Mistake cookies OR Chocolate Chip Tuiles?

I made a trade with my egg lady. She would give me some Elk and I would bake something for her. Now her mom lives with her and shes elderly and has health issues. So she cant eat just anything. I decided I'm going to make an apple cake from the recipe the egg lady gave me. Its one of her families favorites and I got the feeling they don't make it much. It has nuts in it tho and the mom cant eat that. And so I said how about chocolate chip cookies. She said great , just no nuts.

And so yesterday I decided to make some dough for the cookies and put that in the freezer till I was able to bake them. Today I decided since the man was out , I would bake. It was a disaster. Its a typical Toll house cookie recipe but it called for nuts. Ok ez to omit. But then I thought why not make them a bit healthier by adding some oats. What I should have done was add oats to the recipe INSTEAD of the nuts. What I did was substitute 1c. of the flour with oats.

The dough looked fine and I rolled it in some plastic wrap and tossed it in the freezer. Today I took them out to slice and bake. I know you can bake froze cookie dough so I didn't bother to thaw. I put them on a silpat sheet on the baking sheet at 350 degrees. I have a convection oven so I always lower the heat 25degrees. Convection bakes faster.

I forgot to set the timer but when I opened the oven door.......omg. flat, spreading out, getting dark on the edges. I closed the door so they could finish and started wondering what to do. Checked again and took them out. Dark Brown, flat, looking nothing like what it was supposed to. It looked like a Tuile cookie tho. But  I thought they were burnt so I tossed that first batch out. Big mistake!

I decided to try again and the same thing happened. I let them rest a few min on the baking pan and then took them off to cool on a rack. My heart was breaking cuz these were supposed to be a gift. I decided to taste one when it cooled. I was surprised! They didn't taste burnt! What they did do is get caramelized and dark. They were thin and crispy and if I put them over a rolling pin when warm I could have made tuiles. They tasted pretty darn good so I finished making the rest of the dough.

My bf came in and I told him what happened . He tasted it and at first he didn't say much. He took another bite and handed it to me. I had already eaten two lol No thanks. So he finished it. He was expecting a typical Chocolate Chip Cookie but once he ate it he said they were good. In fact they were surprisingly good. And so I have a batch of cookies here for us and Ill have to make more dough and do it right this time. But some have requested for me to post my mistake cookies. So here it is. 

MISTAKE COOKIES OR CHOCOLATE CHIP TUILES

1 1/4c. flour
1c. oats
1 tsp. b. soda
1 tsp. salt
1 c. butter, softened
3/4 c. organic sugar
3/4 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1 tb. vanilla
2 eggs
2 c. of semisweet chocolate pieces

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. ( I did 350 for a convection oven.) In a small bowl combine flour, oats, b. soda and salt.  In a large bowl combine butter, sugars , and vanilla; beat till creamy. Beat in eggs. Gradually add flour mixture, mix well. Stir in chocolate chips.Drop by tspfuls on baking sheet. Bake 8-10 min.

I rolled mine and wrapped it to freeze and sliced them later when I was ready to bake. Timing will depend on your oven so watch it closely. It will look chocolate chip cookie like then turn dark fast. I removed them when they were almost all dark, then let cool a min on the sheet. Do not put them close together. They will spread out. I got maybe 3 1/2 dozen from this.

Coconut Macaroons

I decided to make Coconut Macaroons. Well first I couldn't find the coconut I bought. I remembered buying some unsweetened dried coconut at the health food store, for future use. I searched everywhere then remembered my freezer. There it was in a jar. 

So ok, then I looked at it and the recipe called for 2 1/2c. Darn, it didn't look like that in the jar. I decided to measure it anyway. And it turns out I barely made it so I decided to make a batch. I used the good vanilla paste too.

I made small ones like the recipe says. These coconut flakes are large tho so I think they needed to be larger cookies. They baked very fast and it was a good thing I was watching them. But I just tried one and they are different. I mean they are just like the reg. ones but....larger flakes with dried coconut was a bit crunchier. a bit chewier. Maybe they will soften up if I put them in a container. I do like them but they seem more fragile.

I was going to dip them in chocolate but decided against it with this batch. I do want to make more tho cuz I can see these disappearing in the next few days hehehe.

I'm thinking of maybe making some cookie doughs tho at least so it will be ready for when I'm in the mood. I bought a cookie mold tray that had cute lil designs for Christmas cookies. So I might use it to make some sugar cookie or perhaps some of my gingerbread. 
Coconut Macaroons
Unsweetened shredded coconut is available in health food stores. You can also use sweetened shredded coconut (reduce the sugar in the recipe from 3/4 cup to 1 tablespoon).
Makes about 1 1/2 dozen.

3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups (about 3 ounces) unsweetened shredded coconut
2 large egg whites
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine sugar, coconut, egg whites, vanilla, and salt. Use your hands to mix well, completely combining ingredients.

Dampen hands with cold water. Use 1 1/2 tablespoons to form mounds; place on prepared baking sheet, spacing about 1 inch apart.

Bake until golden brown, 16 to 17 minutes, rotating halfway through. Let cool on a wire rack. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

You can put chocolate chips in them if you want or melt some to dip the baked Cookie in.

Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal cookies with a Cream Cheese Glaze

I was looking for a rolled and cut out pumpkin spice cookie. Most are just sugar cookies with spice added. I'm sure they are good but that's not what I wanted. I found a recipe for a refrigerated cookie with spice and pumpkin but they were slice and bake. But I figured I could roll them out. Then as I looked at the recipe there were no eggs or leavening or anything. Just didn't seem right. So I took that recipe and added my own stuff. This is what I came up with.

These still are not quite what I was looking for. They are a puffy, cake type cookie. You would have to use a cookie cutter that is simple. Details simply wouldn't show. So this recipe is still a work in progress. I will say it was tasty tho. I felt it needed an icing , my bf didn't. But I decided to make one anyway. I didn't want just a plain old glaze, I wanted some flavor so I made one cream cheese based. I love it and will use this again on other things.

Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal Cookies Make about 3 1/2 dozen

1c. butter, softened
2c. organic sugar
1c. pumpkin puree
3c flour
2 eggs
2c. oats
1 1/2 tb. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp. b. powder
1 tsp. b. soda

Cream butter, slowly adding sugar, beating till light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat again. Mix dry ingredients..flour, salt, spice, b. powder and b. soda. Alternate adding flour mixture, then pumpkin, till all is incorporated. Add oats and mix well. Put dough into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Chill till firm enough to handle. 

Flour board. Put extra flour on the board in a corner to dip the cookie cutter in. I used a lg. Pumpkin shaped cutter to make mine. Depending on the size you use, depends on how many you get. Take 1/4 of the dough and put on the floured board, add more flour to top and roll around on the board to coat. It is a bit sticky so you want to coat it enough to be able to roll out and cut. Make about 1/8th in. thick.

Dip cutter in flour and cut out pumpkins. Dip each time. I put mine on a baking sheet covered with a silpat sheet. You could use parchment too.
 

Bake each sheet pan about 15min. at 350 degrees. You want the cookies to firm up but not brown a lot. I lifted them up to check the bottom and if it was browning, I took them out. Then I took them off the pan onto a cooling rack. Repeat with remaining dough.

Cream Cheese Glaze
4oz. cream cheese, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tb. milk
2c. powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese with vanilla and milk. Slowly add the sugar 1/2c at a time till smooth. Check consistency. Remove about 3 tb. and set aside. This will be colored later with green food coloring to use on pumpkin stems. Add orange food coloring to remainder and stir well to distribute color. 

I wanted it a bit stiff so this worked good for the initial piping. I piped a thin row of icing around the pumpkin shape first on all of them. Then I added 1 tsp. milk at a time till it made a thin glaze. This I gently spooned on the cookie to fill in. Run it up to the piped edge and smooth it out. Do all cookies. You don't need alot of icing for each, perhaps a tsp or so .

 Let dry awhile. Thin the green icing with some milk. I just drizzled a bit over the end of the stem part till it was coated. Set aside till dry.

Snickerdoodle cookies

Yesterday J and I made Snickerdoodles. We tripled the recipe cuz J wanted to make some for her dad for Christmas as a gift. The recipe says it makes 24 if you make 1 in. balls. They lie! We ended up with about 9 dozen! So J took quite a few and wrapped them all up for her dad. And I have 4 1/2 dozen here and she took the rest home with her to take to her church last nite. She was going to something at the youth group, a huge cookie and cocoa party.
I had 4 baking pans going all afternoon that held about a dozen each pan. I remembered that last yr. I made some Vanilla sugar so for the topping we mixed the Vanilla sugar and cinnamon. I thought it would add an extra flavor boost. They are yummy!
I know most of you probably have a good Snickerdoodle recipe but Ill post the one I used here anyway.

Soft Snickerdoodle Cookies

* 1 cup butter
* 1 1/2 cups sugar
* 2 large eggs
* 2 3/4 cups flour
* 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 3 tablespoons sugar
* 3 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar and eggs thoroughly in a large bowl. Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. Blend dry ingredients into butter mixture. Chill dough, and chill an ungreased cookie sheet for about 10-15 minutes in the fridge. Meanwhile, mix 3 tablespoons sugar, and 3 teaspoons cinnamon in a small bowl.

Scoop 1 inch globs of dough into the sugar/ cinnamon mixture. Coat by gently rolling balls of dough in the sugar mixture. Place on chilled ungreased cookie sheet, and bake 8 minutes. Remove from pan immediately. Makes 24

A day of Christmas baking

Almond Crescents the first cookie made while the other dough chilled.

My grand daughter J is here and yesterday and today we will be baking. Lil man never made it. I'm a bit ticked off there. My son told his wife to bring lil man here and instead she went to the grandmothers....grrrr. But anyway we managed to get dough made for 3 kinds of cookies. Right in the middle of that tho I realized I didn't have any more flour.

I swore I had some in this house but don't know where I put it if I do. So off to the store we went. Came back with the fixins to make lots more and got busy making dough to chill. Meanwhile J put the Nativity on the mantle which she has done every yr. since she was little.

The first dough we made was for Chocolate Crinkles. We love these, they are fudgy and very brownie like. J started being silly (which I love, this kid has a wicked sense of humor) and started calling that lump of dough up there Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo .............from Southpark. Yea I know gross........but kinda funny too. Then every time we opened the refrigerator she made some kind of Poop joke. Robin Williams was in that RV movie and he talked about the Poop Fairy. Shes never forgotten that and whenever she can she brings it up and we just start cracking up again so with that lump in my refrigerator you can just imagine the silliness going on.

BEFORE BAKING-Making balls of dough and rolling in powdered sugar.

AFTER BAKING

So today we are going to make Snickerdoodles. We made a triple batch cuz the recipe said makes 24. I do think we will be here all day making cookies with that tho. It looks like wayyyyyyyy more. But those are her dads favorite cookie so she wants to take some home and wrap them up to give her dad for Christmas. She did that last yr too. If we don't get them done before she goes home today, maybe Ill just send a lump of dough home with her to bake while dad is at work. I found out she was off all last week for Christmas vacation already. Wow. Lil man isn't off till Wed. of this week.

Chocolate Crinkles

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Topping:
1 cup confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

In a stainless steel bowl, over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter. Remove from heat and set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the eggs and sugar until thick, pale, and fluffy. (When you slowly raise the beaters the batter will fall back into the bowl in slow ribbons.) At this point beat in the vanilla extract and then stir in the melted chocolate mixture.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to shape into balls (3-4 hours or overnight).

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (170 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, and set aside.

Place the confectioners sugar in a shallow bowl. With lightly greased hands, roll a small amount of chilled dough to form a 1 inch (2.54 cm) diameter ball. Place the ball of dough into the confectioners sugar and roll the ball in the sugar until it is completely coated and no chocolate shows through. Gently lift the sugar-covered ball, tapping off excess sugar, and place on prepared baking sheet. Continue forming cookies, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart on baking sheets. (If you find the dough getting too soft for rolling into balls, return to the refrigerator and let chill until firm.)

Bake cookies for 8 to 10 minutes or just until the edges are slightly firm but the centers are still soft. (For moist chewy cookies do not over bake. Over baking these cookies will cause them to be dry.) Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Put in airtight container.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Peanut Butter Cookies-I burned em!

I made Peanut Butter cookies the other day. Ive been wanting to make them for awhile cuz I bought some fresh ground organic peanut butter. I finally got to making them yesterday and ........I BURNED THE DAMN THINGS!!! I did manage to save a few from the very last batch I made. Was only enough dough left for about 7 more so I watched them like a hawk. These came out good and are yummy! I finally figured what went wrong tho. I have a convention oven and even tho I used the lesser time on the timer.......it still was too much for this kind of oven. Next time Ill know better. ( I set the timer and walked away to do stuff, relying on that .....big no no apparently lol)



PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

1 c. roast salted peanuts (I used 1/2 c. chocolate mini chips instead)
2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened ( I just used what I had)
1 1/2 c. packed light brown sugar (I used dark, its what I had)
1/2 c. granulated sugar
2 lg. eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. creamy peanut butter ( I used fresh ground organic)

Place peanuts in a food processor, and finely chop. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a med. size bowl. Combine butter and both sugars in a lg. bowl: beat on med. high speed with electric mixer till fluffy, about 2-3 min. Add eggs and vanilla and beat till smooth. Add peanut butter and beat till smooth. Stir in flour mixture just till incorporated. Stir in the peanuts ( this is when I put the chocolate chips in, instead.)

Divide the dough into 2 equal portions. Turn one portion onto a piece of waxed paper and shape it rolling it inside the paper, into a log about 2 x 12 in. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2hrs. or up to 24hrs. Repeat with remaining dough. (Dough logs may be wrapped in plastic and frozen for up to 1mon. Slice and bake directly from freezer.)



Heat oven to 350 degrees. Slice the dough into 1/3 in. thick rounds. Place cookies on ungreased cookie sheets at least 2in. apart. Bake at 350 degrees until lightly colored, 13-15min. (a min. or two longer for frozen dough) Let them stand on the baking sheet for 5min. then remove them with a metal spatula to a wire rack to cool. Keep at rm . temp. in an airtight container. Recipe says it makes 6 dozen. I guess I dont know what 1/3 in. looks like cuz I got about 2 1/2 dozen.

Drizzle optional: If desired, melt 1c. peanut butter chips with 1/2 tsp. vegetable shortening in microwave for 1min. Stir till smooth, then transfer to a resealable plastic bag. Snip off a sm. corner: drizzle over cookies. Let dry at rm. temp. for at least 30min. before stacking.

Sunflower Seed Cookies

I love snacking on shelled sunflower seeds and often throw them in my salads. I never thought to use them in a cookie. I posted this elsewhere tho and these are getting rave reviews. A friend of mine changed the recipe just a bit by adding 1 egg and 1 tsp. vanilla. As soon as I get a chance Im going to have to make these!

Sunflower Seed Cookies

1-1/2 cups margarine, softened
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup sunflower seeds

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Cream sugar and butter or margarine. Add flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Then add coconut and sunflower seeds. Mix well.

3. Shape into one inch balls and bake on ungreased cookie sheets for 15minutes or until delicately browned.

PUMPKIN MADELINES

We used to make these daily to go into the bread baskets. These are so good we had to limit how many we put in the baskets cuz people wanted just this. Even had to hide them from the staff cuz we would eat them like candy all day!

PUMPKIN MADELINES

1/4 lb. butter

1c. flour

1 tsp. baking powder

2/3c sugar

4 eggs

1/4 tsp. grated orange or lemon peel

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1c. pureed pumpkin

Poppy seeds

You will need special madeline pans for these. For those daring enough tho you might want to put some on cookie sheets to make soft cookies or even sm. muffin pans.

Melt butter and cool. (It gets added last and must be cool). Put eggs and sugar in food processor and blends till it makes ribbons, sugar will dissolve. Add pumpkin and rinds. Blend. Next sift together dry ingredients and spices. Add butter and refrigerate for 20min. Put in greased madeline pans sprinkled with poppy seeds. and bake at 400 degrees for 15-20min.

Holiday Cookies I make each year....

These are some of the cookies I make each year. The gingerbread recipe is a newer one I wanted to try.....it has some black pepper in it and was delicious. I didn't taste pepper at all but the flavor was very mellow. The Biscotti I make each year but I always add the other ingredients. I did bake them twice this year but next year I wont. I really do like them a bit chewy and not so hard when twice baked like usual. The Pignoli cookies needed to sit in a container a day or two to have the best flavor too but they are wonderful old Italian cookies.

Biscotti di prato ( tuscan almond biscotti)

3 3/4 c  Flour; all purpose   

2 1/2  c  Sugar
4    Eggs; rm. temp.2 egg yolks,rm. temp.
1 tsp. b. powder
Pinch salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 2/3 c  Almonds, whole, blanched , toasted and roughly chopped
----my version........grated rind of 1 orange Plus 1/4c. candied orange peel

Pour the flour into a mound on a work surface or in a big bowl. Make a well in the center and place the sugar, 3 of the eggs, the egg yolks, b. powder, salt, and vanilla ( grated and candied peel if your using) in the well. Gradually work the flour into the ingredients in the well and mix with your hands till smooth. Knead in the almonds with additional flour if needed, 4-5 min. in all.

Shaping: Butter and flour 2 baking sheets that are at least 15in. long. Divide the dough into quarters. Roll each piece of dough on a floured surface into a 2-21/2in. wide log and place the logs at least 2 in. apart on the prepared baking sheets.Beat the remaining egg and brush it over the tops of the dough logs.

Baking: Heat the oven to 350 degreesF. Bake for 35min. Remove from the oven and reduce the temperature to 325 degrees F. Cut the logs diagonally into 3/4-1in. slices and lay them cut side up on the sheets. Return to oven for another

15min. Cool on racks.

*** I don't bake these twice. When I make them after the egg wash I sprinkle on lg. crystals of sugar....the kind you can use for decorating ...sometimes called coffee crystals. The ones for coffee are pastel and multi colored. I ran out of those and found lavender and white this yr so Ill use that. Then I bake. I find we like them baked only once, they are a bit chewy then, not so hard you have to dunk them to eat.

Pignoli cookies

• 1/2 pound almond paste
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 egg whites
• 1/4 cup pine nuts

1. Use a pastry chopper (or food processor) to break up the almond paste into a granulated form. Put in mixing bowl and gradually add the sugar.
2. In another small bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold the egg whites into the sugar/almond paste mixture gently.
3. On a greased and floured cookie sheet, drop a spoonful of the mixture. Press pine nuts into the top of the cookie (you want tocover the top with nuts).
4. Bake at 325 degrees F (170 degrees C) for 10-12 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Gingerbread Man Cookies

Cookies

• 3 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter (room temperature, softened)

• 1/2 cup dark-brown sugar, packed

• 2 teaspoons ground ginger

• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon finely ground black pepper

• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
• Optional raisins, chocolate chips, candy pieces, frosting

Royal Icing

• 1 egg white

• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 3/4 cup confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)

1 In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and spices. Set aside.

2 In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Mix in eggs and molasses. Gradually add the flour mixture; combine on low speed. (You may need to work it with your hands toincorporate the last bit of flour.) Divide dough in thirds; wrap each third in plastic. Chill for at least 1 hour or overnight. Before rolling out, let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes. If after refrigerating the dough feels too soft to roll-out, work in a little more flour.

3 Heat oven to 350°. Place a dough third on a large piece of lightly floured parchment paper or wax paper. Using a rolling pin, roll dough 1/8 inch thick. Refrigerate again for 5-10 minutes to make it easier to cut out the cookies. Use either a cookie cutter or place a stencil over the dough and use a knife to cut into desired shapes. Press raisins, chocolate chips, or candy pieces in the center of each cookie if desired for "buttons".
4 Transfer to ungreased baking sheets. Bake until crisp but not darkened, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Let sit a few minutes and then use a metal
spatula to transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Decorate as desired.

Makes 16 5-inch long cookies.

Royal Icing

The traditional way to make Royal Icing is to beat egg whites and lemon juice together, adding the powdered sugar until the mixture holds stiff peaks.With modern concerns about salmonella from raw eggs, you can either use powdered egg whites or heat the egg whites first to kill any bacteria. With the heating method, mix the egg white and lemon juice with a third of the sugar, heat in a microwave until the mixture's temperature is 160°F. Then remove from microwave, and beat in the remaining sugar until stiff peaks form. Using the powdered egg whites method, combine 1 Tbsp egg white powder with 2 Tbsp
water. Proceed as you would otherwise. (Raw egg white alternatives from the 2006 Joy of Cooking)

If the icing is too runny, add more powdered sugar until you get the desired consistency. Fill a piping bag with the icing to pipe out into different shapes. (Or use a plastic sandwich bag, with the tip of one corner of the bag cut off.) Keep the icing covered while you work with it or it will dry out.