Batter-Splattered

finally! some strawberry ice cream

I had to wait for it, but I finally got that strawberry ice cream I was yearning for.

I fixed it up in the form of ice cream sandwiches, made with these lovely little triple (triple!) chocolate cookies.

Oh my goodness, were these ever good.

I bought some ice cream rather than making it, as the recipe directed. I just can't make the leap into ice-cream-making. Like I don't have enough junk in my kitchen -- I'm supposed to store an ice cream maker, too? Plus, we had an ice cream maker when I was a kid. I remember there was lots of cranking involved.

Cranking, when I would have rather been sliding and swinging at the picnic in the park.

I have issues with home ice cream makers.

I'm sure they've advanced by leaps and bounds and all but...back to the cookies.

Those are some good cookies. But next time I make them (and I will), I'm going to make them much smaller than the recipe suggests. They were so rich and chocolate-y I had a hard time making it through one. And ordinarily, I'm one who scoffs at other people who set down their spoon and protest that something's too rich. Hand it over, then. I'll finish it off.

Thank goodness I bought no-sugar-added strawberry ice cream. It was just the thing to fend off the richness. Although I still couldn't polish off a whole ice cream sandwich. I had to put the last few bites back in the freezer for later.

So. Next time. Smaller cookies. If you can handle the richness, you can eat more than one.

Triple Chocolate Cookies (for ice cream sandwiches or for the hell of it, you decide)

Makes about 16

10 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup plus 2 teaspoons all purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 ounces (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Stir chopped chocolate in top of double boiler set over simmering water until melted and smooth; remove from over water. Cool melted chocolate 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in another medium bowl until crumbly. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Continue to beat until mixture is light, pale, and creamy, about 5 minutes. Add lukewarm melted chocolate and vanilla and beat just until blended. Fold in dry ingredients, then chocolate chips.

Drop chocolate cookie batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto prepared baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake cookies, 1 baking sheet at a time, until tops are evenly cracked but cookies are not yet firm to touch, about 16 minutes. Cool cookies completely on baking sheets. Using metal spatula, carefully transfer 4 cookies to each of 4 large resealable plastic bags, arranging in single layer. Freeze cookies overnight. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Keep frozen.)

Nordy bars

I stumbled upon this recipe recently in the recipe swap section of Oregon Live, which I've been reading every morning because I have a trip to Portland coming up soon. I like to get a feel for a place before I go there -- and what better way than through the local paper. And then of course, I'm always drawn to a food and recipe section when I see one.

I'd never heard of these bars or seen them sold at my local Nordstrom but they were spoken of with such religious devotion, you know I had to make them. Further research showed that these were originally made and sold at the Nordstrom Café (where you can get a mighty fine salad) but are no longer offered on the menu there.

Pity, because they're really good. You melt butter and butterscotch chips in a saucepan, add some dry ingredients, then stir in chocolate chips, marshmallows, and walnuts. A little something for everyone!

I cut mine up into bite-sized morsels for a party and put them in little paper cups so guests wouldn't get all that ooey-gooey goodness all over their fingers, although I doubt anyone would have complained.

 

Nordy Bars

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 (11-ounce) package butterscotch chips
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 (12-ounce) package semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 cup chopped pecans

In medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat; add butterscotch chips and brown sugar, stirring until they're melted.

Remove pan from heat and stir in eggs; add flour, baking powder and salt, mixing thoroughly. Stir in vanilla; set aside until cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

When cooked mixture is cool, stir in chocolate chips, marshmallows and pecans; spread in greased 9-by-13-inch pan.

Bake 25 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool, cut in bars.

Giant Chocolate Toffee Cookies

These cookies were featured prominently this week on the main page of Epicurious. Their photo -- it called to me. And then I read that this is the site's most popular cookie recipe. And then I read that the ingredients include five chopped-up Heath bars.

How could I not make them?

I thought the other ingredients were really interesting compared to your average cookie recipe -- this has only half a cup of flour, four eggs, and a whole lot of brown sugar which translates to moist, moist, moist. Mine flattened out alot more than the ones in the official photo -- probably because I didn't let the dough chill for a full 45 minutes as instructed.

But who can wait that long?? I set the bowl of dough out on the back porch, willing Mother Nature to cool it off lickety-split because I had a bee in my bonnet over getting these cookies into the oven, or more specifically, taking them out of the oven.

They turned out really nice all the same. Chewy yet soft and a little crispy. And, it goes without saying, very very chocolate-y.

Giant Chocolate Toffee Cookies

Makes about 18 cookies

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pound bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

1 3/4 cups (packed) brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
5 1.4-ounce chocolate-covered English toffee bars (such as Heath), coarsely chopped
1 cup walnuts, toasted, chopped 

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl; whisk to blend. Stir chocolate and butter in top of double boiler set over simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove from over water. Cool mixture to lukewarm.

Using electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs in bowl until thick, about 5 minutes. Beat in chocolate mixture and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture, then toffee and nuts. Chill batter until firm, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment or waxed paper. Drop batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto sheets, spacing 2 1/2 inches apart. Bake just until tops are dry and cracked but cookies are still soft to touch, about 15 minutes. Cool on sheets. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.)   

Big soft ginger cookies

It's snowy and windy outside but that didn't stop me and the dog from having a rollicking good romp around the backyard. It's the perfect sort of weather to come inside to tea and cookies -- but more on that later.

Even Richard was impressed with the amount of tracks through the freshly-fallen blanket of snow. As he looked out the kitchen window at our rompiness I think his exact words were: "My god."

She's awfully pretty but I have a confesstion to make: my dog is a great big bully. Her ambush of choice? Body-slamming little old ladies at the dogpark.

She's just so excited to see them. And they're so excited to see her. She does this flying leap towards you out of nowhere and somehow manages to punch you in the gut with all four paws in mid-air. She's done it to me a few times, but usually she saves it for the little old ladies. Why, you might ask? Well, because they're easier to knock over.

If a gal were to tackle a 200-pound full-grown man, she's likely to get herself injured.

It's something we're working on but we have yet to talk a granny into kneeing her viciously in the chest mid-body-slam.

And here's something else I was working on this morning. Big soft ginger cookies:

It's another recipe off the list of top twenty rated recipes on All Recipes. I didn't change a thing and they turned out just wonderful.

Big Soft GInger Cookies

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup margarine, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 tablespoons white sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the water and molasses. Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture. Shape dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Snickerdoodles

Recipe No. 14 from my collection of favorites for this fourteenth day of November and Nablopomo.

This is an excellent recipe for snickerdoodles. Sugary and cinnamony, sweet and crispy on the outside. Soft on the inside. Best right out of the oven. But also good the next day if you zap a cookie for 10 seconds in the microwave. Last night I decided they're especially good alongside a shot of whiskey. My husband thoughtfully declared them his favorite cookie. Then he thought about it for awhile and added, "Well, along with those molasses ones you make. And..." I got the recipe from one of my favorite old cookbooks, Heartland.

I took these to a potluck at work once and just before placing the basket o' cookies on the table, I warmed them just a little. One guy was moving shark-like around the table, eyeing up all the dishes, plotting with his plan of attack, and he absent-mindedly grabbed one of these cookies, a little something to munch on while he decided whether to go for the smoked turkey first or that petite crockpot full of L'il Smokies (I like the ad at the Hillshire Farms website -- Go Meat! -- with the cheerleaders chanting, "When conversation's going south! Pop a Li'l Smoky in your mouth!" Finally, an answer to my social anxiety and fear and loathing of parties -- tiny sausages soaking in bbq sauce.) Potluck Man took one bite of that snickerdoodle, stopped dead in his tracks, lifted the cookie up to the crowd, his brow furrowed with emotion, and said worshipfully through a mouthful of snickerdoodle, "Oh God. These are still warm!"

They're that good.

Snickerdoodles

1 c shortening, margarine or butter (I usually make these with crisco -- I don't think I've tried butter or margarine)

1 3/4 c sugar

2 eggs

2 3/4 c all-purpose flour

2 t cream of tartar

1 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

4 t cinnamon

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the shortening and 1 1/2 c sugar (reserve the remaining 1/4 c of sugar for later). In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Gradually add to the creamed mixture. You can chill the dough overnight as the original instructions instruct, but who has time for that?

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine remaining 1/4 c sugar and the cinnamon in a flat bowl. Shape dough into balls the size of a walnut and roll in cinnamon sugar. Place 2 inches apart of an ungreased baking sheet and bake just until barely golden -- about 8 minutes. The cookies will puff up first, then flatten a bit with crackled tops. Cool on a wire rack.

Vanishing Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

Here's recipe number nine of my collection of favorite recipes, one for each day of November and Nablopomo. Hopefully. Unless I puss out. And that's highly likely.

But don't calling me a nancy yet because...

... these are Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin cookies. The recipe comes from the back of the lid of the Quaker Oats container. It's one of my favorite cookie recipes of all time. The only change I make is to add a little nutmeg with the cinnamon. And sometimes instead of using butter I use Crisco. Both ways are good. Especially when they first come out of the oven. But then again, aren't all cookies best straight out of the oven?

Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1/2	lb (2 sticks) margarine or butter, softened, or Crisco (no need to soften)
1	c firmly packed brown sugar
1/2	c granulated sugar
2	eggs
1	t vanilla
1-1/2	c all-purpose flour
1	t baking soda
1	t ground cinnamon 1/2 t nutmeg
1/2	t salt (optional)
3	c Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1	c raisins 1.  Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat margarine and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt; mix well. Add oats and raisins; mix well. 2.  Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. 3.  Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.