Cookie Quest 2.0
Well guys, I bought flour, butter, white and brown sugar at Sam’s Club. I guess it’s time to admit: I bake now. This wasn’t always true about me. I preferred cooking to baking because baking seems so final. Like once that batter is in the oven, there’s no turning back. If it sucks, it’s too late. You’ve failed, might as well go live in a box because who can love you after a cake with crunchy edges and a completely uncooked middle? Answer: no one. Go sleep in the alley with the cats. With cooking, you can taste and tweak as you go, it’s a little more forgiving. Being failure-averse, it took me a long time to build up the courage to take on baking as a habit. And now I can’t quit. Lo an behold, I’ve made many disastrous batches of cookies this 2018 and am not yet homeless!
As promised in Cookie Quest 1.0, here are the new recipes I decided to take on, as well as a few more because I couldn’t resist.
New Cookies
Gingersnaps
These cookies are the perfect balance of dense, chewy, and spicy. They are insanely good with coffee. Shockingly good. Seriously. Dip the cookies. The recipe says to bake them for 10 minutes, but I find a slightly underdone middle to be a valuable asset in a cookie, so in this house we bake for 8.
Found in Nehemiah: A Heart that Can Break, by Kelly Minter (also it’s a phenomenal Bible Study; grab your girls for Jesus and snacks); or if you just want the cookies, you can get them here.
Snickerdoodles
Several failed batches of Snickerdoodles found on Pinterest and in cookbooks led me to believe that these cookies don’t work, but that’s a lie. My dear friend Amanda shared her recipe with me, and it produced light cookies with delicate flavor, very dippable.
Found in Friendship with Amanda
Sugar Cookies
Knowing how to make sugar cookies seemed like a basic kitchen skill that all midwestern women (except for me) have. Like casseroles and crocheting pot holders. So I went for it, but if we’re being honest, sugar cookies are not my favorite thing. They’re a great staple on a cookie platter and at parties because they are so popular, but if you’re making cookies for the sake of making cookies, I’d just as soon pick something with chips in them.
This easy (and no chill!) Sugar Cookie recipe from A Latte Food was definitely a party platter keeper.
Brown Sugar Cookies
Remember tanning (oh my gosh, remember Playboy tanning stickers on your hip bone)? The mindset that if I was seven shades darker, my life would be perfect and I’d just be so happy all the live long day? That was a lie (probably, I never actually achieved tan), but these brown sugar cookies are not. Take a sugar cookie, use brown sugar instead of white sugar and voila! you have eternal happiness and riches. Chewy, a touch of cinnamon, reminiscent of the gingersnap, best friends with -you guessed it- coffee. Note to self: follow the instructions about space between cookies.
Get the recipe at Sally’s Baking Addiction.
Pecan Shortbread
We had a tea party this summer. Full on china tea cups, finger sandwiches, fancy hats tea party. Our ladies lunch group came together over pastries and clotted cream and it was lovely. I brought Irish Breakfast tea and Pecan Shortbread. Crispy, nutty, buttery, delightful. You could purchase Pecan Sandies, but don’t because these are better.
Found in The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, by the fabulous Ina Garten
Not-Cookies
True to form, we would be remiss not to include a not-cookie or two.
Zucchini Brownies
Zucchini brownies are a-maze-ing. Three syllables amazing. Moist, dense, deeply chocolatey, thick, dark (like black). Plus, your neighbors are begging you to take their extra veggies. Do them a favor, make the brownies. This is a very easy recipe, as long as you have a food processor to shred the zucchini. If you’re shredding by hand, it’ll take approximately 175 minutes longer. I used special dark cocoa, and an 8×8 pan with longer baking time for thicker brownies.
Guest Spotlight: Tonya’s Strawberry Pistachio Cupcakes
My lovable and food-bitious (food ambitious) friend Tonya has been a baker all her days. She has sour dough starter. She bakes her own baby puffs. This chick made English muffins from scratch. And she made these:
Ya’ll. I do not like pistachios. Frosting is not my favorite either. So when I tell you that these cupcakes are my new absolute favorite and I would sit and eat this frosting by itself, you know I mean business. The cupcake is slightly more dense than your average cupcake due to the nuts but just dense enough to hold up to a frosting that, lets face it, is mostly butter. Despite these facts, the cupcake is soft and fluffy and the only thing keeping the frosting from being strawberry ice cream is it’s temperature! Full disclosure: the recipe says to use vanilla AND almond extract in the cake which I found ridiculous because all that extract masks the pistachio so I straight up ignored the almond bit. I could go on and on about this but instead, you should start baking! -Tonya Nelson
The baking adventure continues…carb love for life! And like I said, I bought 25 pounds(!) of flour, so I can’t quit.
Any recommendations? I’d love to give some of your favorites a try!
