Baking 411

     

Chocolate Chip Coconut Cookies

K Train's Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don't know K-Train but I do like her cookies.

 My husband thinks they are the best.  Linda brought them to, "The 3rd Annual Cookie Exchange," and was nice enough to share this recipe.  I hear the Snicker Doodles are amazing so hopefully you will get that recipe next year from the 4th Annual cookie exchange.  

 I will definitely make these cookies the next time I need a chocolate chip cookie fix. 

Monster Cookies

Click here for the free printable cellphane bag tags.   I love Monster Cookies at Christmas time. 

I think it is because my aunt would send us these cookies in the mail for the holidays.   I use the big scoop from Pampered Chef ... their scoops are the best!!!!

Ingredients

1 dozen eggs
2 Cups (4sticks) margarine or butter, softened
2 pounds brown sugar
4 cups sugar
1/4 Cup vanilla extract
4(12oz) jars peanut butter
8 teaspoon baking soda
18 Cups quick-cooking oats
2 2/3 Cups chocolate chips
1 pound chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
1 pound M&M's chocolate candies

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Beat butter, sugars, vanilla, peanut butter and eggs together

Add the baking soda and oatmeal, one cup at a time. Last, add the chocolate chips, M&M's and nuts (optional).  I usually cut the recipe in half but today I made the whole recipe and it is hard work.  Bake for 8 to 14 minutes.  Keep checking.  

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

                                  Recipe adapted from The Big Green Bowl

Chocolate Chip Cookies
A Picture can say a thousand words and boy this picture told me to make these cookies a.s.a.p.  Click here to see the picture.  Now everyone knows I love Toll House and thought they were the best.  After trying this recipe I have decided to add it to my TOP 10 favorites.  This cookie is delicious and I think I need to make both and do a blind taste test.  It is too hard.  The only thing I changed is I reduced the granulated sugar a little, it was a little sweet for me.  After I had made a change to the Nestle's recipe, I used half shortening and half butter and was happy with the texture and they always taste delicious.    My boys loved the cookies


Preheat 375-F degree's  
  Makes 48 Cookies


Ingredients
2/3 cup vegetable shortening
2/3 cup butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
8 oz. pkg. chocolate chips
1/2 seasonal colored M&M's
Beat together shortening, butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl mix flour, soda and salt with a whisk. Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Stir in the m&m's, nuts and chips.

Ranger Cookies

This weekend I took my boys to see our dear friend Sue.  She hasn't seen them in awhile and they are growing so fast that I thought I better make it a point to visit her before they are driving.  Well~we shared a lot of funny stories, a beverage and Ranger Cookies.   I asked Sue for the recipe and she said she just followed an Oatmeal Raisin Cookie recipe and added: dried cranberries, dried apricots, chocolate chips,  and shredded coconut.  I looked in my faithful Better Homes cookbook to find an Oatmeal Cookie recipe and found a recipe called Ranger Cookies.  I made them today and they are GREAT!  I never would have tried this recipe before because I am not a fan of dried fruit and coconut in Oatmeal cookies doesn't sound that good .  I was wrong this cookie is really delicious and I will definitely put it in my TO GO TO binder.  Thanks Sue!

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2cup packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoonbaking powder

1/4 teaspoonbaking soda

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup coconut                                           

1/3 cup snipped dried apricots

1/3 cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup raisins

1/3 chopped walnuts

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. In a medium mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and baking soda; beat until combined. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour. Stir in cereal or oats, coconut, and dates or raisins.

2. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

3. Bake in a 375 degree F oven about 8 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute. Transfer to a wire rack; cool. Makes about 12 big cookies

Neiman Marcus Cookies

I was cleaning out my GO TO recipe binder and stumbled across this recipe.  I haven't made these cookies in years and thought today was a perfect day for cookies. I love these cookies because Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies are one of my favorites. 

Ingredient 

2 1/2 cups blended oatmeal

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 sticks softunsalted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

12 ounces chocolate chips

4 ounces grated  Hershey bar
1 ½ cups chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

1. Adjust oven rack to the middle position and heat oven to 350˚F. Place oats in a blender or food processor and blend until very fine. Set aside,

2. With an electric mixer, beat the butter and both sugars in a large bowl until light.  Add the eggs one at a time.  Add the vanilla and beat for 30 seconds to blend.

3. Whisk together the flour, processed oats, baking powder and salt. With a large rubber spatula or wooden spoon, blend the dry ingredients into the butter mixture.  Add the chocolate chips, grated chocolate and nuts.

4.   Use a cookie scoop or roll dough into a long cylinder and slice.      Bake 14 to 15 minutes, or until the bottoms are lightly browned. The cookies should still feel a bit soft at this point. (They will not spread very much and will look undercooked. Do not overcook or they will become hard and dry when they cool.) They will harden as they cool. Remove from oven and let cookies cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet before removing to cooling racks. Cool cookies at least 30 minutes before serving.

 The "Neiman Marcus $250 Cookie Recipe" story The store is featured in an urban legend involving a supposed recipe for its popular chocolate chip cookie.[36] In the legend, a woman and her daughter enjoy a cookie while shopping at Neiman Marcus in Dallas, Texas, and ask for the recipe. The waiter informs her there will be a "two-fifty" charge, which the woman interprets as $2.50. Upon receiving her VISA statement, she is shocked to discover she has been charged $250.00 instead. In revenge, she photocopies the recipe and urges her friends to distribute it for free to everyone they know so that the store will make no further profit on its sale. Because the story typically was passed along as a photocopy, it falls in the legend subcategory of Xeroxlore. Later, with the advent of the Internet, it reemerged as an infamous chain e-mail, "Cookie revenge". Folklorists have pointed out three chief holes in the story: Prior to the emergence of the legend, the store did not have a chocolate chip cookie;[37] A similar story has been around since the 1940s, originally involving a red velvet cake recipe from the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. It wasn't until the 1980s that the story's focus shifted to cookies. The cookie version of the story originally was attached to Mrs. Fields cookies, causing that company eventually to post disavowals of the notices at all its stores. Neiman-Marcus for most of its history only accepted its own card and American Express Although the story is untrue, Neiman Marcus published a cookie recipe[38] to quell rumors. There is also another cookie recipe that is also published on the company's website that is slightly different from the above.[39] Kevin Garvin wrote the recipe in 1995. It is featured on the company's website for free. It also is in the Neiman Marcus Cookbook

Nestle Toll House

  World's Greatest Chocolate Chip Cookie

                           Recipe adapted from Nestle Toll House

Ingredients

• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 1 Cup Butter (softened) and 1 cup Crisco Shortening
• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs
• 4 cups  NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• Add  1/2 cup M&M for color (optional) 

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

PAN COOKIE VARIATION: Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan. Prepare dough as above. Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack. Makes 4 dozen bars.

SLICE AND BAKE COOKIE VARIATION:
PREPARE dough as above. Divide in half; wrap in waxed paper. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm. Shape each half into 15-inch log; wrap in wax paper. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.* Preheat oven to 375° F. Cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices; place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

 

I use a Pampered Chef  Medium Scoop, this makes it super easy and the cookies are all the same shape. 

FOR HIGH ALTITUDE BAKING (5,200 feet): Increase flour to 2 1/2 cups. Add 2 teaspoons water with flour and reduce both granulated sugar and brown sugar to 2/3 cup each. Bake drop cookies for 8 to 10 minutes and pan cookie for 17 to 19 minutes.

* May be stored in refrigerator for up to 1 week or in freezer for up to 8 weeks.