Tag Archives: Chocolate Chip Cookies

Triple Chocolate Chunk Caramel Cookies

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Sometimes you need a simple little cookie, like these or these. And then there are times that require something outrageous and over the top, like these Triple Chocolate Chunk and Caramel Cookies.

These cookies call for three kinds of chocolate, bittersweet, milk and blonde (caramelized white chocolate). This is not a sponsored post, but I highly recommend using Valrhona chocolate. I used Dark Bittersweet 70% Guanaja, Milk 40% Jivara and Blonde (White) 32% Dulcey. I order my chocolate online from The Vanilla Food Company. The quality is outstanding and it really does make a difference what kind of chocolate you use in these cookies. Supermarket chocolate chips just won’t give you the same results.

For the caramels, I just used vanilla caramels from Bulk Barn. Werther’s chewy caramels or Kraft caramels would also work well here. In the video I made, you see me mixing the caramels right into the dough. DO NOT DO THAT! The caramel oozes out of the cookies and makes a huge mess. Trust me. I made over 8 dozen of these cookies, figuring out the best way to do it.

To prevent the ooze, set the caramels aside. Scoop your cookie dough, and while the dough is in the scoop, stuff one whole caramel into the centre of the scoop. The surrounding dough insulates it. I also found it best to freeze the scooped dough for at least 2 hours before baking. That also helped to prevent the caramel from escaping.

For picture-perfect cookies, hold back about 3 Tablespoons of each of the three kinds of chocolate, coarsely chop them and top the cookies with these bits of chocolate about halfway through the baking time. This will give you pretty pools of melted chocolate on top of your cookies. You can also cut a few extra caramels into quarters and top the half baked cookies with one or two additional pieces if you like.

These cookies also use three types of sugar, white, brown and turbinado (raw sugar). The addition of the turbinado adds a bit of crunch to the cookies. I learned about this from Ashley, on her blog, Not Without Salt.

These cookies would make an excellent addition to a cookie box for holiday giving, or just stash them away in your freezer for those days that call for extravagance. I won’t judge.

Click here to print the recipe for Triple-Chocolate-Chunk-Caramel-CookiesDownload

Browned Butter Pretzel Toffee Chocolate Chunk Cookies

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Cookies are a subject I take very seriously. They are my passion. I won’t waste your time by posting meh cookies. I’m really stoked to share this cookie recipe with you. Created by Molly Adams over at thefeedfeed.com, they are an outrageous, over the top indulgence. Make them this week for someone you love.

I’m not gonna lie, these cookies are a bit of work. Start by browning the butter. I promise, it’s worth taking the extra time and and dirtying another pot. If you have never browned butter before, here’s an excellent tutorial to guide you. You could skip this step, but why would you want to? It adds a deep, rich, nutty flavour and everyone will ask why your chocolate chip cookies are so good.

The browned butter needs to chill in the freezer for about 30 minutes, before creaming with brown and white sugar. Eggs and vanilla are added, then flour, baking soda and salt. And then, it gets exciting!

https://youtu.be/JvARwiD3rno

Let’s talk about chocolate. So often, friends have told me, “My cookies never taste as good as yours. I followed the recipe. What went wrong?” 90% of the time, the answer is the kind of chocolate they used. (The other 10% of the time, its the temperature of the butter – too warm). Avoid regular chocolate chips and spring for the good stuff. I have made these with chopped Lindt 70% bittersweet bars, Valrhona 64% bittersweet feves, and this week, I discovered these delicious Belgian bittersweet wafers at Bulk Barn.

Mini pretzel twists work best in this recipe. Chopped pretzels go into the dough and then after scooping the cookies, I topped each one with a whole pretzel.

Let’s chat about the toffee addition. Molly suggests making your own toffee bits to add to the cookies. It’s not a difficult process, if you have a candy thermometer. Using Skor bits is an excellent ready-made option, if homemade is not for you. No judgement! if you decide to make it, here’s a how-to video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLM43lY8fkA&feature=youtu.be
Click here to print recipe for-Brown Butter-Pretzel-Toffee-Chocolate-Chunk-Cookies

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Crisp Toffee Pecan Bars

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on white platesWhen it comes to social media and tech savviness, I must admit I’m not exactly current. I have a twitter account with about 40 followers, but I’m confused about where I’m supposed to be leading them.  I do post on Instagram, but not very frequently. I check the spelling and punctuation of every text I send, which makes me a very slow texter. My kids usually abandon our text chats within the first few messages and just pick up the phone and call me because I am so frustratingly slow, compared to their lightening fast thumbs.

I try to keep up with all the cool kids and know the meaning of many internet acronyms. One meme that has been picking up steam as usage of social media skyrockets is FOMO. For the uninitiated, FOMO stands for fear of missing out. The Oxford Dictionary defines it as “Anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere, often aroused by posts seen on a social media website.” It’s that little pang of envy you feel when you’re looking at vacation photos, amazing restaurant meals or parties of friends and family that you weren’t invited to.

But it looks like FOMO may be taking a back seat to JOMO – joy of missing out. According to The Huffington Post, “the term is a rebellion against saying yes to everything, and is about giving yourself the space to think and experience things without freaking out about what you ‘should’ be doing instead.”

As a proud introvert, I wholeheartedly embrace JOMO! Let’s hear it for staying home, binge watching Netflix and snacking on Crisp Toffee Pecan Bars.On black slab 2I discovered these cookies on The New York Times Cooking website. The dough is baked in a cast iron pan. Baking in cast iron allows for a degree of deep caramelization that just can’t be achieved on a regular baking sheet. If you don’t already have a cast iron pan, maybe this will convince you to invest in one.

Creator Charlotte Druckman gives you the option of adding  nuts or chocolate to the dough. Inspired by one of my favourite cookies, Skor Bars, I added pecans, chocolate and Skor bits!ingredientsPlace your empty cast iron pan in the oven while you make the dough.making doughGrease the hot pan very carefully with butter. buttering cast iron panPress dough into hot pan. Use the bottom of a measuring cup so you don’t burn yourself. pressing dough into panScore dough into wedges and let cookies completely cool in pan before removing.scoring warm barsThe edges will be deeply browned and crispy while the center is still nice and chewy. Pecans and skor bits contribute great crunch and chocolate is always welcome. A glass of milk might just be the best accompaniment to your JOMO experience.with a glass of milk

Click here to print recipe for Crisp Toffee Pecan Bars.

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Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies

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xoxoxo 2I love surprises. Well, I should clarify. I like good surprises, like finding out the sex of my babies, at the moment of their birth. Three of the greatest surprises of my life! It makes me sad that people have reveal parties and choose to forgo that moment of awe. A little too much over-sharing for my liking. Ok, social media rant over. Onto more important things.

Happy Valentines Day! We don’t make a big deal out of Valentines Day in our house, but I’d never say no to a little sweet treat. While many people believe the day should be marked with chocolate, I’m much more of a coconut –caramel kind of girl. But sometimes a little bit of chocolate is necessary.cookies on little heart towel 625 sqThese cookies contain a little surprise. Along with the usual chunks of bittersweet chocolate, I mixed a big handful of  Valrhona chocolate pearls into the dough. Little nuggets of crispy rice cereal enrobed in milk chocolate are totally unexpected but very welcome in a chocolate chip cookie. I ordered mine online. Callebaut also makes chocolate pearls. Their salted caramel crispearls  are kind of astonishing (crunchy biscuit bits coated in salted caramel). If you can’t find them, chopped up maltasers or whoppers would make an excellent substitute. My friend Marla would love them!Chocolate pearlsCan we talk about butter for a minute? Specifically, what does “room temperature” butter mean? How long a rest on the counter are we talking about here? When I’m baking, I’ll take the butter from the fridge first, slice it into 1/4 inch pieces. By the time I’ve gathered all the other ingredients, the butter will be perfect for creaming. Ten minutes is really all it takes. You want it to still be cool, but pliable. The whole point of creaming the butter with the sugar is to beat air into the dough. If your butter gets too warm, it won’t hold that air and you will end up with flat cookies.ButterAn ice cream scoop makes for even sized cookies.scooping cookiesA light sprinkling of sea salt on top of each cookie before baking, because that’s how we roll around here. This is salt and serenity after all!sprinkling saltstacked on red cake plate 2

Click here to print recipe for Crunchy Chocolate Chunk Cookies.

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On the fourth night of Chanukah: Perfect Chocolate Chunk Cookies

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On the fourth night of Chanukah, I baked Perfect Chocolate Chunk Cookies for my true love. Crispy at the edges, chewy in the center, filled with abundant pockets of gooey chocolate and topped with a light sprinkling of coarse sea salt to balance the sweetness. stacked on white cake stand 2I can’t take credit for creating these fabulous cookies. That place of honour goes to Ashley of the wonderful blog “Not Without Salt.” I blogged about these cookies before, when I first made them in 2011. I don’t usually blog about the same recipe twice, but I wanted to share them again, in case you missed them the first time around. (Plus, my original photos did them no justice!) They’re that good! If you’re not a baker, but still want to try them, Ashley sells them in a cookie mix.

Since that time I have tried many other chocolate chunk cookies, but I have yet to find another recipe that is as outstanding as this one. What makes this recipe unique is the use of 3 kinds of sugar. White sugar makes the cookies crisp, brown sugar contributes to their chewy center, and  coarse Turbinado sugar gives them a delicate crunch. Are you still sitting there reading? Let’s bake!what you'll needI have tried making these cookies with regular supermarket chocolate chips, and they are quite good, but if you are making them for someone you really want to impress, thank, or just say, “I love you”, make them with Valrhona Guanaja Feves. (those big chocolate oval discs in the photo above). They are pricey and you need to buy them online, but they are worth it. Slightly bitter, with hints of fruit, coffee and molasses, this is a complex, big flavoured chocolate. mixing doughThe larger chocolate chunks create majestic pockets of gooey chocolate, so if you’re into that sort of pleasure, go for the good chocolate! Personally, I don’t care for warm from the oven cookies. I much prefer them frozen. I have trained my family and friends to love them that way as well, so when they come to visit, everyone heads straight for the freezer to see what’s freshly baked (and frozen!). cooling on parchment paper 2 625 sq

Click here to print recipe for The Perfect Chocolate Chunk Cookie.

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