So, because of that, I decided to post on here what I don’t normally post, and that is a chocolate chip cookie recipe. Kind of. I researched ways on how to make the perfect chocolate chip cookies. This isn’t exactly a measure-and-mix recipe just because “perfect” means so many different things to different people. Instead, I’ll let you know what combination you’ll need to have to obtain the cookie you want. (Hopefully.)

1. The most loved chocolate chip cookie is the chewy type (thick and full of moisture).

• One of your goals is to bake the cookie before it has a chance to flatten out; you can achieve this partly by refrigerating the dough and placing it on a cold cookie sheet (NEVER bake cookies on a hot cookie sheet. Put the cookie sheet in the refrigerator between batches.)
• Turn the oven up and bake the cookies for a shorter period of time.
• Use a higher proportion of brown sugar (which contains molasses) to white sugar.
• My favorite Food Network chef, Alton Brown, suggests replacing one of the eggs with just egg yolk + 1 oz of milk since egg whites tend to dry out cookies.
• Most importantly, don’t overcook the cookies. Take them out when they seem a little less than done.

2. Crisp and crunchy cookies have their place in the world too.

• Allow the cookies to spread out and then bake; smaller rounds of dough as well as a lower temperature / longer baking time will make this happen.
• A higher ratio of white to brown sugar will make the cookies crispy.
• Alton Brown suggests increasing the amount of baking soda, which will reduce the acidity of the dough and raise the temperature at which it sets, allowing the cookie dough to spread farther before the cookies cook.

Some important things to note are that you can’t exactly replace butter and margarine as a 1:1 ratio. Margarine has more water, and thus will give you more moisture in your cookies. You can use margarine; just correct the other ingredients accordingly. Place the freshly baked cookies on a cooling rack so that your cookies don’t get soggy on the bottom. Brown sugar needs to be packed while measuring; white sugar doesn’t pack, so you can skip this step with white sugar. It’s not a good idea to pack flour, but rather one should spoon the flour into the dry-goods measuring cup and then leveled out with the back of a knife for an accurate amount.

Of course, you’ll have to do a few batches for trial and error to get your own unique recipe. Use the Nestle Tollhouse recipe (on the back of chocolate chip cookies; also found here) for a standard, really good cookie recipe to start with, then add in your own variations. You won’t even need a cookie jar — just cooling racks!

Sources: Experience, http://www.sunset.com/food-wine/techniques/perfect-chocolate-chip-cookie-00400000012170/ , http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/18/755008/-Whats-for-Dinner:-Controlling-Your-Cookies

Twist and Press Cookie Cutters

Isn’t that the cutest thing! Twist and Press Cookie Cutter at Williams-Sonoma. They’re divided up into three parts (head, body and legs) so you could rotate them and make a bunch of different cookies (4 x 4 x 4 which is 64 different cookies, to be exact). HUGE cookies, too — 2.5″ x 5.5″. I want the robot ones. Would make for really good sugar cookies!! I wish you could bake shaped chocolate chip cookies. Now how about some robot cookies for your cookie jar?!

Let’s say you have a niiiiice batch of chocolate chip cookie dough waiting to turn into warm and chewy chocolate chip cookies. It’s HOT outside, and turning on the oven would make everything worse. Well, why not use the hot summer sun as your source of heat and… say… your car as the oven? It’s been done!!

Don’t tell me that you’ve never had the slightest urge to cook or bake something outside when it’s 100* out. After all isn’t there a saying that says that it’s so hot you can cook an egg on the sidewalk? I think we should change it to it’s so hot you can bake cookies (chocolate chip cookies please!) in your car!

Nicole over at Baking Bites decided to take that to heart and bake them in her car. In short, you need parchment paper, a cookie sheet (see? just like baking regular cookies in a regular oven!) and potholders to make sure the hot pan doesn’t ruin your dash. It took about 2.5 hours in 100* weather outside (180* inside the car in direct sunlight over a short period of time) for the cookies to be done; there is no “golden brown and delicious” visual aspect to these sun-baked cookies due to the lack of caramelization of the sugars; and most importantly, they smelled and tasted deeelicious!!

Let me know if you try this. It doesn’t look like I’ll be able to do this in the next 10 days as predicted by weather.com if I want to follow Nicole’s 100* outside guideline:

			High / Low (°F)	Precip. %
Tonight Jul 21		Mostly Clear	67°	0 %
Wed Jul 22		Partly Cloudy	84°/67°	0 %
Thu Jul 23		Partly Cloudy	85°/68°	0 %
Fri Jul 24		Partly Cloudy	83°/67°	0 %
Sat Jul 25		Mostly Sunny	82°/68°	0 %
Sun Jul 26		Sunny	82°/67°	0 %
Mon Jul 27		Sunny	81°/66°	0 %
Tue Jul 28		Sunny	79°/65°	0 %
Wed Jul 29		Sunny	79°/65°	0 %
Thu Jul 30		Sunny	78°/64°	0 %
Last Updated Jul 21 08:15 p.m. PT

But August is rolling in VERY quickly and I *may* have a chance then. How do you think brownies will cook in this manner..? an entire CAKE?!

• The FDA will help the food industry establish better tracing systems to track the origins of a bacterial outbreak.
• A new network will be established to help the many agencies that regulate food safety to communicate better.
• Egg and poultry producers will have to follow new standards designed to reduce salmonella contamination.
• The FDA and the Agriculture Department also will create new positions to better oversee food safety.

Overall this should (keyword: should) lead to fewer food-related sicknesses and deaths. I might want to see some incentive for manufacturers to keep their facilities clean as well; their goal right now is to make money, and they will probably take shortcuts necessary for a shorter lead time and for a lower cost which is most likely 90% of the blame for food contamination.

What does this mean for the cookie industry? Well, people will still eat cookie dough raw. And it’ll be too expensive to pasteurize all the eggs that goes into the dough. So Nestle and Nabisco and Pillsbury will all have stricter regulations on what they can put on the shelves and if something DOES get overlooked, they hopefully will be able to find the source of the outbreak faster and stop it faster. I’m not really sure if it will affect those in small bakeries or restaurants, but hopefully by the time the dough or the ingredients to make the dough are safe.

All I want is to be able to eat cookies safely. Is that too much to ask for!?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090707/ap_on_he_me/us_food_safety

Either way, we in the US celebrate July 4th with red, white and blue-themed parties, barbecues, LOTS of food and drink and of COURSE — COOKIES! This is one of my favorite holidays because I love stars (Valentine’s Day is another favorite. I love hearts too!) I got a recipe from the web from a very trusted resource:

I love, love, love Martha Stewart. Did you know she modeled before she became the ultimate resource for problems around the house and crafts?!? She makes some REALLY cute Red, White and Blue Stars 4th of July sugar sandwich cookies in the shape of stars with jam in the middle. The interesting thing about her sandwich cookies (besides the jam) is the fact that before she bakes these cookies, she brushes the cookies with heavy cream and dusts with sanding sugar. Check them out and let me know what you think!

The LA Times has this sweet article on tips for making your own homemade ice cream sandwiches. Some takeaways from the article that I thought were useful:

• The article says that the cookies should be less sweet than you would choose on your own because you’re going to be adding a BUNCH of sweet from the ice cream. Personally, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having a cinnamon sugar ice cream sandwich, but it’s useful to keep in mind.
• Another thing I disagreed with is the point they made about choosing a slightly crunchier cookie to contrast the silkiness of the ice cream. I actually find it easier to eat an ice cream sandwich with a cookie that bends and then breaks rather than breaking. That could be because my teeth are sensitive though, and I want to avoid touching the ice cream with some of my front teeth which I’d have to do if I had two crunchy cookies. Again, preference.
• Cookies that include at least part brown sugar, molasses, honey or maple syrup will add a rich carmelized flavor to the cookies.
• Brown sugar helps to add moisture (and thus chewiness) to the cookie; some brown sugar in a sugar cookie would go great!
• Uniform cookies are a must! The dough should be placed onto the cookie sheets in nicely rolled balls rather than simply dropped.
• Premium (ie more expensive) brands of ice cream are better for making ice cream sandwiches because they tend to freeze more solidly than their private-label counterparts.

for the full story: http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-icecreamsandwich1-2009jul01,0,5368389.story

Now if you don’t want to go through the trouble of making sandwiches on your own, you can find the Coolhaus ice cream sandwich truck and buy from them (think: Kogi truck, but ice cream sammiches). They even make disposable wrappers!!

What’s your take? My favorite fresh ice cream sandwich is right here in Westwood at my beloved Diddy Riese… freezered would be Nestle! With the chocolate chips on the outside What are your faves? You got any tips for me?