finish off the two bags we bought.

Good Ole Chocolately Chip Cookies

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The soft and ever so slightly chewy cookie with melted morsels of chocolate, what could ever be better?  I should not discriminate upon the cookies, because of couurse cookies of all sorts are wonderful.   But it was the chocolate chip cookie that slipped into my life and won my heart forever.  Or maybe it was chocolate that won my heart.  Details, details…

While the author did not call for oats, I added it anyway, because that is what my mother would have done. It gave the cookies a little more of a lift, and prevented it from flattening out. That is always important.  The original recipe also called for 14 oz of chopped chocolate, but personally I find that an overload, so I did decrease that to 8 oz.

10 oz (350 g) all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 oz (225 g) butter
6 oz (150 g) sugar
7 oz (215 g) brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
8 oz chocolate chips or chunks
8 oz oats
8 oz nuts, chopped
Click for the method (to the madness)

Chunk o’ joy

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I’ve not been a fan of putting chopped chocolate in chocolate chip cookies.  To me it seemed like the authors were just trying to add an extra step to make their recipe more special.  After all, chocolate chips are perfect and the Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe is perfect.  Why mess up a good thing?  Well, obviously cuz you’re writing a book and need to change something.  My mother suggested I try it, and I politely told her it’s silly and just a new fashion.  Fashions are great, but not when they require chopping up chocolate that you easily get in a big bag.   Except I finished the chocolate chips when making my other cookies and needed chips to make some regular cookies.  My mother, taking full advantage of the fact that mothers will always win any battle, casually told me to chop some.  Ohh fiiine!

We didn’t have semi-sweet chocolate, so I used the Hershey’s Milk Chocolate mini bars.  *swallows pride* It tastes rather nice.  It’s a nice difference from the semi-sweet chocolate chips!

Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Cookies

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Chocolate is simply lovely. Even if something does not turn out quite right, it is still irresistible. I’m not sure where I went wrong. Maybe it needed a little more flour? Maybe half shortening and half butter instead of only butter? Maybe I needed to chill it longer, because I just realized that I should have chilled until it was firm enough to handle. It did chill for 2 hours, but maybe overnight would be better.  Whatever the case, mine spread out, flattened up, and was a smidge wet rather than simply fudgey.  Thankfully, David Lebovitz uploaded pictures of how these cookies should look, and perhaps next time mine will resemble his more closely.

I also used white chocolate chips instead of the regular chips, because I recall Mrs. Fields has a double chocolate cookies that has white chips and macadamias. Those cookies were oh-so-nice.

16 oz (450 g) bitter-sweet or semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
2 oz (60 g) unsalted butter, chopped
2 oz (70 g) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
14 oz (350 g) sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
12 oz (320 g) chocolate chips
1 cup (100 g) walnuts

Place the chocolate and batter in a large heat-proof bowl. Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until melted and smooth. Remove bowl from heat.

Waitin’ for it to melt

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and pour into a small bowl.
In a stand mixer fitted with a whip attachment, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla on high-speed until the mixture thickens and forms a well-defined ribbon when the beater is lifted, about 5 minutes.
With mixer running in low speed, mix in the melted chocolate mixture until thoroughly incorporated.
Next stir in the flour mixture, followed by chocolate chips and nuts.

Cover and refrigerate the dough until it is firm enough to handle, at least 30 minutes.

Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.  Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

On a lightly floured work surface, divide the dough in half.  Shape each half into a log, 10 inches (25 cm) long and 1 1/2 inches (4 c) in diameter.  (If the dough is too cold and firm to shape, let it stand at room temperature until it becomes malleable.)  Slice the logs into disks 1/2 inch (1.5 cm) thick and place the disks on the baking sheets, spaced about 1 inch (3 cm) apart.  If they crumble a bit, simply push them back together on the baking sheet.

Alternatively, you can can simply drop it by the tablespoon full onto the baking sheet.

Bake, rotating the baking sheets midway through baking, until the cookies feel just slightly firm at the edges, about 9 minutes.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets until firm enough to handle.  Use a spatula to transfer them to a wire rack.

This what you want your cookies not to look like! 🙂

Enjoy with a glass of cold milk.

Recipe courtesy of Ready for Dessert: My Best Recipes by David Lebovitz, page 187.

Who cares if it’s not really chocolate…

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…it still rocks.

We bought some small bags of white and butterscotch chips, and my brother later asks me with a grin, why didn’t you go to Smart & Final?  They would have had bigger bags.  Ah, man, duh, why didn’t I think of that?!