Yes I know, you are saying to yourself “oh no another one of those posts”. Just a reminder though: I do scour the interwebs searching for the best recipes evar. You see the blog title up there…go ahead and look, I’ll wait. We good? Now we’re seeing eye to eye. I have tried multiple chocolate chip cookie recipes. Even #43 from Cooks Illustrated “now with more browned butter”. Well there were only 2 that really made the cut but this one is by far the best ever (the other will come later)! It comes from a guy that I think knows his chocolate, Jaque Torres. I used to watch him on PBS make his chocolate goodies. Yeah this one has made the rounds on the internet but I figured I would remind you of all its tasty goodness.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Courtesy The New York Times and Jacques Torres

• 2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 c. (10 ounces) light brown sugar
• 1 c. plus 2 T. (8 ounces) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
• 2 c. minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
• 1 2/3 c. (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
• 1 1/4 t. baking soda
• 1 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1 1/2 t. coarse salt
• 1 1/4 lbs. bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks, I recommend Ghirardelli Chips, (originally the recipe asked for chocolate fèves, if you have them good job but I am a normal human being that shops at normal grocery stores)
• Sea salt. I like the Costco Sea Salt Grinder unless you got some Fleur de Sel.

Directions

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.
3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or if you are like me and hate the mess of parchment, lightly spray it with cooking oil spray. Set aside.
4. Scoop 2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of small golf balls) onto baking sheet, Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 16-19 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 5 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.

These cookies are some of the best cookies I have ever had. Every year around the holidays I make these. It’s sad I wait that long during the year because these cookies are really awesome. If you like snickerdoodles you will love these.

Mrs. Siggs Snickerdoodles

Courtesy of All Recipes

Cookies

• 1/2 c. butter, softened
• 1/2 c. shortening
• 1 1/2 c. white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 t. vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 t. cream of tartar
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1/4 t. salt

Tasty Ball Rolling Mixture

• 4 T. white sugar
• 3 t. ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Cream together butter, shortening, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.
3. Mix the 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.

Holy crap these are good. They are a little bit of work but they are totally worth it. My wife found these at My Kitchen Cafe and I have to give her mad props for a great find. I have made them quite a few times. Next time I make them I am going to try them with frozen raspberries, I feel they are that versatile. Enjoy!

Lemon Sugar Crusted Blueberry Muffins

Adapted from Cooks Illustrated

Lemon-Sugar Topping:

• 1/3 C. sugar
• Zest from one lemon

Muffins:

• 2 cups frozen blueberries (or 2 cups fresh)
• 1 1/8 cups (8 ounces) plus 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 1/4 cup oil (vegetable or canola)
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

For the topping, stir together sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl and set aside.

For the muffins, adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Rinse one cup frozen berries under cold water and spread on a double layer of paper towels to dry well. Bring remaining one cup berries and 1 teaspoon sugar to simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing berries with a spoon several times and stirring frequently, until the berries have broken down and the mixture is thickened and reduced to about 1/3 cup, about 6-8 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl and cool to room temperature, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Toss the berries that have dried on the paper towels in with the flour mixture. Whisk remaining 1 1/8 cups sugar and eggs together in a medium bowl until thick, about 45 seconds. Slowly whisk in the butter and oil until combined. Whisk in the buttermilk and vanilla until combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold egg mixture into flour mixture until just moistened. The batter will be lumpy with a few dry spots of flour – don’t overmix. This is the key to moist and tender muffins.

Using ice cream scoop or large spoon, divide the batter equally among prepared muffin cups (batter should completely fill the cups). Spoon a teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into the center of each mound of batter. Using a skewer (or a chopstick), gently swirl the berry filling into the batter using a figure eight motion. Sprinkle lemon sugar evenly over the muffins.

Bake until the top of the muffins are golden and just firm, 17-18 minutes. Cool muffins in the muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and serve warm.

To me banana bread was something that someone else brought over to the house or gave us for a gift. For some reason my mom didn’t ever make quick breads such as banana bread or zucchini bread (at least I don’t remember her making them). Thus the quick bread was somewhat of a mystery to me and so i thought it was hard to make them. Although I found out later that these elusive breads were insanely easy to make, especially with the help of a good Kitchenaid mixer.

It’s not very often that there are old bananas at my house. We love ourselves some bananas, but when there are I like to make banana bread. I stumbled upon this recipe in my journeys through the recipes interwebs and it has become my defacto recipe for banana bread.

Crazy Good Banana Bread

Courtesy of AllRecipes.com

• 2 C. all-purpose flour
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/2 C. butter (1 Stick)
• 3/4 C. brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 1/3 C. mashed overripe bananas (about 5 medium bananas)
• 1 C. dark or semisweet chocolate chips (optional)
• 1/2 t. cinnamon (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.