Thin Crisp Chocochips

These cookies are thin, crisp, and they completely satisfy any chocolate chip craving.  If you use mini-chips instead of regular chips, the cookies will have a delicate, elegant appearance–perfect for serving at a fancy spring-time tea party. 

Thin Crisp Chocochips

Yield: 75 cookies

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 14 tablespoons (1¾ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 6 ounces (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips (mini-chips would look sooooo much better in these cookies)

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together onto a sheet of parchment paper.  Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugars, and vanilla extract together until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Add in the egg; beat well. Adjust the mixer to low; slowly pour in the flour mixture and stir just until incorporated, about 30 seconds.  Fold in the chocolate chips.
4. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons onto prepared baking sheets 2 inches apart.  Flatten the dough into ¼ inch disks with the palm of your hand.
5. Bake the cookies until they are firm and light golden with dark golden edges, about 12 minutes.  Let cookies cool completely on baking sheets on wire racks.  Store in an airtight container for up to a week. 

Caramel Chocolate Chip Crispy Squares

A recipe such as this is great to have on hand when you’ve frittered away the entire day doing taxes (if you didn’t know by now, I tend to put off doing really big important things by focusing on a motley assortment of meaningless chores–I’ve steam-cleaned the grout in my bathroom instead of writing an essay),checking (and double checking) your credit score, daydreaming about what to do with your “giant” refund, laundry, watching terrible t.v., eating even more terrible sushi (new restaurant has ruined cheap sushi for me) and attempting (and failing) to clean water spots off of the couch (note to self: water doesn’t really work to remove water spots).

These squares kinda taste like a caramel frappucino topped off with a healthy dose of over-processed high fructose corn syrup.  What’s not to love?

Caramel Chocolate Chip Crispy Squares

Yield: 1 pan cut into as many (or as little) squares as you’d like

• non-stick cooking spray for greasing pan and hands
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 package Caramel-Vanilla Swirl Jet-Puffed Marshmallows
• 5½ cups puffed rice cereal
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Grease 13×9 cake pan with non-stick cooking spray.  Set aside.
2. In a large microwave safe bowl, microwave butter on high for 45 seconds, or until melted.
3. Add in the marshmallows; toss to coat.  Microwave for 1½ minutes, stirring halfway through cooking time. 
4. Stir in the puffed-rice cereal. Fold in the chocolate chips.  Pour mixture into prepared pan. With greased hands press mixture evenly into pan. 
5. Cool completely before cutting into 24 (or 16, 32, 8, or 2…) squares.

Double Chocolate Bars

Brownie? Cookie? I’m not really sure what this qualifies as, but it’s delicious.  The bar is chewy and fudgey all at the same time, and the walnuts add a nice crunch.

Double Chocolate Bars

Yield: 16 Bars

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup butter, softened
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup light corn syrup
• 2 eggs
• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
• ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ½ cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line a 9×9 square baking pan with aluminum foil. Spray with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together onto a sheet of parchment paper.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar and vanilla extract on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Add in the corn syrup; beat for another 2 minutes.  Add in the eggs and the cooled melted chocolate; continue to beat until smooth, fluffy, and light brown, about 3 minutes.  Adjust the mixer to low; slowly stir in the flour mixture.  Fold in the chocolate chips and the walnuts.
4. “Pour” (this qualifies more as a thick gloopy cookie dough than a batter, but just roll with it) the batter into prepared pan.  Smooth the top with a silicone spatula.  
5. Bake for 25 minutes.  Let cool completely in pan on wire rack before cutting into 16 bars.

Fresh Mint Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Damn you baker’s block!!! You have been vanquished for all eternity (or at least for the time being).  

These cookies are remarkably fudgy and delicious.  The mint is subtle; it registers as little more than a faint coolness on the back of your tongue.  Yet it’s that same mild tingling that makes these cookies absolutely irresistible.  I honestly can’t stop eating them.

Fresh Mint Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield: 36 cookies

Fresh Mint Brownies

I told you that I would be making a lot of recipes from my new cookbook. I normally don’t like mint chocolate, but these brownies are divine!

Fresh Mint Brownies

Yield: 16 brownies

Brownies

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 6 ounces (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, coarsely chopped
• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 2 tablespoons water
• ½ cup finely chopped fresh mint
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten

Candied Mint Leaves

•  Organic fresh mint leaves, at least one leaf per brownie
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten until foamy
• ¾ cup granulated sugar

To make the brownies:

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F.  Line a 9×9 square baking pan with aluminum foil.
2. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda onto a sheet of parchment.  Set aside.
3. In a large heavy saucepan set over medium heat, melt together the butter and the chocolate over very low heat, stirring until smooth.  Remove from the heat and add in the water and the mint.  Let cool for 5 minutes.  Press chocolate mixture through a medium mesh sieve into a large bowl; discard the mint.  Stir in the sugar and the eggs with a wooden spoon until well blended.  Stir in the flour mixture until just incorporated.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan, spreading evenly with the bottom of a spatula.  Bake for 42-45 minutes, or until the top is no longer shiny and a thin crust appears.  Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack before cutting.  

To make the candied mint leaves:

1. Rinse leaves under cool water and dry thoroughly with paper towels.  Line a small baking sheet that will fit in your fridge with aluminum foil; set aside. Have the egg white and the sugar ready in small bowls. 
2. Using a clean small paint or pastry brush, “paint” each leaf, front and back, with the egg white.  Dip the mint leaf in the sugar. As each leaf is coated, place it on the prepared baking sheet.
3. Let the leaves dry in the fridge for at least one hour or up to three days.

To serve:

1. Using the edges of the foil as handles, transfer the entire brownie slab to your cutting board.  Cut into 16 even squares with a large chef’s knife.
2. Top each brownie with a candied mint leaf.  Brownines will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Uneventful Day + Delicous Cookies = Fairly Boring Blog Post

Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield: 30 cookies

Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1¼ cups all purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to body temperature
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 egg, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 2 cups rice krispies

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
2. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt together onto a piece of parchment paper (it’s reusable and you don’t have to wash a bowl!). Set aside.
3. In the bowl of  stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat cooled melted butter and sugars together on medium speed until thoroughly combined, about 1 minute.  Add in the egg and vanilla extract, beat until smooth.  Reduce the mixer speed to low; slowly add in the flour mixture  and stir until just combined.  Fold in the chocolate chips and rice krispies.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 10 minutes (or up to 6 hours) to firm up.
4. Drop the  dough by rounded tablespoons onto prepared baking sheet about 3 inches apart (the dough is very crumbly–you may have to form the dough into balls with your hands).  Bake cookies for 10-13 minutes, or until pale golden around the edges.  Let cookies rest on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies

My mixer is broken.  But on the plus side  we have a new coffee table.  On the down side, my mixer is broken and my boyfriend is being a belligerent asshole.  Oh beer pong, how I hate thee.

Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield: 30 cookies

• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• ½ cup sour cream (full fat is tastier)
• 1½ cups granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
2. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small mixing bowl.  Set aside.
3. Cream butter, sour cream, and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Add in the eggs and vanilla extract.  Beat well. Slowly add in the flour mixture; beat until just incorporated.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Place bowl in the fridge for 10 minutes to firm up.
4. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto prepared baking sheets 3 inches apart.  Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until pale golden.  Let rest on baking sheets for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Black Gold Cookies

I’ve been slacking.  I’ve been working an ungodly amount of hours at the sushi place and consequently haven’t been fulfilling my self-imposed baking commitment.  Resentment Cookies, as funny and effective (Andrew and the roommates fixed almost everything that I documented before I got home from work that night!!! It was really very sweet and completely unexpected) as they may be, don’t really count as actual cookies.  And I completely missed Saturday’s post–it’s very hard to do anything other than collapse into bed after working a twelve hour shift  (I didn’t yet know how to correctly utilize my 45 minute break–on Monday I went home and whipped up the cookie dough and got it in the fridge before I went back to the restaurant and worked another six hours).

I have a new work friend! She’s a very talented artist who makes sculptures out of lace, and she is unusually good at keeping her part-time job a part-time job so she can spend her time working on what’s truly important–her art. I wish I had the courage to say “enough is enough!,” but I’m still very new and I don’t want to jeopardize my position.  Also, the money I’m raking in tempts me with its siren song of a better life (i.e., paying off my credit cards and buying a food processor).

I’m going to make up for this past weekend’s transgressions by baking a few extra batches of delicous real (not like last Friday’s Abomination) cookies this next week.  I’ll start off on the right foot with these unusual chocolate laden delights.  Beware! These are not for the faint of  heart; they are extremely rich (both in calories and flavor), and they certainly take a toll on both your kitchen’s cleanliness and on your grocery bill.  But you will be justly rewarded for your efforts when you take your first bite.

Black Gold Cookies

Gourmet|June 1996

Yield: 40 cookies

1. Position rack in center of oven. Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone liner.
2. In a double boiler (store-bought or jimmy rigged), melt the unsweetened chocolate, half the semi-sweet chocolate, and the butter, stirring occasionally.  When mixture is melted, remove top portion of the double boiler and set aside.
3. In a small bowl, sift flour, salt, and baking powder together; set aside.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together eggs and sugar on medium speed until mixture is pale yellow and fluffy.  Add in the chocolate mixture, instant espresso (instant coffee), and vanilla extract; beat until smooth.  Reduce mixer speed to low; add in the flour mixture and beat until just combined.  Stir in the nuts and the remaining 9 ounces of the chopped semi-sweet chocolate.
5. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto prepared baking sheet.  Flatten dough with the palm of your hand and smush into a circle.  Place sheet on center rack and bake for 16-18 minutes, or until cookies are crackly on top. Do not over-bake.  Let cookies rest on baking sheet for 3 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Double Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

I was awakened not once, but twice, this morning by my building’s fire alarm going off.  The first time the alarm sounded, Andrew got me out of bed and out into the freezing cold New Jersey morning. We walked the block to our favorite deli, Fran’s (originally Biaggio’s).  While Andrew placed his order, I sat down and promptly fell asleep at the table. By the time Andrew had his taylorhameggandcheese on a roll with saltpepperketchup, the firemen had already declared our building safe for occupancy and had left the premises.  I just crawled back into bed and attempted to go back to sleep in the noonday sun (I closed last night–I went to bed at 7 in the morning). Less than half an hour later, the alarm went off again! I briefly considered evacuating, but decided that a few more hours of uninterrupted sleep far outweighed the possibility of burning to death.  So I buried my head under the pillow to block out the noise, and slept until 4 in the afternoon.  Everyone’s fine, the building didn’t burn down, and I got to use to my stand mixer.  All in all, I’d say it was a pretty good day.

Double Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

Yield: 3 dozen cookies

Double Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups chocolate chips
• ¾ cups dried cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
2. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt together.  Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add in the egg and vanilla extract; beat well.  Adjust the mixer to low; slowly stir in the flour mixture until just incorporated.  Fold in the chocolate chips and dried cranberries.
4. Drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet, leaving about three inches in between each dough ball.  Flatten dough with the bottom of a glass dipped in granulated sugar.  If dough disks crack, smush the edges back together.
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until cookies are set.  Let cookies rest on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Midnight Brownies

My friend Beverly recently tagged me in one of those fake wall photos that have been going around facebook (first the 25 random questions craze, and now this. What new terrible trend will next appear on the social networking horizon?)  She tagged me as “most likely to complain about dirt.”  I was extremely confused (and simultaneously flattered/offended) by her impression of me.  When she knew me in high school, I wasn’t the cleanest girl in the classroom–I was (and am in some part to this day) extremely unorganized and I tend to leave my bedroom looking like a trailer park in Oklahoma after a tornado tears through town.  

But after spending some time reflecting, I realized that 9 times out of 10, I get into fights with (or much more likely–secretly loathe and hold grudges against) my roommates because I am forever and always cleaning up after them.  Just last week, I spent all afternoon cleaning the apartment in preparation for Rebecca’s (Wes’s new bride) visit.  I scrubbed, polished, and dusted–I even mopped! And I didn’t really mind because I find something very calming about cleaning all of my possessions and returning everything to its rightful place.  But I do mind having all of my efforts go to waste.  I woke up the next morning (after finishing up at midnight!!) to find that someone (Wes) had tracked muddy, slushy footprints all over my freshly cleaned floors.  I actually screamed in horror when I saw how my gleaming kitchen floor had been transformed into a dull, cakey mess.  Did I confront him about it? Of course not.  Instead, I wanted to buy a doormat and paint this phrase on it:

Please wipe your f–ing dirty feet before you come into my pristine apartment and ruin all of my  hard work, or I will be forced to hurt you.

Love,

Sarah

Unfortunately, Andrew vetoed the idea. He doesn’t think it’ll go over so well with the neighbors.   

Midnight Brownies

The Picture

Yield: 16 squares

• 1½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ cup chopped pecans, plus 16 pecan halves for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line a 9 inch square baking dish with aluminum foil leaving a one inch overhang on all sides (the easiest way to do this is to flip the pan upside down and mold the foil to the base.  Then, flip the pan right side up and place the foil inside, tucking into all the corners).
2. In a medium saucepan set over medium-low heat, melt butter and chocolate together, stirring constantly. Set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs thoroughly with a wire whisk.  Slowly whisk in the honey (to get the honey to pour out of your measuring cup easily, lightly spray your cup with non-stick cooking spray before you pour in the honey).  Add in the cooled melted chocolate and the vanilla; whisk until combined.  Whisk in the flour and the baking powder.  Stir in the pecans.
4. Pour batter into prepared baking pan; smooth top with spatula.  Place pecan halves evenly on top of batter, 4 across and 4 down.  Bake for 23-25 minutes.  Cool completely on wire rack before cutting into squares.