It's not even Thanksgiving yet, and already I've had so much junk cooking going on in my kitchen I'm ready to mainline broccoli.
My exciting Friday night this past weekend consisted of baking an entire acre's worth of refined sugar cane, with some chocolate thrown in for good measure. I had so many cookies lying around and not nearly enough space in which to cool them (read: was thoroughly unprepared because I only own one cookie cooling rack) that I had to get quite creative with where I was cooling them while rotating batches in and out the oven:
Say you: Hold the phone! What kind of cookie is THAT?
Say me: That, my salivating friend, is simply put, the best cookie on the planet.
Period.
I started with a Martha recipe and then I heavily tweaked it. Because believe it or not, Martha ain't always all that. My brother, when watching me make them one year, decided that...wait for it...a Hershey's caramel kiss nestled in the center was the way to go.
His name is Stuart, but we've called him Stu forever.
So we dubbed the cookies "Stooders" in his honor, even though I think the kiss is a little over-the-top and only do half the batch that way.
And before you ask, yes, I'll give you the recipe. It's been a work in progress for a few years now and the peanut butter chips are a recent and welcome addition. I threw them in on a whim one day. I'll never go back to not having them there.
Stooders (or STU-ders)
Preheat oven to 325 F
metric conversion
1 cup flour
3/4 cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon course salt
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon instant coffee
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 12 oz bag semi or bittersweet chocolate chips
6 oz peanut butter chips
3/4 cup of walnuts when not making them for Stu, who tragically doesn't like nuts in his cookies.
Optional: Hershey's caramel kisses
Yield: about 2 dozen
Calories per cookie: None.
In a double boiler, melt 6 ounces, or 1/2 the bag of chocolate chips(approximately 1 cup)and butter over low heat. When melted, stir in vanilla and instant coffee.
While the chocolate and butter are melting, mix together all the dry ingredients. Pour in the melted chocolate mixture and mix well. Add your eggs and mix until thoroughly combined.
Add the remaining chocolate chips, the peanut butter chips and the walnuts to the batter and stir until all the add-ons are well incorporated.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until cracks show on the top of the cookie. I always line my pans with parchment paper before baking.
If you're adding the kiss, do so immediately after you pull the cookies from the oven. Let cool completely before storing in a dry, airtight container.
Some quick tips on this particular step:
1) Unwrap the kisses before you put them on top of the cookie. I suppose you could skip this step, but when you bite on foil it hurts those back fillings. Plus I can't imagine it's all that easy on the digestive system.
2) My brother had the nerve to suggest Hershey's peanut butter cups instead of the caramel kiss tonight when he tasted the peanut butter-chip version for the first time. Go this route at your own risk.
3) I think it's best to just put one piece of candy on any given cookie. Any more than that and you'll be required to have your dentist on speed-dial. Not to mention your endocrinologist.
Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers. Happy hump day to everyone! ->
Say you: Hold the phone! What kind of cookie is THAT?
Say me: That, my salivating friend, is simply put, the best cookie on the planet.
Period.
I started with a Martha recipe and then I heavily tweaked it. Because believe it or not, Martha ain't always all that. My brother, when watching me make them one year, decided that...wait for it...a Hershey's caramel kiss nestled in the center was the way to go.
His name is Stuart, but we've called him Stu forever.
So we dubbed the cookies "Stooders" in his honor, even though I think the kiss is a little over-the-top and only do half the batch that way.
And before you ask, yes, I'll give you the recipe. It's been a work in progress for a few years now and the peanut butter chips are a recent and welcome addition. I threw them in on a whim one day. I'll never go back to not having them there.
Stooders (or STU-ders)
Preheat oven to 325 F
metric conversion
1 cup flour
3/4 cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon course salt
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon instant coffee
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 12 oz bag semi or bittersweet chocolate chips
6 oz peanut butter chips
3/4 cup of walnuts when not making them for Stu, who tragically doesn't like nuts in his cookies.
Optional: Hershey's caramel kisses
Yield: about 2 dozen
Calories per cookie: None.
In a double boiler, melt 6 ounces, or 1/2 the bag of chocolate chips(approximately 1 cup)and butter over low heat. When melted, stir in vanilla and instant coffee.
While the chocolate and butter are melting, mix together all the dry ingredients. Pour in the melted chocolate mixture and mix well. Add your eggs and mix until thoroughly combined.
Add the remaining chocolate chips, the peanut butter chips and the walnuts to the batter and stir until all the add-ons are well incorporated.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until cracks show on the top of the cookie. I always line my pans with parchment paper before baking.
If you're adding the kiss, do so immediately after you pull the cookies from the oven. Let cool completely before storing in a dry, airtight container.
Some quick tips on this particular step:
1) Unwrap the kisses before you put them on top of the cookie. I suppose you could skip this step, but when you bite on foil it hurts those back fillings. Plus I can't imagine it's all that easy on the digestive system.
2) My brother had the nerve to suggest Hershey's peanut butter cups instead of the caramel kiss tonight when he tasted the peanut butter-chip version for the first time. Go this route at your own risk.
3) I think it's best to just put one piece of candy on any given cookie. Any more than that and you'll be required to have your dentist on speed-dial. Not to mention your endocrinologist.
Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers. Happy hump day to everyone! ->
3 comments:
Wow, those cookies look absolutely amazing! Thanks for sharing your domestic delights :-)
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Cooling racks that stack on top of one another. Best baking supply I ever bought. They save valuable counter space! I think I got them at the Bulk Store.
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