classy cupcakes

I’m a few days late for daring bakers, I realize. But that’s a-ok because I’m back to spoil you with yet another cupcake recipe, hooray!The important part: The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.The not-quite-as-important part: I went back to Martha for this tiramisu recipe since quite honestly my meager baking supplies and money really inhibited this sort of decadent dessert. I wanted to modify it then, so I could actually do the challenge instead of crapping out (a new resolution if you will). And I love cupcakes. And reading Martha Stewarts Cupcakes. When I saw these… Let’s just say that I was beyond exciting. I made little ladyfinger cookies as an accompaniment to the mini cupcakes and they all seemed to get good reviews even through various mishaps so... You should try them. As soon as you locate some mascarpone cheese (one of my new favorites to be sure).
Be warned – these cupcakes were enough to make me break my good-eating streak so bake with caution! They are a very adult desert – not too sweet and a bit delicate with the subtle layers of airy vanilla cake, bittersweet coffee glazing, light whipped cream/mascarpone frosting, and the slightest touch of dark chocolate dusting on top. Glorious! The dark chocolate ladyfingers completed the dainty tea-party mood and let me just say that they were perfect dipped in the frosting, coffee, left over ladyfinger batter… Yeah I broke my good eating habits pretty hard with these.


If you’re wondering why the ladyfingers look weird… Well it’s because my little hand-mixer can’t get stiff peaks if it’s life depended on it! That fact is basically the worst and I shudder to try to make more egg/meringue-y desserts. Which is sad, because they’re all so delightfully airy. In any case, if you want ladyfingers to be like little soft cookies, then follow my “special” method and get your mix up to soft peaks. I suggest you do the regular way anyway to make up for my failures.
Keep calm & carry on – make these cupcakes and feel classy if only until you realize you’ve eaten 15.

Tiramisu Cupcakes
Adapted from Martha Stewart Cupcakes

Ingredients
Makes 18 regular cupcakes, lots of little ones.
• 1 1/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3 tbsp vanilla
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 3 large whole eggs plus 3 egg yolks, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• Coffee-Marsala Syrup
• Mascarpone Frosting
• Unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix milk and vanilla and melted butter and let stand 15 minutes.
2. With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk together whole eggs, yolks, and sugar. Set mixing bowl over a pan of simmering water, and whisk by hand until sugar is dissolved and mixture is warm, about 6 minutes. Remove bowl from heat. With an electric mixer on high speed, whisk until mixture is fluffy, pale yellow, and thick enough to hold a ribbon on the surface for several seconds when whisk is lifted.
3. Gently but thoroughly fold flour mixture into the egg mixture in three batches; stir 1/2 cup batter into the strained milk mixture to thicken, then fold milk mixture into the remaining batter until just combined.
4. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until centers are completely set and edges are light golden brown, about 20 minutes (about 10 minutes for mini cupcakes). Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.
5. To finish, brush tops of cupcakes evenly with coffee syrup; repeat until all syrup has been used. Martha’s serious about using all the syrup. Those little cupcakes will soak that stuff up no problem just go at it. Allow cupcakes to absorb liquid 30 minutes. Dollop frosting onto cupcakes; refrigerate up to overnight in airtight containers. Dust generously with cocoa powder just before serving.

Simple Coffee Syrup
(adapted from Martha Stewart’s Coffee-Marsala Syrup)

Ingredients
Makes enough for 18 cupcakes. (or a lot of mini cupcakes)
• 1/3 cup plus 3 tablespoons freshly brewed very strong coffee (or espresso)
• 1/4 cup sugar

Directions
1. Stir together coffee & and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Let cool. Paint over cupcakes.

Mascarpone Frosting
- From Martha Stewart Cupcakes

Ingredients
Makes about 2 cups.
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces mascarpone cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

Directions
1. With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk heavy cream until stiff peaks form (be careful not to overbeat, or cream will be grainy). In another bowl, whisk together mascarpone and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Gently fold whipped cream into mascarpone mixture until completely incorporated. Use immediately.

Chocolate Ladyfingers and Cake Rounds

Ingredients
Makes lots of little ladyfingers
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for dusting
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 7 large egg whites
• 2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 6 large egg yolks

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, cocoa powder, and salt into a small bowl.
2. Whisk whites with a mixer on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add 2/3 cup sugar, whisking until stiff, shiny peaks form, about 5 minutes. Whisk yolks with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in a medium bowl until thick and pale, about 3 minutes. Fold yolk mixture into whites, then fold in flour mixture in 2 additions.
3.Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Draw lots of little 2" circles, then flip parchment over. Spoon batter into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch round tip. Starting in the center of each circle, pipe a spiral, leaving a 1-inch border around inside edge of circle. Bake until springy to the touch, 15 to 18 minutes. Transfer parchment with rounds to a wire rack, and let cool. Use immediately.

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Cupcake War: Vegan Edition

Aaaand I’m back to blogging, with a somewhat triumphant return! Before I get any further into my recent baking exploits, I have to apologize to those of you who have visited rite of cake over the past few (many) months and have been greeted with a stagnating apology post from a million years ago. It was never my intention to let RoC fester for so long and I’m sorry that this blog and any of its readers have been treated like abandoned children while I was caught up in real life drama that I wish never happened. Suffice to say, last semester was stressful beyond all belief both in the complete lack of sleep and plenty of issues that were very hurtful and still confusing to this day, so forgive me in not wanting to spread the personal parts any more than I have to. In short, I’m sorry and I have plenty of recipes lined up and ready to go – thank you for your support (especially Jill, who is such a sweetheart, yay!).

And on to the fun part, the part that I’ve been missing all of these months! The story behind the “Cupcake War” actually ties into my job as a Resident Adviser, in which I’m responsible for 50 freshman girls and creating programs/activities for a dormitory of 400+ girls. This is one of those activities – a sort of coke/pepsi challenge, cupcake style.


Basically I made a batch of 100 mini vegan chocolate cupcakes and 100 regular (Martha Stewart) chocolate cupcakes (both with the standard already vegan Wilton buttercream frosting) and challenged people see if a) they could tell the difference and b) which cupcake they liked best. They had to vote on which cupcake was better without knowing which was the vegan cupcake and then once they decided I would tell them which was which and tally their vote on a giant poster. This was accompanied by informational posters about the pros/cons of veganism and all that jazz to provide an educational activity (aka doing my job).

Fun stuff, right? What was interesting was that most people actually preferred the vegan cupcakes to the regular cupcakes and many people said that they liked both cupcakes evenly. It was a neat experiment and all the girls who participated loved it, so expect some more variations on the Cupcake War and enjoy the recipe below. I’ve only posted the frosting recipe and the vegan cupcake recipe, if you’re interested in some non-vegan cupcakes then go to Martha’s recipe here. Ps sorry about no process pictures, I was baking at night and completely forgot about my camera... Oh well.

Basic (Vegan) Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

Makes: 12 cupcakes, or a lot of mini ones

From: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

INGREDIENTS

-1 cup soy milk (I suggest chocolate soy milk)
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (I used regular vinegar with success)
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, chocolate extract, or more vanilla extract (I went with more vanilla)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder, Dutch-processed or regular (I used dark chocolate, though I think I would have preferred regular cocoa powder so that the cupcakes were a little less dense)
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners.
2. Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle.
3. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and other extract, if using, to the soy milk mixture and beat until foamy.
4. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in two batches to wet ingredients and beat until no large lumps remain (a few tiny lumps are OK, it will look weird. I was worried, but really you don’t have to be, these are delightful).
5. Pour into liners, filling 3/4 of the way. Bake 18 to 20 minutes (closer to 10 minutes if making mini-cupcakes), until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely before frosting (but feel free to eat them warm without frosting because they’re super tasty then too). It’s not enough to convince me to become vegan (I love dairy and sushi far too much), but it’s always good to have a cupcake to appease almost any crowd.

Buttercream Icing

Source: Wilton
Ingredients:
•1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
•1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or (vegan) margarine softened
•1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
•4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
•2 tablespoons (soy) milk
Makes: About 3 cups of icing.

instructions
(Medium Consistency)
In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.
For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.

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Confessions of a LEED AP... And Snickerdoodle Cupcakes!

Thanks for everyone’s words of encouragement on the DB challenge post with the LEED AP test – apparently I passed (although during the test I would have told you that I was going to fail for sure) so now and forever I’m a LEED Accredited Professional. Ooh, it makes me want to make business cards or change my email signature or something. :)

So yes. I’ve had a few days of blissful freedom, and though I wish the Chicago weather would cooperate and just be sunny for once this summer, life is good and my summer has officially begun. Officially officially this time. And what that means is another fun recipe/post for all of you to read, yay!
To be honest, I made these cupcakes a while ago when the bf and I had a random cupcake craving. Okay, so I had a cupcake craving and he just smiled and went with it. It’s nice to know that he’s used to my little oddities now, haha. While I wanted to try out Martha’s gorgeous lemon curd cupcake recipe (it’s like her cupcake poster child all over the cupcake portion of her website, check it out and drool!), we were both pretty tired so we tried to find a simplistic recipe and found a snickerdoodle cupcake recipe… I was intrigued. While they turned out tasty, they weren’t what I was looking for in a snickerdoodle cupcake… I personally felt like the cupcake itself wasn’t moist enough (I’m a big fan of moist and flavorful over light and airy cupcakes myself), and the frosting was ok with this cupcake… I might have liked it more if it was more of a filling inside of the cupcake instead of slathered on top. But then again I was very heavy handed with the frosting so that could have affected the outcome… I’m obsessed with a high frosting to cupcake ratio. So obsessed that I’ve been known to rip off the bottom half of the cupcake so the frosting ratio is 50/50… Don’t worry I’ve already been told by countless others that this habit of mine is pretty special. Yeah.

Anyway here is the recipe (from Martha’s new Cupcake book/website), feel free to try it out and let me know what you think – should cupcakes be considered snickerdoodle-flavored just on account of having cinnamon sugar involved? Do you think my frosting to cupcake ratio was overboard and overwhelmed the delicate cupcakes?
And get excited for more blogging, hooray!

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes, Martha Stewart Cupcakes
Makes ~ 28
Ingredients
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self- rising), sifted
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, plus 1/2 teaspoon for dusting
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for dusting
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• Seven-Minute Frosting

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together both flours, baking powder, salt, and 1 tablespoon cinnamon.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk, and beating until combined after each.
3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 2 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.
4. To finish, combine remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 2 tablespoons sugar. Using a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip (Ateco No. 809 or Wilton No. 1A), pipe frosting on each cupcake: Hold bag over cupcake with tip just above top, and squeeze to create a dome of frosting, then release pressure and pull up to form a peak. Using a small, fine sieve, dust peaks with cinnamon-sugar. Cupcakes are best eaten the day they are frosted; keep at room temperature until ready to serve.

Seven-Minute Frosting
"Martha Stewart's Cupcakes."
Ingredients
•1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
•2/3 cup water
•2 tablespoons light corn syrup
•6 large egg whites, room temperature

Directions
1.Combine 1 1/2 cups sugar with the water and corn syrup in a small saucepan; clip a candy thermometer to side of pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves. Continue boiling, without stirring, until syrup reaches 230 degrees.
2.Meanwhile, in the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk egg whites on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. With mixer running, add remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, beating to combine.
3.As soon as sugar syrup reaches 230 degrees, remove from heat. With mixer on medium-low speed, pour syrup down side of bowl in a slow, steady stream. Raise speed to medium-high; whisk until mixture is completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl) and stiff (but not dry) peaks form, about 7 minutes. Use immediately.

Note - this was an interesting/fun way to make 7-minute frosting, mostly because I kind of guesstimated the temperature/did whatever I wanted. Don't throw the extra frosting in the oven and try to make meringue-y stuff... It doesn't work. Just trust me on that.

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Dark Chocolate Goodness

Wow, where did the time go? All of a sudden it's almost April, spring break is over, and I'm in the home stretch of my freshman year of college... Yikes. And yikes for this post being so overdue. I don't really have an excuse for that - life is crazy, sure, but the older I get the more I realize that life will be crazy now and forever. Amen. (Yes, that was a Catholic joke/reference. I'm Irish... forgive me). Now I just have to get to a point where I can manage the frenzy enough to buckle down and get my stuff together. Bear with me, at times I can be a slow learner, especially when it comes to time management. In any case, seeing these cookies a month later makes me want to make them and eat them all over again. Tasty isn't enought to describe them - they're rich, decadent, and everything you need when the economy is (still?) failing, tuition is increasing at a scary rate, and financial aid gets cut. Actually, I think I'll go make them right now...

In other news, this post-spring break era of the semester means that I baked cupcakes gallore and the Daring Bakers March Challenge is coming up! So get excited! But onto the good stuff:

Dark-Chocolate Cookies

Modified from Martha Stewart's Cookies "Milk Chocolate Cookies"

Yield: 3 dozen

Ingredients

1 c. all purpose flour

1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

8 ounces good-quality dark chocolate (I used Chirardelli's 70% bittersweet cocoa chips), 4 oz. coarsely chopped, 4 oz. cut into 1/4" chunks

1/2 c. unsalted butter

1 1/2 c. sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl

2. Melt 4 oz. coarsely chopped chocolate with the butter in a small heatproof bwol set over a pan of simmering water; let cool slightly. I used the microwave but I wouldn't suggest this method as I like the added control of the simmering pan of water.

3. Put chocolate mixture, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until combined. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chunks. If hand mixing, I suggest tag-teaming the mixture on this one. It's more fun and less pain that way.

4. Roll dough into 1" balls, drop dough onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies are flat and surfaces crack, about 15 minutes (cookies should be soft). Let cool on parchment on wire racks. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days. Technically. Unofficially according to the Bf and me, these cookies are good any time. Seriously. They're super tasty. Go make them.

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Chocolate + Hearts = Life

The cookie madness continues, this time with a tasty remix of your standard cut-out cookie. They've got a hint of cinnamon going on which I was a little wary about at first but after tasting them I have to admit that the cinnamon became a magical little ingredient. It just adds an added dimension of flavor to these pretty simple chocolate cookies that bumps the tasty factor up a notch. I think the beauty of this cookie lies in the simplicity of it. They aren't saturated with flavor but they aren't some tea cookie either. The cut-outs aren't the prettiest cookie, even when heart shaped, but they've got that good homey hand-crafted feeling going on. The imperfect aesthetic in these cookies gives them a certain comforting charm, like the kind of cookies your grandma would make for you when you would come to visit. As lactose intolerant as I am, I have to admit that these cookies would be absolutely perfect heated up in the microwave with a cold glass of milk.

These cookies were also sent to the Bf in the Valentine's package of love and in the two days between receiving these cookies and contracting some downright nasty salmonella/bronchitis, he managed to eat a neat little package of these and promptly gave them a thumbs up. If you really can't stand the plain simplicity of the cookie as I made it feel free to add some colorful sprinkles before baking. I think they could hold up with frosting or even in ice cream sandwiches too. Their simplicity makes the versatile so don't hate on them! Also, a word of advice: don't hand mix with this recipe - it's absolute death. I'm pretty sure I have carpel tunnel.



Chocolate Cookie Cutouts
adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies
Yield: 3 to 4 dozen

Ingredients
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 c. plus 2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 c. unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 c. sifted confectioners' sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Optional: sprinkles for loveliness

Directions
1. Sift flour, cocoa powder, salt, and cinnamon into a bowl. (I didn't do this because as a poor college student sifters aren't in any sort of budget. And if they were the money would promptly go to studio supplies anyway. That being said, I would highly recommend this step anyway)
2. Put butter and confectioners' sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Gradually mix in flour mixture. Wrap dough in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, 1 hour or overnight.
3. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Chill in freezer 15 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 350°F. Using your cookie cutter of choice (Martha recommends a 3" cookie cutter), quickly cut out shapes from dough. If dough begins to soften, chill it in freezer 3 to 5 minutes. Re-roll and cut scraps. Transfer shapes to prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. Brush flour from shapes. Sprinkle away now if you're into that sort of thing. Chill in freezer until firm, about 15 minutes.
5. Bake cookies until crisp, about 8 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week according to Martha. I don't know about you, but my cookies don't last a week at any temperature...

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The Mistake That Went Right

It turns out this week of cookies has been prolonged to a week and a half. Oh gosh. I have to apologize and I hope I can make it up to you... With lovely cookies! Hooray!

These cookies are supposed to be those "soft and chewy" chocolate crackles compliments of Martha's cookie book... But that depended on baking powder and I had only baking soda. I figured it wouldn't make much of a difference untill the cookies started spreading out like crazy and i was left with a panful of flat chocolate and powdered sugar. In Victoria's Secret terms, think more of a sports bra compared with the B-cup these cookies are supposed to be. The issue at hand was that this travesty happened at 2am and I had to mail the Bf his valentine's day package the next day so I went with it regardless - heart shaped cookie cutters to the rescue! In any case, I ended up with a cookie thats more of a combination of crisp, chewy, and full of chocolatey goodness. And decidedly "Brietarded" in their character. Hope you'll find them as tasty as the Bf did...

(Flatty) Chocolate Crackles

adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies

Yield: about 5 dozen

Ingredients

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (I used Ghirardelli 70% bittersweet chocolate chips, unchopped. I'm lazy like that)

1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch-process if you're a Martha purist...)

2 tsp. baking soda (use baking powder if you want your cookies to be B-cup, use the baking soda if you'd like to try my trainer version)

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 c. packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/3 c. whole milk

1 c. granulated sugar

1 c. confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, stirring (I used a microwave, not going to lie...). Set aside and let cool. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.

2. With an electric mixer (or by hand if you want to be unfortunate like me), beat butter and brown sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, 2 - 3 minutes. Mix in eggs and vanilla, and then the melted chocolate. Reduce speed to low; mix in flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the milk. Divide dough into four equal pieces. Wrap each in plastic; refridgerate until firm, about 2 hours.

3. Preheat oven to 350°F. Divide each piece into sixteen 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar to coat, then in confectioners' sugar to coat. Space 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

4. For my flatty cookies, bake 10 minutes rotating halfway through until cookies look pretty solid. Take the sheet out of the oven, count to ten, then take a cookie cutter (if you want them to look pretty at all) and cut out your lovely shapes. Transfer to wire racks, dip in some more powdered sugar when cooled for looks, then feed the scraps of leftover cookies to your hungry pre-med friends. Or anybody. The scraps are tasty too, trust me.

5. For Martha's real version, bake until surfaces crack, about 14 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.

6. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in airtight containers at room temperature. Martha says for up to three days, but they're good way past that. Can cookies even go bad?

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Cake + Chocolate Chip Cookies = Madness

Though this isn't the first time I've ever baked for a long distance package, it's defintely the first valentine's day away from the bf. Well technically it's only the second v-day but that's not the point. Basically this whole week has been full of happy couples holding hands around campus and various fliers and coupons and sales letting me know that yes, this Saturday is one of those Saturdays you don't want to be alone on. And yes, I am a little bitter about it. So I harnessed that bitter energy and went all out on a bake-athon to create sweetness for valentine's day. After all, I've been slacking on fattening up the significant other. Not as easy as you'd think from 600 miles away. That combined with the almighty stress that is school. In case you were curious, in my world, stress equals hardcore baking. I whipped out the brand spanking new Martha Stewart Cookies book and went for the four recipes that seemed the most comforting and tasty. Eating my feelings through tester cookies? No, never. Not me. Anyway, that means that the rest of the week will be cookie week! Get excited.




Aw, look at that lonely little cookie. Anyways, this first recipe, compliments of Martha herself, is the traditional chocolate chip cookie with a cake-y twist. Since I can't resist anything with the word cake in it, naturally I had to test these out. And I've found that things that are traditional with a snazzy twist are just plain tasty. And lovely. As well as snuggly and exciting all at the same time. Oh, I sense symbolism. No worries that's about as deep as I'll get. Back to the sugar. These cookies have a little less sugar and butter in them to get a thicker and fluffier texture than your standard tollhouse result. As a result they're a little less sweet than I'm used to, but I have to admit that Martha did good on this one.

Onwards to the good stuff...

Cakey Chocolate Chip Cookies
yield: 3 dozen

Ingredients
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
14 tbsp (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 c. granulated sugar
1/4 c. light brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract (add an additional tsp. if you want to follow my "always add extra vanilla rule)
2 large eggs
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips (use mini chocolate chips for the best cookies. trust me)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Whisk together flour and baking soda in a bowl
3. Put butter and both sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. I did it all by hand. I don't recommend it.
4. Reduce speed to low. Add salt, vanilla, and eggs; mix until combined, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
5. Drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto baking sheets (lined with parchment paper if you'd like), spacing about two inches apart. Bake until cneters are set and edges are colden, 10 - 12 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through.

6. Let cool on baking sheets 2 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool completely. Eat and be merry!

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