Heart Of Gold

If you've been following my blog for a while, you know I'm a big fan of all things King Arthur Flour, America's oldest flour company, opened in 1790!  Well, here's another delicious cookie recipe from them that I'd like to share!  These Heart of Gold Cookies are made using two batches of dough {one sugar cookie, one chocolate}.  Then, after baking, you use a heart shaped cookie cutter on the center of each cookie & swap the sugar cookie hearts for the chocolate ones!  Voila!  How easy is that?!  Perfect for your Valentine ♥

So sweet!  For detailed instructions, pictures, & of course the full recipe, visit King Arthur Flour!

Chocolate Cookies

* 3/4 cup unsalted butter

* 1 ounce semisweet or unsweetened chocolate

* 3/4 cup granulated sugar

* 1/2 cup brown sugar

* 2 tablespoons light corn syrup

* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

* 1 large egg

* 1 teaspoon espresso powder

* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

* 1/2 teaspoon salt

* 1/3 cup Double-Dutch Dark Cocoa or Dutch-process cocoa powder

* 2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Vanilla Cookies

* King Arthur Guaranteed Sugar Cookies, dough prepared but not baked

Directions
1) To make the chocolate cookies: Melt the chocolate with the butter, in a microwave oven or double boiler set over a burner. Set it aside.

2) In a large bowl, mix together the sugars. Pour the chocolate/butter into the bowl, stirring to combine.

3) Add the corn syrup, vanilla, egg, espresso powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa, stirring to combine.

4) Stir in the flour; the dough will be soft and smooth. Cover it, and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours, until it's solidified and stiffened up.

5) While the chocolate dough is chilling, make the vanilla cookie dough.

6) Lightly grease (or line with parchment) a couple of baking sheets. Preheat the oven to 375°F.

7) Using a very slightly heaped tablespoon cookie scoop, drop six balls of vanilla cookie dough on one of the baking sheets, then six balls of chocolate cookie dough, spacing them evenly with about 2" between them. If you don't have a tablespoon cookie scoop, the dough balls should be a generous 1 1/4" in diameter. Gently flatten each ball of dough to about 2" across.

8) Bake the cookies for 10 minutes. While they're baking, prepare your next sheet of cookies for the oven.

9) Remove the cookies from the oven, and set your timer for 4 minutes. After 4 minutes, use a 1 3/4" to 2" heart-shaped cutter to cut a heart out of the center of each of the cookies. Quickly transfer the hearts to cookies of the opposite flavor, gently pressing them into the heart-shaped opening in the center of each. You'll now have vanilla cookies with chocolate hearts, and chocolate cookies with vanilla hearts.

10) Change the look by putting the vanilla hearts bottom-side-up in the chocolate cookies; the bottom of the cookie will be medium-gold, rather than cream-colored. This yields more of a "heart of gold" look.

11) Repeat with the remaining cookie dough. You'll have some leftover vanilla cookie dough, enough to make about 8 cookies. Cut hearts out of the center, and flip them over so the bottom's on the top: heart of gold!

Yield: about 4 to 4 1/2 dozen cookies.

Mmm! Enjoy, sweeties! Let me know if you make them! Happy Thursday!

Chocolate + Oranges

Gosh, I love to bake! The trouble is when I feel like baking & Don doesn't feel like eating what I've made. The boy doesn't always have a sweet tooth {ridiculous, I know!}, & it can get me into trouble.  Lately, however, he's been asking for dessert: "Umm, brownies sound good...", "Any chance that you could make me some cookies tonight?!", etc.  I love it!

My all-time favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe is from King Arthur Flour, & it's mmm mmm so yummy.  Hints of almond make it taste unlike any other chocolate chip cookie you've tried, but without making it "different".  You've got to try it!  Plus, it freezes really well so I frequently make more dough than I need & save it for an easy baking later on!  Making it too easy to eat delicious cookies, I suppose!

But this is my go-to recipe.  I need a new one to add to me repertoire.  Could this be it?!

Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups of flour (self raising/all purpose)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (or 4 oz) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 ricotta, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 tsp finely grated orange zest
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 large egg at room temperature
3/4 cup chocolate chips

1. Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together, in a medium bowl, until well blended.
   
   
2. With a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat the butter and ricotta on medium high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar, orange zest, and vanilla and beat until well blended, about 3 minutes. Scrape down sides of the bowl. On medium speed, add the egg and beat until blended. Pour in the chocolate chips and mix until just incorporated. Cover bowl and refrigerate until a little firmer, about 30 minutes.
   
   
3. Heat the oven to 350F/180C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or non-stick baking liner. Drop rounded tablespoons of batter on the baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake until a light golden colour, about 15 minutes. Let cookies cool on sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
   
   
4. Enjoy!

Thanks to Pinecone Camp for posting this sure-to-be delicious recipe!  I think I will have to give it a try very soon!

*** Photos from yesterday's {very rainy!} ceremony coming soon!  If you want to see what I look like drenched in rain with my hair flat as a piece of paper against my face, scurry back here later on!  Oh boy, I needed an umbrella! ***

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies :)

Don loves chocolate chip cookies. While he was doing his BOLC training at Fort Sill he would often ask me to make him some, and then he'd have one or two when they came out of the oven. I wondered why he wanted me to make these cookies for him if he didn't eat more than a few right away! Well...he'd eat them for breakfast :) Sadly, I can't make cookies for Don for the next two months, but I can share a great recipe with all of you!

My favorite recipe for chocolate chip cookies used to be out of my Mrs. Field's cookbook, but I have a new favorite: King Arthur Flour's Chocolate Chip Cookies! My sister, Julie, made this recipe the day I drove back to Colorado, & she had them fresh out of the oven when I walked through the door, tired from the long day's drive. Great way to come home!

I just love the King Arthur Flour Company! I have their baking cookbook, which has centuries old recipes, making it a lot of fun to look through. If you don't know about this company, here's a little blurb from their website:

Started in Boston in 1790 and now based in Norwich, Vermont, America’s oldest flour company has grown from a regional staple to a brand known nationwide not only for its high-quality flours but for our passion in sharing the joy of baking; from a small mail-order business with five employees in 1990 to the premier baking resource with nearly 200 employees today; from a family-owned operation for five generations to a 100 percent employee-owned business. King Arthur Flour - the Baker’s Catalogue offers more than 1,000 professional-grade baking tools and ingredients through its catalogue, online at kingarthurflour.com/shop, and at The Baker’s Store in Norwich, Vermont.

But to get to the point, here is the cookie recipe for all of you who might enjoying baking as much as Don & I do :)

King Arthur Flour's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients
2/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, right from the fridge, or at room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vinegar, cider or white
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg
2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets. 1) In a large bowl, combine the sugars, butter, shortening, salt, vanilla and almond extracts, vinegar, and baking soda, beating until smooth and creamy. 2) Beat in the egg, again beating till smooth. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a spatula to make sure everything is thoroughly combined.

3) Mix in the flour, then the chips.

4) Use a spoon (or a tablespoon cookie scoop) to scoop 1 1/4" balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2" between them on all sides; they'll spread.

5) Bake the cookies for 11 to 12 minutes, till their edges are chestnut brown and their tops are light golden brown, almost blonde. Remove them from the oven, and cool on the pan till they've set enough to move without breaking. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Bon appetit! xox