Deep dish chocolate chip cookies

We all know cookies are the greatest. And if you know that, deep dish cookies just might be the next step. The next step up.

I'm a sucker for any cookie- or brownie-like thing with ice cream. Particularly the black and tan brownie with Tillamook vanilla bean ice cream from McMenamins. I don't know what my deal is, but I can never hold back. Which is a problem. Because we go there almost weekly. And Zack makes fun of me because it's not like this brownie is the best brownie there ever was, but it just always hits the spot.

What is it about cookies (or brownies, for that matter) with milk? I think it's the way the warm cookie counter balances the cold milk. Or the way the cookie soaks up the ice cream. Or maybe it's just sweet and that's why everyone likes it.

This all comes down to a wonderful recipe, found on Pinterest, from a blog called the White on Rice Couple.

Deep dish chocolate chip cookies w/ vanilla Tillamook ice cream

As adapted from the White on Rice Couple, whose cookie dough recipe was adapted from The Professional Pastry Chef.

Yields: 8 deep dish cookies (each cookie is a good amount to share between two people)

Ingredients for cookie dough:

3/4 cup light brown sugar

3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 cup unsalted butter

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

3 cups all-purpose unbleached flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 pound dark chocolate chunks, cut into 1/2 inch chunks or smaller (I chopped a mixture of milk and Semi-sweet chocolate chips because that is what I happened to have on hand) 

Vanilla ice cream

8 4-inch ramekins

Note: There are many options for this recipe. If using this cookie dough for regular sized cookies (versus deep dish), follow cooking instructions as found here. Otherwise, use the instructions as follows, below. You may choose to bake 4 deep dish cookies, and save the remaining 4 in the freezer for later use. Also, you may choose to fill 4 ramekins with dough and then roll the remaining dough into slightly flattened balls to freeze and bake later, if you don't want 8 deep dish cookies. If doing this, put your formed cookie dough balls on a baking sheet so they are not touching each other, put the baking sheet into the freezer until cookie dough is frozen, then transfer frozen cookie dough balls into a freezer bag to store. Bake your frozen cookie dough (no need to thaw, unless you want to) at the original temperature the recipe calls for, but bake for a few minutes longer than instructed.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (or 350 degrees F for convection oven). Beat together butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy in a mixer with the paddle attachment. Add eggs, vanilla extract, and salt; mix to combine. Sift flour and baking soda into a separate mixing bowl; stir into batter and mix until combined. Add chocolate and mix. Fill your 8 ramekins evenly with raw cookie dough. Place ramekins on a rimmed baking sheet and put on middle rack in preheated oven. Bake until the top of the cookies turn pretty golden, about 25 minutes. (This baking time is pretty approximate, so keep an eye on your cookies once you hit 20 minutes and monitor until desired doneness is reached.) Remember you want them slightly undercooked and soft in the middle, but not doughy. Remove from oven, top with a couple scoops of ice cream, and enjoy. 

I apologize for the very long "notes" section in this post. The original recipe recommends filling the ramekins a 1/2 inch full, but they did not account for all the dough that would be left over. Hence, I filled mine a little fuller and opted to freeze some of them to pull out in the future to enjoy. As stated earlier, the options for dealing with your abundance of cookie dough are endless. Furthermore, feel free to enjoy with any ice cream you like. I am partial to Tillamook ice cream; we used old-fashioned vanilla, but I'm sure vanilla bean would be lovely as well.

This cookie dough is very good. It has a lot of butter and flour for a reason. This is definitely an indulgence. But what would life be without some of those once in awhile? Everything in moderation. Enjoy your indulgence. Cheers.

Week One: Split Pea Soup with Cilantro, Chicken with Snap Peas, Greek-Style Halibut, and Iced Oatmeal-Applesauce Cookies

This week: Split Pea Soup with Cilantro (you may recognize this from a February 2012 blog post), chicken with snap peas, Greek-style halibut, and iced oatmeal-applesauce cookies. One grocery list, four recipes, three dinners with lunch leftovers for the next day, cookies for dessert, and even extra split pea soup to freeze for later.

First of all, the split pea soup comes from Nordstrom Flavors, a cookbook which continues to impress me and was gifted to me from my mom. And again, see my past blog post (link above) for more information about the recipe. It's a really great spin off of your traditional split pea soup; think, finely diced vegetables like potato, red bell pepper, carrot, celery, and jalapeño. And then add the great flavors of coriander, dry mustard, Tamari soy sauce, and cilantro.

Secondly, Chicken with Snap Peas. I found this recipe through Whole Living; I have this website in my Pulse News favorites on my phone. This is a great weeknight recipe...one pan, 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Heat safflower oil (or vegetable oil as the recipe calls for) over high in a large skillet. Season chicken with salt and fresh ground black pepper. I just used skinless, boneless chicken breasts, but you could use whatever chicken you have on hand. Cook chicken on one side (skin side down if not using skinless), until deep golden, about 8-10 minutes. Flip chicken and remove skillet from heat. Remove any fat with a spoon, then return skillet to heat. Add garlic, vinegar, a little bit of sugar, and crushed red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil, then transfer skillet to oven. Bake for 17 minutes, then add snap peas and some fresh basil, baking for 5 minutes more. Remove from oven and sprinkle with more basil.

This dish has really great flavor, which was maybe even better the next day. I also made some quinoa cooked in chicken stock with diced carrots as a side dish.

Next, Greek-Style Halibut (which you may have seen coming if you've read previously about the frozen wild salmon and halibut fillets Zack and I have been getting from Costco). This is a "tear-out" recipe I've been saving for awhile and it comes from the January 2011 issue of Sunset magazine.

It's another easy one with awesome flavor and good next day quality. And this was also my first time cooking with fennel bulb, which I guess is like an onion with some grassy stuff growing out of it...? Uh, yeah. It has almost a licorice-like quality though, which really adds to the halibut.

Heat olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Rub halibut fillets with salt and fresh ground black pepper before browning in the pan on one side. Transfer to a plate. Add a little more olive oil to pan, along with fennel (trimmed and cut into wedges/slices). The recipe calls for adding a little ouzo at this point, but I just used white wine. Cook, stirring frequently, until golden and tender. Add finely chopped garlic. Add diced tomatoes with juice (low-sodium preferred), a little water, chickpeas (drained and rinsed), and fresh oregano. Reduce heat and simmer, lay halibut fillets (browned sides up) in sauce and simmer until fish is cooked through, 5-10 minutes.

And lastly, these amazing cookies. I'm telling you, you can't go wrong with Martha Stewart when it comes to cookies. Zack and I were thinking we wanted to make some sort of iced oatmeal cookie, and when I found these, with applesauce, we were sold. And they were not disappointing. Find the recipe here: Iced Oatmeal-Applesauce Cookies. These are the perfect fall cookie.

Well, that's all for week one of my meal planning, and believe me, week two is turning out to be quite lovely. Stay tuned.

Gingerbread Snowflakes

When I was getting ready to head down to Portland last month to see my sisters in the Nutcracker, I had images of sugarplums dancing in my head. I decided that I would skip the usual flower bouquets and opt for making them little boxes of cookies instead. Hence, Gingerbread Snowflakes from yet again, Martha Stewart's Cookies (same cookbook that I used in my recent Banana-Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies post).

This was kind of an all-day ordeal to be honest. But it was so worth it because these cookies were truly delicious. The gingerbread had a great level of spice and it was very smooth dough to work with (although the whole chill-the-dough, roll-the-dough, freeze-the-dough, cut-the-dough, freeze-the-dough, bake-the-dough cycle was somewhat exhausting). Dark brown sugar and molasses provide a sort of crisp texture, but the cookies definitely keep some "give" as long as they are not baked too long. Also, frosting and sprinkling took much less time than I was anticipating, and you must admit, the end product is quite impressive.

Box or bag up, and you have a great treat. These were a hit. Check out the recipe by clicking on the Gingerbread Snowflakes link here or above.  

Banana-Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies

When you see those overripe bananas going brown, I know the first thing you think of is banana bread. Well, at least I do. But now, I have options. Because I've found this incredible banana cookie; thanks to Martha Stewart's Cookies.

Chopped walnuts and rolled oats provide a great texture, and the combination of two classics (banana bread and the chocolate chip cookie) is unbeatable. Especially if you use super ripe bananas; the flavor is concentrated and that much more rich and tasty as a result.

Just be sure to mix well. I'm always trying not to over mix my cookie dough. I don't know why. But then you may end up with a bite of baking soda when you're expecting delicious cookie. I think I'm going to dump my dry ingredients through a sieve (even if the recipe doesn't mention sifting) from now on. It works really nicely for not only breaking apart chunks, but for providing an even distribution of the ingredients prior to mixing as well.

If you like banana bread and chocolate chip cookies, then this might be a dream...

Pumpkin Cookies

Okay. So I'm obsessed with pumpkin. Pumpkin bread, pumpkin cake, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin spice lattes. But then I'm not entirely sure that it is the pumpkin I'm so enamored with. It could very well be the wonderful comforts of pumpkin spice. Pumpkin doesn't exactly have a big, bold flavor. Regardless, I'm in love. So I went searching for a pumpkin cookie recipe a couple weeks ago and this is what I found.

These are more like light, fluffy pillows from heaven. They're like little cakes. What makes them even more delightful is the brown sugar glaze on top. Now, I may be getting more excited about these cookies than I should be. Zack didn't really think they were earthshaking. Well, particularly the glaze.

This glaze is made in a saucepan. It hardens super fast, so I was madly adding additional ingredients and trying to stir and dip/frost the cookies at the same time. Some of the cookies had thicker glaze then others, but that just gives people a choice, right? Thick versus thin anyone?

I will definitely make these again. Chopped nuts could be added for garnish or could even be put into the dough. They make a great holiday treat.

Chocolate Chip Cookies Cockaigne

I know, I know. Cockaigne? What on earth does that mean? All I can find online is that it means a sort of medieval, mythical land of plenty. Alright. I guess I can take that.

I can take that because these cookies are magical. This twist on the classic American cookie is found in none other than the amazing Joy of Cooking Christmas Cookies cookbook (which I checked out from the public library). These are the greatest chocolate chip cookies ever. Even ask Zack.

Finely ground rolled oats, both semisweet chocolate chips and ground bittersweet chocolate, and finely chopped pecans. The texture of these cookies is incredible. Maybe it's the ground rolled oats? I had never heard of that before, but it is genius! A little bit crisp on the outside with a chewy abundance of chocolate on the inside. These are a winner.

Cocoa Fudge Cookies

Yum. That's all.

Thin cookies with crisp edges and chewy centers. They're so easy; you don't even need to get out the mixer. Just mix all the ingredients right in a saucepan! They're a pure cocoa delight; Zack called them a "hot chocolate cookie," which I think describes them well. Almost like a brownie, but so dainty and thin.

These would be perfect cookies for ice cream sandwiches (so that may be in the future), and I'm also contemplating substituting peppermint extract for vanilla extract to give these a thin mint quality.

If you want a recipe, again, feel free to comment on the post and ask. I'm happy to share. These are definitely worth sharing. Cheers.

Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip, and Pecan Cookies

So this recipe must be good. Because it survived the absence of a sort of crucial ingredient. Who puts brown sugar in cookies anyways? Apparently, I don't. When the cookies weren't really browning the way cookies usually do, I looked over my ingredient list, and sure enough, I had forgotten the brown sugar. You can't blame me. I mean, it was hidden at the top of the second column...apart from granulated sugar.

When these little miracles came out of the oven, I had to try one. To make sure I hadn't completely wasted a solid amount of baking ingredients. After the third cookie (they were little, okay?), I realized they couldn't be half bad. I mean, I kept eating more as if that would help me determine if they were good or not. But I couldn't be sure until Zack came home and tried one. Sure enough, he thought they were great!

If these were good without brown sugar, I can't wait to make them with it. These drop cookies are crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. Does it get better than that?

Chocolate Espresso Cookies

Okay, I know. What's with all the muffins and cookies, lately, Abby? Believe me. Some meals of sustenance are in the future. Until then, passing an oh-so-hard dental hygiene board exam calls for celebration (a.k.a. cookies), right?

These will knock your socks off. My mom has a "chocolate crinkle cookie" (well, that's what we call them) recipe very similar to this one. Man, sometimes I just long for those cookies. Which makes me realize now that I should probably just ask her for the recipe. These chocolate cookies, however, have the addition of instant espresso coffee granules. It adds a little kick. Maybe the kick that knocks your socks off (ha ha). Anyways, if you've never had crinkle cookies, you got to get some somewhere. Somehow. Ugh. They're so amazing. As you bite into them, they just sort of crack in a crinkly sort of way and then the melting begins. You taste the confectioner's sugar, then it disappears ever so softly. And before you know it, the chocolate just hits you. And the espresso. It's so rich. It's so delicious. It makes an impression. An I-need-you-for-the-rest-of-my-life impression. Find one. Somewhere. And if you can't, I'm going to make boat loads of these during Christmas time (and probably before then), so do ask. By the way, if anyone ever wants one of these recipes, just comment on my post; I'm happy to share. Sharing is caring. And I care about you because you're reading my blog. Thanks for doing so. Cheers.