I wanted to start by establishing my work because I made a wager with my callers this past Wednesday. For every $1000 they made Wednesday night, I'll make a dozen cookies for them on Sunday. Fast forward to today, and I've got 9 dozen cookies to make. Additionally, I wanted to make some Apple Pie, a delightful alcoholic drink (and I wanted to have the recipe posted for easy reference later on... and I will be making more later haha).
So let's start there.
Apple Pie
yield: 2-750ml bottles
6 cups Apple Cider (not juice, roughly half a gallon)
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
10 cinnamon sticks
1 vanilla bean, if you're feeling fancy
1 cup pure grain alcohol
Combine the first ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil over medium to medium-high heat. Cool completely and strain over a fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth. Add alcohol. Keep cold (though it's good both warm and cold). Enjoy!
Next up, I wanted to modify my oatmeal cookie variation to the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. This comes from comparing the Chocolate Chip cookie recipe with a traditional Oatmeal Raisin Cookie recipe. I've posted a similar recipe before, but these turned out perfect!
Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Variation
yield: about 3 dozen
1 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1 tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups bread flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 cups oats
1 heaping cup raisins
Sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. Cover the raisins in hot water and let them get a little less dry and sugary (this is an extra step that can be omitted; I just dislike the candy-like quality some raisins have).
In a stand mixer, combine the melted butter and the dark brown sugar thoroughly. Add egg, yolk, and vanilla; mix just until combined. Add dry ingredients and mix until incorporated. Stir in the oats followed by the raisins (drained). Chill batter thoroughly. I like to chill it for 3 hours at least, but it can be chilled overnight.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. I recommend scooping the batter into ridiculously large cookies because that's the way oatmeal raisin cookies should be: unabashedly large. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes. They should be soft, chewy, and delicious. In fact, these guys get chewier a while after being out of the oven (and they'll be chewy for days).
Additionally, I wanted to make something like Whoopie Pies. It turns out, though, that I hate Whoopie Pies. Instead, I'm going to make a chocolate sandwich cookie filled with what will hopefully be a fluffy, delicious, rich vanilla buttercream.
Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
yield: about 3 dozen sandwiches
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tbsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 3/4 cup granulate sugar
1/3 cup corn syrup
1 egg + 1 yolk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
extra sugar
Stir dry ingredients in a bowl to combine. In the bowl of a mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in corn syrup, egg, yolk, and vanilla, scraping down the side of the bowl. Gradually add the flour mixture. Beat on low speed until combined, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Cover and refrigerate the dough until firm enough to roll into balls (at least 1 minutes).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place sugar in a shallow dish. Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in sugar to coat. Place cookies 3-inches apart on cookie sheet and bake for 9-10 minutes or until set. Cool slightly. Remove to wire rack to cool completely.
Creamy Filling
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tbsp cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
Mix butter and sugar on low until incorporated (it won't be smooth). Add cream and vanilla, beating until spreading consistency. Add more cream as necessary. Spread on bottom of one cookie. Top with another cookie. Enjoy!
I can't believe I haven't posted this next recipe before! The recipe comes from Cooks Illustrated, and I've made it at least 3 times at this point (in less than a year). These are both incredibly tasty, and they look amazing as well!
Brown Sugar Cookies
yield: 2 dozen large cookies
14 tbsp butter, divided
1 3/4 cups dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
1 tbsp vanilla
2 cups plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup granulate sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt and brown 10 tbsp of the butter on the stove. In the mean time, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Additionally, in a small bowl, combine the 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 1/4 cup dark brown sugar. This will be used to coat the cookies before baking.
In the bowl of a mixer, place the remaining 4 tbsp of butter. Pour the browned butter into the mixer, allowing it to melt the 4 tbsp of butter. Allow this to cool.
Add 1 3/4 cup dark brown sugar and salt to mixer and beat until there are no sugar lumps (about 30 seconds). Add egg, yolk, and vanilla, mixing until fully incorporated. Add flour, all at once, and mix for about a minute until fully incorporated. Give the dough a final stir with a spatula and score it in half.
Roll half of the dough into balls. According to the original recipe, you should get a dozen cookies from half the dough. However, my cookies might be a bit smaller since I got about 14 or 15 from each half. Either way, roll the dough balls in the sugar mixture and place on a baking sheet, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Avoid over-baking (the dough will look raw in between the cracks of the cookie). When in doubt, err on the side of under-baking the cookies. Finished! These cookies require an extra step here or there, but the pay off is big: dark brown sugary flavor, nuttiness from the browned butter, and a beautiful crackly surface.
I have a confession to make. I definitely made a bet with the callers, but I'd be lying if I weren't so excited about baking all weekend long. And I never bake cookies, so this way it's all out of my system. Considering the next few weekends (with moving and visiting friends in other states) I probably won't have much time for baking for a couple weeks.
