Ultimate chocolate cookies

My husband mocks me because I constantly have around 500 open tabs on my cell phone web browser.  I this an insane about of tabs to have open?  Yes.  But did you know that roughly 85-90% of them are recipes that I want to try? Or have baked but kept open so that I can write my blog post about them (I know, I know...I suck on that front!)?

One of those recipes was a cookie that I'm sure I either got an email about or saw on Instagram.  I'll get back to that cookie later on, but that cookie led me down a rabbit hole to find the original recipe, which led me to Sarah Kieffer of The Vanilla Bean Blog.  Deeper into the rabbit hole, I wanted to make like all of her recipes, and then even deeper, I ended up buying her cookbook.

The gateway cookie, so to speak, was her Pan-Banging Ginger Molasses Cookie.  I've made them a few times, they're always delish, and to say I was hooked after the first time may be the biggest understatement ever.

I currently have a bunch of her cookies in my line up to bake, but this cookie caught my eye, and I thought they'd be great in a box of holiday cookies for our doormen and friends.

These cookies live up to their name -- special cocoa powder, two types of chocolate -- they're decadent and super chocolatey, and also not super sweet.  And get this -- they're super easy to make, too!

Ultimate Chocolate Cookies

By Sarah Kieffer, of The Vanilla Bean Blog

Ingredients:

1.5 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup Ghirardelli Majestic Cocoa Powder (she said you need to use this cocoa powder.  I got mine on Amazon)

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

9 Tbsp unsalted butter at room temp

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar (I used light)

3/4 tsp salt

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract

5 oz Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate wafers, chopped

2 oz Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate wafers, chopped (I read this wrong when I made them and used 3 oz of milk chocolate wafers.  My mistake, but seeing as these cookies were amazing, I'm going to keep it at 3 oz going forward)

Flaky sea salt for sprinkling, if desired (I'm sure this would be AMAZING, but seeing as I was freezing my cookies to give away at a later visit, I didn't know if the salt on top would affect it, so I skipped this step)

Directions:

Adjust oven rack to middle of the oven.

Preheat oven to 400F.

Line two sheet pans with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda.

Set aside.

Cream butter in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.

Beat on medium until creamy, about 1 minute.

Add in sugars and salt.

Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla.

Continue beating until smooth.

Add in dry ingredients, and beat on low until just combined.

Add in chopped chocolates and mix on low.

Use a rubber spatula to give the dough one last mix.

Form the dough into balls, about 2 Tbsp each.

Place 8 cookies on each sheet pan.

Sprinkle with flaky salt, if using.

Bake one pan at a time, rotating halfway through (oops, forgot to rotate....).

Bake the cookies until the tops are golden brown (I couldn't tell if they were golden or not, since the cookies were so dark) and the cookies are slightly puffed and starting to crinkle, 9-11 minutes (mine were perfect after 9 min).

Remove the baking sheet from the oven.

Use the back of a spatula to gently press the top of each cookie to flatten it.

Let the cookies rest on the sheet pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.

* According to the author, the cookies are best slightly warm but can be stored at room temp for up to 3 days, and will get softer the longer they sit.

* Dough can be put in the fridge or frozen after being rolled into balls.  Take them out of the fridge when the oven preheats, or if baking from frozen they may require an extra minute of baking time.

* I decided to try freezing the cookies fresh out of the oven (after they cooled) to see if they could be baked ahead before gifting.

I'm baaaaaack!!

Hey there, friends!  It's me, Julie.  And I'm back!!

It's been a year.  Actually, it's been a few years. 

Let's recap.

I had a baby.  There was a global pandemic (and I work in healthcare).  I had another baby.  I was home with said kiddos.  Older one went to school.  And now, as of last month, so did my baby (he's 3!!).

I've found myself with something I had only dreamed of over the past few years.  It's this foreign notion called "free time."  Showering without children pounding on the door screaming "mommmyyyyy!!"...drinking my own iced coffee with actual ice in it...grocery shopping and actually looking at what the store has to offer instead of doing a mad dash with a double stroller?  YES TO ALL OF THESE THINGS!!

It's also given me time to, dare I say, bake.

Now that's not to say I didn't do any baking over the past few years.  I have.  Even made some really great recipes that I *started* to type up and edit.  But then I never got around to posting.

So today marks my first day of taking my free time to bake.  On the agenda is an apple bundt cake with a brown sugar glaze for Rosh Hashanah lunch at my parents this week.  I can't wait to bake and share it with you!

* Also, stay tuned as I'm sure some back-dated posts will be making an appearance soon, too!

Ginger molasses cookies

Ok, first off the bat, let me tell you how good these cookies are!  Then, I'll get to the rest of the info.  These cookies are the perfect amount of ginger and crisp edges/chewy centers and sugary coating!  I'm not going to lie, I ate 3 of them straight out of the oven last night when I was baking them.  They're that good!

These cookies come from the genius Sarah Kieffer of the Vanilla Bean Blog.  I want to say I came across her years ago through an article (I think in the New York Times) about her "pan banging method" for chocolate chip cookies (I  made them, they're worth the hype, and if I haven't posted that yet, I'll be sure to back track and get that up soon), and later again through an email with a link to her Neapolitan cookies.  I also own her cookbook, 100 cookies.  She's a baking genius, if you want my unbiased opinion, and I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot of her recipes in the future here on JulieBakes.

These cookies also involve her "pan banging" technique, which gives the cookies a crispy edge and a chewy center.  They're probably not the best cookie to bake at 9:30 p.m. in a 2 bedroom apartment with a sleeping 5.5 month old, 2.5 year old, and guest on the couch -- oops! -- but at least the guest got some of these cookies fresh out of the oven when she woke from her nap.

I plan to include these in my yearly box of cookies for the holidays for our doormen*.  It's been a trying year, for sure, and they've been fielding the majority of my "I can buy it on Amazon" mentality of the pandemic (* yes, they're also getting a monetary tip, I just think cookies plus a tip is just a nice way to do things).

Pan-Banging Ginger Molasses Cookies

By Sarah Kieffer, Vanilla Bean Blog

* The holiday version calls for a glaze.  Truth be told, I haven't tried the glaze, because the cookies are so damn good on their own they don't need anything more, but if you want yours to look festive or you'd like glaze, click on the link above for directions and ingredients.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp + 1/8 tsp salt

2 tsp ground ginger

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Pinch of cloves (I leave this out, as I don't like cloves)

12 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus more for rolling

2 Tbsp mild molasses

1 egg

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Adjust an oven rack to middle position

Preheat oven to 350F

Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves (if using).

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium until creamy.

Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.

Add in the molasses, egg, and vanilla.

Mix on low to combine.

Add the flour mixture and mix on low until combined.

Remove bowl from mixer.

Using a spatula, make sure that the molasses is completely combined into the dough and that it is a uniform color.

Form the dough into 2 ounce balls.

Roll balls into granulated sugar to coat.

Put 4 balls of dough on prepared baking tray.

Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 8 minutes, until the cookies are puffed slightly in the center.

Lift the side of the baking sheet up about 4 inches and gently let it drop down against the oven rack (so that the edges of the cookies set and the inside falls back down).

After the cookies puff up again in about 2 minutes, repeat lifting and dropping the pan.  

Repeat 3-4 more times to create ridges around the edge of the cookie.

Bake 13-16 minutes TOTAL, until the cookies have spread out and the edges are golden brown but the centers are might  lighter and not fully cooked.

Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack.

Let cool completely before removing cookies from the pan

Extra thick, extra marshmallow-y toasted marshmallow Rice Krispie treats

We're 10.5 months into the COVID pandemic.  I'm 4 months pregnant.  I'm chasing around a 20 month old toddler.  I'm working in healthcare, during said pandemic.

So, suffice it to say, I haven't gotten much baking done lately.  I made some Neapolitan cookies (which I'll post eventually) and some Paleo apple crumb muffins (which I won't be posting because....ugh!).  There had been a few batches of brownies and some Rice Krispie treats, too.  Looking back through Instagram posts, I'm pretty sure I made some banana muffins, too.  And some red velvet cake Halloween cake pops, too.  Oh, and let's not forget baby J's first birthday treats!  But, in the past of 10.5 months, that's not really JulieBakes caliber baking.

But tonight I -- and by I, I mean the baby -- wanted to make, and consume, Rice Krispie treats.  Namely the toasted marshmallow Rice Krispie treats no one can seem to get enough of!  The recipe is tried and true and with two minor modifications, they are supremely elevated!!  But, today I decided to make them extra marshmallow-y and super thick!

These Rice Krispie treats use brown butter, which in and of itself it a worthwhile modification to any Rice Krispie treats.  The addition of broiling the marshmallows before melting them in with the brown butter makes them extra decadent!  In order to make them extra marshmallow-y, I 1.5 times the butter and marshmallows while only increasing the Rice Krispies by 1 cup (truth be told, I could've added another cup of Rice Krispies and they still would've been ooey-gooey delicious!).

Then, to make them super thick, I used a smaller pan.  I couldn't find my 8 x 8" baking pan so I used a smaller rectangular pan that B had, which predates me.  I had too much leftover Rice Krispie treat mix, so I started eating it off the spatula, but when that proved too hard a task (there was WAY too much leftover), I put it on a plate and flattened it, and coated it in sprinkles because....why not?  We could all use a little extra color and cheer these days!

Extra Thick, Extra Marshmallow-y Toasted Marshmallow Rice Krispie Treats

modified from this recipe, originally found here.

Ingredients:

6 Tbsp unsalted butter

16 oz marshmallows

7-8 cups Rice Krispies

Directions:

Grease a 9 x 9 inch pan lightly with cooking spray.

Melt the butter in a small sauce pan over medium-low heat.
Continue cooking the butter, swirling pan until it becomes a nice brown color (it takes about 5 minutes).
Remove from the heat.
Transfer browned butter into a large bowl or pot, big enough to hold the Rice Krispies and be able to mix them.  Alternately, you can brown the butter in the bigger pot and cut down on the amount of items needed to be cleaned later, like I did.
Set aide.

Turn the oven on to broil.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Evenly spread the marshmallows onto the lined sheet.

Place the marshmallows under the broiler for 45 seconds to 1 minute, until marshmallows are puffed and deeply golden.  For larger marshmallows, you may need longer.
WATCH THEM CLOSELY, as they can burn very quickly!

Lightly grease a rubber spatula with cooking spray.
Immediately scrap the marshmallows into the bowl/pot with the butter.
Stir to combine quickly.
Pour the Rice Krispies into the toasted marshmallow mixture.
Stir to combine.

Press evenly into the prepared pan.

Allow to cool before cutting into squares and serving.

Happy (almost) Birthday, JulieBakes!

It's funny how you never forget certain dates.  

It's been a whirlwind of a year!  The COVID pandemic hit NYC mid-March, and working in healthcare and losing our childcare (we were so lucky that baby J's grandparents watched him, but with COVID and the fact that out parents are older, meant we couldn't risk putting them at risk), well suffice it to say it's been an interesting 7 months...Oh, and then we moved at the beginning of October.  Seriously.

But, as I sat talking to B last night, and he asked me the date, I realized "Wow, JulieBakes' birthday is in 2 days!"  I don't know why, I haven't posted in nearly 3 years, but there I was remembering that this little blog of mine has a birthday on October 16!  (Full disclosure, I had to look up exactly how old the blog was turning, and was floored when I calculated that it's NINE YEARS OLD!)

Unfortunately, it's looking like I won't be able to bake anything in time to celebrate the blog's birthday, but I do have a bunch of Halloween treats planned.  I literally spent way too much money on Halloween sprinkles over the weekend...

Happy (almost) Birthday, JulieBakes!  Nine years old, I honestly can't believe it!

Whipped shortbread cookies

For the holiday pajama party that B and I went to this weekend, the theme of the drink-making contest was "night cap."  B and I decided on a White Russian.  One of our favorite bars in our neighborhood -- which we haven't been to in quite some time --  serves their heavenly White Russian with a cookie on the side.  I thought it was a biscotti, but B reminded me that it was more of a shortbread cookie (he was, in fact right).

So with all of the ingredients for our cocktail packed away to bring out to Long Island, I set about trying to find the perfect shortbread cookie recipe.  I literally had to look no further than Instagram to find a recipe posted this morning!  The recipe was for whipped shortbread cookies, which sounded delicious to me.  And seeing as I had the forethought to take some butter out of the fridge before we left to run errands this morning, I was ready to go when I got home.

It also happened to be that today was the first snow in NYC.  There's nothing that I love more than baking on a snowy day, with the warmth of the oven keeping the apartment toasty, and having cookies to sample warm out of the oven.

This dough is meant to be piped out onto the baking sheet with a piping tip and bag.  You can use a variety of tips.  Since I had the intent of serving these cookies on the side of our drink tonight, I used an Ateco 898 tip, which some people use to ice cakes.  I used the ridged side up for a little detail.  I think they came out adorable, and that they'd be perfect to rest on the top of the glass for a classy presentation!

P.S. I halved the recipe and I got over 5 dozen cookies

Whipped Shortbread Cookies
Recipe from SprinkleBakes

Makes 6 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

3 cups (6 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped (or you can substitute 2 tsp vanilla extract)

Optional decorations:
Assorted holiday sprinkles and candies
4 oz semisweet or dark chocolate, melted

Directions:

Combine butter and confectioners' sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
Mix on high speed until mixture turns pale, about 2 minutes.

Add flour to butter mixture in 3 additions, mixing well on medium speed after each addition.
When flour is incorporated, add salt and vanilla seeds.
Beat on high speed for 5 minutes -- the dough should be pale and thick.
Transfer dough to piping bags fitted with decorating tips.  You can also used a small cookie scoop.

Line two or more cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Pipe or place mounds of cookie dough on prepared pans, spacing then a least 1 inch apart.
Add sprinkles, if using.
Transfer cookies on baking sheets to refrigerator to chill for 10 minutes or until cookies are firm to touch.

While the cookies are chilling, preheat the oven to 275F.
Bake cookies 30-35 minutes, or until cookies are lightly golden around the edges and still pale in the center.  Since I piped my cookies thinner than the cookies on the original blog post, I started watching my cookies after 20 minutes.  They ended up taking 21-22 minutes to achieve desired doneness.
Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Drizzle with chocolate if using.
Store cooled cookies in an airtight container.

Lemon bars

I've been baking for a long time.  I estimate I've been baking from scratch for at least two and a half decades.  I started baking on my own before that for friends in high school, with boxed mixes, even before that.  I've made countless brownies, cupcakes, cakes, fudges, and enough cookies to feed a small army.  One thing I've never made, until today?  Lemon bars!

I honestly don't know why it's taken me this long to bake them.  I think the actual idea got planted in my head when I was shopping at Trader Joe's recently, and they had candied lemon slices. I (obviously) bought them without thinking about it, and then was trying to figure out what I could use them for.  Originally I thought about using them as a garnish on a lemon cupcake, but then the thought came to me: lemon bars!

I have to say that these lemon bars are super easy to make.  Make the shortbread dough, and while it's baking in the oven, prepare the lemon filling.  Then, pour the filling over the hot shortbread crust and pop them back in the oven.  That's it!  The hardest part wasn't actually hard, it was more time consuming -- I had tiny lemons and had to juice them all by hand.  The real hardest part is waiting over 2 hours before being able to cut into them!  (Don't worry, I cheated to taste them -- they're delicious!).

I made these for a baby shower that my friend L and I hosted for our friend E, who is expecting a baby girl at the beginning of February.  The ladies at the shower loved and devoured them!  I had a few leftover at the end of the shower that went to the soon-to-be-daddy, my dad, and B.

I really recommend these lemon bars -- the super thick lemony layer is the real proverbial icing on the cake (or rather filling on the bar ;-))

Thick Lemon Bars
from Little Sweet Baker

Ingredients:

Crust

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp corn starch
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

Filling

3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 large/regular sized lemons)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Decorations

Powdered sugar for dusting
Lemon slices or dried lemon slices

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.
Line an 8x8" square baking pan with parchment paper (I don't have an 8x8" pan so I used my trusty 9x9" pan).

Toss flour, powdered sugar, and cornstarch together.
Cut in the softened butter using a fork or pastry cutter until mixture is crumbly.  You can also pulse with a food processor.
Press into the prepared baking pan.
Bake for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together he eggs, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
Slowly add the flour, whisking to prevent lumps.
Pour the mixture over the hot crust.
Bake for another 25 minutes or until the lemon filling is set.

Let stand at room temperature to cool.
Chill in the fridge for 2 hours.

Dust with powdered sugar and top with lemon slices.

Note: Lemon bars can be refrigerated in an airtight container