Cookie Madness

I was going through a stack of old recipe cards and came across one with a picture of a big & flashy mocha cheesecake. It looked delicious, but I couldn’t justify making a whole cheesecake for just the three of us and cheesecake isn’t the easiest thing to share. A few days later, after giving up on the idea of cheesecake, I found this recipe for a mocha cheesecake bar cookie (origin unknown). Using an 8 inch metal pan and weighing out half the ingredients, I made a half batch. Now I wish I’d made a full batch because these are excellent. Plus, they can be frozen. So below is the full batch recipe, but you can always have it if you wish to save your half can of condensed milk and half brick of cream cheese for another use.

Mocha Cheesecake Squares

1-1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup powdered sugar (sifted if you have time – I didn’t)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt plus an extra pinch
12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (14-ounce) can (1-1/4 cups) sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon instant coffee crystals dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water
2 large eggs
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line a 13×9 inch metal baking pan with Release foil or line with regular foil and spray foil with cooking spray.

Combine flour, powdered sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt in bowl of food processor. Add butter and pulse until coarse and mealy. Alternatively, you may mix dry ingredients in a bowl and cut in butter with a pastry cutter. Press into bottom of pan and bake for 15 minutes.

Rinse out food processor bowl – no need to use soap. Add cream cheese and condensed milk and process until smooth. Add coffee and process; add eggs and process just until eggs are mixed in. Alternatively, you may beat the ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Pour over crust. Bake for 20 minutes or until set.

Cool completely on a wire rack then refrigerate. When firm, cut into squares. Melt chocolate chips in the top of a double boiler or in a heat proof bowl set over simmering water. Transfer melted chocolate to a resealable plastic bag and with a scissors, snip off a tiny corner of the bag.
Drizzle melted chocolate over squares.

Note: I actually did the drizzling before cutting the squares and things worked out fine.

Makes 24

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Good Morning, Cookie Lovers!

Things are back to normal. Fuzz returned to school, Todd’s left for work and I have to start focusing on some volunteer projects — the first of which is coordinating our troop’s Girl Scout cookies. I was cookie coordinator last year and thought I had it all down; then they changed things up a bit this year and the more seasoned stay-at-home dad cookie coordinator who was helping me moved away. So I’m on my own and a little nervous. To help remind me that *It’s just cookies* and this is supposed to fun, I’ll be linking to various articles on Girl Scout Cookies. I’ll also be collecting more recipes that call for them, so if you know of any or see any that look exceptional, shoot me an email.

I’ve also created a Girl Scout Cookie Recipe category in the left sidebar. So far, the only thing I’ve put there is Thin Mint Pie which is extremely delicious and a very good use for Thin Mints. As I come across new recipes, I’ll add them to the category.

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Last week I asked for cookbook recommendations. Thanks for all the help! So far, I’ve bought two — BakeWise and Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

I’m at a standstill with Artisan Bread, because it seems I need to get myself a 5 gallon container to store dough. So for now, I’ll tell you a little about BakeWise, which I am in love with.

Bakewise is by Shirley Corriher, a noted food scientist who has a wonderful way of explaining scientific processes to people without chemistry degrees. She’s the person to call when you have a question about why something turned out the way it did or how you can achieve a desired result. Alton Brown used to call her all the time on his show and I think that might be why a lot of people know who she is. Before that, she was known as the author of her other book, Cookwise and as a mentor and friend to food professionals. Now she’s available to us all, and BakeWise is like having her right there in the kitchen.

The book doesn’t have a flashy design or lots of pictures. Instead, it’s like a gentle conversation where someone explains to you, very nicely, how things work. For instance, there’s a full page on brownies with “Separate Shiny Crust or No Crust” where Shirley explains how brownie crust is formed. She says that the crust is actually a form of meringue and that you get it when you vigorously beat eggs after adding them to a batter. She goes on to tell a story about a baker who switched shops and while using the same recipe and same equipment, started seeing a crust on her brownies. It turns out that the Hobart mixture was getting more voltage from the wiring in the new building and the mixer was beating faster.

The other funny story she tells is that chocolate chip cookies can have a shiny crusty top too. She recently found this out when Pat & Betty, the friendly home economists from the Reynolds Wrap commercials, emailed her to say their chocolate chip cookies had shiny crusty tops. Shirley told them to stop mixing so much after adding the eggs and sure enough, the crust went away — so even Pat and Betty were baffled by shiny tops and crusts.

The point I’m getting to is that this book is fun and you can’t read it without learning something.

This also leads to today’s recipe. Because I’m a big nerd,  I wanted to recreate Pat & Betty’s crusty, shiny chocolate chip cookies.  Using a half batch version of the recipe on the Reynold’s Wrap website they  call Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies, I added the egg and beat the heck out of the batter after adding it. The cookies did indeed have a shiny top. The crust wasn’t detached, but who knows if it was really the same recipe Pa & Betty used. I did get a shiny top, though.  I’m going to try this with brownies too.

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I was pretty happy with those banana muffins and decided to do a sweet potato version as well. I had a gigantic sweet potato leftover from Thanksgiving, so why not? I noticed the batter needed some adjustments as I went along, so this version is slightly different than the banana version with more yogurt, an extra egg white and a bit of honey. Again, I was happy with the results even though these muffins are a bit different than your usual muffins.

These muffins are a little over 3 oz each and according to Mastercook, have 225 calories, 7 grams of fat and 9 grams of protein – and includes the topping of pecans/sugar/cinnamon. If you leave that off, calories would be slightly less, but the muffins are big and dense and need something to kind of break up the texture. In fact, I recommend throwing in even more pecans.

Sweet Potato Muffins with Protein Powder

1 cup white whole wheat flour (4.5 oz) – spoon and level if no scale
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 scant teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten with a fork
6 tablespoons protein powder
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/3 cup vanilla yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons turbinado sugar
1 teaspoon honey
8 ounces mashed cooked sweet potato (slightly heaping cup)
Topping: 1 teaspoon turbinado sugar mixed with ¼ teaspoon cinnamon and 1 ½ tablespoons chopped pecans.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 6 muffins cups with flour-added cooking spray

Thoroughly stir flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together in a bowl; set aside.

Combine egg whites, protein powder, oil, yogurt and vanilla and beat well (I just used a spoon) in a medium mixing bowl. Beat in the turbinado sugar, honey and sweet potatoes.

Add flour mixture to sweet potato mixture and stir just until mixed – batter should be thick. If you like, throw in some pecans.

Using a generously rounded quarter cup measuring spoon, scoop up dough and divide evenly between 6 muffin cups. Bake for for 18-22 minutes minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool before eating.

Yield: 6 muffins

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I was supposed to go grocery shopping this morning, but got sidetracked by a couple of over-ripe bananas sitting on the counter. Thinking I might be able to partner them with some protein powder and make some groovy new banana bread, I looked at a few different bread and muffin recipes and came up with this one. Since it was a no-mixer, small batch recipe, I wasn’t too worried about wasting time and ingredients on a failure, but surprise! Results were good!

The muffins baked up big with rounded scraggly tops and a heavy texture that improved as the muffins cooled. The texture is a little different than regular muffins, but not rubbery or strange. I liked these a lot and was happy to see Mastercook show nutrition values of 190 calories and 8 grams of protein per muffin. Considering their size and weight (almost 3 oz each), that seemed pretty good. These are substantial muffins and not just balls of fluff. You could probably make them smaller, but I recommend making them larger first and working from there.

I only wished I’d used an add-in ingredient. Because I couldn’t find the cinnamon, I threw some cinnamon chips on top before baking, but these muffins would be even better with extra cinnamon chips, mini chocolate chips or chopped pecans swirled into the batter. Underneath the recipe I put the values Mastercook gave me for the muffins themselves and with the add-ins.

Banana Muffins with Protein Powder

1 cup white whole wheat flour (4.5 oz) – spoon and level if no scale
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (see note)
1 large egg white, lightly beaten with a fork
6 tablespoons protein powder
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup vanilla yogurt (Yoplait)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons turbinado sugar
2 mashed bananas (8 oz)
Add-Ins – 2 tablespoons miniature chocolate or cinnamon chips or nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 6 muffins cups with flour-added cooking spray

Stir flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in a bowl; set aside.

Combine egg white, protein powder, oil, yogurt and vanilla and beat well in a medium mixing bowl. Beat in the turbinado sugar bananas.

Add flour mixture to banana mixture and stir just until mixed – batter should be thick. If using cinnamon or chocolate chips, add them in with the flour or save some and sprinkle on top.

Using a generously rounded quarter cup measuring spoon, scoop up batter and divide evenly between 6 muffin cups. Bake for for 15-18 minutes minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Yield: 6 muffins

Note about salt: I actually used ½ teaspoon, but could detect the salt. Still, I liked the flavor. If you’re the kind of person who just loves salt you could use up to a scant ½ teaspoon, but ¼ teaspoon should be fine.

Below or values Mastercook showed without and with add-ins
Without Add-Ins (will vary depending on type protein powder – I used Sunridge Whey)
190 Calories
6g Fat
8g Protein;

With 2 tablespoons miniature Chocolate or Cinnamon Chips
206 calories
7 grams fat
9 grams protein

With 3 tablespoons pecans
214 calories
8 grams fat
9 grams protein

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