Chewy Molasses Cookies

No, this is not the same cookie I previously posted (see below), though they look very similar! I like the slight spiciness of these cookies--just a hint of black pepper on the back of your tongue--and they improve with age as the spices come out more. Adapted from the More-with-Less Cookbook, via the Kitchn.com website.

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup dark molasses

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 egg

2-inch knob of ginger, peeled and grated

2 + 1/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon powdered ginger

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

granulated sugar

Mix the butter, olive oil, molasses and brown sugar until fluffy. Add egg and ginger and mix until smooth. Add all remaining ingredients except granulated sugar and mix (or stir) until thoroughly combined. Dough will be soft; refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour and up to 3 days.

When you're ready to cook, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment. Take a tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball, then roll in granulated sugar. When sheets are full, bake for 12 minutes, rotating cookie sheets halfway through. Remove from the oven and let cool on the sheets for a few minutes, then finish cooling on wire racks.

Chewy Chocolate Cookies

The original recipe for this is actually a little too chocolaty for me--I am not of the "death by chocolate" persuasion--but I just love the texture. Feel free to increase the amount of chopped chocolate to your liking! This recipe is from Cook's Illustrated. I ran out of dark corn syrup and ended up using some molasses, which I thought provided a slightly more complex flavor, though CI does not approve of the molasses-chocolate combination.

1+1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup cocoa (orig. recipe calls for Dutch-processed)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons butter, softened

1/3 cup sugar, plus 1/2 cup for coating

1/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup dark corn syrup

1 large egg white

1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract

2 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (orig. recipe calls for 4 ounces)

Whisk dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugars (only 1/3 cup of white sugar) until light and fluffy. Add corn syrup, egg white and vanilla, and beat until fully incorporated, about 20 seconds. Stir in dry ingredients and chopped chocolate, dough will be quite soft. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Grab enough dough to make a ball about 1.5 inches in diameter, and roll in remaining white sugar. Place on parchment-lined cookie sheet. Dough will spread so place about 2 inches apart, probably not more than 8 or 9 per sheet. Bake for 10-11 minutes, rotating sheets mid-way, until cookies have cracked, but still look wet in between the cracks. Cool cookies on the sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

Salted Crispy Oatmeal Cookies

A word about photographing cookies...it's hard! For the most part, they are not that colorful or otherwise interesting looking. But what's more important is that they taste yummy! These cookies are a good example. So sorry about the stock "stacked cookie" photo (really, the most common pose you'll find on TasteSpotting!), but at least this definitely is a Top 10 recipe! From Cook's Illustrated (which also includes an Orange-Almond variation I really must try.)

1 cup flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon table salt

14 tablespoons butter, slightly softened

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

2+1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

coarse sea salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk dry ingredients (through salt) together. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Mix in egg & vanilla, then stir in dry ingredients and oats. Divide dough into 24 equal portions (about 2 tablespoons each) and roll into balls. Place on three parchment-lined baking sheets, and flatten dough slightly to about 3/4" thickness. [These do spread quite a bit, so don't put more on a sheet unless you're making smaller cookies.] Lightly sprinkle sea salt over all the cookies. Bake one sheet at a time for 13-16 minutes, rotating pan halfway through, until edges look crisp. Transfer baking sheets to wire racks and cool on sheets.

**Update** The Orange-Almond variation is quite good too, although I think I still prefer the plain salted recipe. To make the Orange-Almond, add 2 teaspoons of orange zest to the butter & sugars when you cream them. Then, decrease the oatmeal to 2 cups and add 1 cup chopped, toasted almonds. Do not sprinkle with sea salt.

Snickerdoodles

Everybody knows the snickerdoodle, but I post it for two reasons...

1. To add it to my Top 10 Cookies set.

2. To make the point that a sugar cookie rolled in cinnamon sugar is not necessarily a snickerdoodle. You must have cream of tartar as well, which adds a little tanginess. I feel strongly abut this. Do not be fooled by impostors!

Another Cooky Book recipe....

2+3/4 cups flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter

1+1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk together dry ingredients (through salt). Cream the butter, sugar and eggs until light and fluffy. Stir in the dry ingredients. Shape dough into 1" balls and roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place 2" apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes--cookies will be puffed up, but flatten at they cool. Cool on wire racks.

Chewy Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

I feel slightly ridiculous even typing this recipe up since it's on the package of the peanut butter chips that you have to get to make these cookies in the first place! But when I decided to compile my top 10 favorite cookies/bars, these had to be included. I usually make a half recipe so the amount of butter doesn't seem quite so obscene.

2 cups flour

3/4 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2+1/2 sticks butter, softened

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 10-oz package of peanut butter chips (Reese's if you must know--are there any other brands?)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Whisk together dry ingredients, except peanut butter chips. Add to the butter and sugar and stir/mix well. Stir in PB chips. Drop by rounded teaspoons on parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. Bake 8-9 minutes. (Do not overbake; cookies will be soft.) Cool slightly, then slide parchment onto wire racks. Cool completely.

Chocolate Sables

These are officially "Pierre Herme's Chocolate Sables" by way of Paris Sweets by Dorie Greenspan, as excerpted in the NY Times Magazine a few years back. Got all that? In any case, chocolate yumminess! The large grains of salt contrast nicely with the rich chocolate.

1+1/4 cups flour
1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel (salt)
1 stick plus 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (that would be 11 tablespoons total), softened
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4-5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chip-size bits

Sift (or whisk) the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt together. In a separate bowl, beat butter until creamy. Add the sugars and vanilla and beat another 1-2 minutes. Stir in the dry ingredients, then the chocolate. Work the dough as little as possible.

Divide dough in half and roll each into a cylinder about 1+1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap each in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Slice the logs into 1/2 inch disks. (If the cookies break, squeeze the broken-off bit back onto the cookie. Or eat it!) Place the cookies on the baking sheets, leaving an inch of space between each. Bake only one sheet at a time for 12 minutes. (The cookies will not look firm, but take them out anyway.) Transfer the sheet to a cooling rack and let rest.

(FYI, the cookies don't really expand much, the second photo is just closer.)

My Favorite Brownies

These are Marion Cunningham's "Parker Brownies." I wrote the recipe down years ago (see below) and had no idea where it came from, but a little web search has settled the mystery. I don't have any of her cookbooks, so it must have been reprinted in another source. Anyway... I have tried many brownie recipes over the years, but always come running back to this one! Chewy, but not quite fudgy, these come out on the thin side--so you just have to eat a larger piece!

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate

1/4 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup (or more) chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 300 degrees and grease an 8" x 8" pan. Melt the chocolate and butter over medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar and vanilla, then the egg. (It should become kind of glossy.) Finally add the dry ingredients and nuts. Spread in pan and bake for 30 minutes. Isn't that easy?!

Thin-and-Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies

A few years ago Amanda Hesser published three different chocolate chip cookie recipes in the NY Times Magazine food section: Thin & Crispy, Flat & Chewy, and Thick & Gooey. I have never made it past Thin & Crispy! So I'm not going to make the claim that these are the best chocolate chip cookies ever (like many people do), but I will say they seem to be the only kind I make these days. Because they have so much butter, they start to take on toffee-like qualities. The key is to cook them long enough so that they get quite brittle, but not so long that they burn. (I don't have any words of wisdom on exactly how to determine this however. I just bake them on the longish side of the estimated time.)

1+3/4 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon kosher salt
14 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 tablespoons milk
1 - 1+1/2 cups chopped bittersweet chocolate (that's a lot of chocolate to chop! I usually use part semisweet mini-chips)
1 cup toasted walnuts, chopped (optional)

Cream the butter, sugars, corn syrup until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stir in the vanilla, then milk. Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt; mix into butter & sugar just until a dough forms. Fold in the chocolate and walnuts. Chill the dough.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with tin foil. Roll a two-tablespoon lump of dough into a ball, place on baking sheet and flatten to a 1/4 inch disk. Place cookies about 2 inches apart. Bake until the edges are dark golden brown, 14-17 minutes. Let cool slightly on the baking sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack. Makes about 20-24 cookies.

Oatmeal Coconut Crispies

I made these recently for my friend Sally's 85th birthday and she liked them so much I thought I would make her some more. When you're 85, you can have as many cookies as you want!

My brother and I have made these since we were kids. They are from a cookbook I practically memorized as a kid, and still enjoy today: Betty Crocker's Cooky Book (still in print, I think). These are on the sweet side--you could probably cut the sugar a bit. And sometimes I use a combination of white and whole-wheat flour to pretend they're healthier.

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 3/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (maybe you could use quick cooking--I've never tried)

1 cup flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter, sugars, eggs & vanilla until fluffy. Blend in flour, soda & salt; then rolled oats and coconut. Drop rounded teaspoons on a parchment-lined cookie sheets. They will spread, so make sure there are 1.5"- 2" inches between drops. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool on wire racks.

Coconut Shortbread

An extremely simple yet addictive recipe! This is adapted from Food & Wine, though I have no idea when I cut out the recipe.

2 cups sweetened flaked coconut

1 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter a springform pan or tart pan with removable bottom. Mix all ingredients together until well combined. (I start with a wooden spoon and end up with my hands--as with any shortbread, it's very crumbly!). Pack dough into pan. Bake until golden brown, about 20-25 minutes. Remove pan sides and cut into 12-16 wedges. Place wedges on a cookie sheet and bake until crisp, another 5 minutes.