Cookies
There is something satisfying about watching chocolate chip cookie dough come together. At first glance, the process seems simple: cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs, stir in the flour, and mix in the chocolate. But every stage affects the finished cookie. Mix too little, and the ingredients may not be fully incorporated. Mix…
I had an art teacher in college who changed every pronoun to a gender-neutral term. Craftsmanship became craftspersonship. Gingerbread men, gingerbread people, whatever you call them, I just call them cookies. These soft and chewy gingerbread cookies can be decorated with detailed clothing and elaborate designs, but I prefer minimal decoration and a slightly underbaked…
These Russian tea cakes are a holiday classic in my house. They are easy to make, rich with butter and walnuts, and coated twice in powdered sugar. Russian tea cakes are also commonly called Mexican wedding cookies, snowball cookies or butterballs. You can replace the walnuts with pecans, pistachios or another finely chopped nut. Jump…
These rich chocolate brownies are made with bittersweet chocolate, butter and plenty of chopped walnuts. Whipped eggs give them a lighter structure than dense, fudgy brownies while preserving a moist, chocolate-rich center. The recipe makes a large half-sheet pan, making it useful for parties, events or any time you need approximately 30 evenly sized servings….
Our neighbor Karen was serving her second assignment with the Peace Corps. After returning home for a three-month break, she headed back to Lesotho, and I wanted to send her off with a batch of cookies. When I asked what kind she wanted, she requested molasses drop cookies with thick, creamy frosting. I had previously…
Around the time I finished high school, I worked at a French bakery called La Batelle in Bellevue Square. Every morning, I arrived to the smell of fresh bread and pastries. One of my favorite treats was a warm palmier. These French pastries are crisp, sweet and lightly caramelized. What I did not learn at…
About every six months, Mark asks me to make some kind of molasses drop cookie. They remind him of the cookies he ate as a child. He usually asks for soft cookies with white frosting, but that is about the only guidance I get. This time, he sent me several recipes. I compared them, combined…
Seven Layer Bars, sometimes called Wonder Bars or Magic Cookie Bars, are extremely easy to make. The ingredients are common, relatively inexpensive and easy to find. You do not need much baking experience because the bars are assembled directly in the pan with very little mixing. One warning: they are addictive. You may walk past…
“Cookies are made of butter and love.” Norwegian proverb I cannot stand most store-bought chocolate chip cookies. Chips Ahoy, Soft Batch, you name it. They all fall flat for me in both flavor and texture. As a child of the 1980s, I usually preferred soft, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate chip cookies. As I have gotten older, I…
Gingersnaps don’t have to be hard and brittle. This recipe produces cookies with soft centers and crisp exteriors. Molasses is a hygroscopic sweetener, meaning it absorbs moisture, so the cookies may soften as they sit, especially in humid weather. To help the cookies retain their rounded shape rather than flattening during baking, it is important…
I’ve always had the store-bought graham crackers. Who makes graham crackers at home when you can buy them in the grocery store for less than the cost of making them? I didn’t even realize people made them. It’s like they mysteriously just appear in the grocery store all ready to be used for s’mores, snacks,…
Biscotti are twice-baked cookies, also known as cantuccini. They often contain nuts, dried fruits, or spices. The hardness of biscotti is determined by the amount of sugar and eggs in the dough rather than the baking time. Biscotti are formed by baking the dough in long logs that are flattened into slabs. Once baked, the…
This is the first week of cookies in my baking class. (The next class will be March 25.) We made four different types of cookies during class: Drop/Scoop, Rolled/Cutout, Twice-Baked, and Piped. Along the way, we learned about seven major categories of cookies. Seven Types of Cookies Drop/Scoop Cookies Examples: Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal, Peanut Butter….
Jeff’s Baking Blog