Chocolate Chip Butter Cookies

You can never, I repeat, NEVER, go wrong with a classic chocolate chip cookie. Chips Ahoy, Famous Amos, Mrs. Fields, Pillsbury...you name it, everyone loves it! Chocolate chip cookies are definitely a comfort food. They bring a sense of nostalgia and take me back to when my brother and I used to sneak in the kitchen at midnight to dunk Chips Ahoy in a big glass of milk. Today, after a long, long week of exams, I decided to liberate my stress by baking a batch of these delightful cookies. I kind of made up this recipe simply by adding chocolate chips to my favorite classic butter cookies, previewed HERE. They were so easy and quick to make and turned out to be pretty damn deliciously comforting.

Chocolate Chip Butter Cookies
Makes about 26 tablespoon sized cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 stick of butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
• 1/3 tbsp baking powder
• 1/3 tbsp salt
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• Chopped pecans (optional and highly recommended)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix the butter and the sugar in an electric mixer. Then add the egg and mix well until it gets fluffy. 
3. Separately, mix all of the dry ingredients together.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the butter, sugar, and egg mixture. 
5. Lastly, add the chocolate chips. 
6. With a tablespoon, make dough circles and place them on a cookie sheet.
7. Bake for approximately 10 minutes. Do not let them brown too much if you don't want them crunchy.
8. Enjoy with a big glass of milk or coffee! 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Homemade Oreos

Every Christmas eve, my family has a traditional holiday dinner where all of my cousins, aunts, and uncles share laughter, smiles, and hugs. For the past three years (ever since I've been perfecting my baking skills), I have made up some kind of dessert to have around for guests to try. One year I made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and Oreo crumbs on top. Another year I made Grayves and brownies with crushed candy cane and Hershey's cookies and cream. This year, I decided to bake Chilenas de Dulce de Leche (Alfajores) and Homemade Oreos. I saw this recipe on Cupcakes and Cashmere, but I will never achieve Emily Schuman's perfection.

Homemade Oreos

(Makes about 40 one teaspoon size sandwich cookies)

Ingredients: 

For the chocolate wafers:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa (I used Hershey's)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg

 

For the filling:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup  vegetable shortening
2 cups  sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375°F.
2. In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
3. Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately two inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.
4. To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.
5. To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream. Dunk generously in a large glass of milk.