Cookie Monster’s famous cookie recipe

This Cookie Monster recipe is similar but not identical to the original Toll House (wiki) recipe which I carry in my head (and which can be found on the back of almost any brand of chocolate chips you find in the grocery store (see bottom of post for the recipe).

Larger version here.

The original:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks, 1/2 pound) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated [white] sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups (12-ounce package) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 cup chopped nuts

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in large mixer bowl. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake in preheated 375-degree [Fahrenheit] oven for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

PAN COOKIE VARIATION: Prepare dough as above. Spread into greased 15"x10" jelly-roll pan. Bake in preheated 375-degree [Fahrenheit] oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack.

FOR HIGH ALTITUDE BAKING (>5,200 feet): Increase flour to 2 1/2 cups; add 2 teaspoonfuls water with flour; reduce both granulated sugar and brown sugar to 2/3 cup each. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit, drop cookies for 8 to 10 minutes and pan cookies for 17 to 19 minutes.

Related: Bake the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies by Knowing What to Tweak.

Easy (4 ingredient) chocolate coconut pecan cookies.

Preheat the oven to 350°F

Ingredients:

1 (14 oz) bag sweetened coconut flakes

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

2 cups semi-sweet (or dark) chocolate chips

2/3 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine everything - coconut, chocolate chips, pecans, and sweetened condensed milk. Stir well.

Drop rounded teaspoons of dough on the baking sheet.

Flatten each ball of dough slightly, with a wet fork or wet fingers.

Bake for 10 minutes and check - they may need a couple more minutes. They're done when the tips of the coconut are starting to turn golden brown.

Let cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet.

Chocolate caramel bars recipe

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Use cooking spray on an 8x8 or 9x9 inch baking pan - if you want more, thinner pieces, use a 13x9 inch pan.

Ingredients: 

1 box German chocolate cake mix

1/2 cup melted butter

2/3 cup evaporated milk, separated

The recipe I used to use called for one 14 ounce package vanilla caramels, unwrapped, but the bags of caramels are now 11 oz, and these are better with more caramel then less. If you can find them, get these Kraft caramel baking bits, which are just unwrapped caramel.

1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

12 oz bag semisweet chocolate chips 

In a mixing bowl, combine cake mix, melted butter and 1/3 cup of the evaporated milk - beat at medium speed until smooth. Spread half the dough in prepared baking pan and set aside the rest.

In heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine caramels and remaining 1/3 cup evaporated milk. Cook and stir frequently over medium-low heat until smooth - set aside to cool slightly, then pour evenly over the dough layer in pan. Sprinkle with nuts, if using, and chocolate chips. Crumble remaining dough evenly over nuts and chocolate pieces. It won't spread evenly, but that's fine.

Place on center rack of 350 degree oven. Check at 25 minutes - maybe a an extra few minutes for the 8x8 pan. I like to cut these small because they're very rich.

Thursday links

June 28 is the anniversary of both the event that started (the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife - heirs to the Austrian throne) and the treaty that ended World War One

The NSA’s Hidden Spy Hubs in Eight U.S. Cities.

DARPA Literally Reinvented the Wheel.

Want your vagina steam-cleaned but don't have a spa nearby? Here are the do-it-yourself instructions.

WHO (World Health Organization) warns you not to drink camel urine.

Bake the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies by Knowing What to Tweak.

ICYMI, Wednesday's links are here, and include Helen Keller's birthday, the science of colorful monkey butts (and a gallery), the new supervolcano is brewing under New England. and the taxpayer funding behind Domino's Extra Cheesy Pizza. 

Cake mix cookies - lemon or orange

This works well with lemon or orange cake mix. I don't see why it wouldn't work with other flavors, but I haven't tried anything else.

Ingredients

1 package lemon (or orange) cake mix 

2 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil 

1 teaspoon lemon (or orange) extract plus the zest of one lemon or orange*

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar 

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Whisk together (thoroughly) the eggs, oil, and extract/zest. Add the cake mix and stir well. 

Stop now and refrigerate for at least a couple of hours - overnight is fine. If you can't do this, the cookies will still work, but they're much easier to handle after refrigeration.

Drop teaspoonfuls of dough into a bowl of confectioner's sugar, roll them around and put them on an ungreased foil- or parchment-covered baking sheet. This is for easy cleanup, not because it affects the cookies. If you like scrubbing cookie sheets, feel free to leave off the foil or paper.

Bake for 8 minutes in the preheated oven - they won't get brown on the top, but they will on the bottom. If your oven runs hot or cold, adjust accordingly - you may also need to add time if you make bigger cookies.

*You may be tempted, as I was, to use orange or lemon juice instead of extract. Lemon juice is an OK substitutie because it's strong, but stick to the 1 teaspoon measurement. A teaspoon of OJ would contribute little in terms of flavor, and adding more liquid (like, for example, enough OJ to add flavor) makes the dough mushy and hard to handle.

Snickerdoodle recipe

By request:

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 1/2 cups white sugar

2 large eggs*, room temperature

3 teaspoons good vanilla extract

2 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda**

1 teaspoon cinnamon

To roll the dough in before baking, combine:

3 tablespoons white sugar

4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cream together the butter and the 1 1/2 cups sugar. Add the eggs and the vanilla and beat until soft.

Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and baking soda. 

Shape dough by rounded teaspoonfuls into balls.

Mix the 3 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture, and place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake exactly 8 minutes, and as soon as they come out of the oven, sprinkle on a little more of the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheets, and cool completely before storing.

* If your eggs are too big the dough will spread too much. Most recipes call for large eggs - in a recipe calling for 2 eggs, it probably won't matter much, but if you double the recipe it might - 4 extra large eggs are approximately the equivalent of 5 large. If you have extra large and are worried, you can pour off a little of the white (or whisk the eggs first and pour off a little of the mixture). The simplest thing, if you do much baking, is to just always buy large. Here's a conversion chart.

* Baking soda goes flat very quickly, which will give you flat cookies (which are just as delicious, only flat) - here's how to check. Expired or Still Good? The Quickest Way to Test Baking Soda & Baking Powder for Freshness

Easy variations - add nutmeg, cloves, or cardamon to the cinnamon mixture.