chocolate crinkles

Per Joanna's request:

Chocolate Crinkles

1/2 C vegetable oil
4 sq unsweetened chocolate, melted
2 C sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 C powdered sugar
Mix oil, chocolate, and sugar.  Blend in one egg at a time until well mixed.  Add vanilla.  In seperate bowl mix flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add to oil mixture.  Chill several hours or overnight.

Heat oven to 350.  Shape teaspoonsful of dough into balls and drop into powdered sugar.  Roll in sugar.  Place about 2" apart on greased baking sheet.  Bake 10-12 min.  Do not overbake!

Cool on cookie sheet a couple of minutes; cool completely on wire wrack.

Pour a glass of milk and indulge.

World, meet the cookie brownie

Going through left over Valentine's candy I found some Hershey Hugs for half price.

I thought to myself, "I need to make a cookie like a peanut butter blossom but with Hugs."

And thus the quest began.

I talked with my sister-in-law, a very good baker.  I discussed things with my mom, another accomplished baker.  I glanced through allrecipes.com, checked the index in multiple cookbooks, read the suggestions on the Hugs' bag, and I thought about what I wanted.  It had to be chocolate and chewy like a brownie, but not a brownie.  I also wanted to make something from scratch - not just make a brownie mix and pretend it was a cookie.

That's when the 1963 Betty Crocker's Cooky Book came through once again.  I took old Betty's brownie recipe, made some modifications, experimented a bit, and ended up with a cookie I'm quite pleased with.  It kinda looks like a brownie and it tastes like a brownie, but it's not as crumbly, gooey or sticky as brownies can be.  So it travels like a cookie but tastes like a brownie.

Ingredients

2/3 C margarine, softened

4 Tbsp oil*

2 C + 1 Tbsp sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 C + 2 tsp cocoa powder*

3 1/4 C flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 bag Hershey Hugs, unwrapped

Beat shortening, oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.

Separately mix cocoa, flour, baking powder, and salt.

Blend together.

Make small balls out of dough and place on greased baking sheet.

Bake at 350 for 8 minutes.

Place Hug in center of each cookie, softly pressing down on each one.

Allow cookie to cool on baking sheet.

*You can use 4 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted and blended with shortening.  Omit the cocoa and oil if using squares.

I hope you like it!  Let me know if you try it and enjoy it.  But don't tell me if you don't like it - I can't handle rejection.

what? I've been busy...

Here's two recipes that are awesome:

I call this one Apple Coffee Cake, even though the original recipe calls it Apple Brownies.  It's a coffee cake, people.
Got extra apples?  Some are getting a little old?  Bake this.

1/2 cup butter

1 cup white sugar
1 egg
3 medium apples - peeled, cored and thinly sliced and chopped
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Cream butter, sugar and egg.  Fold in chopped apples.
In a seperate bowl mix dry ingredients.  Mix into apple mixture.
Spread into a greased 9x9" pan.
Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until tester comes out clean.


S'more peanut butter cookies - courtesy of Cynthia at Finding Great Joy.  She is ridiculously good looking, so don't believe her when she says she eats a lot of sweets.  ;)

Cookie
1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup of mini chocolate chips
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping:
Handful of mini marshmallows
3-4 Hershey candy bars, divided into pieces
4-5 Graham crackers

Heat oven to 375 degrees

Grease 15X10 inch jelly roll pan
Beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, peanut butter, egg and vanilla until fluffy in large bowl.
Mix together flour, baking soda and salt; add to butter mixture and beat well.
Smooth cookie dough into pan.
Push marshmallows and chocolate into the dough, sporadically.
Crumble graham crackers and sprinkle over dough.
Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool in pan for 5 minutes.

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies I've Ever Had

These are the babies I talked about here.

3 1/3 C all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
16 Tbsp (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 1/4 C packed light brown sugar
1/2 C granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 12 oz bag semisweet chocolate chips

1.  Adjust the oven racks to the upper and lower middle positions and heat the oven to 325.  Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl and set aside.

2.  Beat the butter and sugars in a large bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed until combined, 1 to 2 minutes.  Beat in the eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla until combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl and beaters as needed.

3.  Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly mix in the flour mixture until combined, about 30 seconds.  Mix in the chocolate chips until incorporated.

4.  Working with 1/4 C of dough at a time, roll the dough into balls and lay on 2 parchment - lined baking sheets, spaced about 2 1/2 inches apart.  bake until the edges are golden but the centers are still soft and puffy, 17-20 minute, rotating and switching the baking sheets halfway through baking.

5.  Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes, then serve warm or transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

My notes:  I didn't use a 1/4 C measuring cup for the dough, nor did I roll them in balls.  I just used two big spoons and plopped them down.  Have 3-4 baking sheets to make these - otherwise you're oven is on forever as you wait for the the cookies to cool, etc.  Don't try to bake these on a rough day.  The kids will need you at the same time the cookies need to be rotated. 

Monster Cookies

Ingredients

3 eggs

1 C brown sugar

1 C white sugar

1 stick butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 C creamy peanut butter

2 tsp baking soda

4 1/2 C oatmeal

Chocolate chips, MnM's, dried fruit, etc

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Beat eggs, sugars, butter and vanilla.

Add baking soda, then peanut butter.  Blend well.

Add the oatmeal one cup at a time.

Mix in chocolate chips, etc.  (I usually add 3 handfulls, which is about 3/4 of a bag.)

Drop dough by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 mins.

Allow cookies to cool on sheet for 2-5 mins before cooling completely on rack.

Be warned:  these cookies are absolutely amazing.  It will be beyond your power to just have one.