white chocolate chip chocolate cookies

Image from VeryBestBaking

These are another cookie that I grew up eating every year for Christmas.  They are essentially a reverse chocolate chip cookie, with the chips being white chocolate and the cookie being chocolate flavored.  I made these when the Chocolate Crinkles had to be put in the fridge over night. Aside from that, these cookies were baked without incident, which means I have nothing amusing to tell you.  Just bake the cookies, they are delicious.




White Chocolate Chip Chocolate Cookies
Recipe from AllRecipes

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 2/3 cups white chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Fold in the white chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until cookies are set. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

chocolate crinkle cookies

I felt that for the next recipe made in my Christmas cookie sweatshop, it would behoove me to try something new.  My boyfriend had expressed an interest in "chocolate crinkle cookies" and having never made nor eaten one before, I thought that it would be interesting to give it a go.  I find the powdered sugar tops to be charmingly festive and perhaps it would have added a bit of visual interest to a bag of misshapen lumps.

I started the recipe after dinner one night, having psyched myself up for making cookies.  I picked this recipe out of my pile of Potential Cookie Print-Outs and started making the dough.  I should let it be known that I do not read recipes in their entirety before I start making them.  I do a little skim to make sure I have all the necessary ingredients and cookware, but I don't go much deeper than that.  Imagine my disappointment after mixing together the dough when I realize that it must be refrigerated overnight.  I angrily put the bowl in the fridge and started on another cookie. (recipe forthcoming)

Fast forward to the next day.  I pull the dough out of the fridge and find that it has formed into a fudge-like consistency.  I dig my spoon into the mix and it bends under the pressure of my attempted scooping.  I give up after a few balls are made, choosing instead to dig my nails into the fudge and claw wildly until I have enough to form a tiny cookie.  Then the rolling.  I have to roll the dough between my hands to form a ball, the fudge melting slightly and leaving my hands a dark brown color.  It's a mess.

The balls go into a bowl of powdered sugar, where you roll them around.  At this point, there is powdered sugar everywhere in my apartment, being stuck to the trail of melted chocolate fudge from when I inevitably have to touch things.  It's a mess.  It's a mess, and I didn't even care for these cookies.

As a side note, please notice that this recipe makes FIVE DOZEN COOKIES.

Chocolate Crinkles
Adapted from King Arthur Flour

• 1 1/3 cups (8 ounces) chopped bittersweet chocolate or chocolate chips (I used a mix of bittersweet & semisweet)
• 1/2 cup (4 ounces, 1 stick) unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup (4 3/4 ounces) sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 2/3 cups (7 ounces) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• confectioners' sugar* (for coating)

Dough: Place the chocolate and butter in a small saucepan or microwave-safe bowl, and heat or microwave till the butter melts. Remove it from the heat, and stir until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth.

In a separate bowl, beat together the sugar, eggs, vanilla and espresso powder. Stir in the chocolate mixture, baking powder and salt, then the flour. Chill the dough for 2 to 3 hours, or overnight; it'll firm up considerably.

Shaping: Put about a cup of confectioners' sugar into a shallow bowl. Using a teaspoon-sized cookie scoop, a spoon, or your fingers, scoop out heaping teaspoon-sized portions of the dough; they should be roughly 1 1/4 inches in diameter. Drop the dough balls into the confectioners' sugar as you go. Once about five or six are in the bowl, shake and toss the bowl to coat the balls with the sugar. (If you try to do this with too many balls at a time, they'll just stick together.)

Baking: Place the coated dough balls on a lightly greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between them. Bake the cookies in a preheated 325°F oven for 10 to 12 minutes, switching the position of the pans (top to bottom, and front to back) midway through the baking time. As the cookies bake, they'll flatten out and acquire their distinctive "streaked" appearance. Remove the cookies from the oven, and allow them to cool on a wire rack. Yield: about 5 dozen 2 1/2-inch cookies.

corn soufflé

If we were still operating under the guise that there were any rules left to this blog, I would say that this entry was going to be a little bit of a cheat.  I have made this recipe several times already and I didn't make anything new last week.  But it is so delicious that I can't store the recipe away forever.  This recipe will be new to you.  At least I cooked something at all, okay?  Get off my back.

The 21st was my third annual Pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving.  This is an event that I host every year the weekend before Thanksgiving, whereupon I invite all of my friends over to share a pot-luck style dinner.  I have normally seen these kind of events referred to as "Friendsgiving," but I do not find this cute and there is no need to make myself feel bad if no friends show up to my Friendsgiving.  In my usual fashion, I went into hostess overdrive, preparing far more dishes than were necessary, fretting over tablescapes (despite them being non-existent year after year), and wondering if anyone would show up.

I catered to a smaller crowd than is the norm this year, which actually worked out for the best as my apartment is a cozy size (read: small) and barely enough room for me and my excessive amount of belongings.  This was also my first year without a full-sized stove and someone to coerce into roasting the turkey.  I opted instead to purchase a rotisserie chicken, which took off some of the pressure and allowed the stove to be used for the last minute preparation of literally everything else I was making.  Independent woman, and all that.

I made candied yams, stuffing, expired garlic and cheese biscuits, and a bowl of corn souffle.  Do not let the name fool you, corn soufflé is not actually a souffle.  Answers.com tells me a soufflé is: A light, fluffy baked dish made with egg yolks and beaten egg whites combined with various other ingredients and served as a main dish or sweetened as a dessert.  Corn soufflé has eggs in it, and is not "light and fluffy" by any stretch of the imagination.  One of my guests referred to it at "corn pudding," but I do not find this name to be particularly accurate either.  I guess no one would want to eat it if it was called "corn mush," which is what I'd name it if I were in charge of such things.  Luckily, I am not.  I have a hard enough time getting people to try this dish with even its fancy name.  It is not very appetizing looking.

Corn Soufflé

• 8oz Sour Cream
• 1 can of corn niblets
• 1 can of creamed corn
• 1 package of Jiffy corn muffin mix
• 1 stick of butter

Mix all ingredients together in a baking dish.  Heat oven to375 and cook for 45 minutes or until center is cooked through and something inserted into the center comes out clean.

peanut butter blossoms

My miniature Christmas tree has finally been decorated (as of 2am).  The presents are wrapped and underneath the tree.  I participated in my first non-denominational office holiday party/Yankee gift swap.  I've walked arm-in-arm in the flurries to catch the train.  And so begins the Christmas cookie season.

Because I now have coworkers that I can stand to be around for 7 hours a day, I thought I would make everyone little bags of cookies for the holidays.  This satisfies my desire to give people presents, bake, "taste test" cookies, and make everyone around me fatter so that I look skinnier by comparison.  With the holidays rapidly approaching and only one recipe completed out of a planned five or six, my apartment promises to be a little Christmas cookie sweatshop these next few days.

The first/only cookies I've made so far are peanut butter blossoms.  I have had these every year for Christmas for as long as I can remember, but this is only my second year doing more than just pressing the Kisses into the hot cookies.  This recipe is fairy simple, which I appreciate.  No Kellys were burned, cut, or maimed in the making of these cookies (for once).



Peanut Butter Blossoms
Recipe from AllRecipes

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 18 milk chocolate candy kisses, unwrapped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine sugar, peanut butter, and egg.
3. Shape into 1 inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. NOTE: If dough is too sticky, refrigerate 1/2 hour or until easy to handle.
4. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove cookies from oven. Press a chocolate kiss into the center of each warm cookie.