Tasting Spoons

You’ve heard it here before – I have a very hard time passing up any chocolate chip cookie recipe. Good old Tollhouse is still my fav, but occasionally I’m tempted by another. Fickle cookie person that I am! What made this one unique was cornstarch. I know, cornstarch in a cookie? As I was reading Anna’s blog, Cookie Madness (I don’t know HOW that girl makes so many cookies, sometimes 2-3 batches a DAY!), she was talking about her very favorite CC cookie recipe, from Wellesley. She elaborated that they’re not the best-est looking cookie in the parade, but they’re thin, buttery and crispy, if you bake them right. She also mentioned that there’s a very fine line between looking done, and being just right – with crispy edges - and being overdone. That’s the secret. All RIGHT, I thought. Let’s give this a try.

Anna talked about the difficulty with her perfect recipe, of baking these so they come out at the perfect stage, so she decided to add one tablespoon of cornstarch. Hoping to encourage the crisp edges, but deter the overdone cookie. I’m never sure about adding either more liquid (like a dash of coffee, for instance) or dry stuff, just because it could change the chemistry of a cookie, big time. I’m glad she tried the combination. It works! In this case I did add some walnuts. If you’re a CC cookie purist, then you’ll omit those, I guess.

These cookies were easy as pie to mix up. Oh, that phrase is a misnomer. Pie isn’t easy, according to me. But you get my drift. One bowl? Yes. Thin? Yes. Buttery? Oh yes. Delicious. Oh my yes. I think my first batch got overdone – I saw what she meant about the fine line. I baked these one pan at a time as Anna suggested . . . I used a Silpat on the cookie sheet . . . and when I peeked at the cookies at 10 minutes, they didn’t show any sign of crispy (browner) edges, so I left them in for ONE MORE MINUTE. At 11 minutes they were too done. Oh, dear! So, the next pan I cut down the time by 30 seconds. Still too done. Maybe the 10 minutes was right. But, you do have to remember, that once the pan is hot, when you put in the second batch, they’ll take less time. So I still have a bit of learning to do with this recipe. But it doesn’t matter once you taste them! When I removed them from the oven, believe it or not, you could actually see light through some of the cookies, they’re that thin. Notice in the picture that the  top cookie almost looks slumped. My husband looked at them and said “what’s wrong with those cookies?” Hah. Funny guy.

If you like soft crumbly cookies, this recipe is NOT for you. But if, like me, you love crispy crunchy cookies, these guys will float your boat. And also providing you don’t mind eating or serving some ugly ducklings! My one time fling may turn into an affair. We’ll have to see. Thank you, Anna, for sharing this wonderful recipe with us.

One Bowl Thin & Buttery Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe By: Anna from Cookie Madness

Servings: 36

8 tablespoons unsalted butter — room temp (114 grams)

1/2 cup light brown sugar — packed (100 grams)

6 tablespoons granulated sugar — (78 grams)

1 teaspoon vanilla — (5 ml)

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon salt — (2.5 ml)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda — (2.5 ml)

1 tablespoon cornstarch — (15 ml)

1 cup flour — (4.75 oz) – (135 grams) — scooped

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips — (270 grams)

2/3 cup chopped walnuts — optional (my addition)

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 C) and have ready an ungreased cookie sheet – preferably one that is not insulated (I used a Silpat).

2.  Beat the butter, both types sugars, and vanilla together in a medium bowl, using an electric mixer.  When creamy, beat in the egg.  When egg is well blended, add salt and baking soda and beat well, scraping sides of bowl once or twice and making sure baking soda is well distributed throughout batter.  Add cornstarch and stir until blended.  Add flour and stir (do not beat) until it is almost blended in.  Add the chocolate chips (and nuts if you use them) and stir until all flour disappears.

3.  Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto the ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake one sheet at a time on center rack for 8-10 minutes or until edges are golden brown.  The cookies should get very brown around the edges, but do take care not to burn the bottoms. 

Per Serving: 184 Calories; 11g Fat (51.1% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 21g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 21mg Cholesterol; 84mg Sodium.

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What fun . . . as I was reading through my July issue of Bon Appetit, there was a recipe for choc chip cookies (CCC’s) with tart cherries AND Cherry Herring. What a combo, I thought! Took less than 24 hours for me to decide I had to try it. As luck would have it, though, I didn’t have (and didn’t want to use) white choc chips, so I substituted some macadamia nuts instead. My cherries also weren’t the tart type, so I reduced the sugar by a little instead. My bottle of Cherry Herring is at least 20 years old, but it tastes just fine, thank you.

On my choc chip cookie rating scale, this one ranks right up there. If Tollhouse cookies are a 10, this one might be an 8.5 at least. They’re already in the freezer. The recipe isn’t even up on epicurious yet, so can’t provide a link.

Cherry (and Cherry Herring) Choc Chip Cookies

Recipe: adapted from Icing on the Cake bakery in Los Gatos, CA, via Bon Appetit, July 2008 Servings: 45

1 cup dried cherries — tart type, about 5 1/2 ounces

1/3 cup Cherry Herring – or cherry liqueur

2 tablespoons water

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup unsalted butter — 1 stick

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1 1/4 cups chocolate chips

1 1/4 cups macadamia nuts — or white choc chips

1.  Preheat oven to 375.

2.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.  Bring cherries, Cherry Herring and 2 T.  water to a boil in a small saucepan.  Remove from heat and let soak for 15 minutes.  Drain cherries and pat dry.  Discard liquid (or drink it if you’re so inclined).

3.  Whisk flour, salt and soda in medium bowl.  Using electric mixer, beat butter and both sugars in large bowl until creamy.  Add eggs and both extracts and beat to blend.  Add flour mixture and beat on low just to blend.  Stir in cherries and chips (and macadamia nuts).  Scoop by tablespoons of dough onto prepared baking sheets, spacing at least 1 1/2 inches apart.

4.  Bake cookies until edges are light golden, turning baking sheets halfway through, about 13 minutes.  Transfer to cooling rack.  Will keep up to 3 days at room temperature, sealed well.

Per Serving: 123 Calories; 7g Fat (50.1% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 14g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 15mg Cholesterol; 36mg Sodium. 

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I made these cookies a couple of weeks ago. Our son-in-law, Todd, was still here (he’s since gone back home to his family), and he let it be known, every so subtly, that the freezer was out of cookies. Those of you who read my blog regularly know I like crisp cookies. So these wouldn’t have been something I’d make for myself. But I’ll have to admit, they’re very good. Toothsome. With just a bit of chocolate in them, and the addition of dried cherries is interesting. Good kind of interesting. The little dark items you can see in the cookies are both the dried cherries and chocolate chips. Todd took a bag of them home with him when he left last week. The recipe came from Bake or Break, a blog I read regularly. But Jennifer got the recipe from the website for Schokinag, the chocolate manufacturer.

Chocolate Chunk & Dried Cherry Oatmeal Cookies
Recipe By: Schokinag website (chocolate producer) via Bake or Break food blog
Serving Size: 48
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar — firmly packed
2 whole eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups oats, rolled (raw)
1 cup dried cherries [I cut each cherry in half]
8 ounces semisweet chocolate — chunks [or chips]
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In large bowl beat butter and brown sugar together until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add vanilla.
3. In separate bowl combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Whisk together then gradually add to butter mixture just until combined. Do not over mix. Stir in oats, cherries and chocolate.
4. Drop by tablespoons full onto lined or lightly greased baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until bottom edges are lightly browned. Cool on pans for a few minutes, then remove to wire racks to cool completely. These also can be made into bar cookies. Press dough into a lightly greased 9×13 baking pan. Bake about 20 minutes.

Per Serving: 115 Calories; 6g Fat (44.1% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 15g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 19mg Cholesterol; 93mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain (Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Fruit; 1 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.
Printer-friendly PDF recipe.

I’ve been waiting for months and months to give you this recipe. Since I only make this at Christmas-time, I didn’t think it appropriate to share it when the temps outside were in the 90’s. Although this is not my original recipe, I will tell you I’ve been making this for about 40 years, and this is one of those recipes - if you’re a regular reader of my blog - that I say - “now, listen up! I’m about to share something important.” Hence it is. Important.

My mother’s friend Mary gave me this recipe, back in about 1969 or 1970. We had a group of us - 4 women: my mother, Fay, and two of her friends, Esther and Mary, both near her age. And me. We played the Japanese version of Mah Jong about every 2 weeks or so, and one of us provided lunch. It had to coincide with when my daughter, Dana, went down for her nap, so more often than not, it was at my house. After eating the repast we’d then play the game for a couple of hours.

So, Mary brought this, one Mah Jong day, when it was close to Christmas. My mother (and dad both) liked fruitcake. But I never did. Still don’t. I’ve been known to try a nibble, with somebody’s prized recipe, thinking that maybe my taste buds have changed, that I’ve matured somehow. Or that somebody has found some unique new way to make fruitcake palatable. Sorry. No. I still don’t like fruitcake. I detest citron, and anything close to it. So, when Mary brought this over, explaining that it was something like fruitcake, I was suspicious. However, she quickly said she didn’t like fruitcake, either. Oh good. I became a bishop’s bread convert from the first bite. SO:

• I do like maraschino cherries. Certainly I don’t eat them 11 months of the year. I mean, where do we ever even SEE maraschino cherries anymore except on some caterer’s platter or in a Shirley Temple. I went through a stage in the 1970’s when red dye was an anathema, but that didn’t keep me from making bishop’s bread, I’m sorry to say. So much for my dedication to the shrine of a healthy body! But now they don’t use the bad red dye (supposedly), so I hope that since this is only consumed by me for these few, short weeks, maybe I’ll live another day.
  And, I like chocolate too. You all already know that. You can use Nestle’s chips, or cut up your own, or use some other brand. The better the brand the better the bread. You could use milk chocolate too, I suppose.
• And, I like walnuts.
• But, I don’t like fruitcake.
• Enter, ta da: Bishop’s Bread!

So, on to this recipe. If you’re going to be a stickler for detail, I suppose this does bear some resemblance to fruitcake - it has a similar consistency - chunks of goodies glued together with a basic cake recipe. Kind of like pound cake. But, instead of citron and dried fruit (lemon, lime, orange, red candied cherries, dates, figs, etc) this has nothing but chocolate chips, walnuts and maraschino cherries. The cherries maintain their moistness, and you combine them with walnuts and chocolate, and it’s a marriage made in heaven, I say. Yes, it’s a bread-like shape, and you slice it like fruitcake, but it isn’t. I promise. On my honor.

(left to right: cutting up the maraschino cherries with scissors, and clad in plastic gloves [or buy them already halved at Smart & Final], 4 cups of cherries, the goodies mixed with the dry ingredients, the finished batter mixed up and ready to pour)

You can bake it in bread pans, so you’ll have just one loaf using the recipe below. Or, if you’re a Bishop’s Bread lover, then you bake in large quantity. Today I made a quadruple batch. It would make 4 bread pans full, but I had some smaller, cute little cardboard ones that are perfect for giving away (picture above). I made seven of them and one loaf pan. I’ll keep the loaf sized one and very judiciously give away the others. Only to very special friends. You can interchange nuts if you’d prefer something different. And if you don’t like maraschino, then substitute apricots, perhaps, or dried cranberries maybe. But it won’t be the same.

Over the years I’ve tried to find out the history of this bread/cake. The internet hasn’t been of much help other than to give me several similar recipes (purportedly dating to the 1950’s) with candied cherries, sometimes almonds or pecans, chocolate, and dates. I did see a couple with maraschino cherries, so this must have been somebody’s interpretation. Obviously, the way-back origin must be religious in some way with the word “bishop” in the title. I did find this, though:

• Any purchased or homemade cake decorated with the bishop’s name and a tiny mitre can be used on the feast of a bishop-saint, the traditional cake is Bischofsbrot or “Bishop’s Bread.” (this was from a Catholic Church website)

It probably did have candied cherries in it at one time. Whatever it is, I adore this bread. And if you’re a regular reader of my blog, and you like my recipes, then I sincerely request that you make this bread. Post Haste.

Bishop’s Bread
Recipe: Mary Wilfert
Servings: 20 (slices)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup sugar
2 cups walnuts — chopped
1 cup maraschino cherries — drained, halved [or buy them in a great big jar at Smart & Final where they’re already halved for you]
3 whole eggs
1. Preheat oven to 325°. Grease a bread pan and line the bottom with waxed paper (yes, it’s important). Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl. Add chocolate chips, walnuts and cherries and stir to coat the cherries.
2. With mixer, combine eggs and sugar, add to flour mixture and stir gently, but well, until combined. You don’t want to see any pockets of dry flour. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 90 minutes. Test to make sure it’s done. If baking in smaller pans, start checking for doneness at 60 minutes. Continue baking as needed and test at 5-minute intervals. Remove pan to a rack and allow to cool in the pan. When cool, remove and wrap well, or place in plastic bags and refrigerate. Per Serving: 255 Calories; 13g Fat (42.8% calories from fat); 6g Protein; 33g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 32mg Cholesterol; 82mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 2 1/2 Fat; 1 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.
To print a PDF recipe, click HERE.