Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Labor Day Weekend

Well this past weekend just flew by! Labor day marks the "unofficial" end of summer, and the beginning of my favorite season of all - Fall!! Plus, now with my "big girl job", I get paid time off to celebrate!

I decided to take advantage of my extended vacation from work and go "home" to visit my family. Now, I only live an hour away from my family, but it seems like I only make it back every few months. This is probably because my schedule is so busy! All I normally feel like doing on the weekends is relaxing at home.

Because it had been awhile since I'd been back to visit, I decided I'd bake some cookies to share once I got there. I had a very difficult time figuring out which cookies to make, so I settled on making peanut butter cookies AND chocolate chip cookies! They were a BIG hit! I'm so glad I left a few of each kind at my apartment! Between my family, my boyfriend's family, and a barbecue, almost 40 cookies were consumed!

So Friday evening I put in "Sex and the City (the movie)" and got to baking! It took me the entire length of the movie to bake all the cookies. It was a nice, relaxing evening!

Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
12 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Depending on size, this recipe will yield approximately 25 cookies

Adjust oven racks to upper and lower-middle positions. Preheat oven 325°. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt) and set aside. In a separate bowl, mix together the butter and sugars until thoroughly combined (by hand or with use of electric mixer). Next, beat in egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add dry ingredients and beat at low-speed just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Roll a scant half-cup of dough into a ball. Holding dough ball in fingertips of both hands, pull apart into two equal halves. Place the formed dough balls onto the cookie sheet, with jagged surfaces facing up. Make sure to leave ample room between each ball, as the cookies will spread during baking. Bake, reversing position of cookie sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy (approximately 11-14 minutes).
Cool cookies on sheets until able to lift without breaking. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container.




Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
¼ cup vegetable shortening
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup honey
2 large eggs
Sugar, for rolling the cookies

Depending on size, this recipe will yield approximately 30 cookies

Adjust oven racks to upper and lower-middle positions. Preheat oven 350°. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt) and set aside. In a separate bowl, cream together the shortening, butter, peanut butter and honey. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients to the peanut butter mixture and beat just until incorporated.

Note: I used a hand mixer, but a stand mixer (with paddle attachment) would probably be more appropriate. I started to have some difficulty because the dough was so thick.

Roll the dough into 1½-inch balls, and roll each dough ball in sugar. Place the dough balls on the prepared cookie sheet, a couple inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until slightly puffed and golden. Since I baked two sheets at a time, I reversed the position of each cookie sheet half way through the cooking time. Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough. Store in an airtight container.




Source: adapted from Annie's Eats (Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies and Thick & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies)

Sincerely,
Bailey

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