C is for Cookies That Are Easy Enough For Me!

Do you think any of those really famous bakers out there (like Dominique Ansel, or Sebastien Rouxel) still have one dish that completely confounds them?  Not like something super complicated or fancy, but just something fairly basic that they've been baking for years and years, and yet, it's a complete mystery whether it will come out well or not.  Well this very-not-famous baker definitely has an Achilles heel.  And it's (drumroll please. . .) COOKIES.  I know, I know -- my face is quite literally buried in my hands right now.  Cookies are supposed to be fool proof.  I mean isn't that like the very first thing that kids make with their parents??  Well, let me tell you, I may be able whip up a batch of macarons (which are sorta cookies??) but the regular old chocolate chip kinda things are waaaay beyond my reach.  Unless they're the break-and-bake type.  Usually those turn out okay (note: I said usually.)  Normally, I stay away from projects proven to make we want to rip my hair out. But sometimes, you just need a fresh baked crispy(on the edges)-chewy(in the middle)-chunky(all over for the most part) cookie.  So I tried again.  Spoiler alert -- they turned out okaaaay.  I mean I may have burned the bottoms a little. . . but I'm still eating them. So maybe if I just tinker with the timing a bit -- next time I may actually succeed in making them good.  I mean really, really good.  Because they're still pretty good. I mean maybe.  I'm optimistic.  For those of you who aren't cookie-cursed, I highly recommend these.  They're yummy (even a little burned on the bottom.) Like I said, it's not stopping me from inhaling them.

Trove Cookies

Okay, so full disclosure, these are modified compost cookies by none other than the great Christina Tosi. I'm willing to bet actual money that she doesn't have any toddler appropriate recipes that continue to get the best of her.  But what she doesn't seem to be great at is the name game.  COMPOST cookies??? Ewwww.  I love her stuff -- but um, the image of eating anything labeled, quite literally, garbage doesn't exactly whet my appetite.  The concept of the name is, of course, that you can quite honestly put anything into these cookies.  So I brainstormed for something a little less nauseating and came up with trove.  Like a treasure trove! Slightly more appetizing to me, but each to their own.  And of course, I just had to modify the actual recipe a little too -- you know add in my preferred ingredients (aka junk food with higher fat/chocolate/carb content.) I mean we have to make it our OWN, right??  So name it, make it, bake it, eat it!







Ingredients

• 225 g (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 200 g (1 cup) sugar
• 150 g (2/3 cup packed) brown sugar
• 18 g (1 tbsp) corn syrup
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 225 g (1 1/2 cups) flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 80 g chocolate chips
• 90 g butterscotch chips
• 80 g chopped peanut butter cups
• 1/2 cup cocoa pebbles
• 40 g (1/3 cup) rolled oats
• 2 1/2 tsp ground coffee
• 50 g (2 cups) potato chips (Cape Cod brand)
• 50 g (1 cup) mini pretzels

Cooking Directions

1. Cream butter, sugars, and corn syrup in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment for 3 minutes at medium-high speed.
2. Scrape down the paddle and the sides of the bowl, add egg and vanilla and combine for 8 minutes.
3. Reduce the mixing speed to low and add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, as quickly as you can without sending the ingredients flying in all directions.
4. Mix for exactly one minute more (no more!)
5. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle.
6. Add both chocolate chips, the butterscotch chips, the cocoa pebbles, the oats and the coffee (again as quickly as possible,) and then mix for no more than 30 seconds.
7. Add the potato chips, peanut butter cups, and pretzels and mix until just incorporated. You want to mix as little as possible so that the pretzels and chips retain their shape.
8. Using a 1/3 cup measure, scoop the cookies out onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. To save space, you can position them as close to each other as possible without actually touching.
9. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour to 1 week.
10. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F
11. Take the chilled dough and position cookies at least four inches apart on a parchment lined room temperature cookie sheet (do not use the same chilled cookie sheet!)
12. Bake for 16 minutes. Then checking the color (they should be yellow in the middle and just browned on the rims -- and light brown on the bottom,) bake for an additional minute at a time until done.
13. Set pans aside until completely cooled, and then transfer the cookies to a serving dish or ziplock bag for storage. Cookies will keep for 1 month in the freezer.