Cowboy Cookies

Given my "maximizer" tendencies, that is, an insistence on assessing all possible options to ensure I’ve chosen the absolute best one before making a decision— as my sister has pointedly labeled my behavior—choosing a holiday cookie is not an easy task for me. By not easy, I mean positively agonizing. The possibilities are endless, the angles innumerable. Does one go traditional Christmas cookie, sprinkles and all? Or gingerbread, molasses-rich and deeply spiced? What about dark chocolate, peppered cheerily with candy cane morsels? I poured through all of my cookbooks and read countless “Top 50 Christmas Cookies” lists online, toiling through the comments sections in feverish hope of feeling with finality that I’d chosen the best…

And just when I’d settled for an intricate yet interesting spice cookie with a thin lemon glaze on top, bae glanced at the cookbook photo and told me point-blank that it looked like someone had jizzed all over these Pfeffernüsse varietals. Horrified, I slapped the book shut, ready to start the search from scratch.

“You’re thinking too hard about this,” bae said. “Why don’t you just make chocolate chip? Everybody loves chocolate chip cookies.” My first reaction was to protest, too mundane! Too basic! Too non-holiday! But truth is, bae had a very good point. So I set out to find a recipe for a loaded chocolate chip, and with resolve and conviction chose these Cowboy Cookies—trading my “maximizing” mindset for wholehearted enthusiasm apropos to these spectacular sweets.

I don’t know why they are named “Cowboy”, but I do know this—they’re insanely delicious, easy to make, hard to mess up, and quite the crowd pleaser. I mean, how can a cookie that’s essentially the Original Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe plus pecans, oats, shredded coconut, and cinnamon be anything but? Even for baking dopes like me who don’t let the butter warm to room temp and bake a dangerous 2 minutes past their doneness, they still managed to turn out excellent. For the amateur baker, a resilient cookie is a must.

In its original form, this recipe makes giant, scone-like Levain Bakery style cookies—¼ cup batter allocation per each. I wanted more of a two-bite cookie, so I cut the recipe and cookie size by one-third, which I’ve reflected below. Now, you are free to eat more than one :)

Happy Holidays! Sending all the love and joy of the season from my kitchen to yours. I’ll see you in the New Year.

Cowboy Cookies (from the New York Times)
Makes 30 two-bite cookies

Ingredients:
1  cup all­ purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter, at room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup packed light­ brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup old­ fashioned rolled oats
2/3 cup unsweetened flake coconut/ coconut chips
2/3 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in bowl.
3. In a large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth and creamy. Gradually beat in sugars, and combine thoroughly.
4. Add egg, beat into batter. Beat in vanilla.
5. Stir in flour mixture until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips, oats, coconut and pecans.
6. For each cookie, drop a heaping tablespoon of dough onto ungreased baking sheets, spacing 3 inches apart.
7. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, until edges are lightly browned; rotate sheets halfway through. Remove cookies from rack to cool.

Soft Chocolate Almond Cherry Cookies

Never mind holiday shenanigans like twinkling street lamps and department store display windows, my euphoric Christmastime enthusiasm is reserved for just one thing: the Food52 Holiday Shop. Every year, my favorite recipe website puts together a real live holiday pop-up shop, teeming with unique, artisanal cooking gifts that whip me into a frenzy of want. I cannot afford anything, yet I must have everything. In the same way that people roam Ikea, playing house in the little model rooms, I covertly circle the Food52 Holiday Shop interior, picking up multi-hundred dollar cast iron skillets and vintage cocettes while pretending I'm minding my business in my own kitchen. On the oak wood farmhouse table next to me is my hand-crafted, organically glazed Portuguese porcelain dinnerware set, a casual eucalyptus and pine garland runner elegantly draping its midsection that I, you know, assembled on a whimsical winter garden walk in the woods outback while I was also gathering firewood and winterberries. I hope the staff doesn't notice that this is the 3rd day in a row I've visited to continue my make-pretend game.


In addition to this splendid array of dining and cooking delights, The Food52 pop up shop also exhibits exactly two edibles: the contenders for the year's best holiday cookie contest, an ongoing competition between the company's founders to determine who has procured the top holiday cookie recipe of 2015. (And, let's face it, the real reason I've come back 3 days in a row.) But I needed to try both cookies multiple times, you know, just to be sure of my vote!


OK but really—I knew at first bite that my vote was for Merrill's Soft Chocolate Almond Cherry Cookies.  Simply and unequivocally delicious, they were everything a holiday cookie should be. A glorious combination of chewy chocolate cookie—or is it an impossibly soft brownie?—dotted with rich chocolate chunks, sweet dried cherries, and a glorious nutty, buttery undertone. I swooned. And swooned so much that I knew this would be the cookie recipe to accompany my will-you-be-my-bridesmaid gifts, because if you didn't know, I'm getting married. Introducing: Kvell in the Kitchen, Wedding Edition!


Now, I was very excited to embark on this baking adventure because a) I am, you know, a blushing bride-to-be b) have not yet started any type of wedding diet and c) like all arts and crafts projects. But let me tell you, these cookies were not easy breezy. After hours of hand-removing every stage of batter from my immersion blender (no, I don't have a stand mixer, yes, I can confirm you do need one for this recipe) I finally was able to create a little assembly line of dough and sugar to coat my cookies—1.5 inch diameter balls, 2 inches apart, just like the recipe called for—and they came out as one giant, puddled, cookie lump. Or a birds-eye view of a ski mountain covered with brown moguls. Suddenly, I am no longer a blushing bride, but an on-the-verge-of-tears totally frustrated bride. I almost gave up (not before making a mental note to add standing mixer to my registry).

But! No more kvetching in the kitchen, because despite the fact that my cookies looked like poo, they did in fact taste delicious, and after 10 minutes of cooling I was able to pick them apart and distribute them as originally planned. Below, I have gone at great lengths to amend the recipe (smaller cookie diameters, more space in between them) to make sure this doesn't happen to you. Its worth the fuss (and time commitment—note that the cookie dough needs to cool in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before baking). But seriously, they are dynamite. Wedding-worthy for sure!

Soft Chocolate Almond Cherry Cookies (from Food 52)
Makes about 36 cookies

Ingredients:

125 grams almond flour (~ 1 ⅛ cups)

50 grams all-purpose flour (~¼ + ⅛ cups)

⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 stick plus 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

⅔ cups packed light brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar, plus more for dusting

1 ¼ teaspoon flaky sea salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped (pieces should be ⅓ inch or smaller)

⅔ cups dried cherries, chopped

Directions:

1. Whisk together the almond flour, all-purpose flour, cocoa powder and baking soda.
2. Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium speed until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula once.
3. Add both sugars, the salt and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the dry ingredients, drape a kitchen towel over the mixer and pulse at low speed for 1 to 2 seconds, about 5 times. Remove the towel and keep beating at low speed for about 10 seconds more, until everything is just combined. Scrape down the bowl again.
4. Add the chopped chocolate and dried cherries and mix on low speed for another 5 seconds or so, just to incorporate. Transfer the dough to an airtight container and refrigerate for 30 to 60 minutes.
5. Center a rack in the oven and heat it to 325 °F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats. Pour about ¾ cup sugar onto a large plate. Using your hands, form the dough into balls an inch in diameter. Roll the balls in the sugar and arrange them on the baking sheets, at least 3 inches apart.
6. Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes; they should dome slightly in the middle, and they should look dry on the surface but still be soft to the touch. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets on racks for 5 minutes, then transfer the parchment to the racks to finish cooling.

Pumpkin Pecan Chocolate-Chip Biscotti

With such a busy Fall, it’s barely occurred to me that Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and now I’ve worked myself into a pre-Thanksgiving panic about the lack of pumpkin desserts I’ve made this year.  I operate with this irrational belief that after Thanksgiving, all pumpkin desserts are rendered obsolete as we move into the realm of winter gingerbreads and puddings. As if only when the leaves are still in the trees can I dabble in pumpkin bread, muffins, pie, lattes, parfaits, cookies, squares, bars…the list goes on and on.

Now, I’ve been very prepared to make all of these desserts since September, when I caught wind of a potential pumpkin shortage in the US and stocked my pantry to the brim with cans of puree. “There’s going to be a pumpkin shortage,” I whispered gravely to the cashier at Trader Joe’s as he loaded up bags of my endangered squash, my eyes darting suspiciously at any one who ventured near the display. “Good luck getting all this home,” he replied.

And I started off strong. I made a few pumpkin breads, but I ate them in like, three days. I was introduced to the dazzling concept of pumpkin butter, but found myself eating it by the spoonful late-night, too often. Finally, I decided I needed something pumpkiny that would last, that would allow me to consume my beloved cucurbita with abandon but also not give me that “oh my god I can’t believe I ate that WHOLE thing” feeling afterward, either. A ritualized post-dinner tea drinker,  I decided to turn to tea’s favorite cookie: biscotti.  Specifically, Pumpkin Pecan Chocolate-Chip Biscotti.

I am a total biscotti junkie, and not just because of the taste. I like how biscotti resides on the lighter side of the cookie spectrum; void of butter or oil and not too sweet. I like how the hard texture likens it to a biscuit or sweet cracker. Instead of feeling super indulgent, it feels practical, utilitarian—like a sensible fixed presence that accompanies your cup of tea or coffee. Yet, there’s just the right amount of chocolate to quench that dessert craving. Plus, the pumpkin flavor is spot on: subtle, but spiced just right to give a recognizable nod to fall.

Because it is twice-baked, biscotti is a bit more labor-intensive than a regular cookie: It has to bake, cool, bake again, cool again. But once made, it lasts forever when sealed in an air tight jar, so you can count on a supply when that pumpkin craving comes knocking. I love to dip it in my tea or coffee, but you can also use it as a vehicle to spread pumpkin butter— twice as nice for those with a pumpkin vice!

Pumpkin Pecan Chocolate-Chip Biscotti (adapted from Chocolate Moosey)

Ingredients:

2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour ( whole-wheat, white, or combination)

¾ cup granulated sugar (add ¼ cup for a sweeter cookie)

1 tsp baking powder

1½ Tbsp cinnamon

1½ Tbsp nutmeg  

¼ teaspoon ginger spice

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

⅛ teaspoon salt

2 eggs (can substitute flax seed eggs: 1 Tbsp flax seed + 2 ½ Tbsp water per egg)

½ cup canned pumpkin puree

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup semisweet chocolate chips

½ cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, clove, and salt.

3. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, pumpkin, and vanilla until smooth. Gradually beat in the flour until incorporated (it will be lumpy, that’s OK!) then stir in the chocolate chips and pecans.

4. On a floured surface with floured hands, lightly knead the dough. Place the dough on the parchment paper and pat out into a log that is roughly 15-20 inches by 5-6 inches, no more than ½ inch high. If dough is too sticky, add a little bit more flour.

5. Bake for 22 to ­25 minutes or until brown, set on the edges, and center is firm. Remove from the oven. Turn the oven down to 300F.

6. Cool biscotti for 15 minutes, then with a serrated knife, cut into ½ inch wide pieces. Place cut side down back onto the cookie sheet and bake an additional 15­ to 20 minutes until firm. Cool completely before eating.