Cook Like Mad

I don’t know when or where I ate my first molasses cookie, but for as long as I can remember, I’ve loved them. I am forever on the quest for that perfect recipe which yields the chewy, moist, intense cookies I’ve come to crave. Most recipes I’ve tried call for either very little molasses, too much sugar, or too fluffy a batter, yielding hard, dry, and cloying cookies, but this one is the best I’ve found yet. I still believe there is a chewier recipe out there (I have this love for very chewy foods…taffy, caramel, bagels (especially Murray’s near Union Square!)…you name it), but this one has a great balance between depth of flavor and delicateness that makes you crave them more, rather than giving you a stomachache after one.

There was a recommendation on allrecipes.com, where this recipe originated, to dunk these in pumpkin dip, a recipe also found on that site. I’m guessing you don’t really need a recipe for that though, since it’s probably just a combination of pumpkin mash and marshmallow fluff, but search around if you want precise measurements. To me, the combination sounds scrumptious, and is eerily reminiscent of this recipe I posted a while back. No wonder it sounds good to me! Anyway, if you’re as big a fan as I am of these treats, you’ll be delighted to find such a foolproof, fast, and satisfying recipe as the one I’ve posted below. Feel free to experiment with oil instead of butter, all molasses instead of part molasses and part sugar, and a different combination of spices. All I ask is that if it turns out well, you let me know the changes you made so I can continue on my quest for the perfect recipe. Enjoy!

Note: I love these cookies with chocolate chunks, nuts, and other add-ins incorporated to the cookie dough. In this batch alone I was able to try out white chocolate chunks, dark chocolate chips, coconut flakes, and coarse sugar for rolling them in, and each turned out great, with it’s own unique personality. All I’m saying is, go wild; these cookies can handle the challenge as they accept a wide variety of additional flavors very well.

Molasses Cookies (adapted from this allrecipes.com recipe)

Makes 60 small cookies

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil, such as canola
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 cup white sugar, for rolling

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or a silpat.

2. Combine butter, oil, and brown sugar in a mixing bowl and using beaters, a whisk or a stand mixer, mix ingredients for 5 minutes, until mixture lightens in color.

3. Add egg, mix until combined, then add molasses. Mix flour, baking soda, salt and spices in a separate small bowl and add slowly to wet mixture until fully incorporated. Place mixture in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up.

4. Place 1/2 cup white sugar in a small shallow bowl and using a tablespoon or cookie scoop, gather about a tablespoon of dough in your hands, roll in a ball, and toss in the sugar to coat. Place on lined baking sheet, and repeat with the rest of the dough. Place cookies about 1 inch apar, as they spread quite a bit. Press down on cookies with a flat bottomed drinking glass, so they are about 1/4 inch thick. Bake for 6-8 minutes until slightly firmer but still a little soft. There should be little change in their color, so you don’t really want them to brown. Store in an airtight container for 1 week or in the freezer, up to 3 months. Enjoy!

-M : )

This is a very old recipe in origin, with many noted variations, but whether you use graham crackers, saltines, or even shortbread as the base of this candy-cookie hybrid, it’s an easy, delicious treat. For anyone who knows my mother, author of the blog Chocolate Ratings, it will be no surprise that this recipe is hers. Rarely did I eat a cookie, candy, or cake in my childhood that was baked without the addition of chocolate. Rarely, too, did I eat a cookie, candy, or cake in that time that didn’t include oats, zucchini, or even mashed beans(!), but that’s a story for another time.

Now mom’s chocolate obsession didn’t just mean chocolate in every treat. Dark, high quality chocolate was the preferred choice, even for small kiddies like my brother and myself. While our friends noshed on toll house cookies, we came home from school to an afternoon snack of dark chocolate brownies with cinnamon and orange zest, peanut butter and chocolate blondies, or chocolate chip banana bread. In these recipes, chocolate was the predominant flavor and for that reason, high quality chocolate was used. In no way do I mean to sound pretentious. The fact is, quality matters more at certain times than at others. Here’s a rule I’ve learned from my mother. The quality of chocolate is increasingly important, just like good olive oil, as the number of ingredients in the recipe goes down. The fewer the ingredients, the less diluted the chocolate flavor, and hence the more important it is for high quality chocolate to be used from the start. These cracker candies have six ingredients, and the chocolate remains pure as its own layer, so use the best chocolate you can afford. Since you only need 7 ozs for this recipe, my mom recommends buying two high quality dark chocolate bars, at 3.5 oz each. If you’re a fan of milk chocolate, go for one that lists the cocoa content on the label. It will be a softer flavor than dark chocolate, but will still exhibit the complete flavor profile dark chocolate is known for. If you want a good recommendation on which chocolate to buy, check out my mom’s blog (it’s not a shameless plug if it’s for your mom, right?) Also, as with nearly any nut recipe, choose your favorite(s) for this recipe. For a yummy twist, use roasted salted nuts, as the chocolate and salt are a great combination. Enjoy!

Chocolate Pistachio Cracker Candy

Makes 30 pieces’

1 package honey graham crackers (1/3 of a box)

1 stick butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/8 cup maple syrup (real, not fake!)

7 oz best quality dark chocolate, in chips or chopped into small pieces from whole bars.

3/4 cup toasted pistachios, coarsely chopped (or any nut of your choice)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 13 x 9 pan with foil, lightly grease foil, and fit tightly with graham crackers so the entire bottom of the pan is covered. Break up grahams if necessary.

2. Melt butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup over medium heat in a small saucepan. Stir til smooth and bubbly and lightly golden brown. Pour hot syrup over graham crackers and bake for 10 minutes until golden and absorbed.

3. Scatter chocolate chips or chopped chocolate over crackers and put in the oven for 1 minute to melt it. Spread chocolate with an offset spatula over the crust in a thin layer. If chocolate isn’t smooth enough to spread, place it back in the oven for another minute.

4.Once chocolate is in a thin layer but still warm, sprinkle nuts over the top and let chill in the fridge in the pan. After 1 hour, lift foil with cracker candy out of the pan and cut into 2 inch x 2 inch squares. Store in the fridge. Enjoy!

-M : )

I have searched high and low for a long time to find this peanut butter cookie recipe. It results in moist cookies full of intense peanut butter flavor with a soft, nearly chewy texture. These aren’t your typical forked cross-hatch peanut butter cookies in two ways: they are baked as cookie balls rather than as squashed discs and they have an extra healthy dose of peanut butter in the center, doled out after they finish their stint in the oven. These are not tame, nor low-cal, but I find one truly does satisfy me, so I promise, they’re safe to keep on your counter. Since the peanut butter “ganache” sets up so nicely in the center, these cookies would be perfect for a bake-sale, since they won’t get smushed on the jostled ride to school. Additionally, you can make them small and drizzle them with the peanut butter ganache instead and serve them to guests after dinner as an elegant cookie with their coffee.

One final note, and then on to the recipe. These are even better eaten straight from the freezer. Oh, to die for! The texture turns very dense and chewy and the filling (or drizzle) becomes even firmer, so when you sink your teeth in you think you’re biting into a chewy, peanutty truffle. Enough said! Enjoy : )

Double the Fun Peanut Butter Cookies

Makes 30 cookies.

For cookie dough:

1 3/4 cup flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar (make sure you pack it in the measuring cup)

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup sugar, for rolling dough balls in

For filling:

1 1/4 cups peanut butter chips

1/2 cup heavy cream (if you’re drizzling, you’ll need extra cream to thin this mixture out to your liking)

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp powdered sugar

Method

1. Line 2 small or 1 large baking sheets with parchment or silicone pan liners, or lightly grease them. Combine ingredients for the filling in a small, microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 45 seconds to melt the chips. Stir until smooth and set aside on the counter. If your kitchen is very warm, or you’re making this in the summer, you can place the mixture in the fridge.

2. Mix flour, salt and baking soda in a small bowl with a whisk to combine. Cream butter and sugars until light yellow and doubled in volume, then fully incorporate peanut butter. Beat in the egg and vanilla until just combined, then slowly stir in the flour mixture.  Refrigerate dough in the mixing bowl for 30 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Place 1 cup sugar in a small bowl. Remove dough from the fridge and take approximately 1 tablespoon of the cooled mixture and roll it into a ball in your hands, roll in sugar, and place on the baking sheet. Continue with the rest of the dough, making sure you leave 1 inch on either side of your dough balls on the cookie sheet to allow them to spread. Bake for 8 minutes exactly.

4. Immediately when the cookies are done, take the back end of your spatula or another rounded, thin object (the back of a butter knife would be fine in a pinch), and make an indent in the center of each cookie, about 1/2 inch to 1 inch wide. let cookies cool on parchment, off the hot baking sheets, for 20 minutes. Spoon 1 tsp of filling in each cookie’s indent, using two spoons to make this process easier. Cool on the counter, in the fridge, or in the freezer, depending on how chewy you want your cookies. The colder the environment, the chewier they’ll be. Enjoy!

-M : )