Cookie Madness

Cornmeal Buttermilk Biscuits

Until this week, I’d never even heard of a cornmeal biscuit, but I saw a recipe in a magazine and had to give it a try. It seemed like the perfect bread to go with a dinner of barbecued chicken.

Get the Recipe! Cornmeal Buttermilk Biscuits

Jumbo 3 Chip Cookies

Congratulations to Lori H. who won the Toll House giveaway!

Lori’s name was drawn randomly in the comment section where I asked readers to pick a recipe off the Toll House site that would be fun to make with kids. I enjoyed reading everyone’s picks and have marked a few down for future baking sessions, including pumpkin bread, which is the recipe Lori chose and which is definitely a great recipe for kids.

For today’s recipe, I chose something a little sweeter and had a baking session of my own. This is a half batch version of a recipe called “Jumbo 3 Chip Cookies” which would be a great recipe to make with kids. I didn’t have any milk chocolate chips, so I used a trio of semi-sweet, butterscotch and white chips. And because the dough was so sturdy, I figured a handful of mini Oreos might work well too. I’m sure the kids can think of even more creative additions.

This version below makes 12 big cookies, but if you use the Jumbo 3 Chip Cookie recipe from Toll House, you’ll get 24 – just enough to share with the class.

Jumbo 3 Chip Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 9.5 oz)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 sticks (12 T.) unsalted butter, softened**
1/2 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extact
1/2 cup NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Milk Chocolate Morsels or Butterscotch Morsels
1/2 cup NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1/4 cup NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Premier White Morsels
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda in medium bowl. Beat butter, salt (if using), granulated sugar and brown sugar in large mixer bowl until creamy.

Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in egg and vanilla. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually stir in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts (if using). Drop dough by level 1/4-cup measure 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets or if not baking right away, chill the dough.

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

An Interesting Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe

Last week I made some mint chocolate ice cream. It went over so well that I decided to pull out the ice cream maker and dust off another old recipe. When it comes to choosing ice cream recipes, I’m less adventurous and tend to stick with ones I’ve made before. This is one of the first ice cream recipes I ever made and it’s kind of special. It’s very chocolaty, has about 1/3 the fat as some premium ice cream, is rich and creamy tasting, yet has no cream. The secret is marshmallow fluff (or marshmallow “creme”, depending on which brand you buy) which you stir into the cooled custard before putting in the ice cream maker. The marshmallow cream helps give the ice cream an extra smooth texture, so you don’t get the iciness or grittiness of some lower fat ice cream and ice milks.

Get the Recipe! An Interesting Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cupcakes

Because of its high fork rating on Epicurious and because I lurrrrrrrrve chocolate cake, I was really looking forward to trying the Chocolate Mayonnaise cake from the April issue of Bon Appetit. Normally I’d make it as a cake, but because I’m still in throes of this strange cupcake obsession, I made a half batch of the cake and baked 18 handsome cupcakes. Now for the review…

Get the Recipe! Chocolate Mayonnaise Cupcakes

Toll House Stay Connected During Back-to-School Giveaway

The lazy days of summer are over, and Fuzz is back in school. We’re settling into a new routine of homework, after school activities, quick play dates and waking up early. I think I took not having to wake up to an alarm clock this summer for granted.

Despite the early mornings, we’re steadily easing into the new school schedule. The challenge we’re facing is staying connected with friends from Fuzz’s old school – kids she’s known since kindergarten and who she’ll meet up with again in junior high. To keep the girls connected, Fuzz stayed in her old Brownie troop, has arranged play dates with old friends after school, and weekend play dates with others. This weekend we invited one of Fuzz’s best buds (her mom calls her Lil’ Miss) over to bake goodies with some gifts from Toll House. The girls had so much fun that I’ve decided to institute a weekly “Baking with Buddies” session to keep the girls connected.

The plan is to keep it simple. We’ll eventually do some scratch baking, but the girls had so much fun making Make it Your Way Cookie Cups with packaged cookie dough, Mini Toppings and other goodies, that I think I’ll let them do some super easy recipes for a while so I can relax behind the camera and take more goofy pictures. I just can’t let their talent of pretending they are TV commercial kids go to waste.

Thanks to Toll House for sending us coupons for free cookies, toppings, matching aprons and super cute labels. And thanks for sending an extra one for me to give to one reader.

For a chance at the Toll House gift pack, go to the Toll House website and pick one recipe you think would be good for an easy, non-stressful, baking session with kids. In the comment section below, tell me what it is.

A comment will be drawn at random by Fuzz or her friend. This giveaway ends Friday (September 3) at noon CST. You can continue posting comments after that, but they won’t be considered for the prize. Also, I am limiting this one to the contiguous US states due to postage issues.