Summary:

I have been baking sourdough ever since the start of Covid. I have tried many recipes using sourdough discard, including cookie recipes, and have not been really pleased with any of them. That said, these are really good. I think Amy came up with a great combination to deal with the extra water contained in the discard. She browns the butter, which removes a lot of the water, and uses only the yolk of the egg. Chilling the dough and baking at a relatively high temperature and with convection makes them cook and brown quickly on the outside, while the inside is underdone. It really works. Don’t skip the chilling. I baked the second sheet after the balls had been sitting on the counter, waiting for the first batch to bake and they really did flatten out and were not as good as those that came from the chilled balls.

Recipe by:

Amy Bakes Bread

Yield:

16

Ingredients:

½ cup unsalted butter, 113 grams

¾ cup dark brown sugar, 185 grams

¼ cup granulated sugar, 60 grams

½ cup sourdough discard, 100 grams

1 egg yolk from a large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1⅓ cups all-purpose flour, 175 grams

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chunks or chocolate chips

flaky sea salt if desired

Directions:

Amy Bakes Bread

1. Brown Butter: Heat the butter in a pan or pot on the stove over medium heat. Swirl the butter around and stir every few minutes until little brown flecks are on the bottom of the pan and the butter smells nutty and delicious. Be careful not to overheat as it can burn the butter. Pour the brown butter along with all the little brown bits on the bottom of the pan into a medium sized bowl and let sit for 5 minutes or up to a couple hours to cool.
2. Add the dark brown sugar and granulated sugar to the bowl with the brown butter. Use a hand mixer and mix to combine.
3. Mix in the egg yolk, sourdough discard and vanilla extract. Whip together with the mixer until the batter is cohesive and turns light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
4. To a small bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and fluff together. Pour the flour mixture into the cookie mixture and mix together until just combined. Add chocolate chunks (or chips) and stir into the dough.
5. Place the whole bowl into the freezer and chill the dough for 10-15 minutes. It is possible to bake these cookies right away, but they will not be quite as puffy and will spread a lot more than the chilled dough. You can also chill the dough in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours or freeze the dough in small balls. Let the balls come back to “chilled” temperature before baking.
6. Heat oven to 375 degrees, convection. Scoop the dough into 2-tablespoon balls and place them onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, 12 cookies per baking sheet. Sprinkle the top with flaky sea salt, if desired.
7. Bake cookies at 375 degrees, convection for 7-8 minutes until cookies are puffed up and the edges are a little crispy. Let the cookies sit for about 5 minutes on the baking sheet to set up before removing. If your oven doesn’t have a convection setting, preheat oven for 20 minutes and bake cookies at 400 degrees for 8-9 minutes.

Most home-made cookies end up kind of uneven and irregular, even if they are carefully formed with a scoop. There are a few cookies that I make where, if carefully scooped, they come out almost completely uniform in shape and appearance. Snickerdoodles and Taku Ginger Cookies come to mind. I can now add another cookie to that list, Christina Tosi’s Cinnamon Toffee Cookies, at least the way I made them. When she says “cinnamon,” she really means it. These have a tablespoon of cinnamon to less than two cups of flour so they are really cinnamony. The original recipe calls for butterscotch chips. I didn’t have any and don’t really care for them that much so I substituted the same weight of Skor toffee chips.

Recipe By:

Adapted from Christina Tosi at Momofuku Milk Bar

Yield:

24

Ingredients:

1¾  cups flour
2 tablespoons nonfat milk powder
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1¼  teaspoons kosher salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ pound unsalted butter, super soft
1¼  cups packed light brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
11-ounce bag toffee chips *see note

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Coat the baking sheets with baking spray or parchment.

3. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, milk powder, cinnamon, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

4. In a large bowl, using a wooden spoon or sturdy spatula, mix the butter and brown sugar, flexing your muscles for about 2 minutes, until they are fully combined.

5. Add the egg and vanilla and stir until combined and fluffy, about 1 minute.

6. Stir the dry mixture into the butter-sugar mixture, mixing until just combined. Fold in the chips.

7. Scoop your dough into balls about 2 tablespoons in size and place them 2 to 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.

8. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are golden brown.

Note: I used 11 ounces of Skor toffee bits instead of the 11-ounce bag of butterscotch morsels in the original recipe.

Here is what I said in my posting for Cookies and Cream Pudding Cookies about using Oreos in homemade cookies: I had a bit of a hard time trying these because it just doesn’t make any sense, really, to buy lousy cookies, crush them and put them in your home made cookies, which you hope will be delicious.

I was successful here but, next time, I will just try them with chocolate chips and see if they are as good.

If you don’t want them for Christmas, you can just roll them in large sugar crystals. (See below.)

Recipe By:

Good morning America

Yield:

12 large cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter
½ cup sugar
1½ cups dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon Greek yogurt
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2¼ cups flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1½ cup chopped Oreos (Keep cream centers.)
¾ cup speculoos
1 cup holiday sprinkles of your choice

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and toast for about 5 minutes until it turns brown and smells nutty. Pour the brown butter into a large bowl. Let sit for 30 minutes to cool (you can also refrigerate) before starting to make the dough.

2. To cooled butter, add granulated sugar and brown sugar. Using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer, beat for 2-3 minutes until fluffy.

3. Beat in vanilla, yogurt, egg and egg yolk until well-combined.

4. In a separate large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Sift 1/3 of the dry ingredients at a time into the wet ingredients. Beat just until incorporated, then scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula between each addition. Make sure not to overmix.

5. Fold in Oreos just to incorporate.

6. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

7. Heat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

8. Using 2-tablespoon cookie scooper, scoop chilled dough and form into a bowl-shape.
 
Repeat with a second ball. Add 1 tablespoon of speculoos to the center of one of the bowls.

Cover speculoos with the second bowl-shaped cookie dough. Pinch the edges of the dough together around the stuffing. Seal tightly and roll into a ball.

9. Immediately roll the cookie dough ball into holiday sprinkles, completely covering the top and all of the sides. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

10. Place the stuffed and decorated cookie dough balls onto the prepared baking sheets.

11. Bake 13 to 15 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown and evenly spread. Cool on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before devouring!

Here is one rolled in large sugar crystals, if you don’ t want them to have the Holiday spirit.

 

Yield: 18

Ingredients:

½ cup butter, at room temperature
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup cocoa nibs

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

2. In a large bowl cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy.

3. Stir in egg and vanilla.

4. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cocoa nibs.

5. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in several additions until the flour is incorporated.

6. Portion out dough using a small scoop and place on the prepared sheet about 2 inches apart.

7. Bake 8 minutes or until the edges are just slightly browned. Transfer to a rack to let cool completely.

 

Recipe By: www.modernhoney.com

Summary:

Shari wanted to take cookies to Dennis and Ruth Packard, who are all loaded up to move back to Utah after being here for 50 years. She also wanted them to be simple to make because Hunter and Pippa were to help. These qualified in both ways. They are really just caramel sugar cookies.

Ingredients:

1 cup Butter, (lightly softened)
1 cup Dark Brown Sugar
½ cup Sugar
1 Large Egg
1 Large Egg Yolk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
¼ cup High-Quality Caramel Sauce,  (plus more for drizzling on cookies)
2½ cups Flour
½ teaspoon Baking Powder
¾ teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt
Sea Salt Flakes (optional to sprinkle on the top)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 390 degrees.

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and sugar for at least 4 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl often.

3. Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and mix for 1 minute longer. Stir in caramel.

4. Fold in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. If sprinkling sea salt flakes on the top of cookies, reduce salt to 1/2 teaspoon.

5. If possible, use a light-colored baking sheet. Roll cookies into light balls and place on parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake for 8-11 minutes or until lightly golden on the sides. Remove from the oven and let set up for several minutes.

6. Drizzle caramel all over each cookie before serving. If so desired, sprinkle with sea salt flakes.

Notes:

Use room temperature butter. I love to use dark brown sugar because it creates a richer, chewier cookie texture. The extra molasses helps to create that chewy texture. You can substitute regular golden brown sugar as well. Cream the mixture for at least 4 minutes with a mixer.
Stir in high-quality thick caramel. I like to use refrigerated caramel as it has a thicker consistency. The cookie dough calls for 1/4 cup but for extra caramel flavor, I suggest drizzling caramel on top of the baked cookies.
Bake just until edges starts to become a light golden brown color. I always suggest using these light-colored baking sheets. Once you remove from oven, sprinkle with Maldon Sea Salt Flakes for extra salty-sweet flavor.
Drizzle extra salted caramel all over the top of the cookies before serving.

Years ago, I started making cookies from recipes by Momofuku Milk Bar in New York City. I was eventually able to actually go to their store in Manhattan. I was not all that impressed with that experience but I continue to enjoy their cookie recipes. These are really fun cookies to make and eat. And they look great, too.

Recipe By:

All over the Internet

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, at room temperature
1¼ cups granulated sugar
⅔ cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1½ teaspoons salt
3 cups cornflake crunch (see below)
1 cup mini chocolate chips
1 cup mini marshmallows

Cornflake Crunch
5 cups corn flake cereal
½ cup milk powder
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
9 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions:

1. Cream butter and sugars in bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Scrape down sides of bowl. Stir in egg and vanilla. Beat for 7 to 8 minutes.

2. Reduce mixer speed to low. Stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix just until the dough comes together.

3. On low speed, paddle in corn flake crunch, mini chocolate chips and marshmallows until they’re incorporated.

4. Divide dough into ¼-cup balls. Line balls on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or place in freezer for 30-45 minutes. (If they are not chilled, they will flatten out too much, especially if you mix the marshmallows in rather than use the stuff method.)

5. Heat oven to 375°F.

6. Re-arrange the chilled dough a minimum of 4 inches apart on parchment. Bake for 11-16 minutes. The cookies will puff, crackle, and spread. They should be a little brown around the edges and on the bottoms.

7. Cool the cookies completely on the sheet pans before transferring to a plate or airtight container for storage.

 

Cornflake Crunch:

1. Pour cornflakes into medium bowl and crush them with your hands or bottom of a cup.

2. Stir in milk powder, sugar, and salt. Stir in butter.

3. Spread on a parchment. Bake for 20 minutes.

4.  Cool completely before storing or using in a recipe. (I keep left-overs frozen.)

Another Covid-19 trial. My granddaughter, Pippa, helped me make them and ate quite a bit of dough and icing. They are moist and tasty but no one would guess they had Coke in them, by color or taste.

Yield:

24

Ingredients:

2½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup butter at room temperature
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar packed
½ cup Coca-Cola at room temperature
1 egg room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For frosting
½ cup butter at room temperature
¼ cup Coca-Cola at room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.

3. Cream together butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar, until light and fluffy.

4. Beat in vanilla extract, egg, and Coca-Cola, until just combined.

5. Slowly beat in the flour mixture, about a half of a cup at a time, until just combined.

6. Using a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop cookie dough onto a parchment paper or silicon mat lined baking sheet. The cookies should be about two inches apart to allow for some spreading.

7. Bake for about 13 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking. Remove from the oven, allow to sit on the pan for about two minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely before.

8. To make frosting, beat butter until it begins to turn creamy.

9. Stir in the first cup of sugar.

10. Once combined, stir in the Coca-Cola.

11. Then stir in the remaining cups of sugar, one at a time.

12. Pipe onto cooled cookies and top with sprinkles.

Our daughter, Hilary, gave us a mid-eastern cook book for Christmas. This recipe was in that book and, with the unusual ingredients of tahini and halvah, we just had to make them. Our grandson, Hunter flattened them out with the bottom of a glass and our granddaughter, Pippa pressed the halvah into the tops of the cookies. They came out very tasty, kind of like peanut butter cookies but different.

Recipe By:

Eating  Out  Loud

Yield:

12

Ingredients:

1⅓  cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup salted butter, at room temperature
⅓  cup tahini paste
¾ cup packed dark brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1½ cups bittersweet chocolate chips
½ cup small chunks of halvah, (see Note)
Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, kosher salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.

2. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix together the butter, tahini, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on medium-high speed until light and airy, about 5 minutes.

3. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until well combined.

4. Reduce the mixer speed to medium. Add half the flour mixture, and mix to combine. Add the remaining flour mixture and mix to combine, scraping down the sides with a spatula, if necessary.

5. Use a spoon or spatula to fold in the chocolate chips.

6. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for at least hour or overnight. (You can actually do this up to a week in advance!)

7. Heat the oven to 325°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

8. Using a 2-tablespoon cookie scooper, form dough into balls. Place the cough balls about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Push down a little on each ball to flatten it slightly. Place a couple little pieces of halvah on top of each cookie and gently press them into the dough. Sprinkle with the sea salt.

9. Bake until the cookies are lightly golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool slightly on the pan before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Notes:

The author says that if you can’t find halvah, you can mix together 2 tablespoons of tahini with 2 tablespoons of honey. After you’ve flattened the cookies on the baking sheet, press small dents into each cookie and spread about a teaspoon of the mixture on each cookie. Finish with the sea salt. I can’t say how this would turn out but the melted halvah was the best part of the cookie, in my opinion. It was easy to get both the tahini and halvah on line:

 

Shari and I went to Carlsbad for a week during Covid-19. McKenzie had this recipe and invited me to help her whip them up. They are lovely cookies to look at. The texture was nice but the flavor a bit nondescript. The chocolate drizzle fixed that!

Recipe by:

New York Times Cooking

Yield:

18

Ingredients:

1¾  cups all-purpose flour, 225 grams
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½  teaspoon baking powder
½  cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup 1 cup (220 grams) light brown sugar, 220 grams
½  cup granulated sugar, 100 grams
⅓  cup white miso paste
¼  cup chunky peanut butter
1 large egg
1½  teaspoons vanilla extract
½  cup Demerara sugar, *see notes

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and baking powder, and whisk until incorporated. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix butter, light brown sugar and granulated sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

3. Add miso and peanut butter to the mixing bowl, and continue to mix at medium speed, about 1 minute. Scrape down sides of the bowl to make sure all of the ingredients are evenly incorporated, and mix a bit more if needed. Add egg and vanilla extract, and mix until just combined.

4. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the mixing bowl, and mix on low speed until flour mixture is incorporated. Repeat with remaining flour mixture in two batches until all of it is incorporated.

5. Place 1/2 cup Demerara sugar into a small bowl. Using a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop out a ball. Drop the piece of dough into the bowl of Demerara sugar and turn to coat. Transfer each ball to a parchment-lined baking sheet, arranging them about 3 inches apart. Repeat with all of the dough.

6. Refrigerate for 2 hours and up to overnight. (Even 15 minutes of refrigerator time will help the dough firm up, and the flavors meld. The longer the dough is refrigerated, the more mellow the flavors will be.)

7. When ready to bake, heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake cookies for about 15 minutes, until crisp at the edges and slightly puffed in the middle. They should still be a bit underdone in the center. Pull out the baking sheet and hit it against a counter. Place back into the oven to finish for about 3 to 4 minutes. When cookies are firm at the edges and slightly puffed in the center, pull them out and again hit the baking sheet against the counter. The cookies should appear flat and crinkly at the center. **see notes

8. Let the cookies cool on a baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Notes:

* I use Sprinkle King Con AA White Coarse Sugar from supplyvillage.com.

** I found that, cooked this way, they were overdone. I skipped both the counter banging and the second trip to the oven and they turned out great.

***As McKenzie and I were making these, the idea came up to put some chocolate on them. She melted some semi-sweet chocolate chips, stirred in some coconut oil then drizzled it over them. A great improvement in these interesting cookies!

These are more complicated to make than a lot of cookies but they came out striking looking and are delicious.

Recipe By:

Sunset

Yield:

12

Ingredients:

COOKIES
1 cup flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sparkling sugar or powdered sugar for rolling, or just leave plain

CARAMEL* see notes
1 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tbsp.-size chunks
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus about 1/2 tsp. for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Make cookies: Heat oven to 350°.

2. Sift flour, cocoa powder, and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

3. In another bowl with a mixer on medium speed, beat butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy.

4. Reduce speed to low and add egg yolk, cream, and vanilla.

5. Gradually beat in flour mixture.

6. Scoop dough into rounded 2-tablespoon portions and roll into balls. Roll balls in sparkling or powdered sugar to coat. Place 2 inches apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets.

 

7. With end of a thick-handled wooden spoon, gently press an indentation into center of each cookie. (I use a cork that we have had in our kitchen for years. I don’t think it has any other reason than to make thumbprint cookies.)

8. Bake until cookies are just set, about 10 minutes. (The depressions tend to fill in a bit as they bake, so as soon as they’re out of the oven, give them another press with the spoon if necessary.) Slide parchment with cookies onto cooling racks and let cool. If you’ve used powdered sugar, sift a little more onto the cookies.

9. Make caramel: Put granulated sugar in a large nonstick frying pan; spread evenly. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Sugar will form clumps but eventually will melt and turn into a dark, amber-colored liquid, about 6 minutes.

10. As soon as it’s liquefied, reduce heat to medium-low. Stir in butter until incorporated.

11. Stirring constantly, drizzle in cream. Boil 1 minute, stirring. Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 teaspoon sea salt. Scrape into a bowl and let cool completely.

12. Assemble cookies: Spoon about a teaspoon of caramel into each cookie. Sprinkle with a few grains of sea salt.

Notes:

You’ll have more caramel than you need, but that’s never a bad thing–it’s great on ice cream. Don’t be tempted to cook a half-batch of caramel, as it won’t cook right and will seize up.

I used the Peter’s Caramel block I had in the cupboard. Shari shaped a 12-gram discs of caramel for each cookie. Three minutes before they were to be cooked, I took the baking sheet out of the oven, placed a caramel disc on each cookie then returned them to the oven to finish cooking. I sprinkled the sea salt on when they came out.