Cookie Challenge - Changing Direction

So, I decided to shift my Cookie Love challenge to a new cookie cookbook. I knew there were gonna be some cookies in the Cookie Love book that I didn't like (for example the Oatmeal Scotchies) but as I started really looking through the book, I realized, I was going to enjoy like, none of the cookies. 

I started reading through the recipes, I mean really reading through them and they were getting pretty strange and complex. And the ingredients started getting more specialty, and I'm not sure where I would be able to find them. For example, I don't eat Lemon Goat-Butter Tea Cookies and wouldn't be able to find goat-butter at Kroger. 

So went in search of a new cookie book. And I found one. 

Milk & Cookies: 89 Heirloom Recipes from New York's Milk & Cookies Bakery

Now, this is my kind of cookie book. It contains six chapters of externally yummy sounding cookies. Think chocolate chip, double chocolate chip mint, oatmeal raisin, dark chocolate peanut butter cookies, m&m's cookies and gingersnaps, just to name a few. 

So there. I've switching books. But I'm keeping the name "Cookie Love Challenge" because, well, I love cookies. 

Milk & Cookies: 89 Heirloom Recipes from New York's Milk & Cookies Bakery

Amazon | B&N | Goodreads

Cookie Love #3 - Brownie Crinkles

This is part of my Cookie Love challenge.

I'd never made Brownie Crinkles before and let me just say...they are awesome. The recipe was pretty simple. But it dirtied several dishes, which is never a plus. It had me using four different bowls! FOUR! In my house, I don't do the dishes. EVER. So, I felt really bad about filling up the sink this time. Actually, I think I did clean a few, that's how bad I felt about the amount of dishes I had to use. 

To note, that I needed to let the dough chill for at least 30 minutes before scooping and baking. 

I tried a little bit of the dough (OK, it looked like a ball of pure chocolate, who wouldn't try it?) and it tasted pretty salty. The recipe called for a teaspoon of sea salt, and I was surprised that the taste was so strong. But once baked, it wasn't as strong. It was a little strange eating a brownie cookie and it being a little salty, but no one mentioned it, and a lot of people ate them. So, maybe I'm just weird? 

My mouth is watering just looking at these! 

Once they cooled, Rob had four...FOUR! The next day, Sophie ate one while shaking her head up and down and giving me the thumbs up. 

Cookie Love: 60 Recipes and Techniques for Turning the Ordinary into the Extraordinary

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

Cookie Love #2 - Oatmeal Scotchies

This is part of my Cookie Love challenge.

Hmm. This is one of those cookies that I knew I wouldn't like, but I really wanted to try. I love oatmeal cookies. I hate butterscotch. I love chewy cookies. I hate crunchy cookies. These cookies contain butterscotch AND are really thin and crunchy. Still...

I made them, tried them, and hated them.

So to start, the recipe said that I needed to toast my oats in the oven. Then I needed to take two tablespoons of the toasted oats and grind them in a spice grinder. What? I don't have one of those. So, I didn't do any grinding.

These cookies were hard for me to make, not that it was a difficult recipe, it wasn't, it was super simple. But solely because I was required to discourage fluffiness. After several minutes in the oven, I had to tap the cookie sheet to flatten them out. In return for disrupting their baking time, I was rewarding with thin, crunchy, nearly burnt on some, cookies.

Rob said...

"My life will be complete if I ever have to eat one of those again."

Sophie said...

"Yummm... I love them and they are allllll mine!"

Every co-worker who tried one said...

"Those where awesome or really good or amazing!" 

To note: Rob hates butterscotch more than I do.

Cookie Love: 60 Recipes and Techniques for Turning the Ordinary into the Extraordinary

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

Cookie Love #1 - Snickerdoodle

“Any Which Way But You Will Never Lose” Snickerdoodles

This is part of my Cookie Love challenge.

This recipe looked pretty simple. And I had all the ingredients that you need for a snickerdoodle. But, I omitted the sea salt flakes. (I probably shouldn't have, but the cookies still turned out tasty.) 

Any cookie that is rolled in cinnamon and sugar is bound to be tasty.

I don’t know why, but I have never been able to get my snickerdoodles to be fluffy. There is a recipe out there, that produces the perfect fluffyness, and I have yet to find it. Or maybe, I’m just not cut out to make fluffy snickerdoodles.

The book notes how the cream of tartar and the baking soda interact to give the cookies their soft centers. So maybe, my tartar and soda aren't reacting right, because I think my cookies are more crunchy than soft. But then again, maybe, my snickerdoodle standards are just ridiculously high…

Sophia actually cried when she saw the box of cookies I was taking to work. "Mommy, you're taking our cookies. Whhhyyyy?" Then I had to further explain to her that I was taking less than half, and that she was going to have plenty to eat when she came home from daycare.

Cookie Love: 60 Recipes and Techniques for Turning the Ordinary into the Extraordinary

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

Cookie Love Challenge

Since having baby number two, well wait, since getting pregnant with baby number two, I haven’t actually baked a lot. That makes me sad. When I had an opportunity to snatch up a copy of Cookie Love: 60 Recipes and Techniques for Turning the Ordinary into the Extraordinary by Mindy Segal, I got kinda giddy. As I was looking through the book, I realized I needed a challenge. I mean, because raising two young daughters isn't challenging enough, right? I thought it sounded like a good idea.

Challenge: Make one cookie each week until I make all the cookies in the book.

Sound fun? Well my friends and family think so. I’m going to start with the first cookie and go in order until I've made them all. I tend to stay away from difficult or time consuming recipes, but this wouldn't be a challenge if it were easy, now would it?

So tomorrow, I’ll post my first cookie...the snickerdoodle.

Cookie Love: 60 Recipes and Techniques for Turning the Ordinary into the Extraordinary

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N