Baking Post: Kiss Cookies

I have not yet exhausted my urge to bake, so today I whipped up a batch of what I call Kiss Cookies. The recipe calls them Peanut Blossoms. My name is less boring ;)

Kiss Cookies


Ingredients:
1/2 cup shortening*
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
2 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla**
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Hershey's Kisses

* I used butter, which both my grandma and my Google-Fu told me I could substitute on a one-to-one basis. But you can use Crisco if you want ;)
** Again, I was very generous with the vanilla. In my cookies, it was probably actually closer to a teaspoon and a half.


Method:
01) Cream together the shortening/butter (whichever you use) and the peanut butter.

02) Add in the white and brown sugars and cream well.

03) Add the egg, the milk, and the vanilla and blend well.

04) Sift together (or, if you're lazy like me and can't be arsed to find a sifter, just stir together) the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add dry ingredients gradually to the dough.

05) Roll dough into balls (the size will depend on how much cookie you want surrounding your kisses; I started out kind of small and then started making the balls bigger, close to golf ball size - I prefer the bigger ones). Roll the balls in sugar and place on cookie sheet.

06) Bake at 375 F for approximately 8 minutes. When the cookies have started to crack but are not starting to brown yet, take them out and place one chocolate kiss in the center, pressing down firmly. Return cookies to oven and bake for an additional 2-5 minutes, until golden brown.


NOTE: You should unwrap the kisses before you need to put them on the cookies, because you don't want to take too long to do it before putting them back in the oven. I did it during the first 8 minutes the cookies were in the oven. Also, if you're using stoneware cookie sheets that take extra time the first time around (like I do), it's helpful to let them preheat with the oven so the time isn't as screwy. I just made the dough balls and rolled them in sugar while the cookie sheets were getting hot and put them on a plate until I was ready to put them on the sheets.

YIELD: There isn't an estimated yield in the recipe I used (it's from an old Fireman's Auxillary cookbook from the town my grandparents grew up in, not an "official" cookbook). I got about two and a half dozen, but if I hadn't made the first half-dozen or so as small as I did (which was imho too small), it would have been lower. Probably more like two dozen, give or take.

Baking Post: Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies

Christmas always puts me in a baking mood; specifically, a cookie baking mood. For these cookies, I started out with the recipe you'll find on the back of packages of Andes Creme de Menthe Baking Chips, and then made a few modifications, which I've specified. I'm really happy with the results - they are quite yummy.

Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies


Ingredients:
1/2 cup salted butter (softened)
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla extract*
3 eggs**
1 pkg Andes Creme de Menthe baking chips
2 1/4 cups flour***
1/2 cup cocoa powder (not dutch process)***


* I am very generous with my definition of "one teaspoon" when it comes to vanilla extract in my cookies. I generally pour directly over the bowl and allow it to overflow noticably with each spoon, lol. But obviously that's a taste thing.
** The original recipe (which is on the back of the Andes Creme de Menthe Baking Chips package, incidentally) calls for 2 eggs. I made it that way the first time and they were fine. This time I added the extra egg to make the cookies slightly more cakey, and I'm really pleased with the result. But your milage may vary.
*** The original recipe is not for chocolate cookies but rather regular ones. It calls for simply 2 2/3 cups flour. I thought it was silly to make mint cookies and not make them chocolate, so I did a little research to gauge flour-to-cocoa ratios in chocolate chocolate chip cookies and decided to slightly lower the amount of flour and add in the half cup of cocoa. I think it turns out lovely, but if you don't want the cookies to be chocolate cookies, stick with the original 2 2/3 cups of flour and don't add cocoa powder!


Method:
1) Blend butter, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, and eggs until mixed. Stir in Andes baking chips.

2) In separate bowl, mix flour and cocoa. If you're not using the cocoa, it's still helpful to measure out your flour in a separate bowl, because it's easier to mix it in if you're adding a little at a time.

3) Stir in flour. Because the recipe doesn't call for much butter, the dough is pretty thick. I was using a big spoon from our regular silverware set, but it started to feel like I might bend it if I kept stirring, so I switched to a wooden spoon after adding about half the flour/cocoa mixture.

4) Chill the dough for a while in the fridge. The recipe says "approximately one hour," I think I waited half and hour or forty-five minutes.

5) The recipe says to raise the oven rack one level above middle - I didn't do that. They turned out fine. But in the interest of full disclosure, that's what the recipe says to do.

6) The recipe says "measure out approximately 1 oz. of dough." I don't know about you, but I have no idea what an ounce of cookie dough looks like. Eyeball out an average-sized ball of dough - bigger than a gumball, smaller than a golf ball... if you bake at all, you'll know the drill, lol. If you don't, ummmm... maybe an inch/inch and a half in diameter? Ish? It's not scientific. Flatten the ball slightly and put it on your baking sheet. Non-stick would be infinitely helpful with these cookies.

7) Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for, according to the recipe, 8-10 minutes. Now, I use Pampered Chef stoneware baking sheets, and those take a lot longer the first time (we're talking 20-25 minutes). And then even after the first time, I still left the cookies in for more like 15 minutes. YMMV, do what feels right to you.

NOTE: Be sure to put the dough back in the fridge when you're not actively putting dough on cookie sheets. It gets soft and sticky pretty quickly, and if you don't keep putting it back in the fridge you'll end up with more on your hands and fingertips than on the cookie sheet.

YIELD: I got four dozen cookies exactly plus enough dough for one or two more that I just ate because I didn't want to put a whole cookie sheet in for one or two cookies. This was spot-on their prediction, which also approximated four dozen cookies. And that was with a couple dough-thieves sneaking their fingers in the bowl at least once or twice each, lol.