C is for Cookie

Yesterday I think I made about 300 chocolate chip cookies.

Not because I wanted to eat them, mind you. Quite the opposite (especially since I promised my personal trainer I would lose some weight this month!)... I want OTHER people to eat them. Mark and I are having a booth at our neighborhood fall festival and figured cookies are a great way to get people to stop by (why else would you stop by a dentist's booth?).

I have a really good recipe for chocolate chip cookies, but I thought I'd try a new one. One of my all-time weaknesses is Otis Spunkmeyer frozen cookie dough. Let's just say I prefer the dough over the baked cookie! So I googled "Otis Spunkmeyer recipe" and saw some promising recipes. I printed one out, doubled it, and set out to baking them.

Luckily for me (and my waistline) the "knock-off" recipe dough wasn't even close to tasting like the real thing. Unfortunately, the baked cookies weren't any more impressive. They were bland, mostly flat, and looked like albino cookies (they didn't brown... probably because the recipe called for baking powder instead of baking soda. I should have known; baking soda helps food turn brown!). They were just okay, okay enough to give away a ton of them and not worry that I don't think they're the best.

I knew I needed more cookies, so this time I doubled the recipe right off the Nestle chocolate chip bag. The dough this time tasted better. The baked cookies... not so good. Let's just say that these cookies browned, but they were flatter than roadkill. *sigh* It teaches me to trust un-proven recipes (well, I guess if it's printed on the back of a back then someone has tested it, but apparently not in my oven) over my own tried-and-true.

So, instead of giving you one of the yucky cookie recipes, here is an EXCELLENT one for cookies that taste oh-so-good this time of year: molasses spice cookies a la Cook's Illustrated. ENJOY!

Molasses Spice Cookies

Makes about 22 cookies. Published January 1, 2002. From Cook's Illustrated.

Measure the molasses in a liquid measuring cup. If you find that the dough sticks to your palms as you shape the balls, moisten your hands occasionally in a bowl filled with cold water and shake off the excess. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time. If baked two sheets at a time, the cookies started on the bottom rack won’t develop the attractive cracks. The cookies should look slightly raw and underbaked when removed from the oven. If you plan to glaze the cookies (see recipe below), save the parchment paper used to bake them.

1/3	cup granulated sugar (about 2 1/2 ounces), plus 1/2 cup for dipping
2 1/4	cups unbleached all-purpose flour (11 1/4 ounces)
1	teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2	teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2	teaspoons ground ginger
1/2	teaspoon ground cloves
1/4	teaspoon ground allspice
1/4	teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4	teaspoon table salt
12	tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened but still cool
1/3	cup packed dark brown sugar (about 2 1/2 ounces)
1	large egg yolk
1	teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2	cup molasses (about 6 ounces), light or dark

1. 1) Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place 1/2 cup sugar for dipping in 8- or 9-inch cake pan.
   
   

2. 2) Whisk flour, baking soda, spices, and salt in medium bowl until thoroughly combined; set aside.

3. 3) In standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter with brown and granulated sugars at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low and add yolk and vanilla; increase speed to medium and beat until incorporated, about 20 seconds. Reduce speed to medium-low and add molasses; beat until fully incorporated, about 20 seconds, scraping bottom and sides of bowl once with rubber spatula. Reduce speed to lowest setting; add flour mixture and beat until just incorporated, about 30 seconds, scraping bowl down once. Give dough final stir with rubber spatula to ensure that no pockets of flour remain at bottom. Dough will be soft.

4. 4) Using tablespoon measure, scoop heaping tablespoon of dough and roll between palms into 1 1/2-inch ball; drop ball into cake pan with sugar and repeat to form about 4 balls. Toss balls in sugar to coat and set on prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Repeat with remaining dough. Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies are browned, still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft (cookies will look raw between cracks and seem underdone), about 11 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Do not overbake.

5. 5) Cool cookies on baking sheet 5 minutes, then use wide metal spatula to transfer cookies to wire rack; cool cookies to room temperature and serve. (Can be stored at room temperature in airtight container or zipper-lock plastic bag up to 5 days.)