Survey: All About Cookies

All About Cookies

We want to write about it and need to know what you like about cookies. Please help us out. The survey is very short (only 4 multiple choice questions).

Click here to take survey

Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Search

What recipe is the BEST?

The chocolate chip cookie is noted to be the most popular cookie. The most infamous is Nestle's, Toll-House chocolate chip cookie, which is what I usually bake. It got me thinking though. I've seen different variations of the recipe. Usually the variation highlights a company's product or ingredient to use (i.e. Hershey, Land O Lakes, Crisco etc.) within the recipe. This makes me a little suspect. So, I'm on a mission and need your help!

Please comment with or send me (cccookie@pressdough.com) your chocolate chip cookie recipe that you feel is the best. The only requirement is that the ingredients need to be somewhat mainstream and available at most grocer's markets. I'm up for anything, from healthy to sinful. Stay tuned because, after each recipe, I'll review the cookie using Nestle's Toll House cookie as my baseline. Each recipe will be critiqued using the following:

Texture: crispy or chewy, crunchy or soft
Chocolate factor (from 1 to 5, 1 being the least chocolatey)
Healthy or sinful (based on ingredients)
Yum scale (from 1 to 5, 1 being the least yummy, 5+ being off the charts YUMMY!)
Yuk scale - hopefully not, but I have to consider the possibility
Timeline - February 14th will be the announcement (if I get enough entries)
Neighborhood Review/focus group- Don't take my word for it, I'll be handing them out to my neighbors for their opinion.

On your mark, get set, go.....

Fun Cookie Facts

Happy New Year!

2010

Get motivated for some baking! January is the perfect month to nestle yourself in the kitchen, try out some new cookie recipes and have fun. Here are some cookie facts from faqfood.com to get you started:

1. Testing out cake batter and oven temperatures, ancient bakers created the cookie by placing a small amount of batter on a sheet and baking that first.
2. Chocolate chip cookies are the most popular kind of cookie in the United States (tip: good to keep this in mind when baking for others).
3. Cookies are best either fresh out of the oven (warm) or the day after they are baked. Waiting a day lets the flavors absorb with each other.
4. If you seal up freshly baked cookies, they will retain too much moisture and fall apart.

2010 Cookie Talk Blog Resolutions:

• Post more often
• Share new cookie recipes
• Increase participation and information exchange (please leave a comment with an inquiry, suggestion, or recipe exchange)
• Talk about baking experiences and old wives tales (that actually work).
• Review gadgets for baking (Have a gadget for me to review, send me an email?)

Happy Homemade Cookies Day

Happy Homemade Cookies Day!

Celebrate by baking up some traditions, straight from family recipe books:

Polish Cookie Cutouts (flakier and tangier)

Ingredients:
1 lb. butter ( I never promised low-fat)
3 cups Flour
3 Tablespoons vinegar (white)
5 Tablespoons water

Mix together butter and flour. Add the vinegar and water. Separate batter into 2 sections and refridgerate overnite for at least a few hours. Roll out each section to 1/8 inch. Cut into squares or cute cutout shapes. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until the cookie stops bubbling and is light brown. Frost with smooth/cookie icing is best. Makes about 5 dozen.

New spin on cookie cutouts: stick on cookie tattoos to your finished product. Just cut around the edible picture, freeze, peel and stick onto any frosted cookie to create a one-of-kind cookie design.

Not enough time for cookie cutouts?

Try these easy Peanut Butter Squares

Ingredients:
1 - 28 oz jar crunchy peanut butter
2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping:

12 ounces of chocolate morsels
1/2 cup of butter
1 1/2 teaspoon of water

Mix with hands (great for kids to help with). Press into a small cookie sheets (13x9). Melt the chocolate morsels and butter in a double broiler (sauce pan filled 1/4 of the way with water and glass bowl placed over top of water - place on stove on high, water will begin boiling under glass bowl). Add water and spread on top of peanut butter mixture. Chill in refrigerator and cut into squares.