Buttered Popcorn Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt

Yes, I just said that...

In my quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie, these are ranking up there.  In the words of a recent visitor to our house..."I don't know where you got those cookies from, but they are like crack cocaine"....I suspect the comment is due to the influence of the recent Toronto Mayor Rob Ford 'Crackstarter' scandal, but it's a descriptor that I could only take as a compliment!  No drug dealers were killed in the making of these cookies.

Also, it is exam time in our house, so the 'post-exam' treat posts will be fast and furious.  Keep a look out for indulgent goodies!  That's the best stress relief that I know...

This recipe was inspired by both Joy the Baker and Smitten Kitchen, who have featured similar recipes.  I have decided to use my own cookie recipe and add in the buttered popcorn and sea salt.  I've also tried using store-bought kettle corn, which works quite well too.  Let's face it, sweet and salty goodness together in one cookie is just too good to pass up!

Buttered Popcorn Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt

1 cup butter (room temp)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 - 3 cups popped popcorn, lightly buttered (you choose how much popcorn...personal preference is important!)
sea salt  (I use fleur de sel)

Heat oven to 350F.  Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a stand mixer, cream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar.  Add egg and vanilla and mix well.  In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, cornstarch, soda and salt.  Add to butter and sugar mixture and mix until just combined and there are no flour bombs.  Using a wooden spoon, mix in chocolate chips and popcorn.  Scoop cookie dough onto the parchment-lined cookie sheets, 2 inches apart.  I use a 2" ice cream scoop for uniform size.  Sprinkle cookies with a bit of sea salt.  Bake for 15 mins or until golden and slightly brown on the bottom.  Let cool on pan for 5 mins and remove to a wire rack.

Nothing Says Christmas Like Gingersnaps...

Christmas is all about tradition at our house.  Despite having spent time living overseas for three years and in a few different homes...one thing always stays the same at Christmas...gingersnaps.  My kids won't have Christmas without them and this recipe is to-die-for when straight out of the oven....crispy on the outside and soft and tender on the inside.  This year, we were very late in putting up our tree...December 23rd to be exact...but the tree-trimming celebration still included hot chocolate and our yummy fresh gingersnaps...comfort in a cookie.

Gingersnaps

3 3/4 cps all purpose flour
3 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 cups butter at room temperature
2 cups dark brown sugar, packed
2 eggs well beaten
1/2 cup dark molasses
2 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
granulated sugar for rolling

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and cloves.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and brown sugar on medium speed until creamy.
Add eggs, beating until fluffy.  Add molasses, lime juice and vanilla.  Continue beating until well combined.  Gradually add the flour mixture, beating until just blended.
Divide the dough into two portion, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour.  (The dough can be made ahead and kept in the refrigerator for a few days).
Preheat the oven to 350F  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  Using a tablespoon measure, scoop out a tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball.  Roll the ball in the granulated sugar and place on the baking sheets.  Bake for 10 - 12 mins.  Transfer to a rack to cool.  These will keep in an airtight container for a few days...or freeze and take out as you need them.

Oh Yeah....Smothered Hot Chocolate Cookies!

So, it's getting dark earlier now...certainly not as early as I remember of my days in Britain....in November,  it would actually start getting dark at 3:30 pm.  Seriously.  But I digress....it is getting dark earlier...and cold...and I actually wore gloves today.  So these cookies are very appropriate....fudgey chocolate cookie, smothered in chocolate frosting with a lovely marshmallow surprise inside.  Uh huh!

Just like a warm hot chocolate in front of the fire...but better because it is sweeter and meltier and slathered in chocolate!  So, we welcome the cold.  We embrace the cold.  We mock the cold....Bring it!

Smothered Hot Chocolate Cookies

Cookies:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not dutch processed)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
About 9 large marshmallows, halved crosswise

Frosting:
3 cups confectioners' sugar
6 tablespoons (just under 1/2 cup) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/4 cup plus 2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder (not dutch processed)
1/2 cup milk
3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. Sift together flour, cocoa, soda and salt in a medium bowl.
3. Put butter and sugar into the bowl of a stand up or electric mixer, fitted with paddle attachment.  Mix on medium high speed until pale and fluffy (about 2 mins).  Reduce speed to medium low, mix in egg, milk and vanilla.  Mix in flour mixture all at once and stir until combined.  Dough will be slightly sticky.
4. Using a small ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 inches apart.  Bake cookies until firm (8 - 10 mins).  Immediately press half a marshmallow on top of each cookie and pop back into the oven for 2 mins.  Let cool completely on wire racks.  If the cookie is still warm when you try to ice it, it will be a slippery, gooey mess...

Frosting:
1. Put confectioners' sugar in a medium bowl.  Melt butter with cocoa in a saucepan or the microwave (for about 30 seconds).  Stir well.  Add butter mixture to the confectioners' sugar.  Whisk in milk and vanilla.
2. When cookies are cool (see above), spread about one teaspoon or so of frosting on top of each cookie to cover the marshmallow.  Not too much or a drippy cookie, you will have!  Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temp for a couple of days.

Start the log fire...and enjoy.

Chocolate peppermint sandwich cookies

Eating an Oreo (R) is like a journey back into childhood...pulling chocolate cookies apart and licking the filling out....that's the way I preferred to eat them...OR you could take the whole thing and dunk it into a big glass of milk...usually while watching 'Gilligan's Island' or the 'Partridge Family' after school.  Usually a whole row would disappear before the first commercial.  Sigh....

Well let me say that these are (if I do say so myself) BETTER than that!!  The cookies are buttery and yummy and the filling is much more...shall we say 'natural'?  The nice thing is that you can flavour the filling however you like...with vanilla, cocoa or espresso, or add some peppermint and pink food colouring for a nice Christmas treat (as above).  I think these will become regulars in our repetoire....

Chocolate peppermint sandwich cookies
(adapted from Joy the Baker)

For the Filling:

1/2 cup heavy cream

8 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract (depending on how strong you want it)

For the Cookies:

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 cup plus 3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

3/4 cup plus 1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

15 Tablespoons (7 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter, but into 3/4-inch cubes, at room temperature (this is important)

For the Filling:

In a small saucepan, bring the cream to boil over medium heat.  Remove from the heat and add the finely chopped white chocolate and peppermint extract.  Make sure all the chocolate is covered by the cream.  Let stand for 1 minute (this is important), then whisk the white chocolate until completely melted.

Transfer the filling to a small bowl and let stand until room temperature.  You’ll need the filling thicker to assemble the cookies, so cover the filling and place it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or an hour, until a thick consistency is reached.  If the filling hardens too much, it can be rewarmed in the microwave for a few seconds.  It’s best if left at room temperature until the proper consistency is achieved.  This may mean leaving it out overnight.

For the Cookies:

Position the racks in the lower and upper thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt and mix on low speed.  With the mixer running, add the butter a few pieces at a time.  The mixture will have a sandy texture at first and then will begin to form peddle-size pieces.  As soon as the dough starts to come together, stop the mixer.  Make sure all the butter is well incorporated.  If there are large butter pockets, mix for a few seconds more.

Form and roll the dough straight from the mixer.  The dough becomes hard to work with if chilled.

Transfer the dough to a board and use the heel of your hand or a pastry scraper to shape the dough into a block about 5 by 7 inches.  Cut the block into two pieces.

One at a time, roll each block of dough between two pieces of lightly floured parchment paper until about 1/8-inch thick.  Using a cookie cutter, cut into 2 inch rounds.  Place 1/2 to 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet.  You can form and roll the dough scraps once after the first roll.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through the baking.  Remove from the oven and cool on the sheets for 2 to 5 minutes.  They’ll be too soft to move straight from the oven.  Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

To Assemble the Cookies:

Place half of the cookies upside down on a work surface.  Whip the filling lightly with a whisk to loosen it.  It will lighten in color and fluff up.  Be careful not to overwhip or the filling may begin to separate.

Transfer the filling to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch plain tip.  You can just scooped the filling out by the half teaspoonful.  Pipe or dollop one teaspoon of filling  in the center of each upside down cookie.  Gently, using your fingers, press the cookies together until the filling comes just to the edges.

Store in airtight container.  These also freeze well for a couple of weeks.

The best chocolate chip cookies...really!

Chocolate chip cookies are comfort...they are sweet and melty and feel like a good hug.  We've tried a lot of recipes, but this one is the one we keep coming back to.  I think Kara has it memorized.  If I wasn't so old, I might memorize it too....:)  So, live on chocolate chip cookies...we love you.

The best chocolate chip cookies.

(Adapted from Anna Olson)

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla

1)  Preheat oven to 350F.  In a medium bowl, using a fork, stir flour with cornstarch, baking soda and salt until evenly mixed.  Measure out chocolate chips.  Place butter in a large bowl.  Using an electric mixer, beat until smooth (about 1 min).  Beat in brown and granulated sugars  until fluffy (about 2 mins).  Beat in egg and vanilla.  Using a spoon, stir in flour mixture and chocolate chips until just evenly mixed.
2) Cover baking sheet with parchment paper.  Scoop out a small cookie scoop of dough (we like our cookies a bit bigger) and place on sheet.  Repeat with remaining dough, spacing at least 2 inches apart.  Do not press down.
3)  Bake, one sheet at a time, in centre of oven until cookies are golden around the edges (12 - 15 mins for large cookies...8 - 10 for 1 tbsp sized cookies).  Let stand for 2 minutes then remove to rack to cool.
4) Eat as many as you can right now...they go fast!