Chocolate Chip Cookies – Michael Makes

Week 49: Double Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

We’re in the final stretch! We made to December and have a few more recipes to try out before the end of the year!

For this week’s recipe, I decided to do something that my mom used to make for the Christmas cookie platter, and she gave me the recipe. Plus, it was finally time for a change from all the pumpkin-themed cookies.

This recipe is pretty simple. You first start off by combining all the dry ingredients in a bowl (flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt).

Then you get to mix the butter with the sugars, but make sure to combine your sugars first!

Once the sugars are nice and mixed together, you’ll throw it into the bowl with the butter and combine them.

Once you’ve combined the sugars and butter, you’ll throw in your egg and vanilla and mix it all up.

Then you’ll put in the dry ingredients that you combined earlier. I always use a pre-cut sheet of parchment paper and slowly pour it in while the mixer is going.

Once all the ingredients are combined, you toss in a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips for that double chocolate fun.

Costco really encouraging healthy habits by saying that a giant bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips is great for snacking. I guess it depends on your mood.

Once all the ingredients are combined, you get the nice double chocolate dough.

Once it has been refrigerated for a minimum of 2 hours, it’s time to get our favorite cookie scoop out: the 1.5Tbsp Oxo cookie scoop!

Next, you’ll want to grab another bowl and mix some granulated sugar (white sugar) and some confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar) together for rolling. You can honestly get away with using only half of the suggested amount.

Trust me, it’s more than a bowl of powdered sugar.

Make sure you line your aluminum cookie sheets with a single sheet of parchment paper. Then put your rolled balls of cookie dough onto the sheets. I recommend baking them for 14-15 minutes on an aluminum cookie sheet.

I got more than what the recipe called for!

The cookies won’t expand too much, but you could pull them out after 9 minutes and drop them on the counter to help make the cookies spread more. I think they’re fine the way they came out.

Now you get to enjoy them!

This is a recipe that does require some planning ahead, as you’ll need to make sure you have your unsalted butter and egg both at room temperature. Also, you need to be sure you have 2 hours to let them sit. I actually made the dough in the afternoon and baked the cookies in the evening since I read the recipe ahead of time. It’s a simple cookie that is made with regular baking ingredients, and I recommend them for the holidays.

Ingredients:

1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons (51g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick; 115g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup (100g) granulated (white) sugar
1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup (180g) mini or regular size semi-sweet chocolate chips

Rolling

3 Tablespoons (35g) granulated (powdered) sugar
1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar, for rolling

Instructions:

Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together on medium high speed until fluffy and creamed, about 2 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla on high speed. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
On low speed, slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until combined, then beat in the chocolate chips. The cookie dough will be thick and sticky. Cover dough tightly with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days. Chilling is mandatory for this cookie dough. I always chill mine overnight.
Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. You can preheat the oven during this time.
Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. (Always recommended for cookies.) Set aside.
Scoop and roll balls of dough, about 1.5 Tablespoons of dough each, into balls. Roll each ball very lightly in granulated sugar, then generously in the confectioners’ sugar. Place 3 inches apart on the baking sheets.
Bake the cookies for 11-12 minutes. If the cookies aren’t really spreading by minute 9, remove them from the oven and lightly bang the baking sheet on the counter 2-3x. This helps initiate that spread. Return to the oven for a couple more minutes. The cookies will be thick regardless, though– they deflate a little as they cool!
Cool cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.

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Bonus: Chocolate Chip Cookies

Note: Miss Jones Baking Company sent me this cookie mix for free for me to try out.

The Miss Jones Baking Company reached out to me to try out one of their cookie mixes. They sent me the chocolate chip cookie mix for free, and these opinions are my own. They’re not paying me to say certain things about this product.

What is this product? It’s powdered cookie dough mix, where the only things you need to add are an egg and 2 tablespoons of butter (which is 1/4 of a stick of butter).

Luckily the butter is pretty easy to measure.

That top portion is all you need for this recipe.

This recipe is pretty simple to make. All you need to do is mix the softened butter and egg in a bowl, and throw in the dry mix.

Once the dough was made, it was recommended to make these into a rounded tablespoon. Needless to say, I tried to use my definitely-not-trusty 1tbsp Oxo scooper, and it didn’t work very well, so I scooped all the cookies with it.

I baked them for 10 minutes on aluminum sheets with a layer of parchment paper, and they came out pretty good.

If you’re wondering, yes that one cookie in the lower right of the picture doesn’t have any chocolate chips in it.

These cookies came out pretty good, and I was surprised by how they tasted. This recipe used wheat flour and has a different mix of sugar that makes it healthier than most cookies. This honestly doesn’t feel like a sacrifice when it comes to wanting to make cookies but still want to be somewhat healthy.

Also, this works if you’re ordering stuff off Amazon and want some healthy chocolate chip cookies to make. They taste a little different, but if you’re trying to be better about your eating, they won’t make you feel like they’re trying to be something else.

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Week 30: My (Current) Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie

I was on a hike the other day with some co-workers, and I had offhandedly mentioned that I baked cookies. One of them started off by asking “Do you know who Dr. Oz is?” And I immediately was extremely skeptical. She said that the recipe came from his daughter, who isn’t peddling weird non FDA-approved remedies.

So these chocolate chip cookies require some patience, but they’re definitely worth it in the end. The recipe calls for 9 oz of various types of chocolate. I used Cadbury Royal Dark Chocolate, Cadbury Milk Chocolate, Ghirardelli Premium Baking Semi-Sweet chocolate, Ghirardelli Premium Baking 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate, and Ghirardelli Intense Dark 72% Cacao. If you use half of each bar of chocolate, it will come out to exactly 9oz.

Note: these cookies need to be refrigerated for a minimum of 2 hours before you bake them.

These can be made ahead of time and frozen for a few months if you want to have them on hand in case you need to win an official cookie exchange with the purchasing department of your work.

Ingredients:

2 sticks (1 cup) cold unsalted butter
9 ounces assorted chocolate, chopped
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp room temperature water

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F.•Gently melt the butter over a low heat, being careful not to allow it to come to a bubble or froth. We want to avoid as much liquid evaporation as possible. While the butter is melting, roughly chop your chocolate into bite sized shards.

Gently melt the butter over a low heat, being careful not to allow it to come to a bubble or froth. We want to avoid as much liquid evaporation as possible. While the butter is melting, roughly chop your chocolate into bite sized shards.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Pour the melted butter into a bowl with both sugars and use a hand or stand mixer to blend on high about 1 minute. Add the egg and beat for 15 seconds. Scrape down the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and water, beat another 15 seconds, scrape down the bowl and set aside.

Use a spatula or wooden spoon to combine the dry mix into the wet ingredients, stirring until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips. Allow to sit 1-2 minutes while the butter cools and the dry mix starts to hydrate.

Scoop evenly sized cookies onto a prepared baking sheet – ¼ cup of dough each will make roughly 15 cookies (depending on how much snacking you’ve done on the dough!). Place baking sheet in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or covered overnight – giving the dough time to stand like this will yield slightly browner, crispier, more caramelized results with a more complex flavor (this is thanks to the large carbohydrates that start to break down over time… I did A LOT of reading about cookies as I was making all my different versions). But you also have to wait 24 hours, so your call!

Once set, the dough balls can be placed in a zip top bag and placed in the freezer up to 3 months for easy cookie baking at the drop of a hat! No baking adjustment time/temperature is needed to bake these from frozen.

Bake the cookies on a lined baking sheet until surface and edges are crisp and golden but center is still gently puffed and soft, rotating the pan front to back half-way through, about 16 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the pan two minutes before removing to a baking rack to cool fully. These can be stored in an air-tight container up to 1 week, but no chance they last that long.

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Week 26: Hazelnut Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

Because of a business trip in the middle of the week, I didn’t feel like putting too much thought into the recipe I wanted to make this week, so I decided on the Hazelnut Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies.

They’re pretty self-explanatory: they’re chocolate chip cookies with hazelnuts and toffee bits. Really, that’s pretty much it.

The good news is that despite what the recipe says, you can actually make your life easier with some of the ingredients. You can find pre-chopped hazelnuts in small packages at your local grocery store.

If you find something like these, you can save yourself Step #1 and the need for a food processor.

Also, toffee bits are found in the same aisle with the chocolate chips:

One of those ingredients you’ll never use in any other recipe.

The recipe is pretty confusing because the ingredients are all listed out of order and don’t follow the order of the instructions, so I will clean up the ingredients list so they follow the proper order of the recipe.

These cookies are presentable and tasty!

Ingredients (in the right order):

1 cup hazelnuts toasted (two small 1/2 cup packages is sufficient)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 oz toffee bits

Instructions:

Add the hazelnuts to a food processor and chop them for a few seconds until they’re coarse (If you have the packages like the ones shown in the picture, you can skip this step).
In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, oats and salt together. Set aside.
Add the butter and the sugars to the bowl of your mixer and beat on medium for about 3 to 5 minutes until light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract for another minute or so. Add the flour mixture and stir just until blended.
Stir in the toffee bits, chocolate chips and hazelnuts.
Preheat oven to 325 F degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Using a medium ice cream scoop, scoop some of the cookie dough and drop onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Do not flatten the dough.
Bake for about 12 minutes or until the edges turn golden. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for a couple minutes then transfer to cooling racks until cooled completely.

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Week 25: S’mores Cookies!

Tomorrow is the first day of Summer, so what better way to start summer with cookies most associated with a summer treat around the campfire: S’mores!

Unfortunately, these are cookies that require some pre-planning as they require the dough to sit for a minimum of 1 hour before you bake them.

The recipe reads like a typical chocolate chip cookie with the addition of graham crackers, Hershey’s chocolate, and mini marshmallows. They’re easy to make, and aren’t exactly the prettiest looking cookie out there. They’re definitely not going to win any contests based on presentation, but they’ll win by taste.

I rearranged the ingredients list so they’re in order of when you need them according to the instructions, which should clarify things.

Presentation: 2/10; Overall taste: 10/10

Ingredients:

1 cup mini marshmallows OR marshmallow bits, divided
1 bar Hershey’s Chocolate 1.55oz
4 Graham crackers 56g
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 180g
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp corn starch
10 tbsp unsalted butter room temperature (1 1/4 stick of butter)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions:

Roughly chop the Graham crackers and Hershey’s bar, then tear the mini marshmallows in half. These marshmallows are one of the best parts of the cookie but they will puff up and get a bit out of control if you don’t halve them.
Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cornstarch in a bowl then whisk together and set aside.
Using a stand or hand mixer, beat butter and sugars in a bowl until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add in egg and vanilla and until combined. Scrape the bowl down and mix once more.
Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating on low speed until just combined.
Reserve a handful of the torn marshmallows and set aside then add the remaining marshmallows, chocolate chips, and Graham crackers to the dough and mix on low until just combined (do not over-beat).
Refrigerate dough for an hour or more.
Heat oven to 350F. Portion out roughly two tablespoon sized pieces of dough. Roll into balls and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches apart.
Bake at 350° for 8 minutes then top the cookies with the reserved marshmallow and Hershey’s bar pieces then return to the oven for 2-3 minutes to finish baking. If some cookies had a blowout because of a few too many marshmallows to you can corral them back together with a round cookie cutter or a knife.
Leave on pan to cool completely.

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Week 24: Rocky Mountain Cookies!

I went with something simple this week, since I was trying to mix it up from the cake-based recipes, and I came across the Rocky Mountain cookies, which is a pretty good recipe.

In all honesty, it feels like a standard chocolate chip cookie with some extra things (old-fashioned oats and crisp rice cereal). These actually came out pretty chewy, and it’s a nice little twist on the old classic. You can barely tell there’s crisp rice cereal in them.

This recipe doesn’t require any pre-planning, so if you want to make this recipe on the fly, this is one of those recipes.

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened to room temperature
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
2 cups old-fashioned oats
2 cups crisp rice cereal (like Rice Krispies)
2 cups chocolate chips

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, cream together the sugars and butter until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well.
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder in a separate bowl. Then add to the butter/sugar mixture and mix.
Fold in oats, cereal and chips.
Drop tablespoonfuls of the cookie dough onto lightly greased or lined (with parchment or silicone liner) baking sheets.
Bake for 10-12 minutes until the cookies are lightly golden brown but still soft.

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Week 19: Red Velvet White Chocolate Chip Cookies

I decided to go with another cake-themed cookie this week. I needed to mix it up a little with something different. Plus, part of my sister’s wedding cake was red velvet, and my family and I celebrated my sister’s birthday today along with Mother’s Day.

This is honestly very similar to a recipe that is called the White Chip Chocolate Cookies, with the main difference being the red food coloring.

If you decided to make this recipe, make sure you have a few hours to make it, since you need to chill the dough for 1-2 hours before baking.

The utter magnificence that is red velvet in cookie form.

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups (189g) all-purpose flour (scoop and level to measure)
4 tsp (6g) cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp (heaping) salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter , softened
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (55g) packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp liquid red food coloring, or 1 1/2 tsp gel red food coloring
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp white vinegar or lemon juice
1 cup white chocolate chips or semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided

Instructions:

In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt, set aside.
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment cream together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until combined.
Mix in egg. Add in red food coloring, vanilla and vinegar.
Add flour mixture and mix just until combined. Mix in 3/4 cup white or semi-sweet chocolate chips (set aside remaining 1/3 cup to use after baking).
Cover bowl and chill dough 1 – 2 hours until dough is nearly firm. Preheat oven to 350 degrees near the end of dough chilling.
Scoop dough out and shape into balls about 1 1/2 Tbsp each (or 28g). Transfer to parchment paper lined baking sheet spacing 2-inches apart.
Bake one sheet at a time (keep remaining dough chilled and repeat process), until cookies appear set on the edges but slightly under-baked in the center, about 10 – 11 minutes.
Remove cookies from oven and gently press some of the remaining white chocolate chips into tops.
Let cool on baking sheet 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

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Week 16: Chocolate Truffle Cookies

PSA: Anytime you decide you want to try a new recipe, don’t only look at the ingredients; look at the steps required as well.

I wanted to do something with chocolate this week, so I found this recipe for chocolate truffle cookies, which honestly sounded amazing. The only specialty ingredient this recipe requires is unsweetened chocolate, to which I don’t think the average person keeps in their cupboard.

You need to chill the dough for a minimum of 3 hours before you bake these cookies. If you do it too long, you might end up bending a spoon in the process.

These cookies will be pretty small when baked. They’ll be about 2″ in diameter. I’m guessing these are meant to be bite-sized like an actual truffle.

Ingredients:

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup butter, cubed
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking cocoa (unsweetened cocoa powder)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar)

Directions:

In a microwave, melt 1 cup chocolate chips, unsweetened chocolate and butter; stir until smooth*. Cool 10 minutes.
In a large bowl**, beat sugar and eggs 2 minutes. Beat in chocolate mixture and vanilla.
In a small bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; gradually beat into chocolate mixture.
Stir in remaining chocolate chips. Refrigerate, covered, until firm enough to handle, at least 3 hours.
Preheat oven to 350°. With lightly floured hands, shape dough into 1-in. balls; place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake until lightly puffed and set, 10-12 minutes. Cool on pans 3 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool. Dust with confectioners’ sugar.

*I microwaved everything in a bowl for about 30 seconds at a time, stirring between each run to make sure the chocolate mixture was smooth.

**This is where you would use your stand mixer, or a large bowl with a hand mixer.

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Week 8: XXL Death by Chocolate Cookies from Sally’s Baking Addiction

Today is my birthday, and so I thought what better way to celebrate it than by making cookies that go by the name “Death by Chocolate?”

This recipe can go two different ways, and so I made the recipe…two different ways. I first started off by making the single large cookie thinking that it wasn’t going to be that big, but little did I know how big the cookie would end up being…

Yes, a 6″ diameter cookie. I had to use my measuring tape to prove the size of it.

So it’s bigger than I thought it would be, but it is tasty!

I also made 4 smaller cookies using the same recipe, and luckily they’re a little more reasonable in size at about 4″ in diameter.

If you want a simple cookie recipe that you can whip up easily for a tasty treat, this is definitely one of the easiest recipes that I’ve made that has a rich taste for the amount of time needed to make this happen. The amount of effort required to make this recipe versus the resulting taste puts this very high up on my recommendation list.

Baking Notes:

This recipe can be made using two small bowls, and you don’t need a fancy stand mixer to make these either, let alone a hand mixer. A spoon for mixing the wet ingredients, a fork for the sugars, and a small whisk for the flour mix are the major utensils you’ll need for this.
Make sure you mix the sugars together before you mix it with the butter.

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons (30g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2 Tablespoons (25g) granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons (25g) packed light or dark brown sugar
2 Tablespoons beaten egg (crack an egg, beat it, and use 2 Tablespoons)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup (32g) all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
2 Tablespoons (11g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (55g) dark chocolate chips + 1 Tablespoon, divided (or semi-sweet chocolate chips)
optional: sprinkles

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. Set aside.
In a medium size bowl, mix the softened butter and sugars together with a spoon or fork until creamed. Mix in the egg and vanilla.
In a separate small bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix to combine. Fold in 1/4 cup chocolate chips.
Place the dough in the center of the baking sheet and mold into a tall ball using a spoon (see picture above). Dot the top of the cookie with 1 Tablespoon of chocolate chips. Add sprinkles on top if desired. Bake for 14-15 minutes, or up to 16 minutes. The cookie will appear very soft, but will firm up as it cools. Allow to cool completely on baking sheet.

Notes

Smaller Cookies: You may make four smaller cookies using this recipe. Just divide the dough into 4 smaller mounds on the cookie sheet rather than 1 large mound. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

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Week 4: Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies from Disney’s Contemporary Resort Bakery at Walt Disney World Resort.

Alright, I know I said I wouldn’t do another Disney recipe, but this one looked so good and different, I felt that I needed to try it out as soon as possible.

This is a whole wheat chocolate chip cookie recipe that I wanted to try because it uses whole wheat flour, which is more reserved for bread than cookies. They’re surprisingly good and are unexpected great in taste. The recipe says that it will make 60 cookies, so be prepared to have a lot made.

They almost don’t look much different than regular chocolate chip cookies, but they’re definitely different in taste.

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips

Directions:

Beat butter and sugar together in large bowl
of electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 4
to 5 minutes. Add eggs, beating until very well
combined, about 2 minutes more. Add vanilla extract.
Whisk together whole-wheat flour, all-purpose
flour, salt, and baking soda in large bowl.
Slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture, mixing
just until combined.
Add chocolate chips and mix just until combined.
Refrigerate dough 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Scoop dough by the tablespoon onto prepared
cookie sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake 9 to
12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on cookie
sheets 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack to
cool completely.

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