Copycat Levain Bakery Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

Baked 4.23.10 for the Berkeley trip that never happened.

I couldn't find dark cocoa powder anywhere, so I gave up and just used a dark chocolate cocoa mix and decreased the amount of sugar from the recipe. I think the only problem with this was that the mix had those added ingredients like milk powder, which probably all messed up the dough. They're supposed to be hard, dense, rock-like with little spread, and very dark chocolatey, but these spread a lot (as you can see), and they weren't dark enough to me. BUT if I just eat these without expecting them to taste like Levain Bakery's cookies, then these are pretty good. Got the copycat recipe from Lisa Michele, whose cookies look close to the real things! I WILL try again someday with the right ingredients. Now that I've tried these, I really love the idea of dark chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips. So good.

Nooooo to the picture below:



Here's how many I made: 21 huge cookies.

Levain Bakery Copycat Dark Chocolate Peanut butter Chip Cookies (1 dozen cookies when done right supposedly; 21 flatter ones when done my way - oops)

• 2 sticks cold & cubed unsalted butter *NO! Don't leave them cold!! They're impossible to make fluffy right away. Stupid, stupid idea. I waited until the butter got soft because I just couldn't stand it, and there's no chemical purpose for keeping it cold because it all gets mooshed together AND no other recipe I've ever read that wasn't for scones or pie crust said to leave the butter cold. OK. Rant over.
  
• 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup good quality dark cocoa powder
• 2 1/4 to 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
• 3/4 to 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 cups peanut butter chips
  

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2) In bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle (I did this by hand), cream together butter & sugar until well blended and fluffy
3) Add eggs & beat until well-incorporated, & then beat in cocoa powder
4) Mix in flour, salt & baking powder until just combined
5) Gently fold in remaining ingredients
6) Transfer dough to clean work surface and gently mix dough by hand to ensure even distribution of ingredients
7) Divide into 12 equal portions (I ended up making 21 mounds because I was so afraid the cookies would smoosh together, which they kinda did anyway), **~4 oz each, and place each on sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Bake in the oven 16-20 minutes depending on how gooey and raw-like you like the middles, taking care not to overbake.
8) Let cool on a rack & store what you don’t immediately eat in an airtight container

LISA MICHELE's NOTES:

Note – The Levain Bakery doesn’t use vanilla extract in their cookies, as they feel it’s unecessary. However, some feel you need it. You can add 1 tsp to 1 T to each recipe if desired. Just add it after each egg is incorporated.

** Note – The Levain Bakery uses 6 oz of cookie dough per cookie. As mentioned above, If you want 12 cookies out of the above recipes, a little over 4 oz per cookie (4.1 to 4.2 oz. Use a kitchen scale) will get you that. If you want to use 6 oz of cookie dough per cookie, you’ll probably get only 6-8 cookies. However, a little over 4 oz makes a cookie just as thick and huge, so you don’t even notice the difference.

*** Note – Regarding the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter cookies. I mostly use Dutch-process cocoa. If you use basic, natural unsweetened cocoa (you know, the Hershey’s in the brown can or whatever), add 1/4 to 1/2 tsp baking soda (I just use a heaping 1/4 tsp when using regular baking cocoa) to the dry ingredients. Also, if they’re too ‘chocolatey’ and rich for you, use only 1/4 cup cocoa powder, and add 1/4 cup extra flour.

Very Simple Slice & Bake Espresso Cookies

Original recipe here from Alpineberry (recipe with my format edits below), who said this about the cookie:

"This espresso cookie is my idea of cookie perfection. I love the sandy texture and the pure flavor of the espresso. It might be somewhat strong for the coffee shy and not sweet enough for those with a super sweet tooth, but those are major pluses in my opinion."

True. It's sandy, slightly sweet, and tastes like espresso without other distracting flavors, but it's not my favorite, and I'd personally prefer to try this cookie with mini chocolate chips. My dad and the school secretaries said they liked them though. One secretary said it tastes like those See's Candies lollipops. Maybe the butterscotch one? Or the vanilla one? I'm not sure. Is there a coffee one? That would make mores sense. haha!

I didn't cut them carefully, so they came out of the oven kinda...well, imperfect. If you care about presentation and want perfectly shaped cookies, be careful when you slice the dough because they don't change much in the oven.

Espresso Cookies recipe:
(adapted by Alpineberry from Fine Cooking)
makes 28 cookies

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened at room temp
1/3 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
1 tsp espresso powder dissolved in 2 tsp water
1 tsp finely ground espresso beans
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
pinch of salt

1) Cream the butter & sugar until well blended
2) Mix in the dissolved espresso powder
3) Add the ground espresso beans, flour & salt and mix until dough comes together (This is kinda tough because it's so dry)
4) Turn the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap
5) Form the dough into a log about 7-inches long
6) Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 6 hours (and up to 3 days).
7) Preheat oven to 350F
8) Cut the chilled dough into 1/4-inch slices & arrange on parchment lined sheet pans
9) Bake until the tops look dry & edges just start to brown (~12 min)
** I checked on them at around 8 minutes and kept checking until they were done.

Lemon Pie with Grandma

Baked on Saturday, 4/17/10.

Grandma M. gave us some of her lemons, and she mentioned missing making lemon pie, so my dad suggested we bake together. Needless to say, we did, and it was so much fun. She didn't have her recipe (it ended up being a recipe from a cornstarch box anyway), so I looked to The Daring Bakers since I knew I could see LOTS of bloggers' results from the same recipe and they seemed pretty successful (one failure here). You can find the recipe on a lot of their sites...like this one. We used a little whipped cream (the real heavy whipping cream whipped with sugar) instead of meringue, and since my dad doesn't like really tart lemon pies, we only put a tint bit of lemon zest. I was dumb and used a pie tin that was too small, so the crust ended up too thick, and we had a whole lotta extra filling, but it was still really good and not too tart at all! We used Joy the Baker's "easy no-roll pie crust" recipe. It is really easy. And good.


Raw:
Baked:I always get nervous when yolks can curdle.

Tate's Bakeshop Copycat Cookies - Cookie Madness

Over the past year, I've shifted my baking focus from muffins and brownies to mostly cookies. Maybe 'cause they're easier to transport...and...I don't know.

I tried another Cookie Madness recipe. Love that blog. And I love crispy cookies. If you try these, make sure you give them enough room so that you don't end up with mitotic cookies (in telophase) like I did.

Like the shamoji (Japanese rice paddle) below? haha..It makes a nice mixing tool sometimes (like for small amounts of dough).

Some had chunks, and some had chips. I added a tiny bit of used coffee grounds to the ones with the chunks. I'd add more next time. You could add espresso powder for more flavor; I was just experimenting with used grounds because of this compost cookie recipe (haven't tried it yet) that uses them. Great way to recycle, right?


Ever wondered what would happen if you made a cookie in the microwave? It's not so great. I need those browned edges!

Recipe (original here; I just reworded it and made it simpler to understand and follow):

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter - original recipe called for salted, but Cookie Madness used unsalted
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2) Line some cookie sheets w/ parchment
3) Mix together the flour, soda & salt; set aside
4) Cream the butter & both sugars w/ an electric mixer (I just used a hand mixer with a big bowl)
5) When creamy, beat in the water, vanilla & eggs
6) Beat eggs just until mixed – don’t over-beat
7) Add the flour mixture gradually & stir until almost combined, then add the chocolate chips & stir until all flour is incorporated
8) Scoop up tablespoons of dough (only slightly rounded--not heaped) & arrange 2 inches apart on cookie sheets
9) Bake for 12-14 min or until cookies have brown edges & look done
10) Let 'em rest on cookie sheets for about 2 minutes; then transfer to a wire rack to cool

S'mores Bars For the Kiddos

For my cousin's birthday I made s'mores bars (I made 'em smaller 'cause they're for kids). I gave half to the cousins and half to the neighbors. Kids make life so much fun--and they give me yet another excuse to bake. I used to bake for my college friends, but now I bake for kids. And teachers. And family & friends.

Anyway, I saw these s'mores bars on Lovin' From the Oven (go there for the recipe) and made them because all kids love s'mores, right? I actually asked my neighbor if he and his sister like s'mores, and you should have seen his face light up and his happy nod. Adorable! Anyway, the bars also look so darn good in this picture (sorry...mine aren't as good 'cause I was in a huge rush). I've also started loving the idea of s'mores things, although after these I'm a little tired of that idea. Why? They're just soo sweet. And pretty darn messy, which is okay. I like the real thing best.


The most marshmallow-y part (you can see how the marshmallow creme came out of the top layer a little...and I think that was actually the best part - had a little of that toasted marshmallow flavor that I just LOVE):

The chocolate layer (exactly two King Size Hershey's chocolate bars):

Crispy Chocolate Chip Cheerio Cookies!

I'd heard of using Cheerios in baking, but today I finally actually tried a recipe. I LOVE CRISPY COOKIES! These are really crispy and pretty easy. I was going to give 'em to Berkeley friends this weekend, but I can't go after all, so I'm trying to freeze 'em for later.


See that Cheerio below?:

RECIPE (original here with other variations; there's also a peanut butter version here):

6 oz (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cool room temperature or cold
1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all purpose unbleached flour
4 cups Cheerios
1 cup quick-cooking steel-cut oats (original called for old fashioned oats)
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet Guitard chips)

1) Heat oven to 375 degrees
2) Beat cool butter until creamy
3) Add sugar & continue beating until light. Reduce speed of mixer to medium & beat in water, vanilla, salt & baking soda
4) Add egg & beat just until it’s incorporated
5) By hand, stir in the flour & then the Cheerios, oats & chocolate chips
6) Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto a greased cookie sheet
7) Bake until light brown (10-12 min)

Makes about 4 1/2 dozen cookies

Dorie's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you haven't heard of Dorie Greenspan, she is a food writer and cookbook author with a few books like Baking: From My Home to Yours. There is even a food blog group devoted to using one of her baking recipes per week (Tuesdays With Dorie - That's why if you see "TWD" on a food blog, the blogger used her recipe).
THIS is a cool blog post/video to read/watch. She talks with the late French baker, Lionel Piolane, who talks about baking with one hand. I couldn't help but picture all of the skin cells going into the dough, but it's a pretty interesting process mixing the sugar, eggs, flour, etc. together so beautifully by hand.
Anyway, this was my first time trying one of her recipes. I used extra dark chocolate (Scharffen Berger's 70% cacao chocolate chunks) and chopped it up extra. So good...but probably not to people who don't like dark chocolate. I wasn't watching the cookies too carefully, so I burned them, which isn't a problem to my family, but I can't give them to friends like that. I still have the rest of the batter in the fridge 'cause I'm making more for someone tomorrow or Tuesday.

Here's the recipe: From Kait's Plate
Here's another take on the recipe: Go see The Food Librarian.

Chocolate Shortbread

Today I tried a recipe from 500 Cookies by Phillipa Vanstone, which my bro gave me, for the first time. It was like a cross between cookies and brownies. Definitely not either though. It's in a liminal phase. haha I love liminality. Anyway, these are good. Like butter cookies but less dense. Giving some to Grandpa H. tomorrow. I made half with chocolate chips (I have a few Ghirardelli chips left) and half without.


I don't know why it said to sprinkle with granulated sugar. First of all, I it doesn't really need extra sugar (that might be just me though). I also clearly suck at sprinkling evenly.



Recipe:

Cinnamon Rolls

So I know this is cheating, but technically my mom did bake these...she just...didn't put all of the ingredients together. haha My Aunt J dropped off the already-made dough and the recipe and ingredients for the icing (from a fundraiser). YUM! Not too sweet. I've decided that this would be an awesome gift or random surprise for someone--already-prepared dough. Hmmmm....