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Posts tagged ‘chocolate chip’

May 14

White Chocolate Chip & Cashew Cookies

Cookies are the perfect make-ahead breakfast! And, if you eat them by themselves, you’ll be ready for breakfast again about two hours later (if you can pick your face up from your desktop). When paired with something that furnishes nutrients they may lack you have “a balanced breakfast” and all day to burn the alleged extra calories. Catch me in the evening and I’ll tell you why that’s also the ideal time to eat cookies.

Here’s the recipe for my breakfast du jour: 
2 cups of butter (very FIRM)
3 cups granulated sugar
2 LG eggs plus the white of a third
4 ½ cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
12 oz white chocolate chips
1 cup finely chopped nuts – See “nut notes” below


Cute little dough balls.

This is a variation of the classic chocolate chip cookie recipe featured in my last post. You’ll notice that the brown sugar is ousted in this one.


No brown sugar for these.

The lack of molasses from brown sugar makes the extra egg white essential – even with big eggs. If you don’t have LG or XL eggs then add two whites.


Pretty white chips meet nice stiff dough.

The Directions – are the same as the ones for the regular chocolate chip cookies (see March 6th), except that these take a little longer to bake. A full 15 minutes. Method is still important if you want to avoid white chocolate pancakes. For complete directions on how to make perfect Ku-Ki-Do click here.

Nut Notes:

  • In December, Ric and I came back from Hawaii with macadamia nuts, which are supposed to be the thing for white chocolate chip cookies. After trying them, I’m not convinced.
  • Last night, after a cabinet cleaning expedition I decided to try a different angle with the remnant of salted cashews from one of those Costco sized plastic jars. BINGO! I think I’ve hit on my nut of choice. The salty nuts were great with the extra sweetness of white chocolate and cashews are just a delicious nut. What could be better?


A perfect combination!


Chopped cashews – Some not so “finely”.

Thanks to my “big kiddo Tuesday-night crowd” for providing the excuse for the batch that left me breakfast!


This is what the Tuesday Nighters looked like last year – Guess I need to take a new picture!

May 14

The Classic Chocolate Chip Cookie


This is my blue-chip recipe; the one that filtered through the weeks on end of trying to figure out the nuances of great texture and taste for the sake of hungry cadets. It turns out cookies that hold their shape nicely and stay soft in the center with a crispy exterior.


All of the Basic Ingredients

The Pure Smooth & Chewy Version 
2 cups of real Butter (VERY FIRM)
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
1 ½ cups light brown sugar
2 Large eggs (add the white from a third if you don’t have L or XL eggs)
4 ½ cups all purpose flour 
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
12 oz Chocolate chips (or less)

If smooth and dreamy is what you consider ideal in a chocolate chip cookie, then stick to the above and you’ll be pleased. I happen to like a little bit more texture, so over the objections of my children, I often make one of the adjustments below.

For Extra Texture:

Add 1 cup of very finely chopped walnuts – these provide a nice little bit of crunch without overwhelming the chewiness. AND, as I tell my children, nuts are good for you! So are cookies, but in a different kind of way.


Finely Chopped Walnuts.

Or

Back off by about ¼ cup on the flour and add ½ cup of quick oats. Don’t overdo. You don’t want to turn this into an oatmeal cookie, but a handful will give the texture some greater complexity if the basic recipe is too smooth for you taste.

A Note about the Chips: Less is more! The cookie should be the star. Chocolate is a powerful accessory and needs to be used with decorum. You’ll notice that my master recipe is twice the size of the little boutique batches you see from real recipe sources, but the amount of chocolate is not doubled with the rest of the recipe. This allows you to enjoy the actual cookie with the appropriate accent of chocolate.

Directions

Before you start, take a look at the post on  Ku-Ki-Do Methodology  for step-by-step instructions with photos. If you want really good results, the process is critical.

  • Mix the very firm butter and the sugar – it should turn into a stiff but very tasty lump.
  • Add the eggs and mix again – now it’s creamy.
  • Pile in the four, soda and salt. Then mix again until a stiff dough forms and pulls itself away from the sides of the mixer bowl.
  • Add the chocolate chips, and nuts if you please, and mix until they’re evenly distributed.


No spatula was used in the shooting of this photo!

Eat some dough! My mother feints at the thought of this, and I know the eggs haven’t cooked themselves since step two, but what’s life without a little risk?

Form what’s left into golf ball sized lumps. Don’t mash and smash – just spoon up enough dough for the cookie and get it shaped into a rough ball. Smashing messes things up…in cookies and in life.


So, maybe they’re a little bigger than golf balls.


I love the rounded cookies, In gold battalions drilled…(Free cookie recipes if you can name the misquoted poet!)

Bake at 365 on a baking stone for 13-15 minutes. (I know the temperature is odd but trust me. Maybe one of these days I’ll sacrifice a few cookies at the end of a batch to show you the difference 10 degrees makes.)

Place on a cooling rack for the time it takes the next dozen to bake.

Enjoy and Share! You’ll end up with about 3 dozen large cookies so generosity is a necessity.

Thanks to my neighbors Karen, Sue, Tricia, Kate and their families for helping to eat the batch in the pictures! 🙂