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Posts with tag chocolate chip

Today is National Chocolate Chip Day

choc chip pancakesNotice that it isn't National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. There are other things you can do with them besides the cookie route.

You can put them in pancakes, put them in bundt cake, and even in mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Of course, if you want to make chocolate chip cookies, here's the original Toll House Cookie recipe. I keep a bag of the Toll House semi-sweet pieces in my fridge and snack on them constantly.

Carole's Really Great Chocolate Chip Cookies



I pulled out my cookie tome yesterday - Carole Walter's Great Cookies: Secrets to Sensational Sweets - and went for the aptly-named Carole's Really Great Chocolate Chip Cookies. (I know, the name sounds like a cop-out - until you realize that these are in addition to the "Soft and Chewy Choc. Chip Cookies," the "Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies," the "Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter..." - Well, you get the point. After awhile, you run out of names.

No matter: I felt good about these babies. Of course, it was not until I walked the ten blocks home that I realized I'd forgotten the light corn syrup that the recipe called for. So, out came the laptop, in a frantic search for the proper ratio of sugar-to-liquid to make DIY corn syrup. (It's one cup granulated sugar to 1/4 cup water, cooked til thickened).

The cookies are made with 1/2 cup of 1-minute oatmeal to prevent them from spreading out too much while in the oven. It definitely seemed to help, although my first batch was a bit underdone (I cooked them for 12 minutes), and my second batch - at 14 minutes - was slightly crunchy. Although, I have to say, dipped in my coffee this morning, the latter batch was absolutely perfect. Perhaps I should have turned the cookie sheet halfway through, like Carole suggests, or gone with real corn syrup instead of my cheap-o substitute. No matter - despite my flops, they were still amazing. (Oh- and forgive the grainy laptop camera shot).

Check out the recipe after the jump.

Continue reading Carole's Really Great Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies



You know a cookbook is a keeper when you pick it up as you would a novel, and page through carefully, taking in the words and photographs and recipes as if they were classic literature. You savor each page, admiring the layout, drooling over the photos, and scheming about what recipe you'll try next.

That is what Carole Walter's Great Cookies: Secrets to Sensational Sweets is to me. I'll read it when I'm not even planning on baking, for fun or inspiration. Walter, an accomplished pastry chef, divides her book into twelve categories, including drop cookies, "big boys," rugelach, biscotti, meringues and more, each with its own glossy, full-color photograph and often accompanied by a sweet story about her children or grandchildren.

The drop cookies chapter alone is enough to stop you in your tracks. Rustic Maple Pecan cookies mingle with Crystallized Ginger and Macadamia Wafers and rub shoulders with Zach's Chocolate Coconut Devils.

Overwhelmed, I went with a safe bet: the chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.

Continue reading Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Deluscious Cookies are pretty damned good

deluscious chocolate chip cookies
A chocolate chip cookie is a chocolate chip cookie, so it's never really bad. If there's one in front of me, I'm going to eat it. On the other side, very rarely does a chocolate chip cookie ever "wow" me. Sure some of them might be cuter because they're smaller, or impressive because they're the diameter of a dinner plate. At some point,though, they're all pretty much the same.

However, I recently came across a chocolate chip cookie that actually made me take notice. A friend and I were out at "shopping event" where local food vendors were sponsoring refreshments up and down the street. One of the stores was offering Deluscious Cookies.

The cookies are just slightly smaller than a CD, so they already stand out for size. They're fairly flat, and somewhat flimsy, which means a lot of butter. I took a bite, and after that first bite, I think I finished the whole thing in about 45 seconds. The cookies are lightly chewy, a little sticky for all that sugar, and though you can't tell from the surface, it's overflowing with chocolate chips.

While I only got to try the chocolate chip (the second one I had was also chocolate chip), there are 24 different "flavors" of Deluscious Cookies. I haven't seen these cookies in stores or bakeries, but they are available for order.

Peanut Butter and Milk Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Like so many other people, I nearly always have a couple of bananas laying around that are getting overly ripe. Sometimes I just stick them into the freezer for later use, but I often toss them into a loaf of banana bread. Banana bread is fast, easy and works great for both breakfasts and for snacking. The only drawback is that you can get tired of it after making the same loaf recipe several times in a row. It is easy to dress up a loaf by tossing in chocolate chips, nuts or raisins, but it's nice to have some more varied variations available, as well. In this month's Vegetarian Times magazine, I saw a recipe for Peanut Butter Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips that looked quick, easy and tasty. Not surprisingly, it lived up to my expectations. The bread is slightly heavy, but not too dense, and has a good balance of peanut butter and banana flavors. I used milk chocolate chips instead of semisweet and cut back on the amount slightly. The bread is good plain and toasted, for breakfast, with tea or for dessert!

Continue reading Peanut Butter and Milk Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Elegant Entertaining: The Boston Globe in 60 seconds

Put extra candy into a batch of cookies!

Partially influenced by low prices and partially by the fact that I rationalize by saying I could use any leftovers up in a recipe, I always buy a few too many bags of candy around this time of year. In particular, I like to buy the seasonally-colored candies, like holiday M&Ms or, in this case, Halloween/Fall Kissables. Instead of their usually rainbow-colored shells, the candies are all coated in orange and yellow.

Kissables have a crisp candy shell, and fall halfway between the size of a regular chocolate chip and a Hershey's kiss, so the crunch is quite substantial. They work very well in cookies, since most chocolate chip cookie recipes make a fairly chewy cookie and the crunch is a great addition to the overall texture. These particular cookies are buttery, crispy on the edges and slightly chewy in the center, though the will soften slightly after a day or two. If you don't want to use Kissables, M&Ms or any other similarly sized candy (cut up candy bars, etc) will work, too.

Read on for the recipe.

Continue reading Put extra candy into a batch of cookies!

Food Porn: Chocolate Chip Blondies

Blondies are bar cookies that are intended to have the same dense, somewhat fudgy texture of brownies, but without having a chocolate base and believe it or not, this is actually a Chocolate Chip Blondie, not a brownie. The reason that it looks so chocolaty is that mini chocolate chips were stirred into the batter in place of larger chocolate chips and, during baking, they melted right in. I doubt anyone complained before digging in, though.

This batch of blondies was baked by Vegan Core and it is completely vegan. She used a recipe from the Post Punk Kitchen for the basic blondies, then added a topping of cashews and chocolate ganache to make them a little bit more visually interesting and to add some crunch.

Food Porn: Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are one of life's most simple pleasures, particularly if they're homemade. If I posted this picture without any text, you would never guess that these cookies are vegan. In fact, if I gave you one to taste, you wouldn't know it either. This batch was baked by the blogger who posts at Vegan Core, but I know how good they are first hand, since I've made this recipe, which is from the book Vive le Vegan, as well. The cookies are crispy on the edges and chewy in the center. You can find the recipe for my white chocolate macadamia variation here (although the white chocolate chips are not vegan).

Mrs. Fields Best Cookie Book Ever!, Cookbook of the Day

One of the cookbooks in my collection that I turn to over and over again is Mrs. Fields Best Cookie Book Ever! Though this book currently is out of print, and perhaps not as readily available as some of the books that we've mentioned here, it is worth it for one thing alone: it has the recipe for Mrs. Field's famous chocolate chip cookies. I have no idea if any of the other books authored by Debbie Fields have this recipe, too, but I frequently have people ask if I know where they can get the recipe or tell me that they've been trying to come up with a "clone" of the cookie. Let me stress that if you want they recipe, just find a copy of the book!

Moving away from the original chocolate chip cookies, the rest of the recipes are easy to follow and produce delicious results. There are lots of simple, but mouthwatering, variations on chocolate chip cookies (like white chocolate chocolate chip), as well as recipes for bar cookies and even a couple of fancier desserts in the "special treats" section. From the white chocolate raspberry tart to the malted milk cookies, there are lots of recipes to choose from and lots of great treats to enjoy in this book.

Bunny pancakes for Easter

Nicole's bunny pancakes!

Who could resist seeing a couple of adorable bunny pancakes on their plate of Easter morning? Best of all, these little guys take no longer to prepare than ordinary pancakes - which is to say that they take about 5 minutes from start to plate. I used this recipe for buttermilk pancakes and, instead of dropping the batter into one large round, I used a smaller spoon to "pour" the batter into shape. Bunnies are a fairly simple shape, so there is no need for a mold to form them. I used chocolate chips to make eyes and noses, but fruit slices would work just as well. If you do want chocolate chips and three isn't enough for you, you could always try adding a few chocolate chips into the batter. And, of course, serve with maple syrup!

Ice cream to watch the Sopranos with

With the endearing name of Chocolate Cherry Chip Bada Bing!, the hit HBO show, the Sopranos, has its own ice cream flavor. The ice cream sandwiches are made up of two large chocolate chip cookies with a cherry flavored ice cream in between. The sides of the sandwich are rolled in chocolate chips.

Strangely, CoolBrands International, which released the ice cream, trademarked the name several years ago. When HBO began to hint around that they were looking to expand the Soprano's brand, the coincidence of the frozen novelty sharing the name of Tony Soprano's strip club was too great to overlook and HBO signed up. Product placement and a small percent of the profits are rumored to be part of the deal.

Currently, the sandwiches only seem to be available in the New York tri-state area. where they retail for $$4.29-$4.89

Tip of the Day

Soups and stocks are some of the easiest and tastiest ways to get into the world of cooking, but there are still tips that can make the experience even easier.

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