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Discover a Million Dollar Cookie

YumSugar — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:28:33 -0700

What if I told you that baking cookies would bring you a million dollars? You probably wouldn't believe me, but it's true. This past weekend 100 finalists - all amateur bakers - competed in the 43^rd Annual Pillsbury Bake-Off. And Carolyn Gurtz of Gaithersburg, MD brought home a million bucks for her Double-Delight Peanut Butter Cookies. The cookies are essentially peanut butter cookies with a bit of creamy peanut butter filling in the middle. They sound pretty fantastic and look simple to make. Carolyn created hers by using the Pillsbury peanut butter cookie dough, but you could follow her idea with your fave pb cookie recipe instead.

Also, I have to tell you, I think she's absolutely adorable and am thrilled she won. I managed to get a video clip of her when she was declared winner by Food Network's Sandra Lee, and her excitement is infectious.

To get the recipe and see the cute video clip, read more.

Double-Delight Peanut Butter Cookies
From Carolyn Gurtz, winner of the 43rd Annual Pillsbury Bake-Off

Ingredients

1/4 cup Fisher Dry Roasted Peanuts, finely chopped
1/4 cup Domino or C&H Granulated Sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup JIF Creamy Peanut Butter
1/2 cup Domino or C&H Confectioners Powdered Sugar
1 roll (16.5 oz) Pillsbury Create ‘n Bake refrigerated peanut butter cookies, well chilled

Directions

Heat oven to 375°F. In small bowl, mix chopped peanuts, granulated sugar and cinnamon; set aside.
In another small bowl, stir peanut butter and powdered sugar until completely blended. Shape mixture into 24 (1-inch) balls.
Cut roll of cookie dough into 12 slices. Cut each slice in half crosswise to make 24 pieces; flatten slightly. Shape 1 cookie dough piece around 1 peanut butter ball, covering completely. Repeat with remaining dough and balls.
Roll each covered ball in peanut mixture; gently pat mixture completely onto balls. On ungreased large cookie sheets, place balls 2 inches apart. Spray bottom of drinking glass with Crisco Original No-Stick Cooking Spray; press into remaining peanut mixture. Flatten each ball to 1/4-inch thickness with bottom of glass. Sprinkle any remaining peanut mixture evenly on tops of cookies; gently press into dough.
Bake 7 to 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Store tightly covered.

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52 Weeks of Baking: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

YumSugar — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 08:18:11 -0700

I love this time of year mostly because I have a great excuse to put pumpkin into my baking. I love pumpkin cakes, pumpkin pies and most of all, pumpkin cookies. The other day I pulled out my favorite pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe and headed to the kitchen. Half way there I had decided to make a few tweaks to it. The end result ended up being more like a muffin than a cookie; however it was perfect right after dinner, as well as first thing in the morning. To get your hands on a muffin-top styled pumpkin chocolate chunk cookie, read more

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cobbled together by YumSugar

Note: These come out fluffy like muffin tops. I should have smashed them down so they would have a wider spread. However left as is, they are perfect for breakfast.

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp clove
pinch of ground ginger
1/ 2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, room temperature
15 oz can of pure pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 cups chocolate chips (depending on your taste - I actually used cut up bars of dark and milk chocolate)

Preheat oven to 375F.
Sift together (or whisk in small bowl) flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and ginger together and set aside.
Beat butter, brown sugar and sugar together in a large mixer bowl.
Add pumpkin and vanilla and mix until incorporated.
Add egg and beat well until fully incorporated.
Gradually (I do it in 3 batches) beat in flour mixture.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop rounded spoonfuls onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
Bake for 13-15 minutes until edges start to brown. Remove from oven and let sit on hot baking sheet for 2 more minutes.
Move cookies to wire rack to cool completely.

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52 Weeks of Baking: Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

YumSugar — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 16:08:31 -0800

This past weekend I hit the slopes with some friends. We ended up renting a place for three days and took turns splitting up the meals. On Saturday, after a full day of snow-shoeing, I decided to delight my pals to a baked treat (and, I knew I wanted to do something for my self-imposed 52 weeks of baking mandate). However, the place we were staying wasn't fully stocked (no mixer, a few bowls and utensils), so I went into robot mode and whipped up a batch of my chocolate chip cookies. This is the one thing I confidently know by heart, everyone loves them and I can make them anytime, anyplace and with any amount of wine in my system. Also, it's great because you don't need a fancy mixer or any special ingredients. To check out my cookies, read more

Fatty Chocolate Chip Cookies
From YumSugar - slightly adapted from the old fashioned Tollhouse recipe

This is the one recipe that my brain has memorized. It's my go to recipe whenever I need a quick homemade treat. And bonus, you don't need any kind of fancy mixer.

2 1/4 cups flour (this time I used all-purpose, but it works great with 1 1/2 cups wheat 3/4 cups all-purpose)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

2 sticks of unsalted butter (room temp)
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs (room temp)
1 tbsp milk
1 12oz package of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F.
Sift together flour, baking soda and salt into small bowl. Set aside.If you don't have a sifter, a sieve will work really well. Just fill and tap the sides gently.
In large bowl, beat butter until creamy - add granulated sugar and brown sugar until smooth.
Mix in vanilla extract.
Add 1 egg, mix well. Add 2nd egg, mix well.
Gradually mix in flour mixture (I do it in thirds).
Mix until all ingredients are incorporated. Add in milk. Mix well - batter should be slightly creamy, but not smooth like cake batter.
Once batter is thoroughly combined, mix in chocolate chips.
Using a large ice cream scoop, scoop out the mixture (level off with the back side of a knife) and place onto baking sheet (lined with parchment paper or silpat).
Scoop dough out until pan is full (about 2-3 inches apart).
Bake for 11-13 minutes or until golden brown.
Leave on pan for 2 minutes then transfer to wire rack for cooling.

Makes 15-20 cookies depending on the size (and how much batter you nibble on).

Note: When cooking next batch, be sure pan is completely cooled before placing cookie dough.

Note 2: When making these cookies at home, I often beat the butter for several minutes before adding in the sugar.

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52 Weeks of Baking: Easy Lemon Cookies

YumSugar — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 12:35:11 -0700

When I asked the Sugar HQ what kind of cookies I should make for this week's 52 Weeks of Baking project, BuzzSugar quickly answered, "LEMON!" I couldn't turn down such an enthusiastic request, and so lemon cookies it was. She specifically asked for crisp lemon cookies, however when searching for a recipe, I kept seeing ones that called for lemon cake mix instead. At first I kept looking for something else, but then I figured why not make it easy on myself? Why not start with a cake mix?

In the end I was really glad I did. These cookies came out fluffy and light, with a slightly crisp outside. They also come together in no time at all. To get the recipe and see my step by step photos, read more

Note: I added a bit of pudding to mine, it was too runny and I had to add more flour to balance it out. This recipe is the standard recipe, and should come out fantastic, I don't think there is any need for the extra pudding. However, if you want to make it exactly like I did, the modified parts are in brackets.

Easy Lemon Cookies
From BakeSpace member Ali

1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for decoration
[1/4 cup lemon pudding - I used Jell-o instant pudding]

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Pour cake mix into a large bowl. Stir in eggs, oil, and lemon extract until well blended. [Add pudding, if it's too runny add flour until consistency is firm enough to make balls - even if they do get flattened out immediately.]
Drop teaspoonfuls of dough into a bowl of confectioners' sugar. Roll them around until they're lightly covered.
Once sugared, put them on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for 6 to 9 minutes in the preheated oven. [I baked for 11-13 minutes]. The bottoms will be light brown, and the insides chewy.

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Delilicious: Extreme Cookie Contest

LilSugar — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 15:02:27 -0800

Mothers start your ovens! And, enlist the help of your lil one for the Second Annual WearEver AirBake Extreme Cookie Challenge.

Parents and their kids between the ages of five and 15-years-old should submit their craziest cookie recipe by January 31, 2008.

Those who come up with the five tastiest inventions win a trip to New York to compete in a live cook-off in April. And the competition gets sweeter with a grand prize of a $10,000 savings bond. For more details, check out the website.

52 Weeks of Baking: Pecan Pie Cookies

YumSugar — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 09:18:33 -0800

I originally thought I'd make a classic Thanksgiving pie for this week's baking project. However, as you may know, pie crust tends to thwart me. So instead of struggling about, I started thinking about ways to make a pie without making a pie. Eventually, I landed upon the idea of a pecan pie cookie and after a bit of googling, I found a recipe that sounded just right. The result - a thumb-print cookie with a caramelized-pecan filling - was definitely reminiscent of pecan pie, only a lot easier to put together. If you're looking for a treat for an upcoming Thanksgiving potluck, then look no further, get the recipe, just read more

Pecan Pie Cookies
From Land O' Lakes

For Cookies:
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder

For Filling:
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 350°F.
Combine all cookie ingredients except flour and baking powder in large bowl.
Beat at medium speed until creamy. Reduce speed to low; add flour and baking powder. Beat until well mixed.
Shape dough into 1-1/4-inch balls.
Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Make indentation in each cookie with thumb; rotate thumb to hollow out slightly.
Combine all filling ingredients in small bowl; fill each cookie with 1 rounded tsp. filling.
Bake for 8 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets.

Nutrition Facts (1 cookie): Calories: 130, Fat: 7g, Cholesterol: 20mg, Sodium: 50mg, Carbohydrates: 15g, Dietary Fiber: <1g, Protein: 1g

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52 Weeks of Baking: Caramel "Apple" Cookies

YumSugar — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 13:01:19 -0700

I was searching for a final cookie recipe to round out National Cookie Month when I stumbled across one that looked like caramel apples. They were so cute and seemed like the perfect Halloween treat, so I headed to the store and grabbed a bag of caramels. The cookies themselves are pretty simple to make; they're basically a dyed sugar cookie dipped in caramel and put on a stick! To get the recipe and start bobbing for your own "apples," read more

Note: I couldn't find any popsicle sticks at my local grocery store; you may need to try a specialty craft or cooking store. I only had 10 sticks available - free with the caramels - and used the rest of the dough to make small cookies.

Caramel "Apple" Cookies
From Recipe Link

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine or butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
red food coloring (optional)
2 eggs
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
About 24 wooden popsicle sticks
Caramel Glaze (see below)

Heat oven to 400F.
Mix sugar, margarine and shortening in large bowl.
Stir in vanilla and eggs.
Stir in flour, baking soda and salt.
Add in food coloring if desired. Add enough to obtain desired color, I used five drops and ended up with a pale pink.
If possible, wrap dough in plastic wrap and place in freezer for an hour, or in refrigerator overnight.
Roll dough 1/4 –inch thick on lightly floured cloth-covered surface.
Cut with 3-inch round or apple-shaped cookie cutter.
Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Insert wooden stick horizontally into each cookie.
Bake 8 or 9 minutes or until edges are light brown. Cool about 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet. Cool completely.
While cookies are cooling, make caramel glaze (see below).
Spread top third of each cookie (opposite wooden stick) with Caramel Glaze. Hold cookie upright; allow glaze to drizzle down cookie.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Caramel Glaze
1 package (14 ounces) vanilla caramels, unwrapped
1/4 cup water [I used apple juice]

Heat caramels and water over low heat, stirring frequently, until melted and smooth.
If glaze becomes too stiff, heat over low heat, stirring constantly, until softened.

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52 Weeks of Baking: Peanut Butter Cookies

YumSugar — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 15:38:11 -0700

Since today is National Peanut Butter Cookie Day, I figured I'd go ahead and whip up a batch for myself. I thought about making a traditional peanut butter cookie, but I don't really know how to leave a good thing alone and decided that it needed some tweaking. After all, everything tastes better when Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are involved, right? Right! So I headed to the kitchen and made a cookie concoction. To see the ups and downs in creating my own peanut butter cookie recipe, read more

First of all, I'm going to fess up and say that the cookies came out a bit dry and lacked a great peanut butter flavor. However that is definitely because of the peanut butter I used. I opted for an organic, all-natural peanut butter that did not bring nearly enough oil/fat or flavor to the party. If I was going to make this particular recipe again, I would definitely opt for something like Skippy or Jif. You know, something high in fat, sugar and flavor. After all, who was I kidding? I was adding an entire bag of Reese's PB Cups to this dessert, it's not like I was going for the healthy option!

Peanut Butter Cookies
From YumSugar

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (I'd recommend a
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
8 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups - pulverized to a paste
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup of chopped peanut butter cups (7-8)
1 cup of chocolate chunks

Note: One bag of Reese's PB Cups contains about 15, use them all.

Preheat oven to 350F.
In a medium sized bowl sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.
In a large bowl (or mixer) put butter and peanut butter. Cream together.
Add brown sugar and pulverized PB cups. Mix until smooth and creamy.
Add eggs, one at a time, blending slowly until mixed.
Add vanilla.
In three batches, add flour mixture on low speed until blended.
Add chopped pb cups and chocolate chunks. Mix thoroughly.
Decide which size you want to make, I ended up doing it three ways.
1. Using a large ice scream scoop, make round portions of dough, flatten slightly and use tines of fork to create design. Bake on cookie sheet with parchment paper or silpat for about 17 minutes or until just beginning to brown.
2. Using your hands, make small 1-2" balls. Flatten slightly with fork (design with fork also). Bake on cookie sheet with parchment paper or silpat for about 13 minutes or until just beginning to brown.
3. Using your hands or a spoon, make small 1" balls, flatten them with the back of you hand, decorate with fork tines. Bake on cookie sheet with parchment paper or silpat for about 11 minutes or until just beginning to brown.
Remove from oven and cool on sheet for 2 minutes.
Transfer to cooling rack. Store in airtight container.

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52 Weeks of Baking: Goatbread Cookies

YumSugar — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 08:58:11 -0700

Toot! Toot!
That, my friends, is the sound of me tooting my own horn. A few weeks ago I bought some of the amazing goat butter from the folks at Meyenberg and loved it so much that I wanted to use it for everything. I had eaten it on toast, over pasta and on crackers, but at some point I decided, actually make that knew that I had to make shortbread cookies with it. Nevermind the fact that I had never actually made shortbread cookies, nor actually even liked them that much, neither of those things were going to stop me - I was going to make goatbread cookies (aka shortbread cookies made with goat butter)! To see how they turned out (toot! toot! I freaking loved them) and see the recipe that I more-or-less concocted on my own, read more

Once I decided I was going to make the goatbread cookies (that name sounded best to me), I started pouring through a bunch of cookbooks in order to check out their shortbread cookie recipes. I knew that the goat butter would lend a savory quality, so I knew that I shouldn't add anything like vanilla extract and I didn't want the sugar's sweetness to over-power the goat flavor either. Ultimately I ended up taking a piece from that one (rice flour from Test Kitchen), a piece from this one (temp from Bon Appetit) and just winging it the rest of the way. The bf was worried that all the amazing goat butter was going to be wasted, and to be honest, so was I. However the end result turned out fantastic - although I think that's just a testament to how fantastic the goat butter is. The goatbread cookie was crumbly, but cohesive, had a bit of a sweetness to it, and a nice goaty aftertaste. The recipe is far from perfect, but it's definitely a good launching point. I definitely cannot wait to try more goat butter creations.

Goatbread Cookies
From YumSugar

6 oz (1 1/2 sticks) goat butter (cut into 1" cubes)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup rice flour
1 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 300F. Move oven rack to top 1/3 of the oven.
In large bowl, or stand mixer, whisk salt and sugar together.
Add butter, mix well. I mixed in stand mixer on medium until butter was completely blended and creamy (about 2 minutes via mixer). Note: this can be done by hand also.
Sift flour together.
Slowly (on low speed if using mixer) add flours to butter mixture. I added 1/3 at a time. Scrape sides with spatula as needed.
When flour is fully incoporated you will be left with a sand-textured mixture. Try and form a ball with your hands. If the dough is not holding together, add a few drops of water (I added about 1 tbsp). Do not add too much water. The final result should be barely cohesive.
In a 9" cake pan, lined with parchment paper or well-greased, place dough and spread out as evenly as possible.
Take another 9" cake pan (you may want to grease the bottom) and place it on top of the dough. Apply even pressure to form the dough into an even-sized disk.
Remove dough from pan and place onto baking pan lined with parchment or silpat.
Using a knife and fork, score & design shortbread (I definitely needed some help in this department).
Bake for 50-60 minutes, until edges are lightly browned and top is even golden color.

Remove from oven and let sit on pan for about 10 minutes. Cut into wedges. Note: It is extremely important to cut into wedges before it cools completely. If you wait until it cools, it will crumble.
Serve and savor!

Note: Next time I will completely skip the pan part and try my best with creating an even square by hand. Until I get really concerned with presentation (gotta master flavor first!), I think it was more of an unnecessary mess. However, if you skip this step, make sure that your goatbread has an even thickness - this way you'll ensure even baking throughout.

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Simple Tip: Transport Baked Goods in Bakery Boxes

partysugar — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:15:40 -0700

Unless you make and transport cupcakes on a very regular basis, you probably have no need for a bulky plastic cupcake carrier. However, on those occasions when cupcakes have to be carried from your kitchen to another location, do what I do and pick up a baking box. A local bakery, or even the baking section of your grocery store, has a large supply of these boxes in a variety of sizes. If you've developed a relationship with the employees, they'll most likely give you the box for free. Ask for a large, medium, or small box and you can safely transport cakes, cookies, or pies without ruining a beautiful frosting job. Does anyone else do this? What's your secret for taking baked goods from one place to another?