Cookies. First Batch
I wrote a week ago about my fruitless search for chocolate chip cookies, and how I decided to make a batch myself. I used to do it all the time, but that was years ago.
Above, the trusty mixer turns the 'wet' ingredients; eggs, sugar, dark brown sugar, and vanilla extract. Oh, there are two sticks of Tillamook butter in the mix. I let them sit on the counter and reach room temperature fist. I can't over emphasize how important that step is. We only had unsalted butter on hand, I didn't know how that would affect the taste. I want to say that I mix for exactly "X" seconds at "Z" speed, but I can't. I go by a feel I developed after many batches of cookies.
In go the dry ingredients and my first goof. The recipe calls for baking soda and baking powder, and I remembered, too late, that it was one or the other, and I normally used baking powder.
This little guy is my secret tool that I learned about from The Food Network. It's a number twenty disher that I bought at a restaurant supply store. You can't get one at the regular stores, and a 'ice cream scooper' is not the same size. I achieve even bake times, cookie size, and a crisp edge all because of this tool.
If you have good baking sheets and keep them in good shape, you don't have to use parchment paper like you see here. Our sheets are old and I haven't been policing them like I used to. Those little balls will spread out at the same rate, getting thinner at the edges while the middle stays thick. I don't have to fiddle with my bake time to get a crisp edge, the difference in thickness does it for me.
This is the only brand I use. I can tweek the taste of the cookie by mixing different chips; milk chocolate, dark chocolate and white chocolate. Here I made my second goof, I put in too many chips. Didn't think there was such a thing as too many, but they overwhelmed the cookies.
Baking and waiting. A good time for coffee. Bake time is something between the baker and their oven. I'm fortunate that our Kenmore oven is accurate, so I've never had a challenge with the time called by any recipe, whether I'm baking cookies or braising chicken. Thirteen minutes works out right.
There they are, death by sugar. I don't know why they look that orange to the camera, they're a light brown. Anyway, you can see the chip overload. I leave them on the sheet for thirty seconds, then they go on the rack. Later I'll store them in a Tupperware container. I make sure they've cooled down, or else they will sweat while sealed. Next time I'll do this without the goofs, and measure the chips.
Above, the trusty mixer turns the 'wet' ingredients; eggs, sugar, dark brown sugar, and vanilla extract. Oh, there are two sticks of Tillamook butter in the mix. I let them sit on the counter and reach room temperature fist. I can't over emphasize how important that step is. We only had unsalted butter on hand, I didn't know how that would affect the taste. I want to say that I mix for exactly "X" seconds at "Z" speed, but I can't. I go by a feel I developed after many batches of cookies.
In go the dry ingredients and my first goof. The recipe calls for baking soda and baking powder, and I remembered, too late, that it was one or the other, and I normally used baking powder.
This little guy is my secret tool that I learned about from The Food Network. It's a number twenty disher that I bought at a restaurant supply store. You can't get one at the regular stores, and a 'ice cream scooper' is not the same size. I achieve even bake times, cookie size, and a crisp edge all because of this tool.
If you have good baking sheets and keep them in good shape, you don't have to use parchment paper like you see here. Our sheets are old and I haven't been policing them like I used to. Those little balls will spread out at the same rate, getting thinner at the edges while the middle stays thick. I don't have to fiddle with my bake time to get a crisp edge, the difference in thickness does it for me.
This is the only brand I use. I can tweek the taste of the cookie by mixing different chips; milk chocolate, dark chocolate and white chocolate. Here I made my second goof, I put in too many chips. Didn't think there was such a thing as too many, but they overwhelmed the cookies.
Baking and waiting. A good time for coffee. Bake time is something between the baker and their oven. I'm fortunate that our Kenmore oven is accurate, so I've never had a challenge with the time called by any recipe, whether I'm baking cookies or braising chicken. Thirteen minutes works out right.
There they are, death by sugar. I don't know why they look that orange to the camera, they're a light brown. Anyway, you can see the chip overload. I leave them on the sheet for thirty seconds, then they go on the rack. Later I'll store them in a Tupperware container. I make sure they've cooled down, or else they will sweat while sealed. Next time I'll do this without the goofs, and measure the chips.
2 comments:
An interesting bit of equipment trivia. My buddy from work uses a prehistoric Sunbeam mixer from the Eisenhower era and bakes up the best ginger molasses cookies I've ever tasted. Don't know what his methods are, I've tried the same recipe and blew it both times. I'm going to have to go over to his house with a video camera.
Wifey-Do bows to the superior cookie-making talents of the Alley Cat.
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