Chocolate Chip Cookie Challenge #6

 

I have not posted in over a month!  Honestly, I have been baking, but they have been repeats, so I have not been posting.  I need to get back on track!

Lately I have been craving some cookies, homemade chocolate chip cookies.  When I went back to see what number I was on in the CCCC, I was shocked to see that I had not tried a Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe in over a year!!! I guess with my new love of biscotti and also trying to find the perfect Oatmeal Cookie, the CCCC got the back burner.  Time to get back on track!

I found this recipe at The Pinning Mama, it was the picture that did it for me.  I eat with my eyes first and this one pulled me right in.

 {Copycat} Panera Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c butter, softened
1/2 c shortening
1 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
4 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 bag mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Mix butter, shortening and sugars until light and fluffy.

2. Add egg and vanilla and mix until well combined.

3. Combine flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt and mix together.

4. Mix dry ingredients slowly into wet ingredients and blend well.
If the dough is crumbly, stir in water 1 teaspoon at a time until it just holds together. The dough should not be sticky.

5. Add in chocolate chips and stir until evenly distributed.

6. Using ¼ cup measure, scoop out dough and form into a ball. Continue until all dough is formed.

I got 21

 

7. Place dough in the freezer for 2 hours or up to 3 months. (I froze mine on the cookie sheet before putting them in the baggie)

8.  Place frozen cookie onto parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for 15 min.  I only took 3 out to bake, which is a nice bonus to this recipe!

Let cool 2 minutes.

 

I love that they kept their big thick shape and did not fall as they cooled

Look at the size of these things!!

Look at the inside! Looks heavenly!

As amazing as these look, I was not a huge fan.  They were ok, (don’t get me wrong I have eaten many) but had a very odd texture, maybe from the corn starch?  I can’t even describe the texture, just seemed odd, not like any cookie I have had, and I wasn’t big on it.  I think I will try them again, without the cornstarch and see if that makes a difference

Thank you Pinning Mama for the recipe!

Erica’s Edibles Turns 4!

Erica’s

Edibles

Turns 4!

 

Happy Blogaversary! (I’m fairly certain that is not a word) It was 4 years ago today that I opened my blog.  The only reason I started Erica’s Edibles was so I could participate in the Daring Bakers monthly baking challenge, I had to have somewhere to show the challenge results.  I had no idea I would love blogging so much.  I thought I would post my monthly challenges and that would be the end of it.  Erica’s Edibles has become an addiction, all I want to do is bake and post!  Over the past 4 years I have posted 186 entries, not all were fantastic, but I enjoyed doing every one of them. Even though it sounds kind of silly, a blogaversary, it is really just another excuse for me to bake something and post it!

My blogaversary post will be CCCC #5.  I have to sneak one more batch of chocolate chip cookies in before Lent starts.  Each year during Lent I give up ALL junk!  As a baker this is very hard.  I still bake things for other people but I can’t continue my CCCC during Lent because I can’t try them!  So, this will be the last Chocolate Chip Cookie post until after Easter.

I have wanted to make this Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from Cookies & Cups since I first started this challenge.  The picture sucked me right in, I was totally mesmerized by it, they are huge, thick, and look ooey and gooy in the center, they look perfect!  Every time I decide I am going to strike into a batch for the CCCC my eyes immediately go to that picture (on my Pinterest board) I get all exited, mouth waters, and then I remember the dough needs to sit AT LEAST overnight in the fridge!!! Well, this time I remembered and planned ahead.  Thank you to Shelly, at Cookies & Cups for this recipe, you should check it out, there are quite a few more recipes I will be trying from there.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Challenge  #5

1 cup salted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp coarse sea salt
1 (12 oz) bag mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (I could not find good quality minis so went with regular size)

Directions

1. Cream butter and sugars together

2. Add in eggs and vanilla and continue mixing until incorporated

3. Stir in all chocolate chips until evenly distributed

4. Add in flour, baking powder and soda and coarse sea salt

5. Mix  until evenly incorporated

6. Now for the torture! Cover dough with cling wrap and refrigerate overnight, or up to 48 hours!  Are you kidding me? refrigerate at least overnight? How does one get all this together and not bake them? Talk about anticlimactic! All I have to say is, they better be worth the wait.

7. The next day……When ready to bake preheat oven to 350°

8. I used a 3 Tbsp cookie scoop (until it broke from the stiff dough, then resorted to weighing each cookie 2.5 oz) and placed 6 cookies on a sheet on baking sheet.

9. Bake for 9-10 (Mine took 14 minutes) minutes until edges are golden brown.

10. Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. Do this carefully, as the cookies might not be completely set in the center.

We need to take a minute and just look at these cookies….

Golden….

Big…

Thick…

Crisp outside layer…

Check out the inside of these cookies!

Soft…

Chewy…

Delicious!

These cookies were so worth the wait!  As much as I complained about having to let the dough sit overnight, I have to admit, it was worth it.  The cookies baked up perfectly! Each cookie was thick and evenly golden.  This was the first cookie that I was happy with the thickness, they were over a half-inch thick, they looked perfect!  Now for the centers… I broke one of the cookies open and cracked through the thin crispy layer I was pleasantly surprised with the soft moist (not raw) centers. As for the taste? Delicious!  The cookie had amazing texture.  The outer crispness accented the wonderfully soft and chewy centre.  It was one of those moments where when you take a bite you stop chewing, close your eyes and think ‘wow, that’s a good cookie!’.  The taste of these cookies were different then any other chocolate chip cookie that I’d ever had.  There were just enough mini chips that you got many in every bite, just sweet enough AND THEN you get the hint of sea salt which brought my taste buds back to life.  The salty sweet combination was excellent!

This recipe is now the one to beat, if that is even possible!  I will continue to try different recipes but they are going to have to be pretty amazing to beat this one.  I am so glad that my last CCCC recipe before Lent (6 long weeks of no treats!) was a success. Thank you to Shelly at Cookies and Cups for this amazing recipe!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Challenge #4

CCCC recipe #4.  I had to redeem myself after a disappointing recipe #3.  This challenge is “My Favourite”, so please if you see your recipe and it was not picked or I did not enjoy it please don’t be offended.  Just because it is not what I am looking for does not mean they are not amazing to someone else.  We all have different likes and dislike. Most might think what I pick as my favourite is awful!  Moving onward and upward, onto recipe number 4!

Recipe #4 was another one I found on Pinterest.  I chose it because the pictures looked amazing, the cookie was thick and looked delicious.  There was also many, many comments about this being everyone’s favourite chocolate chip cookie, I had to try it, maybe it will be mine? This recipe is adapted from Marg at Food.com

Thick, Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 large eggs
12 ounce chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl

2. In a separate bowl, beat butter and shortening until creamy

3. Add sugar and vanilla and beat with a mixer on medium speed until well blended.

4. Beat in eggs, one at a time, mixing well.

5. Add flour mixture, and beat slowly to incorporate, then beat to blend well.

6. Add chocolate chips before flour is totally blended in to avoid over mixing

Mix until just combined

7. Drop batter in 2-tablespoon portions (scoop #45) about 2 inches apart on baking sheets.

8. Bake in a 375°F preheated oven until edges of cookies are brown but an area about 1 inch wide in the center is still pale, about 10 minutes

9. Let cookies cool on pan about 5 minutes, then transfer to racks

I was extremely optimistic, look at those cookies!  They look perfect, nicely golden and a nice height

And then as they cooled….they dropped….look how thin they got 😦

The verdict? These were OK.  Probably would not make them again.  They looked fantastic coming out of the oven, then they fell and kinda went greasy.  The taste was good, but the texture wasn’t there.  They had a chew, but it was more of a greasy chew then a nice cookie chew.  So far #3 and #4 are not going to make the short list, #1 is still the one to beat.  The search continues….

Chocolate Chip Cookie Challenge #3

I believe it was a week ago I was complaining that it felt like summer in January.  Well, winter finally arrived, it’s a frosty -16 C with 60 km per hour winds, love it!  It just seemed like a perfect day to fill the house with the warm aroma of chocolate chip cookies!  Yep, that’s right, today I made rounds 3 and 4 of my Chocolate Chip Cookie Challenge.

Recipe #3 I kind of went in blind.  As several people know I am on the search, I have been given a few recipes to try.  I had not seen what these cookies looked like I only knew that they were ‘chewy and fairly pail’.  This recipe had 2 ingredients that none of the other recipes had, it only uses vegetable shortening and white sugar.  All the other recipes I had picked out used some if not all brown sugar and mostly butter.  I really wasn’t sure how they would turn out but I was willing to give it a try.  This recipe does not have a source, was just handed to me on a piece of paper

“The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies…
You Have Ever Tasted”

1 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Cream shortening and sugar

2. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well

3. In another bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt and chocolate chips

4. Add dry ingredients to wet, mix well

5. Roll into balls and place on a cookie sheet

6. Bake at 350 F for 8 – 10 minutes or until the center of the cookie pops up when gently pressed

When I saw these cookies I was quite surprised how ‘white’ they stayed, it’s amazing how the brown sugar really changes the appearance.  I was very optimistic about these cookies, they had a good height and when I broke it in half they had a nice soft texture.  When they were warm they were OK, very soft (almost falling apart) and chewy.  When they cooled I did not like them at all.  They reminded me more of a soft sugar cookie.  Unfortunately these ones are right out of the running.  The search continues….

CCCC Recipe #2

I woke up this morning to torrential rain, it’s January in Canada, it’s not suppose to rain!!  Where is the snow?? We have had one dumping of snow, which only left 10 cm, now it’s all gone!  What happened to those winters like they are having out East and West? They have several feet of snow, I’m quite jealous!  Anyways….seeing as how the day is so dismal and blah I figured it was the perfect day to try recipe #2 in my CCCC.  Fresh chocolate chip cookies, mmmm, how could that not brighten your day! I searched through my saved recipes on Pinterest and decided on this one, for no other reason then it was the first one I came to that I had all of the ingredients on hand.  Recipe #2 is Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies from Erin Cooks.  I had saved this recipe because it looked delicious!  Between Erin’s post and the many positive comments I knew I had to give it a try.

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Originally published in the Got Milk? Cookie Book by Peggy Cullen)
I found it on Erin Cooks

1/4 cup butter, softened
6 tablespoons white sugar
6 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (6 ounces) chocolate chunks or chips
1 cup nuts (Note: optional)

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 F

2. In a small bowl whisk together flour and baking soda, set aside

3. With and electric mixer beat butter, sugars, salt and vanilla until combined

4. Add egg, scrape down sides and mix until just combined

5. Add dry ingredients and chocolate chips, mix on lowest speeds until just combine

6. Shape into 1.5 inch balls, I used my 3 tbsp scoop it seemed to make them that size. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet, approx 3 inches apart

Dough looks (and tastes) delicious!

7. Bake 10-12 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.  I checked after 10 minutes, they were not quite done, 12 minutes was perfect.

Very inconsistent within the same batch

Same tray had a beautiful thick cookie (above) and a flat crisper one (below)

IF they all turned out like this it would be great! These are beautiful!

These cookies were ok.  They were very inconsistent. Within the same batch, same pan even, there was thick and beautiful cookies and thin and blah cookies.  I’m not really sure what went wrong.  It is not the oven, because they were in different spots on both trays.  The cookies that stayed thick and chewy were quite good!  They had a great taste and good texture.  They were not raw, but they were quite chewy.  As the recipe suggest, cooking for 10 -12 minutes, 12 was perfect, the edges were golden and slightly crisp, the outer part of the cookie had a nice colour and a bit of a crunch and they centers were nice and soft and chewy.  As for the flat ones, they were crisp and greasy.   I may come back and try these ones again.  Not sure what I did wrong to have some turn out and some not.

Verdict? They were ok, I would eat them again, BUT I will keep searching for ‘my favourite’.  Thanks to Erin Cooks for a great blog and recipe, you should check it out, some great looking recipes there.

My Chocolate Chip Cookie Challenge

Chocolate Chip Cookies, what’s not to love!  I have yet to meet a person who did not like a chocolate chip cookie.  They are one of those things that as bad as they may be, you still eat them, why? because it’s a chocolate chip cookie!  If you search you can find thousands of different chocolate chip cookie recipes, most proclaiming to be ‘the best’ or ‘perfect’.  The thing is, most recipes are ‘the best’ to someone.  I’m sure when someone mentions chocolate chip cookies your mind immediately goes to what you think to be the perfect chocolate chip cookie, mine does!  When I think of the perfect chocolate chip cookie I thing of a big wide, thick and chewy cookie with lots of chips, others prefer a thin and crisp cookie.  It amazes me how one cookie can be made so many different ways, all aiming for the same final product ‘the perfect cookie’.  As a baker I like to have one recipe that is ‘my best’ of something, I have done this with my chocolate cake and my red velvet cake.  I have not yet mastered the Chocolate Chip Cookie.  So…my challenge for 2013 is to find ‘My Favourite Chocolate Chip Cookie”.  I  am not calling it the best or the perfect, but simply my favourite!  I have so far picked out 17 recipes of Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I’m sure all will be good, some great, but I am hoping for a favourite!  I will post each recipe and come up with a verdict before the year is through.  If you have a recipe that you think I may like please share!  Let the baking and tasting begin!

CCCC Recipe 1

The first recipe in my CCCC is adapted from Like Mothers Like Daughters, a fantastic blog with great recipes.  I was sold on this recipe because of the picture! You must check out their site, it looks delicious.  This cookie looks thick and chewy so I thought I would give it a try.

1/2 cup butter
¾ cup packed brown sugar
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
¾ tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 375 F

2. Melt butter and set aside to cool

3. In a small bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt

4. In a large bowl combine butter, sugars, vanilla eggs and chocolate chips – stir (no mixer for this one) until just combine – Do not over mix!!

5. Add your dry ingredients to the wet and stir with a wooden spoon.  Do not over mix!

6. Using a cookie scoop create 1.5 inch balls.  I weighed mine so they were all the same, 2 oz seemed right

7. Bake 10-12 minutes.  I played with this a little, each batch a different time.  I found 15 minutes to be the most successful for my oven, the others were a tad undercooked

This was a batch for 10 minutes

But they were undercooked and fell…

After 15 minutes baking and they didn’t fall

Thick and Chewy √

The next day, still moist and chewy, did not dry out at all

The verdict – these chocolate chip cookies were great!  I really liked the taste of these cookies.  The texture was very nice, moist, but not ‘raw’.  They had lots of chocolate chips and stayed thick.  I like that there was no mixer required, good old bowl and wooden spoon.  These cookies were very easy to make.  I would make these again, I really liked them.  My testers (family and friends) enjoyed them as well. I have only tried one recipe, but I think this is a keeper!  Thanks to Like Mother Like Daughters for a great Chocolate Chip Cookie!