The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am constantly on a quest to make the best chocolate chip cookies. It's my husband's favorite treat and there's so many different ways to make it. Crispy, Chewy, Cakey, with nuts.... the possibilities are endless!

So when I found a recipe online for brown butter chocolate chip cookies I decided to give it a go. Half the butter is browned, meaning melted in a pot and let boil until it turns a rich caramel color. After a little cooling, it's ready to use in the recipe.

These turned out great! Chews and crisp along the edges and nutty from the brown butter. It really lends a great depth of flavor to the cookies. They're not too sweet, the perfect texture, a big hit!

But, since I never leave good enough alone, I decided to jazz them up a bit. So I dipped them in melted chocolate, then sprinkled them with fleur de sel and......Bacon! Chopped up cooked bacon. Yup.

I only had enough chocolate to dip about half the cookies, but they were so rich and decadent that you really can't eat too many. Wow. These were sooooooo good! Successful experiment for sure.

Baking suggestions

So yesterday I was wondering, what should I bake this week? Without specific inspiration, sometimes it's hard to come up with something to try. So I asked my online friends for their suggestions. I got quite a few interesting ideas!

Apple Pie
Carrot cake
Cheesecake
Red Velvet
Black Forest
Orange Creamsicle Cake balls
Pecan Pie cupcakes
Banana Cream Pie Cupcakes
Strawberry cupcakes with coconut frosting
Cream cheese brownies
Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
and
Meat Cake

Well, that's a lot of suggestions! My goal is to keep on baking new things, to expand my abilities. Most of those things I've made before, with the exception of banana cream pie cupcakes and the cranberry oatmeal cookies. Yes, I've even made meat cake, and cupcakes. And I'll never do it again, unless I'm paid very well. Meat is a lot more expensive than flour!



After all that, I decided to modify a few of my recipes to create a new one: peanut butter-chocolate chip-bacon cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Yum!

I used my go-to peanut butter cupcake recipe, added the candied maple bacon from the maple bacon cupcake recipe, threw in some chocolate chips, and topped it all off with a new chocolate frosting recipe.

The bacon gets roasted in the oven, with a sprinkling of maple sugar on each side to caramelize it. It's so sweet and crispy and salty! I also used some of the bacon drippings in the batter in place of butter.
The cupcakes turned out great, but the peanut butter kind of overpowers the bacon flavor. Even though there are chunks of bacon in the cupcakes, it's not a strong flavor.



I used a new frosting recipe as well. I'm never satisfied with my chocolate frostings, so I've been trolling the web for a new one. I found this recipe on many food blogs, so I don't feel bad about re-using it. It's pretty much the same as most chocolate buttercream frostings, but it's made in the food processor instead of a stand mixer.

Much quicker, but a bit messier to get it out of the bowl. It also makes a lot of frosting, I had enough left over for at least 3-4 more cupcakes.

All in all, these turned out pretty great. A quick dash of glittery sprinkles on top, and done!


So thanks to everyone for your suggestions, I'll save some of them for another time when I need inspiration.

Martha Cupcake Challenge #28- S'mores cupcakes

So, I've been dying to make S'mores cupcakes, and I finally got it together to make them. These were a multi-step cupcake. Since they're topped with marshmallow frosting, they must be served immediately after they're made. So I made the cupcakes the day before, and did the frosting in the morning.
The cake part turned out well. The recipe called for graham flour, which Whole Foods didn't have. So instead I bought organic honey graham crackers, and ground them up in my food processor. It gave a really nice graham-y flavor to the cupcakes.
Then I made the ganache, a chocolate glaze on top. The ganache recipe in the book always makes way more than I need, so I'll have to figure out something else to do with the rest. I dipped the tops in the ganache, which also seals in the moisture. All this I did in one day.
The next day I made the frosting. This did not work at all. It's a marshmallow frosting, made with gelatin and a sugar syrup. I guess I did it wrong, cuz there was a big goop of gelatin in the mixing bowl that never got mixed in properly. And, the pictures showed a huge dome of piped marshmallow on top of the cupcakes, but I didn't have nearly enough. I could barely manage a tiny dollop on each one. And it was not pipe-able at all. Not good.

Also, my kitchen torch didn't work! You're supposed to brulee the marshmallow, but I couldn't figure out how to work the torch, and I lost the box with the instructions. sad :(
So I delivered the cupcakes, and when I took the lids off the containers, all the marshmallow came off, because it was attached to the lid! But this was a good learning experience. Next time, I will put mini marshmallows on top of the ganache while it's still wet, so they stick. Then I will torch them, to get them all nice and brown on top. (ps- I love the way Craig Ferguson says "marshmallow". Check it out)
Next week, a foolproof recipe... Irish Car Bomb!

Cupcake Deviation: Whoopie Pies!

For a change, I decided to make whoopie pies with my new whoopie pie pan. Although you don't really need a special baking pan for it, I love new kitchen gadgets.

According to Wikipedia, a whoopie pie is: "a baked good made of two round mound-shaped pieces of chocolate cake, sometimes pumpkin cake, with a sweet, creamy frosting sandwiched between them. While considered a New England phenomenon and a Pennsylvania Amish tradition, they are increasingly sold throughout the United States. According to food historians, Amish women would bake these (known as hucklebucks at the time) and put them in farmers' lunchboxes. When farmers would find these treats in their lunch, they would shout "Whoopie!"

First I made classic, chocolate whoopie pies with vanilla filling. These were amazing! It's like 2 little pieces of cake with frosting in between. I used the recipe that came with the pan.

Then, I started getting creative. I've made pumpkin whoopie pies before, so I wanted to try chocolate chip whoopie pies. I kind of made up the recipe, using the original chocolate one as a base. These turned out amazing, very rich. The filling was a bit too runny, so I put them in the fridge to set overnight. All you need is a tall glass of milk to go with these.

These are a fun alternative to cupcakes, and I like that the frosting is in between the cake, so there's an even cake-to-frosting ratio in each bite. I'll be experimenting more with these soon.

Martha's Cupcake Challenge #13- Chocolate Chunk Cookie Cupcakes

So, I finally got back to my Martha Challenge! This one actually turned out by accident. I was planning to make chocolate chip cookies for my husband, since they are his fave. But instead, I figured I'd make Martha's chocolate chunk cookie cupcakes. These are a cross between a cookie and a cupcake, with tons of chocolate chunks. I used both chocolate chips and chopped chocolate, both semisweet of course.
Again, I ran into some altitude problems. The chocolate bits sunk to the bottom of the cupcakes. I believe this is a density problem, and I know how to solve it next time. You must first dredge the chunks of whatever in a little bit of flour, which will (hopefully) suspend them in the batter while it bakes. Also, they got very dark very fast. The recipe called for a high temp, and the recommendations I read for high altitude baking say to increase the temp, so that's probably why they browned too much. It didn't affect the taste, though! I chowed down on quite a few of these myself.
Here is the inside, with the chips at the bottom. Live and learn, I guess! These were a huge crowd pleaser, and I kinda wish I had one right now :) Also, my sister made these a few weeks ago for some friends and had great results too. I can't wait to try the Peanut Butter Cookie Cupcakes!
But next week, stay tuned for some Beatles themed cupcakes, in honor of the new Rock Band and box sets (which I have both pre-ordered)

Cupcake Challenge Day 1- Chocolate Chip cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Frosting

Day 1 is complete! After picking up ingredients for the rest of the week this morning, I got started on recipe #1. These are chocolate chip cupcakes with a dark chocolate frosting. I followed the recipe to the letter. The only problem I had was with the egg whites. You're supposed to beat them to stiff peaks, but I wasn't sure what that was, and there wasn't an explanation of what it's supposed to look like or how long it takes. When it got to the stage I thought it should be, I added the rest of the batter, but it all turned liquid again. The cupcakes turned out fine, so I guess I did it well enough. I ended up with 30 cupcakes, just as the recipe indicated. I usually end up with more than usual, so it was nice that this turned out great. I baked them for 16 minutes in a convection oven, although the recipe calls for 22 minutes in a regular conduction oven. The convection really speeds up the baking time.
Here are the cupcakes before they go in:
And after...


Making the frosting was different than I'm used to. The recipe called for 4.5 sticks of butter and 1.5 pounds of chocolate. Wow! The result was a super rich chocolate frosting, although it was a little too runny for my liking. Maybe because it was so hot today? But it tastes amazing! And I love how the chocolate is super shiny and glossy.
Frosted cupcakes:Scrumptious! And I had to sample one myself:All in all, a great recipe. The cupcake is light and airy, since it uses only egg whites, and the frosting is decadent. I piled a lot on, because I had a lot, but it could do with much less, as to not overpower the cupcake. I dropped the 29 cupcakes off at the local fire department, those guys could use a sugar rush :)
Tomorrow... carrot.