January 13, 2010
It was Wednesday night, but definitely not any old Wednesday night. We had decided it was the night to put the new Kitchen Aid stand mixer to work and we knew the ultimate starter for a newborn mixer: cookies. One problem stood in our way: a serious lack of ingredients. No chocolate chips (they had all been used in pancakes that morning), not enough peanut butter, no brown sugar. Only the basics: eggs, sugar, flour, cocoa powder, and cinnamon. The solution: Snickerdoodles and Chocolate Crinkles. The mixer handled both batches beautifully. Oh the luxury that is walking away while your practically frozen butter magically creams itself or the tiny wrist flick that is needed to add in the dry ingredients. Of course, cookies can be made without a stand mixer, do not be discouraged. But this is definitely a lot of steps up from the grueling work of softening butter without melting the outsides while the insides are frozen solid and creaming by hand with a wooden spoon in a too-small bowl. Oh kitchen aid, how we love you! A proper name will follow in a later post. But for now, we leave you with these recipes. Each is definitely a staple in the ingredient-free kitchen.
Pots: 0
Burners: 0
Knives: 1, of the butter variety
Sticks of butter: 2.5
Flour exploded all over the kitchen: a lot.
Snickerdoodles
(inspired by joyofbaking.com and Stephanie Jaworski)
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Coating:
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and place rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder.
In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until smooth (about 2-3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat until you have a smooth dough. If the dough is soft, refrigerate until firm enough to roll into balls.
Shape the dough into 1 inch round balls.
Coating: In a large shallow bowl or plate, mix together sugar and cinnamon.
Roll the balls of dough in the cinnamon sugar and place on the prepared pan, spacing about 2 inches apart. Then, using the bottom of a glass, gently flatten each cookie to about 1/2 inch think.
Bake the cookies for about 8-10 minutes, or until they are lightly golden brown around the edges. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack (if you have one) to cool.
Can store in an airtight container, at room temperature, for about 10-14 days.
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
(from cookies-in-motion.com)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Confectioners' sugar for rolling
WARNING: this dough must be refrigerated at least 3 hours before baking (we didn't realize this at first...)
Mix melted and cooled butter with cocoa powder using an electric mixer until smooth. Add sugar and mix until it's mostly dissolved. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and finally vanilla extract.
Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Using a spatula, mix until just combined. Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and roll them in confectioners' sugar before placing them on prepared cookie sheets, 1 inch apart.
Bake for about 10-15 minutes until the cookies are cracked on top.
Cool cookies on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring them to wire racks to cool completely.
The snickerdoodles we baked and ate immediately. We left the chocolate crinkle dough in the back of the fridge to be baked on a rainy day.
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