Cookie Making Tips #1: Butter or Shortening?

Should you use butter or shortening in your cookies? Here are some things to consider:

Knowing the differences between butter and shortening can help you decide which ingredient is right for your cookies. The main reason for using shortening instead of butter is that it has a higher melting point. This helps the cookies maintain their shape during baking, leaving you with a puffier, more cake-like cookie. Butter’s lower melting point increases the spread of the dough during baking, resulting in a flatter, browner, and crispier cookie. Butter also has water in it naturally, while shortening does not. If you plan to use shortening in a recipe that calls for butter, you may want to add some water to the dough; about 1.5 teaspoons per ¼ cup of shortening. Most people will still prefer the taste of butter over shortening.

Share

Coconut Crispies

Yield: about 4 dozen

Source: My husband's family has been making these for a long time.

This is another unusual recipe I inherited when I married my husband. His family has made this cookie for decades, and I have never seen anything like it anywhere else. I mean, it's not every day you come across a cookie with corn flakes in it, right?

Let me start with the recipe, it's a pretty straightforward one.

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1-2 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

3 1/4 cups flour

2 cups coconut

2 cups corn flakes

I will tell you that there is no need to crush the corn flakes up. Just leave them whole and dump them in. Mix the ingredients in order, and drop them onto the cookie sheet.

Honestly, I have had trouble getting these just right. When my mother-in-law makes them, they tend to turn out kind of flat, but mine never come out that way. So this time, I did some experimenting.

What I am going to recommend is that you first start with very small piles of dough. Then use a fork to smash the cookies down before baking. I baked mine for close to 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

You can just bake them up without the smashing, and they will turn out all puffy and pretty. However, you may need to increase baking time just a bit, because they have a tendency to be a little underdone in the center.

I really liked how they turned out when I smashed them first. They not only have that nice fork pattern (reminds me of peanut butter cookies) but they also come out quite chewy. They should be a little crispy on the outside, but much chewier than say, a chocolate chip cookie.

This is a nice cookie if you are looking for a change of pace. It's not as sweet as some other cookies, it doesn't include chocolate, or peanut butter, or nuts. Plus, if you take this to a get-together, you will be assured that no one else is bringing the same thing!

Share

Peanut Butter Stuffed

Yield: about 3 1/2 dozen

Source: The Clumbsy Cookie blog, the Cookie Madness blog, and the Pillsbury website. The links are included below.

Oh, how I love a peanut butter cookie. I love peanut butter in just about anything, even (and maybe especially) ice cream. Yum. The other day, I found this fabulous recipe on this really fun cookie blog called The Clumbsy Cookie. All I did was look at the pictures, and I was in love. So, I was pretty excited to try them, I don't mind telling you.

Okay, so I started with this peanut butter cookie recipe, which I found at the above link, but which actually comes from this blog, Cookie Madness.

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup peanut butter, smooth or chunky (less sweet peanut butters work best)
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups sifted flour —if you don’t sift, use 1 1/3 cup

I normally don't keep dark brown sugar around. But, as it turns out, when I went to make the cookies, I didn't have any brown sugar at all around, so I ran to the store. I honestly don't know how much of a difference it makes to have dark brown rather than light brown sugar. I'll let you experiment with that on your own. I can tell you, however, that this cookie dough is amazing. I had to physically stop myself from eating it.

Here is where the cookie gets interesting.

In a bowl, mix together 1/2 cup of peanut butter with 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. It should look (and taste) like a drier, more crumbly, but sweeter version of peanut butter.

Then, chop up a couple big squares of dark chocolate into little bits. I used a nice 70% dark chocolate bar, and 2 squares was enough for about half the batch.

Also, mix together 1 tsp cinnamon with 1/4 cup sugar.

Now that your preparations are made, it's time to get serious. Start by washing your hands. You might want to have a hand soap you love nearby, because seriously, I think I washed mine at least 25 times today. Start with a little ball of dough, and smash it flat in your hand.

Add in the chopped chocolate...

And a little glob of peanut butter/powdered sugar...

And wrap the edges around into a nice neat little package.

Now roll the whole thing in the cinnamon/sugar mixture and place on a cookie sheet for baking.

I have to admit, I was a little leery about the cinnamon and peanut butter together, but as it turns out, there was no need to fear. It's a delicious combination. Those of you who are actually reading through all this and looking at the links might have also noted that I left out the peanuts. The funny thing about that is that while my family is picky about nuts, they do actually eat peanuts. But I don't really like them in the peanut butter cookie. It's a quirk, I know. I say, it's your choice.

The recipe calls for baking at 375 degrees for 7-12 minutes. I think that is quite a large window of baking time. I baked mine for about 10 minutes, and they turned out beautifully. They were slightly crispy on the outside, with all this lovely and gooey chocolaty and peanut-buttery yumminess inside.

I did bake some up plain, without the filling inside, and honestly, I wish I hadn't. What was I thinking? Leaving chocolate out would make the cookie better?

Share

Chocolate Frosted

Yield: about 3 dozen

Source: My mom got the recipe from her aunt, who it seems learned it from her mother, who got it from who knows where?

When I started this blog, my mom told me about her favorite cookie from her childhood. Apparently, her grandmother used to make these chocolate frosted cookies, and my mom remembers loving their cakey texture and frosting. Who wouldn't? My mom had to call her aunt for the recipe, and I for one, am glad she did. Now that I have made the cookie myself, I almost cannot forgive Mom for not making this cookie when I was a child!

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

2 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup buttermilk (I have never come across a recipe with buttermilk that I didn't love!)

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. soda

1 2/3 cup flour

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

There's no real trick to making this dough. Just melt the chocolate, (I melted mine in the microwave) and mix the ingredients together in order. I will say that I used bread flour, only because this recipe has a tendency to get a little dry and heavy. I was definitely glad that I did.

You can skip poison checking this dough. It is not the greatest raw dough I have tasted. Instead, have a warm cookie right out of the oven, before they are frosted. Yum.

The dough does not go on in neat little balls. As you can see, they are unruly piles of dough. It's part of their charm. I made the cookies quite small, as well. I recommend making them small, because the yield is only about 3 dozen, and you will want to make use of every tool in your arsenal to make these babies last more than a day or two.

Bake them at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. I cooked them for 10 minutes, because they were small-ish. See how they bake up all puffy and beautiful? If they are not puffy, consider adding a touch more flour. Let them cool a few minutes before adding frosting.

I have trouble putting a frosting recipe down on paper. I'm just not the type to measure frosting, or purchase ready-made frosting, for that matter. I will tell you that for this recipe, I started by melting about 3 tablespoons of butter, and it turned out to be not quite enough. So, start with about 4-5 T. Melt the butter, add a little vanilla (about 1/2 tsp) and some cocoa powder (about 1 T.). Give that a quick mix with the hand mixer to smooth all those ingredients together, and then add some powdered sugar. Once again, I don't ever measure it, I just start adding some in a bit at a time, until it gets to the right consistency.

Today, I accidentally made the frosting too thick and it turned into little frosting pebbles. Still delicious, but terrible for spreading. I added about a teaspoon of milk, and the problem was solved. Honestly, the greatest thing about frosting is that it is so forgiving. Just keep adding powdered sugar or milk until you get the right consistency. Just keep some graham crackers on hand to spread the excess frosting on, if you have any! For this cookie, I actually wanted the frosting to be just a touch thin, and as it turned out, I got the consistency exactly right. (an unusual feat for me!)

I frosted the cookies gently and left them out to continue cooling. I was disappointed that my frosting only lasted as long as 21 cookies. :( Ah, what a wonderful cookie. I'm so glad to be re-introduced to a cookie my great-grandmother used to serve her family.

Share

Chocolate Chip

Yield: about 3 dozen

Source: Alton Brown's "The Chewy"

I remember the day my friend told me about this recipe. She urged me to go to Alton Brown's website and find this particular recipe. Being the Alton Brown fan that I am, I found and tried the recipe right away. At that time, the recipe had 525 reviews and 5 out of 5 stars. Today, 661 reviews and still 5 stars. Did anyone rate it less than 5 stars? I doubt it. I personally can't see how they could do it. It is hands-down the best chocolate chip cookie I have ever tasted. And I have tasted a lot of chocolate chip cookies.

Here is Alton's recipe:

2 sticks unsalted butter

2 1/4 cups bread flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 T. milk

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Alton asks you to sift the flour, salt and soda together, and I rebelled and did not do this step. Actually, the truth is that I don't have a decent sifter and, more importantly, I am lazy. I'll admit it. I just put them in one at a time when it calls for dry ingredients, and I do the flour last. I know, I know... I'll get a sifter someday. No promises, though, about how often I will use it.

Melt the butter and add it to the mixing bowl. I used salted butter, rather than unsalted, because it was what I had in my fridge. If you do that, just be sure to cut your salt down to 1/2 tsp.

Add the sugar and brown sugar and cream on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, milk, and vanilla, and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Isn't it lovely? And dough made with real butter instead of shortening is definitely worth tasting before baking!!

While I'm thinking about it, I should mention that I agree with Alton on the bread flour. I keep a small amount on hand, though I use it only rarely. This recipe is one of the few reasons to keep it in the house at all. He also recommends that you let it chill for a couple hours. When I made them, I was short on time, so the dough only chilled for 45 minutes.

Alton calls for a #20 disher to scoop these onto the baking sheet. I have never been one to scoop cookies with an ice-cream scoop, (and therefore I don't own one appropriate for cookie dishing) so I just used spoons. Boring? Maybe. I do wonder, though, how big the #20 disher is. I suspect it is pretty big, because Alton calls for baking at 375 degrees for 14 minutes. I did mine at 350 for about 10-11 minutes, and they were plenty brown.

This might also be a good time to mention how much I love baking with a stone. The one I use came from Pampered Chef and I have used it for several years. My husband dropped it and broke a corner off, so I can now make only 9 cookies at a time, but I still use it. I love that it cooks evenly, doesn't require parchment paper, and is so easy to clean.

The cookies came out beautifully. They are just a touch crunchy, mostly chewy, with gooey chocolate chips and a wonderful buttery flavor. Perfection, thou art a chocolate chip cookie!! Do yourself a favor and eat one right out of the oven.

Share