My SnickerDoodles

Photography by Michael Long

In all my years,  I've never had a snickerdoodle.  Never, Honest!!!  And today I found out what I have been missing.  I'd heard about girls making them in Home Ed classes,  and the boys going wild over them,  But No, I was out playing hide and sneak with my Chevy and the cops!!!  Should have been chasing the girls and they're cookies.  Anyway, that's another story.  I got an E-mail from Saveur Magazine the other day and they had a recipe on Snickerdoodles so I thought what the heck go for it.  I mentioned it to the wife, "boss, manager, tax consultant, etc..." and she told me that years ago in the home ed. class where they taught cooking or basic cooking, that was one thing the girls had to do was make snickerdoodles and she hadn't had them since.????  Doesn't make a lot of since to me either, but anyway her eye's rolled back and said oh please,  So I pounded my chest and said "yes my dear, I can do that" So I did that!





Anyway, now to the recipe,





INGREDIENTS:

• 3      cups       Flour


• 2      tsp         Cream of Tartar


• 1      tsp         Baking soda


• .25   tsp         Kosher Salt


• 1.75  cups      Sugar


• 16    tbsp       Unsalted Butter, @ Room Temp.


• 5      tsp         ground cinnamon


• 1.5   tsp         vanilla extract


• 2     each       eggs.

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt;  and set that puppy aside.  Using a hand mixer or better yet a stand mixer on medium speed, beat 1.5 cup of sugar and butter together till pale and fluffy. (Don't you just love the fluffy part?) This will take about 2 minutes of your time.  Add 2 tsp of cinnamon and the vanilla; beat for about another minute more.  Add your eggs one at a time, and beat well after each addition of egg.  Add the dry ingredients that you sat aside to the mixer,  very slowly, or your going to have stuff everywhere! And don't over mix. If you over mix your going to have cinnamon flavored hockey pucks. Now refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes. 


2. Heat the oven to 375F.  In a separate bowl combine the remaining sugar and cinnamon.  Remove dough from the frig, and using about 1 tbsp measure, spoon out about 48 portions.  I got 46. But anyway, you get the idea.  Take those portions and roll them into little balls and then over to the cinnamon bowl and coat each and everyone of those guys with the sugar/cinn. mix.  Place on a baking sheet lined with Parchment paper, about 2" apart.  Put those little guys in the preheated oven and bake for about 10 minutes.  What your looking for is some cracking on top of the cookies.  

Transfer to a cooling rack to cool.  and  then get your insulin out and eat till your silly.  

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I'm dedicating this recipe to my Granddaughter, Christina, that's living up in Santa Barbara, CA. And to her roommates. Eat up and enjoy,  Grandpa!

Double Brownie Chocolate Cookie

These little guys are flour-less, with a chocolate chips.  Way over the top.  And they're made in one bowl. And fast!!!  These little guys have to be eaten with Brain freeze milk, since the intensity of the chocolate is so great.  But there's nothing wrong with that. 

I changed the original recipe some,  not a lot,  but some,  in place of the vanilla extract I used 3 vanilla beans,  and I used Ghirardelli cocoa powder.  You can use something else, but I had this on hand,  and I love this chocolate. 

Ingredients:

• 3 cups        Powdered sugar


• 2/3 cup      Cocoa Powder


• 1/8 tsp       Salt


• 2-4 eggs     Whites only (@ Room Temperature)


• 1 Tbs         Vanilla extract


• 1-1/2 cup   Chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Gotta preheat the oven to 350F.  But you knew that!


2. Line two baking sheets with either Parchment paper with spray or two Slip-pat mats.


3. In a large bowl add your sugar, cocoa powder and salt, and whisk till completely mixed. 


4. Add your vanilla and two egg whites, to the mix and mix till well incorporated  It's going to start to look like a brownie mix,  if it's too thick add another egg white.  Your looking for a brownie/fudge consistency  to the mix.  If need be add another egg white to get to the right consistency. If you go over, not to worry,  add some more sugar to bring it back.  Just a spoonful at a time.  You'll get there,  Trust me on that!


5. Caution DON'T OVER WORK THE BATTER, just mix till incorporated.


6. Stir in the chocolate chips.  I know your going to think hey, that's too much,  But there no such thing, too many chips. 


7. Scoop the batter out on to your mats about a Tablespoon size.  I over did it on mine.  But I'm into chocolate.


8. leave about a two inch gap between the cookies so that they can spread out.


9. Put those little guys in the oven for about 15 minutes.  You want a slight crust on the bottom. Your oven temp my vary some, so keep an eye on those guys.


10. I rotate my pans so they bake evenly,  But my oven has some hot spots in it. So I have to work mine a little more than some. 


11. When they are done, let them cool to room temp or close too, and get the milk out of the freezer and go for it.  These should last about 3 days in an airtight container.  Here they lasted about 2 days. 

You should be able to get about 30 or so cookies out of this.  

I got this recipe from the internet,  from a blog called "Chocolate and Carrots"  and this lady got it from another blog called "Keep it sweet"

http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com

MELTED BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

I just got Alice Medrich new Cookbook,  CHEWY GOOEY CHRISPY CRUNCHY.  It is so unbelievable I mean way over the top for cookie recipe.

You all really need to pick that one up.  But anyway,  I've been on a quest for the ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie.  I think I've found it... I really do.  So I've adapted this recipe from one of her's in the book.  She called this recipe "My Chocolate Chip Cookies".  pp 132-33.



Anyway, looking through it I ran into this recipe.  And all I needed was a reason to make this.  The reason I used was that I had a copy of the recipe... So after testing it eating them, giving some away.  And now to make some more, since they are all gone.  I'll do these tomorrow. 

Ingredients:

• 10.125   oz     AP Flour  


• 1          tsp     Baking soda


• .5         lbs     unsalted butter, melted and still warm


• 5.25      oz     granulated sugar


• 5.25      oz     packed brown sugar


• 1           tsp    pure vanilla extract


• 1           tsp    salt


• 2           lg      eggs


• 2           cups  chocolate chips


• 1           cup   coarsely chopped walnuts

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I replaced the vanilla extract with vanilla bean and I didn't use the walnuts

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Directions:

1. Combine the flour and baking soda in a bowl and mix together thoroughly with a whisk or fork.


2. In a large bowl, combine the MELTED BUTTER with the sugars, vanilla and salt.  Mix in the eggs.  Stir in the flour mixture just until all the dry ingredients are moistened.  Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts.  IF POSSIBLE, LET THE DOUGH STAND FOR 1 OR 2 HOURS in the frig.  (wrap the dough in plastic wrap)  Or better still overnight.


3. Preheat the oven to 375F.  Position the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.


4. If necessary, remove the dough form the frig to soften.  Scoop rounded tablespoons of dough and place them 3 inches apart on the ungreased or lined cookie sheets.  Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until the cookies are golden brown at the edges and no longer look wet on top.  Rotate the pans for even baking.  Remove from the oven and let the cookies firm up on the pan for 1 to 2 minutes.  For unlined pans, use a metal spatula to transfer the cookies to racks to cool.  Cool completely before storing or stacking.  
   
   
   
   
   

   

THE WONDERFUL CHOCOLATE WAFER

Always being a big fan of the Vanilla Wafer,  I have never found a good chocolate wafer.  But now I have one.. And it's way way over the top.  This thing is so good,  It makes your eyes tear up.  The only true way to enjoy these is with Brain Freeze COLD MILK or with Ice cream... However, these little guys can be eaten straight up also... But the Brain Freeze is so much better... 

    Alice Medrich wrote this recipe and it's from her book Cookies and Brownies, A Warner Books, Inc.  New York: 1999  Which I've adapted this recipe from.







Ingredients:

• 1 cup (130g)  AP Flour


• 1/2 cup (50)  unsweetened DUTCH-Processed cocoa powder


• 1/4 tsp           salt (kosher)


• 1/4 tsp           baking soda


• 3 TBS (45g)    unsalted butter, room temp.


• 3 TBS (45g)    margarine (NOTE!!!) 


• 2/3cup(140g) packed light brown sugar


• 1/2cup(100g) granulated white sugar


• 1 tsp               pure vanilla extract.  or 3 vanilla beans split and scrapped out I changed out the extract to vanilla bean.  Made big difference!


• 1 large            egg

Note the addition of the margarine!!!!

 Directions:

1. In a bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.


2. In your mixer bowl cream the butter and margarine until well blended.  Add the sugars (both the white and brown).  And the vanilla to the mix.  Beat on high speed for (1 minute).  Stop the mixer and scrap down the sides And beat in the eggs, one at a time. Then add the flour mixture. and beat until (JUST INCORPORATED)


3. Take the dough out of the bowl, and onto parchment paper form the dough into a log.  About 1-11/2 in dia.  And warp the dough you just logged with parchment paper.   Try NOT to Flatten the log too much.  And place the log in the frig. for at least 1 hour, but better if longer.  Like overnight.


4. Preheat the oven to 350F. and place your racks in the center of the oven.  Your only going to be able to do 1 half sheet pan at a time.   


5. Using a very sharp knife cut the log into quarter inch slices and space them about one inch apart on your cookie sheets.  OH FORGOT USE SLIPATS OR PARCHMENT PAPER TO LINE YOUR SHEETS WITH. 


6. Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are puffy and tops have small crackles or ripples.  


7. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool  on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes or so.  Then you can move those little guys over to a cooling rack. 


8. You can store this little guys in an airtight bag or container for about 10days or so.

This will yield about 36 cookies.   

The local testers for this recipe have been at least 4 stars, all the way up to a 5 star.

So you know these little guys are good... 

VANILLA BEAN SUGAR COOKIES

   HEY, Look at the picture above... Pretty cool huh!!!!  Those are VANILLA BEAN SUGAR COOKIES.  I found the recipe in Alice Medrich newest cookbook. CHEWY GOOEY CRISPY CRUNCHY COOKIES On page 38-40.  I ordered this book and didn't tell my wife about it.  So when she got home, she saw it... So to cover my tail I told her I would bake anything in the book for her... And she picked out this along with 50 or so other recipes...

    After making these little puppies,  I was hooked on them... Hey, the baker here has to test everything...!!!

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INGREDIENTS:

• 18 oz       (4cups) AP Flour


• 1   tsp      baking powder


• 1/2 tsp      salt


• 1/2 lbs      unsalted butter/slightly softened


• 14  oz       sugar


• 2  ea         eggs


• 1 Tlb         Vanilla extract or seeds from 3 beans

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DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and mix together thoroughly with a fork or whisk.


2. Beat the butter and sugar in bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, (3-4) minutes. Add eggs one at a time and then the Vanilla bean seeds.  On low speed, beat in the flour (only until it's just incorporated)  Scrape the dough into a mass and knead it with your hands a few times until smooth. Divide the dough into 4 pieces and form each into a flat patty.  Wrap those guys up in plastic wrap and refrigerate the patties until firm enough to roll,  preferably several hours or overnight.


3. Preheat the oven to 350F and position the racks one at a third down and one a third up.


4. TO ROLL AND CUT THE COOKIES:  Remove 1 patty from the frig. and let it sit at room temp until supple enough to roll but still firm.  It will continue to soften as you work.  Roll the dough between two sheets of wax-paper. To a thickness of 1/8 of an inch.  Turn the dough over once or twice while you are rolling in out to check for deep wrinkles; if necessary, peel off and smooth the paper over the dough before continuing to roll it out.  


5. When the dough is thin enough, slide it (still between the sheets of wax-paper. On to a sheet pan and put back in the frig.  Remove the bottom (coldest) sheet form the frig.  Peel off the top sheet of paper and set it on the counter.  Invert the dough onto it and peel off the second sheet.


6. Cut cookie shapes as close together as possible to minimize scrapes, dipping the edges on the cookie cutters in flour as necessary to prevent sticking. Place the cut out cookies on a greased cookie sheet or parchment paper cookie sheet, or slipmat lined cookie sheet.  (IF THE DOUGH GETS TOO SOFT ANYTIME, SLIDE THE DOUGH INTO THE FRIG TO COOL.).


7. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown at the edges. 

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This recipe will yield about 90 cookies with a 2-1/2" cutter