Detours Along the Way to Heaven: Experimental baking

If you're going to spend a day experimenting on something, why not on cookies?? As I mentioned in a previous post, I haven't been having very good luck with chocolate chip cookies....basically my whole life. However, as part of my previous job as a teacher's assistant in a special needs program, we did a lot of baking, including chocolate chip cookies. And guess what? They were always perfect! So why were the ones I made at school so good, but as soon as I try them at home, I have to sub out the butter for shortening in order to get the thick, chewy cookies I love, but sacrifice the buttery flavor?

Well, after a day of experimenting (hey, I had a reason for baking...it was for Epiphany!), I finally figured out what I've been doing wrong. Good bye oh-so-bad-for-you-and-flavorless-shortening, hello yummy-buttery-still-high-in-fat-but-much-better-for-you-butter! Turns out the type of cookie sheet you use makes a huge difference. On a shiny, insulated cookie sheet (like the one I have), butter melts faster than the cookie can bake, resulting in the cookie going splat on the cookie sheet. Dark cookie sheets, or at least thinner, un-insulated ones, heat up faster and bake the cookie before the butter has a chance to ruin it. Refrigerating the dough before baking seemed to help a bit, but I've heard that for the best cookies, the dough should be baked as soon as it's been mixed to get the best results.

First batch on the insulated cookie sheet

Second batch I did on my thinner sheet...which would have come out great if I hadn't forgotten them in the oven...

Third batch I tried on my pizza stone. They did great this time, but last time I tried it, they went flat so I think it help that I preheated it, turned the oven temp up a bit, and pre-rolled the cookie dough to get them on the stone and into the oven as fast as I could.

My thinner cookie sheet

So in the end it turned out to be pretty successful, and they were quite tasty. Here's the recipe, adapted from the ghiradelli package since I made them gluten-free.

• 2 cups 60% Cocoa Ghiradelli Chocolate Chips

• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1 cup brown sugar, packed

• 2 large eggs

• 2 teaspoons vanilla

• 2 1/4 cups Erika's All Purpose Gluten-Free Flour Mix

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Heat oven to 375ºF.

Stir flour with baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside. In large mixing bowl, beat butter with
sugar and brown sugar at meduim speed until creamy and lightened in color. Add eggs
and vanilla, one at a time. Mix on low speed until incorporated. Gradually blend dry
mixture into creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. (Don't forget to sample! It's a crucial part of baking, you know.) Drop by tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Try not to eat the whole batch in one sitting.

I also thought I'd share some pictures of Epiphany...our Three Kings arrived at the Manger in an unconventional way this year.