Last night I was so bored I baked 96 cookies.
These cookies:
Chocolate Drop Cookies with Heath Bars, Vanilla Chips, and Pecans
and White Chocolate Coconut Macadamia Cookies
These recipes, with the ridiculous quantities (hidden away at the bottom of the ingredients list so keen cookie-makers like myself don't realise what they've embarked upon until it becomes apparent that two baking sheets will not suffice), are from The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook. This lovely book has a recipe for every classic layer-cake, cheesecake, muffin, bar and cookie you could desire. Along with its delicious sounding Hummingbird Cake, it belongs in the 1950's. I wouldn't say it's the most accessible recipe book I've opened, but it yields scrummy, spongey, more-ish results.
Right! Here we go...
Chocolate Drop Cookies with Heath Bars, Vanilla Chips, and Pecans
From The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook by Jennifer Appel and Allysa Torey
Warning: MAKES ABOUT 3 DOZEN COOKIES
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups plain flour
2/3 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups (approx. 300g) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
3 tablespoons milk (try to use whole if you can...I didn't)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans
4 coarsely chopped Heath Bars or chocolate-covered toffee bars (about 1 cup) We don't have Heath Bars here - I used eclairs..they were too chewy and tough. Try Curly Wurlies?
1/2 cup vanilla chips a 100g bag of white chocolate chips by Super Cook works fine!
I had a lot of fun preparing and piling up (onto a Peter Rabbit plate of course) the embellishments...
Attacking a pile of pecans with a scary knife is more satisfying than you would think...
Tesco Value Eclairs, however, were quite resistant to their "rough chop". And, more to the point, a bit of a pain in the butt in general. My taste testers have said they enjoy the chewiness, but I am not the biggest fan after scraping the melted toffee off the baking trays and having cookies break apart in the process. Anyway - look at the shiny gold wrappers!
This is the plate on which I dipped toasted soldiers into eggy goodness as a wee chickadee (and occasionally as a grown-up chickadee...):
Reading the design these days I wonder why I wasn't more disturbed by it!
Ok, enough fooling around, let's get started properly this time! Preheat your oven to 176 C, 350 F, gas mark 4.
In your second largest bowl, combine the flour, the cocoa powder, the baking soda, and the salt. At this point I whisked them about in the bowl because I couldn't find the sieve. Martha Stewart
taught me that trick.
In your largest bowl, cream the butter and the sugars until smooth, about 3 minutes.
Add the eggs and mix well.
Add the milk and the vanilla extract.
Add the flour mixture and beat thoroughly.
Stir in the pecans, the Heath Bars/their substitutes, and the vanilla chips.
Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased baking trays, leaving several inches between for expansion.
Bake for 10 minutes for a soft cookie, 13 for a crunchy cookie.
Cool the cookies on their trays for 1 minute, then remove to a rack to cool completely.
White Chocolate Coconut Macadamia Cookies
From The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook by Jennifer Appel and Allysa Torrey
Warning: MAKES ABOUT 3 DOZEN COOKIES
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (approx. 226g) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts
Preheat oven to 176 C, 350 F, gas mark 4.
In your second largest bowl, combine the flour, the baking soda, and the salt.
In your largest bowl, cream the butter and the sugars until smooth, about 3 minutes.
Add the egg, the milk, and the vanilla extract and mix well.
Add the dry ingredients and beat thoroughly.
Stir in the white chocolate, the coconut, and the nuts.
Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased baking trays, leaving several inches between for expansion.
Bake until lightly golden - 10 minutes for a soft cookie, 13 for for more crunch.
Cool the cookies on their trays for 1 minute, then remove to a rack to cool completely.
And then? Well, have a teaparty of course!
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