Happy Fourth of July!
Our holiday got off to a good start last night when we discovered the upstairs balcony was a prime viewing spot for the annual neighborhood fireworks display. We would have noticed this last year had there been a fireworks show, but it had been canceled due to the drought. As for tonight, we’ll probably light sparklers and celebrate with friends on the street. I’d planned on taking a hidden flag cake, but we ate the first one and the second one broke and had to be turned into red, white and blue cake balls. But I didn’t want my contribution to be cake balls (Fuzz claimed them as hers, anyway) so I also made a big batch of cookies with three types of chocolate.
The recipe uses baking powder instead of baking soda, plus a ton of flavored chips and nuts, so what you get is a dense, thick cookie jam-packed with goodies. The cookies have a better texture when baked with chilled dough, so for this batch I recommend scooping all the cookie dough ahead of time, refrigerating for a few hours, then baking before the festivities start….or whenever. It’s always nice to shape cookies and chill the rounds ahead of time, because you can keep them in plastic freezer bags and bake as needed.
- 3 cups (13.5 ounces) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt, or only a pinch if using salted butter
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup organic or natural granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups of bittersweet chocolate chips
- 2 cups of extra dark chocolate chips
- 2 cups of white chips
- 1 cup toasted and chopped pecans
- Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together thoroughly and set aside.
- In a last mixing bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Add both sugar and beat for another 2 minutes, then add the eggs and vanilla and beat just until mixed – don’t go crazy trying to make the batter smooth. You want everything to be mixed, but not it doesn’t need to be absolutely smooth.
- By hand or with lowest speed of mixer, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir just until blended. Stir in all of the chips and the pecans.
- Line a cookie sheet with foil. Using a rounded tablespoon, scoop about 60 scoops of dough and arrange them on the cookie sheet without worrying about spacing. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and chill the scoops of dough overnight. When ready to bake, remove from the refrigerator.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and line a couple of baking sheets with nonstick foil or parchment paper.
- Arranging the cold cookie dough balls on baking sheets and let come to room temperature as the oven preheats. Bake one sheet at a time on center rack for 15 minutes or until cookies are nicely browned. Let cool on cooking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Alternatively, you can bake two sheets at a time using the middle and lower rack, but alternate about halfway through so that the cookies bake evenly.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow! I’m sure with all those chips (and your baking expertise), your cookies are going to be the highlight of your neighborhood festivities. Happy Fourth of July, and welcome home to Fuzz!
Very cool cookies! Maybe you want to check out my 4th of July Flag Cake at http://kakbloggen.se/2012/07/4th-of-july-flag-cake-recept/ ? Have a nice day.
Amazing looking cookies, loaded with great things! Your neighbors are lucky. This year we’re having a drought in Tennessee and firecrackers have been banned.
Have fun!
These look great. I’m trying to come up with something to use up the egg yolks left over from my white cake recipe I made for the Flag Cake.
Happy 4th!
I think it’s fitting that the author of Cookie Madness and a coming to us soon book took cookies instead of flag cake.
No doubt they were enjoyed by all! You can’t go wrong with CCC’s packed with all kinds of goodies!
Happy 4th!
Hold on – did I miss something in one of your posts? Are you writing a book?
Hi Darlene,
Yes! I haven’t announced it yet, but it’s available on Amazon. It’s being printed right now. I suppose I should make a formal announcement…
Congratulations! I am thrilled for you and can’t wait to order my copy. Next stop, your own Food Network show!
Massive massively packed cookies on the 4th of July seems so approrpriate and it helps that they look great. And I’ll take these over a cake, if only because I can trick myself into thinking that eating a few isn’t as bad as two pieces of cake
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And congrats again on the book, I’m eagerly awaiting its arrival
Woo-hoo! I just checked out Amazon, and the cover looks scrumptious!
http://www.amazon.com/The-Daily-Cookie-Tempting-Sweetest/dp/1449420702/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341521719&sr=8-1&keywords=Ginsberg+Anna
It’s so dry here that most fireworks displays were cancelled & we can’t even BBQ outside. Bummer. Hope your 4th was good. I’m sure the cookies were!
Guess the secret is out about your book!
Everyone is sharing the link to preorder from Amazon on FB. 
Question–you say you used 2 cups bittersweet cc’s and 2 cups extra dark cc’s–what
are the brands/kind you use? Do you mean semi sweet for bittersweet? I would have
thought or considered bittersweet and extra dark to be the same.
Katrina, that’s a great question. I thought about putting the brands, but didn’t.
For the bittersweet, I used Ghirardelli. Those chips are larger and have a distinct flavor.
For the extra dark, I used Guittard — the ones in the shiny red bag. Those have become my default chip as of late.
For the white I used Ghirardelli, but sometimes I buy Nestle. I don’t care much for white chips, but I use them anyway.
I hardly ever buy semisweet chips these days because I’ve become so accustomed to the extra dark. If I’m feeling rich I buy the Akoma dark (by Guittard) and if I’m feeling like I need to save pennies, I buy Hershey’s dark. If I’m at Central Market (and feeling rich), I buy Callebaut chips.
Martha, sorry your fireworks were cancelled. Ours were cancelled last year, so this year’s were much appreciated.
I’m partial to the Ghirardelli 60% chips. I tried the Guittard and in a taste test like the Ghir. better. I think it’s probably just because I’ve become so accustomed to them that I just prefer the taste. I don’t buy ss hardly either and funny–I really don’t like white chips either, especially when they are just vanilla chips and not real white chocolate. Good to know about all your preferences.