chocolate chip

Cakes, Chocolate, Cookies, cupcakes, Desserts, Vanilla

The Best Edible Cookie Dough

July 3, 2017July 3, 2017by thebusyspatula2 Comments

I’ve been in a motivational slump lately. Creative juices are at their all-time low, and laziness has taken over my life. It’s not like I don’t have content to share with you, but parking myself in front of the computer and writing a post seemed so pointless and boring I just didn’t have the heart to write. Anyway, I’m working on moving past the slump and onto a more productive track.
These mini cupcakes are vanilla cupcakes that I made from leftover wedding cake batter (a post on that soon) and are topped with a scoop of (what I think) is the best cookie dough, homemade magic shell and flaky salt. While all the parts of the cupcake are delicious, the star of this particular recipe is the cookie dough. What I think makes this cookie dough better others is a key step: toasting the flour.
Did you know that ingesting raw flour can cause foodborne illnesses such as E.coli and Salmonella? I know. I was surprised too. Toasting the flour not only makes it safe to consume, but it also gives the cookie dough a delicious nutty flavor that cuts down the sweetness of the cookie dough too.
Other than toasting the flour, you would need some great quality chocolate chips. Artisan Kettle happened to send me some bags to work with, and they were delicious. I’ve really tried about every brand of chocolate out there, and for the price point, they’re hard to beat. Bonus, they’re organic, fair-trade and gluten free. It’s simple to make and so so easy. I happened to make the cupcakes because I had them on hand, but you can always just make a jar of cookie dough and store it in the fridge for a cold scoop able treat.

The Best Edible Cookie Dough

Recipe for cake can be found here: Strawberry Ombre Cake

Ingredients:

¾ c. all-purpose flour
½ c. butter, softened
⅓ c. sugar
2 tbsp. heavy cream
½ tsp. kosher salt
½ c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ c. milk chocolate chips

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325˚F. Line a small sheet pan with aluminum foil.
Spread flour evenly on the sheet pan and toast in oven for about 10 minutes, or until the flour is lightly browned and smells nutty.
5 minutes into baking, stir the flour to toast it evenly.
Remove and cool flour before use, about 10 minutes.
In a medium bowl with an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
Add the sugar, cream and salt and mix until combined.
Add flour and mix until combined.
Fold in chocolate chips. Either scoop on top of mini cupcakes or store in fridge for easy snacking.

Recipe adapted from espresso and cream.

Chocolate, Cookies, Desserts

Perfect Salted Chocolate Chunk Cookies

August 11, 2015September 3, 2015by thebusyspatula5 Comments

Aren’t chocolate chip cookies the most basic of all cookies? I feel like almost everyone starts off their baking journey with chocolate chip cookies. But as with most things that are simple, mastering the perfect cookie is more difficult than you think. Everyone has their preference to a perfect chocolate chip cookie. If I had to describe mine, it would be crisp on the edges yet chewy in the middle with puddles of just melted chocolate and a healthy dose of salt to balance it out.
For as long as I’ve been baking, I’ve tried endless recipes of chocolate chip cookies. Starting from the cornerstone of all chocolate chip cookies, the original Nestle Toll House cookie (which always makes me think of that episode in Friends where Monica tries to figure out Phoebe’s grandmother’s cookie recipe) to the complicated Jacque Torres’s secret recipe (also known as the New York Times’ chocolate chip cookie) that uses two kinds of flour, two kinds of sugar and has a resting time of 24 hours. They were all good (because let’s face it, how can you go wrong with sugar, flour, butter and chocolate?), but not what I was looking for. They were too puffy, too chewy, too sweet, too flat, too crispy or too time consuming. I felt a lot like Goldilocks.
So I did what any picky person would do and came up with my own browned butter chocolate chip cookie recipe, which is the base of my chocolate chip marshmallow cookie cake and it has been my staple for a solid 5 years. It was complex, chewy, quick and delicious.
But when I saw Deb of Smitten Kitchen’s post for chocolate chunk cookies, I broke down and had to try it. There was nothing that was stopping me from making those cookies. I didn’t care that it used THREE kinds of sugar, and that I had to chop up a huge bar of chocolate (which btw, is one of the things I hate doing and yes, you have to chop it up, chocolate chips are not the same thing). I just knew I had to make it.
Well, I found it. The MOST PERFECT chocolate chip cookie EVER. I’m done. I’ve reached cookie Nirvana. Crisp on the outside? Check. Chewy in the middle? Check. Puddles of chocolate? Check. One bowl? Check. Not too sweet? Check. Salted? Check. Your search for the perfect chocolate chunk cookie is over. You’re welcome.

Salted Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Ingredients:
4 oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
2 tbsp. turbinado sugar (aka sugar in the raw)
¾ c. plus 2 tbsp. light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
¾ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. fine sea salt, heaped
1 ¾ c. all-purpose flour
½ lb. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
Maldon sea salt

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 360˚F, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, granulated, turbinado and light brown sugar until light and fluffy.
Add egg and vanilla extract until thoroughly mixed.
Fold in baking soda, sea salt, flour, and chocolate chunks.
Using either a cookie scoop or spoons, dollop 1 ½ tbsp. of cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets.
Sprinkle maldon salt over the mounds of cookie dough.
Bake 9-11 minutes, until edges are golden brown.
Cool 10 minutes before eating.

Recipe from Smitten Kitchen

Cakes, Chocolate, Cookies, Desserts

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookie Cake

May 1, 2014May 1, 2014by thebusyspatula7 Comments

First thing I need to say is… this Sunday is Star Wars Day!! You can be sure that I’ll have a post on all the goodies I’ll be making for this year next week. Now back to the cookie cake, this cookie cake is everything I would want in a cookie: sweet, salty, crispy, chewy, marshmallow-y… I could go on about it. The last time I served this was during this year’s Super Bowl and while people ate this, it was very quiet. It was that good.
To be honest, this recipe is like my baby. This cookie recipe has been over 5 years in the making! I almost didn’t want to write it down because well, it’s mine and I didn’t want to share. But I figured someone must be having a day somewhere and this cookie would be sure to cheer them up. So whip up a batch, and make yourself or someone smile because a smile is free therapy.
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookie Cake

Makes one 9” cookie cake

Ingredients:
6 oz. butter, divided
½ c. sugar
¾ c. brown sugar
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tbsp. cornstarch
¾ c. chocolate chips
¾ c. mini marshmallows

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350˚F and line a 9” cake pan with parchment paper along the bottom and the sides.
In a small pot, brown 5 oz. of butter.
While the butter is browning, mix sugar, brown sugar and kosher salt in a medium mixing bowl.
Once the butter is brown, add the remaining 1 oz. of butter and stir to get the brown bits off the bottom of the pot.
Add the hot browned butter to the sugar mixture and stir. Let cool for 5-10 minutes.
Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract until glossy and homogenous.
Fold in flour, baking soda, and cornstarch until just combined.
Fold in chocolate chips and marshmallows until just combined.
Bake 15-20 minutes until center is set and slightly underdone.
Let cool 15 minutes before serving.