White Chocolate – Michael Makes

Week 50: Dipped Gingersnaps

We’re almost to the end, and this week is something that seemed appropriate for the holidays while still giving those fall feelings: Dipped Gingersnaps!

This recipe requires a little bit of prep as you need to make sure your eggs are at room temperature. Also, you need to make sure you have canola oil, molasses, and shortening. Hopefully you have molasses on hand because I had a heck of a time trying to find molasses in any of my local grocery stores.

At first, I wasn’t going to make this recipe since the yield was listed as 14-1/2 dozen. For those who don’t care about measuring things in dozens, that’s 174 cookies. I read the recipe further down, and that’s assuming a ball of dough that is 3/4″ in diameter, so I decided to use my favorite cookie scoop to make larger cookies instead. Needless to say, that idea paid off as I ended up making 45 cookies instead.

The recipe starts off easy enough: you throw in 2 cups of sugar and 1-1/2 cups of canola oil into the mixing bowl and stir it on low.

While the canola oil and sugar are being mixed up, you put all the dry ingredients into a bowl and whisk them together.

When the canola oil and sugar are well mixed, you throw in the 2 eggs and the 1/2 cup of molasses and run it on low for a couple of minutes.

Once all the wet ingredients are combined, then you throw in the dry ingredients and let it mix on low for a while as well.

It actually smelled pretty good considering the molasses.

Once all the ingredients were combined, I called upon my trusty 1.5Tbsp Oxo Cookie Scoop to get me the cookie sizes I wanted. Make sure your cookie sheet is lined with parchment paper.

I baked them for between 15-17 minutes, and they came out perfect.

The cookies were getting a little too close together…

Once the cookies have cooled off, you need to melt your white chocolate and shortening together. I used two smaller bowls to do this.

Yes that’s shortening, not marshmallow cream, although that gives me an idea…

What I did was run the mixture in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time, but only did that twice. After the second 30-second run, I ran it for 15 seconds, and it came out perfect.

I took the cookies and dipped them halfway to get the look that we want.

Make sure you line your cookie sheet with wax paper to let the white chocolate dry.

Once they’re dry, they look even better.

All and all, this wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, and the cookies taste so good. I recommend this for holiday parties and for cookie plates, or if you’re in the mood for something different. It does take some initial prep, but overall I think it’s worth it.

As I’m reading this, I forgot to roll the dough in sugar, but they still came out amazing.

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
1-1/2 cups canola oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup molasses
4 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking soda
3 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
Additional sugar
2 packages (10 to 12 ounces each) white baking chips
1/4 cup shortening

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine sugar and oil. Beat in eggs. Stir in molasses. Combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.
Shape into 3/4-in. balls and roll in sugar. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° until cookies spring back when touched lightly, 10-12 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool.
In a microwave, melt chips and shortening; stir until smooth. Dip cookies halfway into the melted chips or drizzle with mixture; allow excess to drip off. Place on waxed paper; let stand until set.

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Week 46: Key Lime Pie Cookies

I decided this week to make cookies that weren’t fall-related, so I went with something that has nothing to do with anything frankly: Key Lime Pie Cookies!

I apologize for the lack of pictures. It was a busy weekend where it felt like I didn’t stop at all except to sleep.

The good news is that this is a recipe that can be made on impulse, assuming you have all the necessary ingredients. The only things you might need to get from the store are a couple of sticks of salted butter, a couple of limes (for zesting), and a container of lime juice.

The recipe comes together in the usual fashion: butter and sugar mixed together, egg and vanilla extract added, then the lime juice and lime zest, and then the flower mixed with the kosher salt and baking soda, with an added twist of graham cracker crumbs.

Unfortunately, this is one of those recipes that calls for the worst cookie scoop ever: the Oxo 1Tbsp scooper, and it once again didn’t do a good job of actually scooping cookie dough.

These were baked on aluminum cookie sheets covered with a sheet of parchment paper for 13 minutes.

Once the cookies have cooled down, you need to melt some white chocolate to drizzle. You need to microwave a bowl of white chocolate for 30 seconds at a time. I wouldn’t recommend more than three times because after the 4th time, it starts to clump up for some reason. Do not microwave the white chocolate for more than three times!

Once the white chocolate is melted, you need to somehow get it into a Ziploc bag, cut one of the corners, and squirt it onto the cookies.

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons key lime juice
2 teaspoons grated lime zest
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup finely crushed graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup white chocolate

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the butter and sugar on medium speed for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
Add the egg, vanilla, key lime juice and lime zest and continue mixing for 1 more minute, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Mix in the salt and baking soda until incorporated.
Turn the speed to low and add the flour and graham cracker crumbs until the dough comes together.
Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and place 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. Bake for 9 to 10 minutes, until the edges are lightly golden.
Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.
Place the white chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat on full power for 25 seconds. Remove the bowl from the microwave and stir the chocolate. Repeat this process until the white chocolate is melted and smooth. Transfer the melted chocolate to a small ziptop bag. Snip one corner of the bag off with scissors and drizzle the white chocolate on top of the cookies. Allow the white chocolate to set completely.
Store the cookies airtight at room temperature for up to 3 days.

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Week 43: White Chocolate Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

We’re back on the theme of fall-related cookies, with a recipe once again containing pumpkin.

This is another one of those recipes that you need to plan out ahead of time, and not because you need to make sure that your butter is at room temperature. If anything, this can be made on impulse, assuming you prepare ahead of time to have the dough sit for half an hour in the refrigerator.

The only random ingredients you need for this recipe are pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice.

The recipe starts off pretty easily. You melt the butter and combine it with the brown and white sugar. Then you throw in the pumpkin and vanilla. Once that is prepped, then the dry ingredients go together, and then you combine both bowls.

After the ingredients are combined, you need to refrigerate the dough for a minimum of 30 minutes.

After the dough is refrigerated, then you can scoop it, roll it in a bowl of combined sugar and cinnamon, and place it on the cookie sheet. You’ll need to flatten the cookies a little bit. This recipe calls for the use of our trusty 1.5Tbsp Oxo Cookie Scoop to make the nice even 1.5Tbsp rolls.

For this recipe, the cookies were baked on aluminum cookie sheets with a sheet of parchment paper for 14 minutes, and they came out perfect.

This is a good recipe to make on impulse, although don’t expect a large yield. The recipe will only make about 18 cookies, so this is something you make for yourself or someone close to you. This isn’t one of those “I need to make a bunch of cookies for a cookie exchange” recipes.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter
1/4 cup (50g) packed light or dark brown sugar
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar, divided
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 Tablespoons (86g) pumpkin puree*
1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice*
1/2 cup (90g) white chocolate chips or chunks

Instructions:

Melt the butter in the microwave. In a medium bowl, whisk the melted butter, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup granulated sugar together until no brown sugar lumps remain. Whisk in the vanilla and pumpkin until smooth. Set aside.
In a large bowl, toss together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together with a large spoon or rubber spatula. The dough will be very soft. Fold in white chocolate chips. They may not stick to the dough because of the melted butter, but do your best to have them evenly dispersed in the dough. Cover the dough and chill for 30 minutes or up to 3 days. Chilling the dough is imperative for this recipe.
Take the dough out of the refrigerator. Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
Roll the dough into balls, about 1.5 Tablespoons of dough each. Mix together the remaining 1/2 cup of granulated sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. Roll each of the dough balls generously in the cinnamon-sugar mixture and arrange on 2 baking sheets. Slightly flatten the dough balls because the cookies will only slightly spread in the oven. The photo above shows what the cookie dough balls should look like before baking.
Bake for 11-12 minutes or until the edges appear set. The cookies will look very soft in the center. Remove from the oven. If you find that your cookies didn’t spread much at all, flatten them out with the back of a spoon when you take them out of the oven. If desired, press a few white chocolate chips into the tops of the warm cookies. This is only for looks!
Cool cookies on the baking sheets for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. The longer the cookies cool, the even better they taste! The flavor gets stronger and the texture becomes chewier. I usually let them sit, uncovered, for several hours before serving. Chewiness and pumpkin flavor are even stronger on day 2.
Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.

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Week 37: Cookies & Cream Cookies

I don’t think I could have found a recipe with a more redundant name than this one.

For this week, I decided to go back into the theme of “Cookies based on ice cream flavors” and went with Cookies & Cream cookies.

This recipe requires some planning, although I did manage to figure out how to make this on some reasonable amount of impulse. The recipe calls for an egg and half of a brick (I don’t think those are the proper units) of cream cheese to be at room temperature, but you can bring them both to room temperature easily. For the egg, you need a bowl of warm water (not hot) and leave it in there for about 5 minutes. Pull it out, dry it off, and it’ll be at room temperature. The cream cheese is easy: just put it on a plate and microwave it until it’s soft.

You will also need to refrigerate the dough for a minimum of 2 hours, so make sure you have the time to spare.

The only thing that will take some extra time is roughly chopping up the Oreo cookies. The recipe calls for 1 1/4 cups of it, but I think you could get away with a little bit more. Two cups might be pushing it.

Like most previous recipes, I like to whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt), and I also like to whisk the sugars together so they’re more evenly distributed throughout the dough.

It starts off pretty simple: mix cream cheese and butter, add combined sugars, add egg and vanilla, and add the flour mix. Once that’s done, throw in the white chocolate chips and chopped up Oreos. Yes, that’s this week’s random ingredient: Oreo cookies.

This is another recipe that you will want to use your 1.5Tbsp Oxo scooper, as this helps make about 3 dozen cookies. These cookies won’t expand too much, so if you can’t get an exact 3″ between cookies, you can move them a little closer, and you’ll be fine. For using aluminum cookie sheets with a single sheet of parchment paper, bake them for 15 minutes in the oven. They come out very chewy as well.

The slight discoloration is due to the crumbs of the Oreo cookies.

Ingredients:

2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)
1 and 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 ounces (112g) block full-fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature
3/4 cup (1.5 sticks or 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup (180g) white chocolate chips
1 and 1/4 cups roughly chopped Oreos (regular or Double Stuf)

Instructions:

Whisk the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese on medium-high speed until completely smooth and creamy. Add the butter and beat until combined (see photo for a visual), scraping down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl as needed. Add granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until combined. With the mixer running on low speed, beat in the white chocolate chips. Add the Oreos and beat on low speed or gently fold in with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon (dough is heavy) until combined. Cover and chill the dough for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator (and up to 4 days). If chilling for longer than a few hours, allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before rolling and baking because the dough will be quite hard.
Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
Roll cookie dough, a heaping 1.5 Tablespoons of dough per cookie, and place 3 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 12-13 minutes or until lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look very soft.
Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.

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Week 9: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

So despite how simple of a recipe this is, I’ve never actually made them. I chose this recipe since I knew I was not going to be in a 100% coherent state making them due to some other things going on, and I wanted to make something that required minimal effort.

As I mention in other recipes, it’s a good idea to mix the sugars together before you mix them with the softened butter in your bowl.

Whisking all the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda) before mixing with other ingredients will make the dough more consistent as well.

Needless to say, this recipe came out perfect, and I’m very pleased with the results. It’s a simple recipe that anyone can do, even if they’re not in a fully coherent state, as shown in the picture.

Also, the base of this recipe would make for an amazing chocolate chip cookie. Just substitute the white chocolate chips with semi-sweet morsels and omit the macadamia nuts.

Some of the better looking cookies. Then again, this isn’t a beauty contest.

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
12 ounces white chocolate chips
1 cup macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, beat together the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar with a handheld mixer (or in the bowl of a stand mixer) until the mixture is well-combined.
Add the vanilla and eggs and beat until the mixture is creamy and light in color, 2-3 minutes.
Stir in the flour, salt and soda and mix until just combined; a few streaks of flour remaining are ok.
Add the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts and mix until combined and no streaks of flour remain.
Roll tablespoon (or slightly larger) size balls of dough and place on parchment lined baking sheets, 1 to 2 inches apart.
Bake for 9-11 minutes.

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