Whole Wheat Cranberry Choc Cookies

For my first baking experiment since I got my new oven I made these yummy and low calorie cookies. I adapted the recipe from Cooking Light, and that recipe used dried cherries, and as I would probably never have dried cherries lying around I threw in dried cranberries and they work just as well. I also used the Ghiradelli Bittersweet Choc Chips. The cookies also use a mixture of whole wheat flour and regualr flour and oats and only 89 calories per cookie!  What's not to love?

1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup dried cranberries
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
5 oz bittersweet chocolate (I used the Ghiradelli Bittersweet choc chips)

Pre-heat oven to 350F

Combine flours and next 3 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl, stir with a whisk.

Melt butter in a samll saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and whisk in brown sugar, stirring until smooth.  Add sugar mixture to flour mixture.  Beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended.

Add cranberries, vanilla and egg, beat until combined. Fold in Chocolate.

Drop dough by tablespoonful 2 inches apart onto baking sheets (I use parchment paper or silicone mats on my cookie trays).

Bake at 350F for 12 mins.

Cool on pans for 3 mins or until almost firm then cool on wire racks.

Yield 30 cookies.

I worked out the calories on the calorie calculator on Calorie Count, which is an extremely handy tool:
89 calories per cookie, 4.2g fat, 2.5 g sat. fat, 14mg cholesterol, 104mg Sodium, 11.7g Carbs.

Whopperlicious!!

I just made the Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops from Dorie Greenspans Baking: From My Home To Yours. Totally fantastic. Sort of cakey, and very chocolatey and malty, but not overly so. I think the use of bittersweet choc chunks really makes it. They were super easy to put together. I love a drop cookie. I'm too lazy to roll and cut, except if I'm making the Lemon Flowers .

So here is the recipie - well worth a try!!

1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
1 cup malted milk power – Or Ovaltine
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (11 tablespoons) unsalted butter at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ cup whole milk
2 cups (6oz) Whoppers (or Malteasers) coarsely chopped
6 oz bittersweet chocolate or 1 cup store bought chocolate chips or chunks.

** Admission: I did not read/remember about the coarsely chopped Whoppers, so I threw mine in whole, and the cookies still turned out fine, if a bit chunky. However, I would recommend chopping the Whoppers.


Line 2 baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats. Preheat the oven on 350F

Sift together the flour, malted milk powder, cocoa, baking powder and salt.
Working with a stand mixer, with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed for about 3 mins until very smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 min after each addition. Beat in the vanilla; don’t be concerned if the mixture looks curdled, it will even out when the dry ingredients are added.

Reduce the mixer speed to low and add half the dry ingredients, mixing just until they disappear into the batter. Mix in the milk, then the remaining dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated. The batter will look more like fudge frosting than cookie dough - and that’s fine. With the mixer on low, or by hand with a rubber spatula, mix in the malted milk balls and chopped chocolate (or chips).

Drop the dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto the sheets, leaving about 2 inches of space between spoonfuls. Bake for 11 –13 mins (I did the full 13). When done the cookies will be puffed and set but slightly soft to the touch. Let the cookies rest for 2 mins before putting them on the cookie rack to cool to room temperature.

Am I Blind?

I rushed home from the library today with Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home To Yours because I really wanted to make the Chocolate Malted Whopper Drop cookies. NO OVEN TEMPERATURE!!!! Am I blind? I re-read the page a zillion times, checked all the other recipes, they all had temps!!

I'm going to go with 350F, but if anyone knows better, please let me know!!

These Cookies Never Fail. Ever

Honestly, these are the best chocolate chip cookies ever. I have made them a zillion times in the last 5 years and they have never let me down once. This go round I used regular semi-sweet choc drops and the Ghirardelli Bittersweet Choc Chips and the flavour is great. The Bakers Choc Chunks also work really well. You can basically use any choc chips or chunks that you like. (The blue thing in the photo is my silicone baking sheets made by Wilton - they work really well and are a quarter of the price of the Silpat ones)

The recipe is from Ina Gartens Barefoot Parties.

1/2 pound unsalted butter at room temperature

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 extra-large eggs at room temperature

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/4 lbs choc chunks

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter and two sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the vanilla, then the eggs, one at a time and mix well. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the butter with the mixer on low speed, mixing only until combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks.

Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, using a 1 ¾ inch diameter ice cream scoop (I got mine at Target for $4.95) or a rounded tablespoon. Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly. Bake for EXACTLY 15 minutes (the cookies will seem underdone). Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cookie Fever Continued.. Chocolate Crackle Cookies

These cookies are also from the trusty Martha Stewart Holiday Cookie magazine from 2005. A little bit time consuming to make, but they always turn out and they taste great! I actually forgot to put in the 1/3 cup of milk, but they still turned out and tasted just like they always do. That's unfortunately what happens when a 5 yr old is "helping".

Makes about 4 dozen

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cups packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk
1 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for rolling

Directions

Melt chocolate in a heat-proof bowl, or the top of a double boiler, over a pan of simmering water. Set aside to cool. Into a small bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and light-brown sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat until well combined. Add melted chocolate. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk. Mix on low speed until just combined. Divide dough into quarters, wrap with plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator until firm, about 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. On a surface dusted with confectioners' sugar, use your hands to roll each portion of dough into a log 16 inches in length and about 1 inch in diameter. Wrap logs in plastic wrap, and transfer to a baking sheet. Chill for 30 minutes. Cut each log into 1-inch pieces, and toss pieces in confectioners’ sugar, a few at a time. Using your hands, roll the pieces into balls. If any of the cocoa-colored dough is visible, roll dough in confectioners’ sugar again to coat completely. Place cookies on prepared baking sheets 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies have flattened and sugar splits, 12 to 15 minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Cookie Fever Day 2: Lemon Flowers

I've adapted these cookies from Martha Stewart. They were originally Lime Flowers, but the first time I made them I only had lemon, so I substituted that, and they were a huge hit. The only problem with these cookies is that one batch of dough doesn't make enough!!

2 cups flour (plus more for work surface)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Confectioners sugar

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.

Put granulated sugar and lemon zest in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed 1 minute. Add butter and mix until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in vanilla and lemon juice. Reduce speed to low and gradually mix in flour mixture.

On a lightly floured work surface, halve the dough. Flatten each half into a 10 inch disk, and warp each in plastic. Freeze until firm, about t 30 mins.
Preheat oven to 325F. Working with 1 half at a time, roll out dough on parchment paper to 1/8 inch thick. cut shapes from dough with a 3 inch flower shape cookie cutter. Space 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Cut a hole in centre of each with a 1-inch round cutter, repeat with remaining disk. Warp scraps in plastic. Freeze 30 mins, reroll, and cut.

Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until set, about 12 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Before serving sift confectioners sugar over cookies.

UPDATE: Dee let me know that I had a typo and had 1/2 cup lemon juice in the cookie batter and it should be 1/4 cup. So sorry to anyone who made it and the batter was too runny or too lemony!!!! If it worked with 1/2 cup let me know!!

Cookie Fever

Today was day one of Cookie Fever season. I had to make sugar cookies for my 7yr old's class party (they are going to decorate them) and I also needed at least 22 cookies for my neighbourhood kids cookie decorating party on Wednesday. I got out my trusty Martha Stewart Holiday Cookies magazine from 2005 and made the Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies. The recipe says "makes about 20". I doubled the recipe and I was going to make a 3rd batch if needed. 97 cookies later..... That dough just went on and on and on.

This is the recipe for 1 batch, which I'm sure you could get about 45 cookies out of. I use a 1 1/2 inch ice cream scoop to drop the dough and it makes a perfect sized cookie.

3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon coarse (kosher) salt
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
Sanding sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350F. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. Put sugars in the bowl of mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add butter and mix until pale and fluffy. Mix in eggs, 1 at a time, and then the lemon juice. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture.

Using the ice cream scoop, drop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 3 inches apart. Flatten cookies slightly; sprinkle with sanding sugar. Lightly brush with a wet pastry brush; sprinkle with more sanding sugar.

Bake cookies until golden about 15 minutes.