Category: Drop Cookies
In the Big Apple, Dim Sum & Then Some…Chocolate Chip Cookies

In the Big Apple, Dim Sum & Then Some…Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Yay. Back to my second favorite city in the world…New York.  In the immoral words of Tony Bennett, I left my heart in San Francisco and it will always be first.  But wow, New York, I love you.  Every time I return to this amazing city I am in awe of its energy.  The number of people that converge to live, work and play in Manhattan, all at the same time, is intimidating but oh so amazing.  Blaring horns, wailing sirens, screeching tires, rumbling subways trains, people yelling, music playing, dogs barking, the sounds of vibrant, urban life.

Home Away From Home

We are staying in LES (Lower Eastside) which exemplifies NYC.  We are within walking distance of neighborhoods that represent every economic strata.  Much like San Francisco, it is not unusual to walk a couple of blocks in any direction and see, homeless folks on the streets, millennials with their backpacks or totes making their way to the FiDi, the down and out struggling with addiction, to folks decked out in designer wear enjoying a latte and 8 dollar croissant.

We walk Moose to Chinatown to pick up breakfast, rice roll noodles filled with bbq pork and veggies, slathered with chili oil, peanut sauce and hoisin.  Sitting on a stoop we wash it down with Milk Tea.  The next morning a walk down Ludlow finds us at my favorite spot, BBF. I pick up a coffee and an onigiri (a generous, warm ball of rice topped with pork belly or mushrooms). Our daily walks, navigating the streets through the LES, Chinatown, Ukranian Village, and Little Italy, all reminiscent of growing up in San Francisco.

Left top corner BBQ Pork Pineapple & Siu Mai Bun Mei Lai Wah 🥟🥟 🥟 🥟 Clockwise dim sum assortment from Royal Seafood, Big Chicken Bun Royal again 🥟🥟 🥟

I LOVE it.  Faced daily with the spectrum of life, good and bad, keeps me somewhat grounded.  I am keenly aware of how lucky I am to enjoy a life built by the hard work and struggles of those who came before me.  Dad, a Paper Son, came to this country at 16.  Gung Gung left his family in China looking for a way to support them.  Mom, the eldest of 6 kids, started her own hair salon at 17, but continued to study to become a businesswoman and real estate broker.  All their hard work focused on the future and a better life.

In Search Of…

We headed to midtown today, in search of shoes.  In particular, Hokas. I have developed plantar fasciitis, so to keep doing what I love best in Manhattan, WALK, I am in search of new shoes. Plus I can hardly shirk my Moose-walking duties since that is my “excuse” for spending time in the Big Apple.  Mission accomplished, my foot feels infinitely better in my new shoes.  Calls for a celebration…so we head to the nearest Levain Bakery for one of their scrumdidilyumptious chocolate chip cookies.

Our last visit we sampled CCCookies in NYC, so you wouldn’t have to (tough job, somebody’s got to do it).  Our winners included Levain’s, best described as a ginormous chocolate filled, scone-like warm cookie and Jacques Torres’s, a classic CCC, and oh so delicious. Not surprisingly, the chocolate in his cookies is amazing.

Levain Blueberry Muffin 🥟🥟 🥟 🥟 Chocolate Chip Cookie 🥟🥟 🥟 🥟 +

The hubs tried their popular Blueberry Muffin to compare it to Hummingbird’s version, which we make at home, and honestly it’s just as good if not better.  This got me thinking, is there a recipe out there for Levain’s CCC to try so I could avoid spending 5 dollars for a cookie, lol.

Pancake Princess to the Rescue

I turned to a favorite site, Princess Princess in search of a Levain knock-off.  Not familiar with Pancake Princess?  Best described as a one woman version of America’s Test Kitchen.  She will test a variety of recipes, in this case Levain CCC knock-offs, and invite tasters to help her select the best of the bunch.  Her top two included Stella Parks’s for Serious Eats and one from Hijabs and Aprons.  I perused both and decided to try Hijabs and Aprons as it looked easier and did not require resting the dough for 12 hours before baking (total dealbreaker).

Good thing I picked the simpler recipe…rummaging through our home away from home kitchen, I found a gorgeous red ceramic bowl, one big spoon and rubber spatula, a small cookie sheet, and a tiny (almost worthless) whisk.  I get the feeling little baking goes on here.

Tips for Baking in a Tiny, No Baking Tools Here Kitchen

Here we go, I made sure my butter was room temp soft but not melty since I only have a spoon. Then, ran downstairs for Guittard chocolate chips (ya gotta have decent chips), a tiny bag of Gold Medal AP Flour (4 dollars!), vanilla extract and dove in.

Muscle through beating the butter and sugars (unless you are lucky enough to have a mixer handy in which case, don’t overbeat),  Add eggs and vanilla, then sift the flour, baking power, baking soda, and salt over the creamed mixture.  Fold the dry ingredients in and add chocolate chips and nuts last.  Voila’ that’s it. It did take significantly longer than if I had a mixer but I got an arm workout, yay. Use classic chocolate chips, not chunks, and don’t bother cutting up a chocolate bar.  These cookies depend on a nice, even distribution of chips throughout the cookie.

The OG cookies call for walnuts, but feel free to use pecans or another nut.  If you like that tannic bite from walnuts, don’t substitute.  Best to make these cookies as directed, BIG, 5-6 ounces of dough.  The cookies will be crisp with browned edges on the outside but moist and buttery on the inside.  You can make them smaller but the contrast between the exterior and interior won’t be as pronounced.

When scooping out dough, don’t smooth the dough into a ball.  the craggy edges give the cookie character so just plop the dough on the sheet, keep the overall shape round.

Bake until the edges are a nice deep golden brown.  Serve WARM, really, so much better warm and gooey.  I zap cookies in the microwave for a few seconds to warm them up to eat.

These easy to make cookies will satisfy your Levain CCC craving anytime!

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Levain Style Chocolate Chip Coookies with Walnuts

From Hijabs & Aprons, a delicious Chocolate Chip Cookie that comes oh so close to Levain's famous Chocolate Chip Cookies with Walnuts.
Course cookies, desserts
Cuisine American
Keyword chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chips, Levain Bakery
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 16 minutes
Servings 8 cookies

Ingredients

  • ½ cup butter, slightly softened 112g
  • 1 cup light brown sugar 200g
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar 50g
  • 2 eggs cold
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2½ cups all-purpose flour, sifted 300g. (Gold Medal works)
  • 1½ tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp fine sea salt or 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 2 cups walnuts, roughly chopped 250g , if omitting walnuts, you can add roughly 50g extra AP flour
  • 2 cups dark chocolate chips 325g Use a dark or semi-sweet that you like, I like Guittard’s chips

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 375ºF. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • In a medium sized bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
  • Beat the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until creamy smooth (about 3 minutes).
  • Add the first egg and beat on low-medium speed until fully incorporated. Repeat with the second egg. Add vanilla. MIxture will be soft and creamy
  • Add flour mixture to the mixing bowl. On low speed, pulse a few times to blend flour into creamed mixture. Low speed to prevent flour from exploding in your face.
  • Stir in the walnuts and chocolate chips.
  • Form and place eight 6-ounce rough/messy balls of cookie dough into your lined baking sheet. If you have a scale, weigh the dough then divide into 8-12 cookies. Each one will be approximately 4-6 ounces, as a general goal/guideline. Also, if the edges of the cookie dough ball are rough/not smooth, that’s better. I use 2 tablespoons In my experience, if you like craggly crispy tops, it’s best if you barely mush it together and smack it onto the pan.
  • At this point, if your dough seems like it has softened due to your kitchen's temperature or too much handling with hands, refrigerate the dough-balls for about half an hour before baking. Because of the relatively high flour content in this recipe, the dough tends to be pretty stiff and doesn’t require chilling.
  • Pop the pan(s) into the oven for 12-16 minutes. This time variation depends on your oven (I’m using conventional top and bottom heat, not convection) as well as whether or not you chilled your dough (and for how long). I recommend checking (look, don’t touch) the cookies every minute after hitting the 11 minute mark. Ideally, you want patches of deep golden brown and lighter golden brown.
  • No matter what, you need to let these cookies set! Similar to steak, you’ve gotta take the cookies out while they’re technically a bit undercooked, and let them finish cooking in the still-hot pan in order to achieve the cooked-but-gooey center. The amount of walnuts/chocolate chips will make it hard to really check the inside without just breaking a cookie in half.
  • If you need to reuse your baking sheet for the second batch of 4-cookies, you can do so. Just make sure the pan is clean of grease and has cooled down before you place the dough-balls on it.

Notes

FREEZING DOUGH: If you’d like to freeze the dough for later use, go right ahead! To be completely honest, I don’t know how long the dough stays good in the freezer (at least a month for sure from my own experience). Wrap the dough balls individually in plastic wrap and freeze them. You can thaw them for about 20-30 minutes prior to placing on a parchment lined sheet and baking them.
SMALLER COOKIES: The only alternative size I’ve tried for these cookies is 3oz (half of my original). I would bake them at 375ºF for 10-12 minutes. Again, the time will depend on the oven. When baking a single chilled dough ball in my toaster oven, 375ºF for 11 minutes is perfect. Any more time and the center is overbaked.
Molasses Snickerdoodles: Walking for Cookies

Molasses Snickerdoodles: Walking for Cookies

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More rain, more gray…will it ever end?  Of course, it will but when?  Last week, the high winds took out our power at home so we escaped to San Francisco for the day.  Luckily, we had a brief, much-welcomed break in the weather and made the most of it.  It was too gorgeous not to take a walk and hit some of the scenic spots in The City.

Polk Gulch-Polk Street

There are a couple of streets that come to mind for me that define life in the city, and Polk Street is one of them. If you haven’t visited this area of the city, put it on your list.  Polk Street stretches from the  Civic Center area near City Hall, the gritty Tenderloin, all the way to the tony Russian Hill area, Aquatic Park, and Fisherman’s Wharf. To walk from Aquatic Park, the northern end of Polk to Civic Center, the southern tip, encapsulates San Francisco.

How can one street be home to Michelin-Starred Restaurants, trendy coffee kiosks, and French Bakeries, but also drug addicts and homeless sleeping in doorways or living in tents?  City life is uncensored and chaotic, where you see Everything, Everywhere, All at Once

We made a beeline for Polk Street which is only 2.5 blocks away…uphill.  The perfect way to start a walk since we’ll inevitably end up at one of the many bakeries on or near Polk.

We stopped at Batter Bakery for a cup of coffee and some cookies.  Known for their cookies, I had a tough time choosing what to try.  As much as I love shortbread, which they have so many permutations, we decided on their Sand Angel and a Sesame Cookie that looked scrumptious.  The Sand Angel had me at first bite.  A molasses cookie with a crispy edge and soft, slightly cakey center, best described as a cross between a Snickerdoodle and Molasses Cookie.  Yummy on the cookie meter, 🍪🍪🍪🍪

Grabbing our coffee and cookies we continued on our walk.  I pointed out spots of interest to the hubster.  Places that were part of my childhood-my elementary school, Victor’s Pizza (still there!), and the corner my favorite dessert cafe, Blum’s occupied (sadly not there).  We passed Bob’s Donuts and Swan’s Oyster Depot, SF icons that have been around for as long as I can remember.

On our walk back we stopped to take a peek at a new neighborhood park, Francisco Park. Built on top of an old reservoir, it’s a nice respite with gorgeous views.  With a community garden, playground, picnic tables and a doggy-run on street level, the park is worth a visit.  Just a note those two highrises, the Fontanas, led to the restrictions on building heights in the city. 😉

So, after a fun day in the city, I returned home with one thing on my mind, Molasses Snickerdoodles.  Adapted from Grandma’s Molasses, it isn’t quite the same as the Batter Bakery cookie, but it’s pretty darn good!

Key points: Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  This will give this cookie a cakier texture in the middle. If you prefer a less cakey texture and a chewier center, two things, beat only until smooth and creamy, and during baking when the cookie puffs, pull the pan out and bang the sheet on the oven rack. Do this a couple of times.  More on this later.

If the dough seems too soft to work with, chill it for 10 minutes.  A #40 scoop (2 tablespoons) will yield a 2.5-3 inch cookie.  Perfect dunking size.  The dough balls are rolled in a mixture of cinnamon and granulated sugar.  Substitute turbinado or raw sugar for a crunchier finish.

Variations on a Cookie

One dough, two different bakes.  The cookies on the left received Sarah Kieffer’s pan-banging baking treatment.  This means about two-thirds of the way through baking, when the cookies are puffy, rap the pan on the oven rack to deflate the cookies. Repeat this a couple of times.  The result is flatter, chewier cookies with crisp edges.  The cookies on the right were allowed to bake undisturbed, they puffed and fell naturally creating cracks.  This results in cookies that are a little thicker and cakier than the pan-banging cookies.

Enjoy!

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Molasses Snickerdoodles

A rift on Snickerdoodles, adding molasses gives these cookies a nice earthy flavor. Crispy-edged, tender, slightly cakey, cookie.
Course cookies, Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword Cookie recipe, cookies, Molasses Snickerdoodles
Prep Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

Dry Stuff

  • 1 3/4 C. all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
  • 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1/8 tsp salt

Creamed Ingredients:

  • 1/2 C. unsalted butter room temperature
  • 3/4 C. granulated sugar
  • 1/4 C. Light or mild Molasses
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Dredge

  • 3 Tbsp. granulated, raw or turbinado sugar
  • 1 tsp Cinnamon

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375° F.
  • In a bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt until well blended. Set aside.
  • In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.
  • Add molasses and beat until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
  • Add egg and vanilla and mix until smooth.
  • Add dry ingredients and mix on low speed until incorporated and no dry flour remains.
  • In a small dish, mix raw sugar together with cocoa powder and cinnamon until well blended.
  • Drop dough by the tablespoonful into sugar mixture, rolling until completely coated. (Dough will be sticky, but the sugar mixture should keep it from sticking to your hands.).
  • Arrange on non-stick or parchment-lined baking sheets, leaving 2 inches of space between cookies. Repeat with remaining dough.
  • Bake for 9 to 10 minutes or until cookies are just set on top and bottoms are lightly golden brown.
  • Let cool for 5 minutes on baking sheets and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Gochujang Caramel Cookies Sweet & Spicy-Winner, Winner from Eric Kim-mer

Gochujang Caramel Cookies Sweet & Spicy-Winner, Winner from Eric Kim-mer

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My favorite cookie this past holiday season was Eric Kim’s Gochujang Caramel Cookie.   I worked my way to writing about it by posting my two other favorite new cookies for the season first, Sue Li’s Orange, Pistachio, and Chocolate Shortbread and Rose’s Almond Crescents. Yep, just like the ones your Grandma, Abuela, Oma, or Nonna probably made.

Back to Eric’s holiday cookie for the New York Times.  His first holiday cookie, a couple of years ago was a homemade version of the Lofthouse Grocery Store Cookie.  A cakey, vanilla-forward cookie topped with real buttercream flavored with freeze-dried berries and finished with a generous amount of sprinkles.  So damn good.  Last year’s M&M Cookie, a kid favorite, is a buttery, chewy cookie, dotted with M&M’s, a precursor to this year’s cookie.

Sweet & Spicy

His Gochujang Caramel Cookie is a bold stroke of genius and gumption.  Gochujang is a fermented spicy chili paste with a touch of sweetness, a mainstay of Korean cooking.  But in a cookie?  It works! Ribbons of Gochujang enveloped in a buttery, chewy, vanilla-forward cookie. Butter and brown sugar are mixed into the Gochujang paste to mellow the chili which helps caramelize it while baking.   The trickiest part when making these is to not overmix the Gochujang butter into the cookie dough so you see the orange-colored swirls of Gochujang in the cookie. Not only do they taste fabulous, but they are visually stunning.

Easy Peasy

The key to making these is having soft butter.  Leave the butter at room temperature for at least an hour before. The butter should be soft but not melty.  Although he recommends making these by hand you can use a mixer.  Remember the golden rule-don’t overmix!  If you use a mixer,  stick to the stir and the low-speed setting.

Watch Eric make these cookies for NYTcooking HERE.

Spicy Pearls of Wisdom- Gochujang Paste is made of chili flakes for heat, glutinous rice for sweetness, and fermented soybeans for flavor.  It is a cornerstone of Korean cooking.  I use the mild paste for the cookies as it does come in various heat levels.  You can find it in most Asian grocery stores or TJ has small tubs of Gochujang made in Korea (full transparency, I haven’t tried it).

Here’s the Hard Part

The tricky part is combining the gochujang butter with the cookie dough.  Eric calls for chilling the cookie dough for a couple of minutes so it is denser than the paste.  The goal is to have streaks of the orange-red paste running through the lighter vanilla dough.  Bites vary in spiciness and sweetness if you don’t blend too much (upping the interest factor).  Spread plops of the paste on the dough and run a small spatula through it to drag the paste into the dough.  NOT TOO MUCH since when you scoop out the dough this will further blend it.  Use a cookie scoop to form balls of dough.  A #40 scoop will give you approximately 18 cookies about 3 inches in diameter with crisp edges and a chewy center.  Reduce baking time to 9-11 minutes.  These are a bit smaller than Eric’s cookie cause I don’t need to eat a 5+ inch cookie and trust me I would, lol.

Cookie Hack

The cookies spread quite a bit so allow lots of space on your cookie sheet for each cute dough ball.  This also allows room around the cookie to use my jar hack/cookie cutter to shape the cookies as soon as they come out of the oven.  The chili paste will spread more than the cookie itself creating a funny-shaped cookie.  Take a cup or a bowl just a little bit bigger than the cookie, place it over the cookie and swirl the cup and cookie.  This “rounds” the cookie out.

Spicy Tip Number 2? Or is it 3?

Have friends and fam that are spice-adverse?  Tell them to pick the cookie that has the least amount of orange!

I adore this cookie for its flavor, texture, and uniqueness!

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Gochujang Caramel Cookies

From Eric Kim and NYTcooking, my favorite cookie this past year! Gochujang Caramel Cookies
Course cookies, Dessert
Cuisine Asian-American, Korean-American
Keyword gochujang, Gochujang Caramel Cookie, holiday cookies
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 11 minutes

Ingredients

Gochujang Butter

  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter very soft
  • 2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon gochujang paste heaping

Creamed Mixture

  • 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
  • 1 large egg at room temperature
  • ½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt (Morton's) or ¾ teaspoon if using Diamond Crystal
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Dry Stuff

  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour 185 grams

Instructions

  • In a small bowl, stir together 1 tablespoon butter, the brown sugar and gochujang until smooth. Set aside for later, at room temperature.
  • In a large bowl, by hand, whisk together the remaining 7 tablespoons butter, the granulated sugar, egg, salt, cinnamon and vanilla until smooth, about 1 minute. Switch to a flexible spatula and stir in the baking soda. Add the flour and gently stir to combine. Place this large bowl in the refrigerator until the dough is less sticky but still soft and pliable, 15 to 20 minutes.
  • While the dough is chilling, heat the oven to 350 degrees and line 2 large sheet pans with parchment.
  • Remove the dough from the refrigerator. In 3 to 4 separately spaced out blobs, spoon the gochujang mixture over the cookie dough. Moving in long circular strokes, swirl the gochujang mixture into the cookie dough so you have streaks of orange-red rippled throughout the beige. Be sure not to overmix at this stage, as you want wide, distinct strips of gochujang.
  • Use an ice cream scoop to plop out ¼-cup rounds spaced at least 3 inches apart on the sheet pans. (You should get 4 to 5 cookies per pan.) Bake until lightly golden at the edges and dry and set in the center, 11 to 13 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. Let cool completely on the sheet pan; the cookies will flatten slightly and continue cooking as they cool. *See post for making smaller cookies. I used a #40 scoop which is just shy of an ounce. 1/4 cup is 2 ounces for comparison.
  • The cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Notes

Mixing this dough by hand is highly recommended for the most defined crinkles and the chewiest texture.
Yet Another Peanut Butter Cookie, Soft and Chewy

Yet Another Peanut Butter Cookie, Soft and Chewy

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Peanuttttt, peanut butter….cookie!  If asked what my favorite cookies are, Shortbread, Snickerdoodles, and Thumbprints immediately come to mind.  Peanut Butter Cookies would not make the cut and yet a quick search of 3Jamigos will reveal more than a few recipes for peanut butter cookies.  This leads to my 🤦🏻‍♀️ forehead slap moment  “I LOVE peanut butter cookies, they should be on my fav list.” Life’s little epiphanies.

The other night our postcard posse reconvened to write cards for Reverend Warnock in Georgia.  How he is in a run-off with Hershel Walker is beyond me and beyond the scope of this blog.  I made a half-hearted promise to keep this site apolitical.  Just food, friends, and fluff.  So in the immortal words of Forest Gump… “that’s all I have to say about that.”

For our postcard session against He who shall not be named, my friend’s daughter, Avery, of Kentucky Butter Cake fame, dropped off some just baked Peanut Butter Cookies for our crew.  I’m sure in solidarity and because she loves to bake (and she is darn good at it).

One Bite…

and I knew there was going to be yet another peanut butter cookie recipe on 3Jamigos.  Yep, Avery’s PB Cookies were tender, chewy in the center, super peanut buttery, sweet, and salty, and just darn delicious.  I got on the horn (ok, I texted) faster than you can say Mr. Planter’s Peanuts and asked “can I PLEASEEE have the recipe”.

Lucky Her Mom Likes Me

Voila’ the recipe showed up in my text message, lickity-split.  Adapted from a very cute blog Dessert Now Dinner Later, the recipe for Thick and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies is easy and does not require chilling before baking.  You can have a batch of these bad boys done in less than an hour.

I use King Arthur flour which has a higher protein than GM or Pillsbury.  Feel free to bake off a test cookie, if it spreads too much, add a bit of flour.

Cream the butter and sugar for 1-2 minutes until it is well blended and smooth looking, not fluffy.

Add the peanut butter, egg, and vanilla.  If you like more texture, feel free to use chunky peanut butter.  Beat until well combined.

Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed just until combined with no remaining traces of flour.  Do not overbeat as this will toughen the cookie.

Use a #40 scoop (approximately 1.6 tablespoons) and place the dough on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Bake one sheet at a time.  Cause that’s how I roll or row actually, lol.  The final cookies will be just shy of 3 inches in diameter.

The cookies on top were baked for 12 minutes.  The cookies on the bottom with sprinkles, about 11 minutes.

This would be a lovely holiday cookie to gift or for Santa along with an ice-cold glass of milk or a hot toddy (don’t tell the kids).

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Peanut Butter Cookies

A thick but tender Peanut Butter Cookie that is delicious and easy to make!
Course cookies, Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword Dessert Now, Dinner Later, easy recipe, peanut butter, Peanut Butter Cookies
Prep Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Ingredients to Cream together

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter or chunky if you like I use Skippy Natural Style peanut butter
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Options

  • chocolate chips or sprinkles, raw sugar, Maldon Salt

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lined cookie sheets with parchment or silpat. (note silpats retain heat, check cookies a minute or two earlier.
  • In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, using a whisk.
  • Cream the butter and sugars together in the bowl of a stand mixer for 1-2 minutes until well combined. Batter should be smooth and creamy not fluffy which would give you cakey cookies. Use the paddle attachment.
  • Add the peanut butter, egg, and vanilla. Mix well and scrape the bowl.
  • Add flour mixture to the butter mixture all at once and mix on low speed just until incorporated.
  • Scoop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until just set*.
  • Allow cookies to cool slightly on the sheet for approximately 2 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. Store cookies in an airtight container.

Notes

For softer, chewier cookies, bake approximately 10 minutes, +/- 30 seconds.  The cookies will not color much and the top may still have some sheen.  The cookies will continue to bake outside the oven.  
For a denser, cookie that's a bit crumbly (in a good way), bake for 12 minutes.  The cookies will have some color on top and the edge.  The bottoms will be a bit darker.
Feel free to embellish. Add mini-chocolate chips to dough or add sprinkles.  I use a blend of dark chocolate sprinkles, Demerara Sugar or raw sugar, and a sprinkle of Maldon Salt.
Ritz Cookies (Crackers in Your Cookies?)

Ritz Cookies (Crackers in Your Cookies?)

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Cracker for crackers like me?  I love crackers, the perfect vehicle for dips, spreads, and cheese…it is the ultimate edible utensil.  Taking its place as the number one cracker in my book is Ritz Crackers.  Buttery, golden, flaky rounds that go with everything.

When I find a recipe that uses crackers…I’m all there, Babee.  I know it’s gonna be good, especially if it calls for Ritz Crackers.  One of my favorite desserts is the Atlantic Beach Pie, a delicious, easy, Lemon Pie with a whipped cream top instead of meringue and a Ritz Cracker crust, a play on salty and sweet.

On the main dish front, I love Eric Kim’s Ritzy Cheddar Chicken Breasts, chicken breasts coated in a sour cream-mustard mixture, and rolled in crushed Ritz Crackers and cheddar cheese, think Shake and Bake but WAY better.

DUH

So, when I came across a recipe from Christina Tosi of Milk Bar fame, for a Ritz Cookie, little alarms went off in my head.  GOTTA MAKE THESE ASAP.  Tosi is known for her delicious, quirky desserts like Crack Pie, Compost Cookies, and my personal favorite, Corn Cookies.  I immediately headed to the kitchen to make a batch.

These cookies are pretty darn easy to make.  It calls for butter, granulated sugar, flour, egg, milk powder, and Ritz Crackers. The recipe is on Christina Tosi’s website and as such is pretty casually written, I’ve added some details to hopefully clarify some of the steps.  Let’s get started.

Puttin In the Ritz

I use King Arthur’s AP flour in this recipe.  Doing a deep dive, ok, a Google search, Christina Tosi uses bread flour for cookies. Bread flour has a higher protein content which probably slows down cookie spread.  Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.  Break up Ritz Crackers into pieces, not too small.

Though the type of butter is not specified, I used unsalted butter which worked fine.  If you want a pronounced sweet-salty vibe, start with salted butter instead, or sprinkle Fleur de Sel or your choice of finishing salt on the cookies as soon as they come out of the oven.  Beat butter and sugar until combined and smooth not fluffy.

Add the egg (I might add a touch of vanilla next time too-1 tsp), and beat well.  Add dry mix and blend on low speed just until combined.  Once the flour is added, don’t beat too much.  You don’t want tough cookies.

Add the Ritz Crackers!  Note how big the pieces are.

On low speed, stir until the crackers are mixed into the dough.  This breaks the larger pieces into smaller ones which is what you want.  You don’t want cracker dust.  Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes, this helps a bit with excessive spread.

Using a 2-tablespoon scoop, form dough balls, and place on a parchment-lined sheet.  Word of caution, they spread quite a bit so space at 2-3 inches apart.  I also tried a 3-tablespoon scoop, interestingly enough it didn’t spread that much more than the 2-tablespoon scoop and formed a thicker cookie.

To create round cookies, as soon as you remove the cookies from the oven, quickly shape each cookie with a spatula or cover each with a  glass cup and swirl the cookie around.  Voila’ round cookie.  Cookies on the left were made with a 3-tablespoon scoop while the ones on the right were with a 2-tablespoon scoop.  Thinner cookies were a bit chewier.

Bake Time

The original recipe calls for 1/4 cup or 4-tablespoon scoop, 10-12 minutes.  These still took about 11 minutes despite less dough.  The bottoms were definitely a toasty brown, the edges crispy, and the center chewy and sturdy. Start checking early, as they color quickly. Remove when there is still a hint of sheen on the top of the cookie.  The cookies will continue to cook out of the oven.

Enjoy!

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5 from 1 vote

Ritz Cracker Cookie by Christina Tosi

A buttery, crispy-edged, sweet-salty, chewy-centered cookie, thanks to Ritz Crackers!
Course cookies, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American
Keyword Chewy Toasted Sesame Cookies, christina tosi, cookies, Crispy, Ritz Crackers, sweet-salty
Prep Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

Creamed Mixture

  • 2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup) at room temperature
  • 1-3/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg

Dry Ingredients

  • 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup nonfat milk powder
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda

The Star

  • 2-1/2 cups or 1 sleeve + 5 Ritz crackers Break crackers into big pieces, once added to batter they will breakdown a bit more. Do not crush.

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375°F.
  • Combine flour, milk powder, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a small bowl. Set aside.
  • Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl, on medium speed, mixing until smooth about 1 -2 minutes. Add the egg, beat again until well combined.
  • Add flour mixture and beat on low speed just until it is blended. Do not overbeat.
  • Add the crackers and mix until fully incorporated. You want your crackers to break down into smaller pieces as you mix, but not to cracker dust stage. There should be small pieces of crackers in the dough.
  • Scoop dough on a greased baking sheet (or use parchment paper) 2 to 3 inches apart. The recipe calls for a 1/4 inch scoop which makes HUGE cookies and about 18 cookies. Use a 2-tablespoon or 4-tablespoon scoop which yields 24-36 cookies. You should have twice the number of cookies.
  • Bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges are a deep golden brown and the center a paler golden brown. The dough spreads quite a bit. Chilling the dough helps a bit, but my quick fix to rounding the cookies-as soon as the cookies come out of the oven. Use a spatula to push the edges to shape the cookies into circles. Conversely, use a glass slightly larger than the cookie, place over the cookie and swirl the cookie to round out the shape.
  • Remove cookies from oven and allow to cool. Enjoy!
White Rabbit CC Cookies-We Got Em, Go Tell Alice

White Rabbit CC Cookies-We Got Em, Go Tell Alice

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As a kid, I spent a lot of time running the streets of Chinatown in San Francisco.  After school, I headed to Chinatown to attend Hip Wo Chinese School, which conveniently was housed in the same church our family attended.  I’d love to tell you I was a stellar student and fluent in both Cantonese and English but that would be a lie.  The highlights of Chinese School were recess, calligraphy (a lot like painting), and stopping at the little grocery store right next to the church at the end of the day.  We would grab a Carnation cup of ice cream with the little wooden paddle-spoon, or a cup of noodles (this was before instant noodles, so the shopkeeper made catsup noodles, delish, trust me) to hold us until we got home.

Candyland

More often than not, we bought candy from the array right by the register.  I fancy myself a candy aficionado thanks to Chinese School.  My favorites included Ice Cubes, Flickers, Charleston Chews, Big Hunks, Watermelon Stixs, and Milk Duds.  If you recognize all these you’re a genius or just old like me.  I also loved their Asian candies.  Sugus, the precursors to Starburst, Haw Flakes (a sweet-sour plum wafer), and White Rabbit Candy.  White Rabbit is kinda like taffy.  It tastes like sweetened milk.  They’re hard when you first pop one in your mouth but soften as you chew on it. Kinda like a Big Hunk or Look bar.

I haven’t had a White Rabbit in YEARS.  But, they have been showing up in the new crop of Asian bakeries in the Bay Area.  These inventive bakeries and pop-ups like Grand Opening (From the folks at Mr. Jiu’s), Sunday Bakeshop, Breadbelly, Pineapple King Bakery and Spoons Patisserie are fusing French techniques and Asian ingredients (and visa-versa) to create some delightful sweets and pastries.  Char Siu Bao? Nah, gimme a BBQ Pork Danish, how about an Ube Snickerdoodle or Matcha custard-filled Puff?  Genius.  Instead of strawberry, try passionfruit. Black sesame seeds instead of poppy seeds, why not?  Then there is Third Culture Bakery which popularized sweet rice or mochi desserts.  A little gooey, a lot delish, and gluten-free!

CCC with a Twist

Luckily, White Rabbit Chocolate Chip Cookies from Beyond the Noms, popped up on my feed, bingo (was it luck or an algorithm that reads my mind?).  I knew I had to try it.  Essentially it is a chocolate chip cookie with an Asian twist.  Cream butter with sugars until light and fluffy, one to two minutes and the egg and vanilla, beat again.  Add flour mixture and stir just until the flour is mixed in.  Add the stars of the show, the chocolate, and White Rabbit pieces ( you could substitute white chocolate if you can’t find the White Rabbit candy). Done.  I like to chill my dough before baking.  Allows flavors to blend and helps with spreading.

They’re delicious.  A combination of the milky, vanilla candy, and dark chocolate chunks in a buttery, crispy-edged, tender cookie.  Just out of the oven the White Rabbit candy is gooey, chewy, and sticky-soft.  As the cookie cools, it does become denser, just like a Big Hunk.  If you grew up eating White Rabbit morsels or any of the taffy-like candy bars, you are going to love these cookies.  They will stick to your teeth (ahh transparency). Buy a bag when you are going to make these cookies, the fresher the bag the better for softness.  White Rabbit Candy can be found in Asian Grocery Stores, especially Chinese ones.

Beat until light
Stir in chocolate and candy pieces just until incorporated. Don’t overmix.
Use a #40 ice cream scoop to create dough balls. I plopped one chocolate chunk and one piece of White Rabbit on each ball,
Delicious candy cookies with an Asian twist! If the White Rabbit seems a bit hard in cookies that are cold, try warming the cookie up a little which will soften the candy again.
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White Rabbit and Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Asian Twist to Chocolate Chip Cookies, added White Rabbit Candy to cookies!
Course Dessert
Cuisine Asian-American
Keyword beyondthenoms, chocolate chip cookies, cookies, White Rabbit Candy
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Ingredients to Cream

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar packed light or dark
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Additions

  • 1 cup chocolate chunks chips are also fine
  • 15-20 white rabbit candies chopped I used ~15 pieces, tap to cut and it will break easily into pieces. Don't try to saw through them. Leave the rice paper wrapper on, its edible and will dissolve.
  • Maldon sea salt flakes optional

Instructions

  • Sift flour, baking soda and salt together in a small bowl. Set aside.
  • In a stand mixer on medium speed, beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar for 2 minutes. The mixture will lighten in color.
  • Add egg and vanilla and mix on medium speed for 1-2 minutes, until it looks like a buttercream. Scrap down the sides of the bowl occasionally.
  • Add flour mixture and stir (low speed on mixer) until just combined.
  • Stir in chocolate chunks and white rabbit candies.
  • Scoop approximately 2 tbsp. of cookie dough and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Leave roughly 1.5-2 inches between cookies. Optional: stick additional chocolate and candy pieces in each dough ball. Refrigerate for approximately one hour.
  • Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the center has lost that wet sheen look. I like baking one sheet at a time. If you bake multiple sheets, be sure to switch places and rotate sheets midway through baking.
  • The White Rabbit Candy will soften and melt at times creating a not-quite-round cookie. The candy melts and creates crispy edges. While the cookies are still warm just out of the oven you could take a glass and place it over each cookie and swirl thus smooshing the cookie into a round shape OR you could embrace the not-round look and enjoy the sweet crispy edges that look like lava flow off an island.
  • Transfer to a cooling rack and top with Maldon sea salt flakes if desired. Serve warm.

Notes

I use a #0 scoop which is just a little less than an ounce, approximately 1.6 tablespoons.  You could use #30 which is just over 2 T.
Calories: 224kcal
Carbohydrates: 29g
Protein: 2g
Fat: 11g
Black Sesame Chocolate Chunk Cookies from a Nerd

Black Sesame Chocolate Chunk Cookies from a Nerd

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The flavor of the day is toasted black sesame seeds.  They’re delicious-earthy, nutty, and bolder than white sesame seeds.  They add texture, color, and zing to cookies, cakes, and just about anything.  During the holidays I made black sesame shortbread, a tasty rift on shortbread. So, when Black Sesame Chocolate Chip Cookies from Cooking Therapy skittered across my feed, “so making these” was imprinted on my brain.

A couple of “what if I add this or change that” moments resulted in a few tweaks to the cookie as I was trying them. This is the latest version of Black Sesame Chocolate Chunk Cookies.

The Process

I tried both commercially bought Sesame Seed Powder (they do the grinding for you) and grinding my own sesame seeds after toasting.  Most recipes call for seeds that you measure out and then grind to a powder.  The dilemma is how much powder is equivalent to whole sesame seeds.  I weighed half cup of seeds and then half a cup of powder. Powder weighed 40gms,  1/2 cup of seeds weighed 60gms.  Hmmm, for some reason I thought powder being more compact, would weigh more for an equivalent volume. Guess not, bottom line, go by equivalent weights you can’t go wrong BUT that’s 30% more powder or a cup and a half of powder to 1 cup of seeds. My head is about to explode.  Think I’ll just use equivalent volumes.

The first tweak was adding toasted sesame oil, I didn’t notice a significant flavor difference.  Maybe I should have added more.  If you have made Jesse Szewczk’s Toasted Sesame cookies (phenomenal cookie), or Sarah Kieffer’s Sesame Cookie, both use sesame oil to pump up the flavor.

Tahini Paste was the next tweak.  In place of the sesame oil, I added 1 tablespoon of Tahini Paste.  In a stringent scientific experiment, my test cohort (co-workers, lol)  concluded the they could taste the sesame flavor in these.

Looking for a flatter, less cakey cookie, I weighed the amount of flour and stopped at 250gms.  This is where I tell you, implore you, to get a SCALE…

And an ice cream scoop!

A Google search led me to a blog called Crazy for Crust which had an entire section on how to tell when you cookies are done. There is nothing I like more than baking nerds!  For instance, the tendency for me is to bake just a little too long.  Her invaluable tip-when the glossy sheen or wet look is gone and the edges are golden brown, your cookies are done is now my mantra for drop cookies.

Out of the Oven

Cookies continue to “bake” for about 20 minutes after removing them from the oven.  A “just right baked” cookie will fall as it cools creating those lovely crevices.  If you prefer cripsy, round cookies, continue to bake for a couple of minutes,  or if you like raw cookie dough take the cookies out a little earlier.  Your choice, me? I’m like Goldilocks, I want it just right.

Use chocolate chunks, pastilles, or break up chocolate bars/slabs into pieces.  Much more visually interesting than chips.  to go the extra mile, reserve some of the chocolate pieces and place 1 or 2 on each formed cookie dough ball before baking.

Cookie Monster Would Approve

Less flour, Tahini paste and Fleur de Sel to finish the cookies, resulted in a tender, gooey, chocolatey, sesame-y cookie with a bit of crunch from the sesame seeds.  Put this on your bucket list.

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Black Sesame Chocolate Chip Cookies

A chocolate chip cookie with toasted black sesames for a new twist on an old favorite!
Course cookies, Dessert
Cuisine Asian-American
Keyword black sesame seeds, Chewy Toasted Sesame Cookies, chocolate chips, Sesame chocolate chip cookie, sesame seeds
Prep Time 35 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Calories 244kcal

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

  • 2 cups all purpose flour (King Arthur flour) 250gms
  • ½ cup black sesame seeds, powdered I measured toasted black sesame seeds, 1/2 cup = 60gms. I used black sesame seed powder 40gm which measured 1/2 cup in volume. See notes.
  • 1 tsp baking soda

Wet Ingredients

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, browned
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • ¾ cup light brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1.5 tsp toasted sesame oil or 1 tablespoon Tahini paste

Adds

  • 1 ½ cup dark chocolate chips sub semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

  • Combine flour, sesame powder and baking soda in a medium bowl. Mix until combined and set aside.
  • Brown butter in a small sauce pan. Heat butter over medium high heat until the butter melts and then lower it to low. Cook the butter until golden brown and small brown solids start to appear. Remove from the heat and set aside.
  • Combine granulated sugar and light brown sugar in a large bowl. Add the brown butter. Whisk with a stand mixer or hand mixer until just combined.
  • Add the eggs and whisk until a smooth creamy mixture forms. Add the salt, vanilla extract, and sesame oil or Tahini paste and mix until just combined.
  • Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix with a spatula/wooden spoon until just combined.
  • Add chocolate chunks and mix until just combined.
  • Let the cookies rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.
  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Use a 2 tablespoon (medium-sized) cookie scoop to scoop cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet 2 inches apart.
  • Bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges are light brown.
  • Rest for 10 minutes on the baking sheets and then another 10 minutes on a cooling rack before serving.

Notes

So, I have commercially available toasted black sesame powder and I have toasted black sesame seeds.  I decided to try both to see how much it impacted the texture of the cookies.  I weighed the toasted sesame seeds and whirled them in a grinder.  I stopped at a pretty finely textured powder.  If you go too far you will end up with a paste. 
There wasn’t a significant difference in texture between the two.  The sesame does give the cookie a rougher texture, similar to adding a bit of cornmeal, but subtler.
The self-ground sesame seeds to powder cookies seem to have a touch more flavor but I did also switch out the sesame oil for Tahini paste, so it remains to be seen if the seeds were the difference.  I just failed my science class, lol.
Anzac-ly The Delicious Biscuit (Cookie) I Was Looking For

Anzac-ly The Delicious Biscuit (Cookie) I Was Looking For

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Marching orders in hand, I gathered the ingredients to make Anzac Biscuits.   Think Oatmeal Cookie meets Oatcake or Granola Bar…you end up with a biscuit (cookie) that is buttery, sweet-salty, chewy-crispy (are these oxymorons?), and EXTREMELY delicious.

A Brief History On Anzac Biscuits

These tasty biscuits (cookies) can be traced back to World War One and the Australian-New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC).  As the story goes, moms and wives sent these biscuits to their soldiers fighting, both as a morale booster and reprieve from the dreary military rations.  Made simply of flour, coconut, oatmeal, Golden Syrup, butter, they were easy to make and tasty.   The end product was a caramel-ly sturdy biscuit that traveled well and lasted a long time.  A welcomed treat from home.

Simplicity At Its Finest

Put this biscuit recipe in your incredibly easy with huge returns file.  Very easy and perfect for little hands helping in the kitchen.  Stir the dry ingredients together in a big bowl (kids love doing this), melt butter with the Golden Syrup on the stove (you do this), add the baking soda mixture to the butter (once again, your job) and add to dry ingredients (kids love to stir and make a mess).  Scoop, bake, and eat!  Easy-peasy.

Tweaks

The recipe is from Dorie Greenspan’s (Goddess of Baking) book, Dorie’s Cookies.

I used a one-eighth cup to portion the dough (could not find my scoop of this size 🤔) which produced cookies a little over 2 inches in diameter.  Use either a #24 or #30 ice cream scoop for bigger biscuits, I would. They’re that good.

Press the dough into a puck-like disc on the baking sheet.  Gives the biscuits a running start to a nice even shape.

If I had baked these cookies for 17-18 minutes, as directed, I’d have lumps of coal for all those naughty kids at Christmas.  The first batch baked for 14 minutes at 325 degrees, which produced deep golden brown cookies with dark edges.  The second batch baked at 320 degrees for 13 minutes.  The biscuits were deep brown, carrot cake color without the dark edges.  If you like a chewier, lighter-colored cookie, reduce the baking time, personally not recommended.  If you make larger cookies, adjust baking times accordingly.

Subbing honey or corn syrup for Lyle’s Golden Syrup can be done in a pinch.  But if you can, please try to use Lyle’s Golden Syrup.  It is made from sugar cane and has a nuanced caramel flavor you won’t get with honey or corn syrup.  Lots of larger grocery stores carry Lyle’s or you can order it on Big Bad Amazon.  Don’t confuse their Dessert Syrup for the Original Cane Syrup, that’s like Log Cabin to real Maple Syrup.

These biscuits are incredibly tasty and easy to make, put them on your “biscuit” bucket list.

P.S.

Not all these biscuits came out perfectly round as pictured, lol.  As soon as they came out of the oven, I placed a glass over the not-so-round ones and swirled it in a circular motion thereby jostling the cookies into perfect rounds.  Tricks of the trade, babee.

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5 from 2 votes

ANZAC Biscuits

Iconic Austrailian-New Zealand Biscuit (cookie) created during WW1, recipe adapted from Dorie's Cookies
Course biscuits, cookies
Cuisine Australian
Keyword Anzac Biscuits, Anzacs, Dorie Greenspan, Lyle's Golden Syrup
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

  • 1 cup AP flour 136 grams
  • 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats 80 grams
  • 3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut 90 grams
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar 100 grams
  • 1/4 cup light brown sugar or additional granulated sugar 50gms * Not in Dorie's recipe! Add if using unsweetened coconut, omit if you like,

Wet Ingredients

  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt Use 1/4 teaspoon if using salted butter, Dorie's recipe uses sea salt, I thought it was a touch salty.
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter 1 stick
  • 2 tablespoons Lyle's Golden Syrup

Leavening Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon boiling water
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Instructions

  • In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, coconut, sugars, and salt and set aside.
  • In a small saucepan over low heat melt the butter with the Golden Syrup and remove from heat.
  • Combine the boiling water and baking soda in a small bowl to dissolve the baking soda.
  • Pour the water and baking soda into the butter mixture and stir to combine.
  • Pour the butter mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until thoroughly combined.
  • Use a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop to mold each cookie by gently packing dough into ice cream scoop and then turning out onto cookie sheet or form 1 1/2-inch balls of the dough with spoons)
  • Place cookies 1-2 inches apart on baking sheet. Bake for 17-18 minutes* or until deep golden brown (the color of carrot cake). Makes 16-18 cookies.
    *Read my post regarding baking times!

Notes

These cookies should be a nice rich deep brown.  Meant to be a little dense and crispy as they historically needed to travel well.  For a chewier cookie, a little less baking time will do the trick, if that is what you like.  It won't have as much of that nice caramel flavor you get from browning but still tasty!
Old School Almond Cookies

Old School Almond Cookies

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Growing up in Chinatown the standard plate of cookies found on our table was not Chocolate Chip Cookies, but Almond Cookies.  Found in every Chinese Bakery, these were my favorite cookie, well except for the almond in the center, which I ate around, kids, what do you do.

Phoenix Bakery

Last Roadtrip

One of my favorite Almond Cookies comes from Phoenix Bakery in Los Angeles Chinatown.  It’s been there a long time, three generations of the Chan family (hopefully there is a fourth generation) cranking out cookies and cakes.  Theirs is the quintessential Almond Cookie, crumbly not crisp, nutty, dense but not tough, and distinctly almond-flavored. Growing up, every family trip to Los Angeles included the prerequisite stop at Phoenix Bakery for those pink boxes filled with almond cookies and sweet, sticky butterfly cookies. Right before COVID hit, I drove down to LA for my favorite auntie’s birthday and of course, I stopped at Phoenix Bakery.

An Homage

Every Christmas my brother-in-law’s mother baked boxes and boxes (pink cake boxes of course) of cookies.  We were one of the lucky recipients.  My favorite, her almond cookie. With that first bite, I was transported back to the Chinatown of my childhood.

As a testament to how much I like Almond Cookies, I have multiple almond cookies on 3Jamigos.  The first time I wrote about Mrs. F’s Almond Cookies, I actually included the Almond Cookie recipe from B’s Patisserie in San Francisco.  It’s a luscious almond cookie, buttery, crispy, filled with almond flavor, delicious in its own right, but texturally different from the classic Chinatown Almond Cookie.

Finally, Mrs. F’s Almond Cookies

Why didn’t I make Mrs. F’s cookies from the get-go? Embarrassingly, I had misplaced her recipe.  After an all-out hunt, I finally found it (or did I ask my brother-in-law?).  Well, bottom line, I have it now my little duckies.

After the first batch, I tinkered with the recipe just a little.  The cookies texturally were spot on.   Here is the secret, the texture comes from using lard or shortening.  Yep, no butter in these bad boys.  Hmmm…butter-flavored shortening?  Why not.  This was my inaugural use of butter-flavored Crisco in place of regular shortening.  Judging by the response to these cookies, it worked!  If you have an aversion to butter-flavored shortening, use regular shortening.  If and when I try lard I will report back.  I have no problems using lard, it’s more of an access issue.  I prefer leaf lard which is less processed than the stuff in supermarkets.

Shortening is easy to work with and inherently a little softer than butter. I keep my shortening in the fridge. Beat the dough until light and fluffy 2-3 minutes before adding dry ingredients.

Let’s Go Nutty

The other tweak MORE almond flavor.  I upped the amount of almond extract cause in my book, you can never have too much almond flavor. JK, but I did think the cookies benefitted from a smidge more.

Year of the Tiger

Don’t think cookie season is over!  Chinese New Year is right around the corner and these would be purr-fect in an assortment of goodies to ring in the Year of the Tiger!

Part of the Holiday Cookie Parade
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Almond Cookies -like the ones in Chinatown!

This recipe was generously shared with me by my brother-in-law's family. Made with lard or shortening, these are the quintessential Chinese Almond Cookies found in Chinatown bakeries and restaurants. Crumbly, almond-forward, delicious
Course cookies, Dessert
Cuisine Asian
Keyword Chinatown Almond Cookies
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

  • 5 cups sifted flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups Shortening, either reg or butter-flavored 40T (35 T will do)
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 large egg lightly beaten
  • 1.5 tsp almond extract Use up to 2 tsp
  • 1/4 tsp potassium carbonate liquid or 1/4 t baking soda

Finishing Touches

  • 1 egg beaten for egg wash
  • almond halves or sesame seeds garnish

Instructions

  • Combine flour, baking soda and salt, set aside.
  • Cream shortening and sugar till fluffy. Add egg and blend thoroughly. Add almond extract and k+Co3 and blend well.
  • Gradually add flour and stir until well combined. Form round balls (size of small walnut, I use a 1 tablespoon+ ice cream scoop to portion out the dough. At this point, if the dough seems a little soft, chill in fridge for 30-60 minutes.
  • Using a flat bottom glass, dip in a little bit of flour and press dough flat on a cookie sheet to about 1/2 inch thickness. Leave about 1.5 inches between cookies. Brush each cookie with egg wash. Place almond or sesame seeds centered on top.
  • Bake 350 degrees 15 minutes or until slightly golden in color.

Notes

The recipe is easily halved.  A large beaten egg is approximately 3.25 tablespoons, use half for the dough and half for the egg wash.  You have some play with the amount of egg in the dough. I have used a whole large egg in a half recipe and it turns out fine, the cookie is just a bit more fragile. I'd use a small egg in a half recipe.
I like the butter-flavored Crisco in the cookie. Gives a bit more flavor without sacrificing the texture of the cookie.