OCD cookies baking practice commenced today. Here's what I've tried so far...

B

barbara-in-va

Well-known member
1. MargCDN Six Spice Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Super delicious, generous size and sturdy texture. I believe these will travel well but may not get too far because I will eat them all myself.

2. Toffee Crunchers from King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion. These have potato chips, rice krispies and toffee bits. Also very tasty cookies, can be made into a generous size and appear to be quite travel worthy. This cookie has moved on to final eliminations.

3. Monster Cookies also from King Arthur. FABULOUS! Loaded with oatmeal, peanut butter, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and mini M&Ms. These are a definite on my list to be included in my cookie box.

4. Chocolate Coconut Devils from Carole Walter's Great Cookies. I like this book because Carole has listed "Cookie Characteristics" with each recipe. Characteristics indicate style of cookie, shelf life and travel-a-bility. I am looking for a good chocolate cookie to include in my assortment so I tried these. While they are really good cookies they are a bit "dainty" for what I am looking for.

Next on my list to try is King Arthur's Nut Butter Chippers to be made with your choice of nut butter (a homemade recipe is included but I opted for store bought) and matching nuts. I have chosen the cashew variety.

Practice baking continues...............

 
Barb, you are my hero today & I salute you. My thighs, on the other hand, are

screaming "me...me...pick me" while my brain is repeating the mantra "High Fiber. Low Fat. 10% Goal."
"High Fiber. Low Fat. 10% Goal."
"High Fiber. Low Fat. 10% Goal."

Unfortunately, none of those thoughts come chocolate-covered.

 
er, not that you could possibly have time, but if you find your hands clean of cookie dough, could

you post a few of those recipes? i'm thinking these would be great for sending around for christmas baking, too.

 
Cookie Baking...

Can't tell you how many times I've made the Monster Cookies from KA for my daughter. Love that recipe and so did she and her friends (she's in college now and still requests them when she's home!!). I made KA's Essential Chocolate Chips this wkend and really liked the recipe. You've been much more industrious than I!!! Steph

 
Barb, would you consider this additional test step?

Wrap a few of the cookies separately and mail them in the same box, but ask your beta-test friends to NOT OPEN that smaller package for at least 2 weeks. Then ask their opinions to see if there was any discernable differences between the ones opened immediately and the ones that sat in the box for 2 weeks longer.

That way, we can get a better idea how each cookie might degrade if there's a long delay in the postal delivery from our kitchens to the soldiers.

 
Marilyn you read my mind. I planned on a practice mailing to see if I could wrap well

enough but I had not thought of the double package idea. I will stop by the post office Tuesday morning on my way to work to get a couple of boxes!

Will keep you posted........................

 
REC: Monster Cookies......

Monster Cookies
Source: King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion

Yield: 26 large (4.5") cookies

3 eggs
1 C brown sugar
1 C sugar
1 t vanilla
1 t corn syrup
2 t baking soda
1 t salt
1/2 C unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 C chunky peanut butter
4 1/2 C rolled oats
1/2 C flour
3/4 C chocolate chips
3/4 C butterscotch chips
3/4 C mini M&M's

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease, or line with parchment, two baking sheets.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, sugars, vanilla, corn syrup, baking soda and salt. Stir in the melted butter, then the peanut butter, oats and flour, mixing until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chips and candy. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes so the oats can absorb some of the butter.

Drop the dough by 1/4 C onto the prepared baking sheets. Use your fingers to flatten the cookies slightly, then bake them for 12 minutes until they're light golden brown. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.

Notes: "Resting the dough" is new to me and it worked. There was no greasy film on my silpats when I removed the cookies.

I used all old fashioned oats. Suggest to experiment with a combination of oats just to see what the difference is.

I made the cookies just a bit smaller so I could fit a dozen on a baking sheet. I think I got somewhere around 36 but DH and I were eating them as soon as they came out of the oven so I lost count!

Enjoy!

 
REC: Toffee Crunchers:

Toffee Crunchers
Source: King Arthur Cookie Companion

Yield 4 1/2 dzn.

1 C unsalted butter
1 1/2 C light brown sugar
1/4 t salt
2 t vanilla extract
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
2 1/2 C flour
2 C light crushed plain salted potato chips (5 3/4 oz)
2 C Rice Drispies
1 1/3 C toffee bits

Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease or line with parchment, two baking sheets.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, baking soda and baking powder. Mix in the flour, then gently stir in the potato chips, rice cereal and toffee bits.

Drop dough by T onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 .5 inches between them: they'll spread quite a bit as the bake. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes (the lesser amount of time for a chewy cookie, rather than crisp cookie). Remove from oven, cool for 5 minutes then transfer to a rack to cool.

Notes: I made cookies slightly larger so I got about 36. They were a nice substantial cookie, I did not get as much spreading as I though I would based on the instructions. Also, cookies did not "drop", I had to scoop and make balls then flatten a bit. These were by far DH's favorite of all the cookies I made yesterday. Even today he still chose them as the best. So, I guess I will definitely be sending some of these in my cookie box!

Also, I was not comfortable with the unconventional addition of the salt, soda and powder directly into the butter/sugar mixture. I stirred all dry ingredients together as I usually do, maybe this affected the spreading effect.

Enjoy!

 
Mimi, a firm date hasn't been set yet...

But it will be late November...I'm trying to remove one of the travel steps and am working with our Lockheed liaison (who's talking with the Marine reserve liaison.)

If folks mailed them either right before Thanksgiving Day or a day or so after (I don't know if the post office is closed the day after TDay), they should arrive at the beginning of the next week.

If I get permission from the Marines, I'll be allowed to mail them out myself (relabeling and documenting everything, rather than bring all the boxes into work and have Debra do that step) and they could go out to Iraq that same week.

The first batch of 27 goodie boxes got to Iraq in 6 days, the next batch of 40 took anywhere from 8 to 12 days. So I think we still need to consider a 3-week cookie

 
orchid, I have 24 volunteers and several of those have offered to make 2

(or more) boxes.

Anyone who wants to donate their effort is more than welcome. My only condition will be full name/address disclosure to be linked to the box.

You guys are the best...I couldn't share the Ethernet with a nicer bunch of people.

 
Barbara got me going so I made these Nestle Creative Pan Cookies today.>>>

They started putting the new screen back up today (YEA! Contract said no more than 20 weeks. It has been 11 months!) so used the workers for guinea pigs. I used dried cherries instead of the apples or raisins and they loved them. I guess I'll wrap some of them well and put them aside and see how they taste in 3 weeks.

http://www.verybestbaking.com/promotions/programs/troops.aspx

 
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