Chocolate Chip (Walnut) Cookies

Today I made cookies – half plain chocolate chip and half chocolate chip walnut. The recipe is the exact same as the Tollhouse recipe, but Alice has you melt the butter and chill the dough for at least two hours. We will see if these tips work. I also purchased an oven thermometer - that should help get the temperature right.

The cookies turned out great – crispy around the edges and soft inside. The melted butter and refrigerated dough worked! I know Maurice will be a fan of these. And he will be extra happy that I made half of the batch with walnuts. Plain old classic brownies are next – I am keeping it safe right now. I will try something more adventurous after the brownies.

Recipe

Ingredients

2 1/4 c all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 sticks of butter, melted

3/4 c granulated sugar

3/4 c packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Equipment

2 ungreased cookie sheets

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Place racks in lower third and upper third of oven.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.

Stir butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Gradually mix in flour mixture.

Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

Chill the dough for at least two hours.

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 9 minutes or until golden brown. Turn and rotate cookies sheets half way through to bake evenly.

Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Blondies

Even though I have baked many times, I thought I would start off my blogging with something very easy or at least something that appears easy and is hard to mess up! The Blondies are in the oven now, so the true test of taste has not been completed. I don't like walnuts and neither does my stepson, so I will have to wait for Maurice to get home to do the taste test.

A few hours have passed...

Blondies tasted! Maurice liked them and so did Erin. At first Erin asked why I put so many flipping walnuts in them, but after she tasted the Blondie, she liked the walnuts. I will call this success! I do wish I would have made some without walnuts so I could at least taste and enjoy! In my humble opinion (that is not usually agreed upon), nuts ruin everything!

One tip in the cookbook was to line the bottom of the pan and two opposite sides with foil (and I sprayed with Vegetable Oil) - it made removal of the Blondies so easy! Why didn't I do this before?

Recipe

Ingredients

1 c all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

8 tbs unsalted butter, melted

1 c (packed) light brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbs dark rum

2/3 c walnut pieces

1/2 c semisweet chocolate chips

Equipment

8-inch square pan, lined on bottom and two opposite sides

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, place rack in lower third of oven

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt - stir and set aside

Stir together brown sugar and melted butter. Add egg, vanilla extract, and dark rum to mixture

Stir in flour mixture followed by half of the walnuts 

Spread batter into pan

Top with remained walnuts and chocolate chips

Bake for 25 minutes

Cool 

Cut

I had to bake mine for about 30 minutes - not sure if my oven temp is off or not - I need to buy an oven thermometer.

Introducing...

Michelle needs a hobby. Michelle gets a blog. Mission complete - now let’s hope I can follow through.

I like to bake for fun, and I hear through the grapevine that I am not too shabby at it, so I thought I would turn my casual baking into something on record. I hope to keep up with this blog because currently I bake the same things over and over - peanut butter brownies, chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, chocolate cookies - very basic, simple items. I want to broaden my horizons!


I am going to blog through the cookbook Alice Medrich's Cookies and Brownies by Alice Medrich. I chose to use this cookbook because #1 there are only 50 recipes and #2 apparently all of the recipes in the book are quality (according to reviews). I just ordered the cookbook, so my first recipe will be at least a week away. I promise to post both the delicious and pretty outcomes and the tasteless and ugly outcomes. Hopefully there will be more of the former and less of the latter. Wish me luck!