Chinese Almond Cookie

It's National Chinese Almond Cookie day!

Recipe from here

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp almond extract (sounds like a little, but is A LOT, the whole kitchen smelt like almonds)
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 tsp water

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 325F/162C
2) Mix butter and sugar.








3) Mix in egg and almond extract.









4) In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking soda and salt.









5) Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture.








6) Roll into small balls and place on a cooking sheet.
7) Flatten the balls.







8) Sprinkle the almonds on top.









9) Beat egg whites and water.








10) Brush the egg white mixture over the cookies.
11) Cook for 14-16 minutes or until the bottom and edges are brown.
12) Let cool for 2 minutes before removing from the sheet.

Triple Fudge Oreo Cookies

I owe a friend some baked goods for their help with SPSS (and if you don't know what that is, youre probably lucky). It's also the hiking weekend starting tomorrow, and we need something to keep us going!

Recipe from here but with minor alterations (i.e. I didn't measure the chocolate chips or Oreos, just did a package)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• chocolate chips or chunks
• Oreos, roughly cut into quarters
• white chocolate chips

Directions (blogger won't let me add pictures in the middle, but if you look at past baking I'm sure you can figure it all out):

1) Preheat oven to 375F

2) Grease baking sheets with cooking spray and set aside.

3) Mix together butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.

4) In another bowl, mix flour, cocoa, baking soda and, salt.

5) Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture.

6) Add in the chocolate chips and Oreos

7) Scoop into 2 TBSP sized balls

8) Place on a baking sheet 2 in apart and flatten with your hand

9) Bake 9-11 minutes

10) Let cool on the sheet for about 5 minutes and then remove. 

Nutella, Coconut, and Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

Sunday last was National Oatmeal Cookie day, and I missed it because it was Paddys day the day before....fair enough.

Taken from here and coconut added.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup Nutella
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1 cup old fashioned whole oats
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2/3 cup chocolate chips
• 2/3 cup dried fruit (I used raisins since Tesco does not have dried cherries)
• 2/3 cup flaked coconut

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 325F/163C.
2) Mix butter with brown sugar and sugar.








3) Mix in Nutella.









4) Mix in eggs and vanilla.








5) Mix in oats, baking soda and flour.










6) Add chocolate chips, dried fruit, and flaked coconut.








7) Place on baking sheet.
8) Bake for 10-12 minutes.










9) Let sit for 5 minutes before taking off the baking rack to harden.

Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

National Chocolate Chip Cookie Week!
Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 3 cups Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 375F.
2) Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in small bowl.








3) Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy.








4) Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.









5) Gradually beat in flour mixture.
6) Stir in morsels.
7) Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
8) Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.
9) Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes (or eat right away)
10) Remove to wire racks to cool completely (or, as stated, eat right away).

The Chewy (Chocolate Chip Cookie)

My housemate said the other week that she wanted chocolate chip cookies. It's her birthday this week. Surprise!
And they are 'European' sized cookies...I usually get made fun of for making 'American' sized cookies...i.e. REALLY BIG cookies

I was going to make just Nestle Chocolate Chip Cookies but with all the hate that Alton Brown has been getting on Twitter, I thought it best to show him some support and make his cookies (which I had been meaning to get to anyway since I ALWAYS make the Nestle ones).

Recipe taken from here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/the-chewy-recipe/index.html

Conversions done here: http://www.jsward.com/cooking/conversion.shtml

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 2.8 cups bread flour (I used all purpose because Ireland makes bread flour difficult to find)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup (and a bit more) granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 cup (and a bit more) light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 tbsp whole milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1) Melt the butter in a 2-quart saucepan over low heat. Set aside to cool slightly.

2) Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda onto a paper plate. I don't have paper plates (or even a proper sifter) so I use used a bowl and pasta strainer.






 3) Pour the butter into your stand mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar and beat with the paddle attachment on medium speed for 2 minutes. I don't have a stand mixer so I just used the pot the butter melted in in






4) Meanwhile, whisk together the whole egg, the egg yolk, milk and vanilla extract in a measuring cup. My measuring cups are not big enough so I used a regular bowl. The picture makes me want to make French Toast...






5) Reduce the mixer speed and slowly add the egg mixture. Mix until thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds.

6) Using the paper plate as a slide, gradually integrate the dry ingredients, stopping a couple of times to scrape down the sides of the bowl.







 7) Once the flour is worked in, drop the speed to "stir" and add the chocolate chips.
8) Chill the dough for 1 hour.
9) Preheat the oven to 375F/190C and place racks in the top third and bottom third of the oven. I just put the rack in the middle.

10) Scoop the dough into 1 1/2-ounce portions onto parchment-lined half sheet pans, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake 2 sheets at a time for 15 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through.






11) Remove from the oven, slide the parchment with the cookies onto a cooling rack and wait at least 5 minutes before devouring. Devouring did happen....before the 5 minutes were up.