The Secret to the Best Cookies Ever

Janet here: Yup, I'm still obsessed with making better cookies. (You can read my rantings on the topic here and here.) I am happy to report that I think I'm on to something thanks to Tina Casaceli.

Tina Casaceli is the chef/owner of Milk & Cookies Bakery in Greenwich Village, a reason in and of itself for me to make going to NYC a top priority. She is also the author of a new book called, obviously, Milk & Cookies by Chronicle Books. She is also clearly a cookie goddess.

Her cookbook will have you drooling at the cover. She cleverly divides her cookies — she also has some bar and brownie recipes — into dough chapters, i.e. those with vanilla dough, those with chocolate dough, those with sugar dough, those with oatmeal dough, and those with peanut butter dough. Then she just tells you what to add to make the cookies of your choice — or in my case a cookie of my own based on her inspiration.

Now we get to the secret: she kneads her cookie dough. That's right, with her hands. While she starts out with a mixer, Tina ends her basic cookie dough creating with kneading. This is a little messy but boy the results are unbelievable.

Her vanilla dough also includes ground-up rolled oats, which adds a lovely texture and allows those of us who like to eat more than a few homemade cookies feel as if we're eating something more nutritional. (Don't pop my bubble!)

Anyway I'm sharing her basic vanilla dough recipe and my inclusion of white macadamia nuts and semi-sweet chocolate chips. For the rest you're going to have to buy the book...which you should. No joke. (And Rachel, I am so ready to take you on in a cookie bake-off!)



Basic Vanilla Dough
makes about 2 dozen cookies

ingredients
2 1/2 cups (7 1/2 ounces) old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups (8 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (7 ounces) sugar
1 cup (7 ounces) light brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

method
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.

Put the oats in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely ground. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Stir in the flour, baking powder,baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Put the butter in the bowl of a standing mixer with a paddle. Beat on low speed to soften. Increase the speed to medium and beat for about 3 minutes until light and creamy. With the motor running, gradually add the sugar and then the brown sugar, beating until very light and creamy.

Add the eggs one at a time and beat to incorporate. Beat in the vanilla and when blended, slowly beat in the reserved dry mixture. While the dough is still streaky, remove the bowl from the mixer and scrape the paddle clean.

Lightly flour a clean work surface. Scrape the dough onto the floured surface. Lightly flour your hands and finish mixing the dough by a gentle kenading motion, working until the dough is just blended. Do not overwork the dough; you want to be certain all of the ingredients are blended together.

Now you add whatever ingredients you are using. I added 2 cups chopped macadamia nuts and 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips. Mix them in with a large wooden spoon. I put mine back in the bowl to do this.

Using a small ice-cream scoop or tablespoon, make mounds of dough and roll them into balls about 1 1/2 inches around. Place the balls on the sheet and then gently flatten with your palm.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Transfer to a wire rack to cool....and then try to just eat one.

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie Quest Continues

Janet here:

Some of you may remember my bewailing the loss of my chocolate chip cookie mojo in this post. And Rachel's proclaiming that apparently she, according to the people who were in her birthing class, makes "the best chocolate chip cookies they'd ever eaten."

I have to tell you ... it's been kind of bugging me. So I've been thinking about how to get my chocolate chip cookies back up to snuff.

Which leads me to this new development and a secret ingredient that just could change the way I make these cookies forever. The idea comes from one of my colleagues, who told me that she puts a 1/2 cup of applesauce in her cookies instead of the 2 eggs typically in a Toll House recipe. She also switches out the 1 teaspoon of baking soda for 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder. The rest is the same.

The result, however, is not.

These cookies are amazing. Try them. You'll be wowed.

Rachel, the glove has been thrown down.

Cookie Discontent

Hi Rachel: I've got a confession to make. When I saw your chocolate chip cookies last week, I had a little freak-out moment: They looked better than mine. This, of course, is not the way the world order is supposed to go. The mother is supposed to be the superior cook until she dies; then the daughter can become better at something. Didn't you get this memo?

While my cookies are pretty damn good, yours, which you posted about here, look lumpier and thicker while mine have been a little flat lately, as this photo attests.

Don't get me wrong. Mine are more than edible (added cranberries this time, which was a nice contrast to the dark chocolate). But they're not lumpy and thick the way they once were. It's that "once were" part that's so annoying. Am I losing my chocolate chip cookie grip? Is this the first sign of the beginning of the end?

I suspect the flatness is because I've gotten kind of lazy and microwave my butter to soften it rather than really plan ahead and let it soften naturally. But still, it's bugging me and I just want you to know that while you're busy going to school and taking care of M and becoming a new mother and all that, I am plotting my cookie revenge. (Any readers who want to offer me advice should feel free to weigh in. We all know you want me to win.) Some day, when you least expect it, there will be a chocolate chip cookie post and I will be the cookie queen again.

Who Wants Vegetables When There're Cookies in the House...

Hey Ma-

I think I was supposed to write about how I served G eggplant and other--as he put it, "funky"--vegetables for dinner the other night (recipe here) and he gobbled them down (ok, maybe he didn't gobble...but he certainly ate 'em). I'm too delighted, though, by your cake pop adventure not to relay to you all the baking I did this weekend.


First of all, my hat's off to you for even endeavoring cake pops. They're the kind of thing that I look at and immediately decide requires more patience than I'd ever be able to muster. My only lament is that I wasn't there to eat all of your rejects because, you know, I like to support you in your times of need.

All of your talking about baking, though, left me feeling a little bit inspired. Did I bake anything new? Nope. I did, however, churn out banana bread (it was only pretty good because--in a truly rare moment--we were out of yogurt...the key ingredient, evidently, after the bananas) AND chocolate chip cookies (really, this recipe is just perfect...G can testify on my behalf if you have doubts). In a fun twist, M and I did it together. She's become such an alert little person and she's really interested in what we're doing in the kitchen these days. The only problem arose when she wanted to put a cookie in her mouth. Soon! But not yet...



Anyway, I know I can't go on and on about M and not let you see her, so here you go:


(In case anyone's paying attention, yes she's wearing a Yankees tee from her Pamp and, yes, John felt the need to represent the Phillies by standing in the background lest anyone believe M's allegiances lie with New York...)

She's grown that belly all by herself without a single cookie or slice of banana bread (ok, I've eaten my fair share, but still)! Go, M, go! Someday all three of us can bake together and that will be really, really nice.

Alright, off to school. I love you.

xxoo
R