I’m stopping the Lemon & Mocha healthy January posts a couple days early, but it’s for a good reason. I still have plenty of healthy recipes on the schedule, they just won’t be the sole focus of my posts. I hope you enjoyed them though; I definitely did! The very good reason I’m cutting out early is because I have to post the monthly Food Network Magazine recipe. Last year was all about the muffins and if you’re new here you can read about it in my Muffin of the Month Round-up. At the end of that post I guessed that the monthly treat for 2019 would be cookies so I was super excited when I opened up my January/February 2019 issue of Food Network Magazine to see their Calendar of Cookies!

I was even more excited after looking at the recipes for each cookie because the types and flavors look so good. However, they are definitely fancier than the typical cookies I make. My go-to cookie is usually a drop cookie, like these Game Day Cookies I’m posting for January, but for the ones coming up we have cookie pops, different colored dough, sandwich cookies, pie cookies and even macarons! It’s a little intimidating to go from easy one bowl muffins to these cookies, but who knows? Maybe they will end up being easier than they look. I like that it’s a challenge to push myself out of my baking comfort zone a little each month. I hope you’ll join me on this fun baking challenge!

First up, we have these crazy snack-packed Game Day Cookies that are perfect for those Super Bowl parties! When I say packed I mean it; these cookies are loaded with candied bacon, pretzels, chocolate chips, mini M&M’s and potato chips. The base is like your normal chocolate chip cookie dough plus some of the bacon fat to replace some of the butter and to really bring home that bacon flavor.

I’ve never made candied bacon before, but the recipe calls for you to crisp bacon in a skillet then drain the fat and continue cooking the bacon with some brown sugar. If you normally think crispy fresh-cooked bacon is addictive, wait until you try this candied bacon! It was hard to save it for the cookies.

With all the different snack additions to these cookies they are the ultimate sweet and salty treat. Matt loved them especially because he is a huge bacon fan. I liked them, but I’m more of a sweets person so every time I ate one I found myself wishing it was less savory and more sweet. And had more chocolate, since as you all know I love to stuff my cookies with tons and tons of chocolate. So far, the Food Network Calendar of Cookies is off to a good start and I can’t wait to try the February cookies! Stay tuned!

Game Day Cookies

 

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Yield: about 16 cookies

Ingredients

• 5 slices bacon, chopped
• ½ cup plus 2 teaspoons packed dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon water
• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup broken pretzel sticks
• ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
• ½ cup mini M&M’s
• 2 cups kettle-cooked potato chips, broken

Directions

1. Make sure racks in the oven are in the upper and lower thirds so you can fit bake both baking sheets of cookies at the same time. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a medium skillet over medium heat, cook the chopped bacon until crispy and browned, stirring occasionally. Let cool slightly then measure out 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease and place in a large heatproof bowl or bowl of a stand mixer. Safely discard the remaining bacon grease or save for another use (like the Irish Cheddar, Bacon and Potato Muffins!). Add 2 teaspoons of the brown sugar and the water to the drained pan with the bacon and cook for about 1 minute, or until the sugar is dissolved, making sure to stir. Transfer the bacon to a plate and spread it out to let it cool.
3. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the butter to the large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer that has the bacon fat already in it. Add the remaining ½ cup brown sugar and the granulated sugar then beat on medium-high speed for about 2-3 minutes, or until fluffy. Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla then beat until combined. Add the flour mixture then beat on low until a few flour streaks remaining. Add the pretzels, chocolate chips, M&M’s and candied bacon then beat until just combined. Use a rubber spatula to stir in the potato chips.
4. Use a large OXO cookie scoop or a large spoon to scoop out large dough balls that are about 3 tablespoons each. Place 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets and bake until the cookies are set around the edges, but still soft in the middle, about 13-15 minutes, switching the baking pans halfway through from top to bottom. Place the pans on wire cooling racks and let cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer cookies to the wire cooling racks to cool completely.

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 Recipe from January/February 2019 issue of Food Network Magazine.

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Lauren Uncategorized 4 Comments

Hello, everyone! I hope you are all having a fun-filled weekend so far! I wanted to pop in this Sunday with a quick recipe before all my family Christmas festivities got started. I saved this recipe for the last minute because it’s so easy, but I wanted to make sure I shared it because these Candied Pecans are seriously addictive.

If they look familiar it’s because I first made them to go on top of my Pumpkin Pecan Ice Cream Pie I shared before Thanksgiving. When I made them for the ice cream pie I was so excited by how tasty they were that I decided the pecans deserved their own post here on Lemon and Mocha.

Most recipes I’ve seen online for candied pecans use butter, but this recipe actually uses a single egg white instead. The egg white and vanilla extract are beaten until frothy before tossing with the pecans, which then get coated with brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon and ground cloves. The pecans get the best crispy and sugary spiced coating on the outside without any greasiness of butter. If you’re like me and have been baking like crazy all holiday season then you probably have all these ingredients in your pantry right now to whip up a batch.

I just made a batch for putting on top of my browned butter pecan cheesecake for Christmas Eve at my aunt’s house and I may have sneaked one or two (or ten) for myself. They are perfect for sprinkling on cakes, cheesecakes, trifles or ice cream, but they also taste crazy delicious just by themselves. Especially warm out of the oven – drooling over here! Simply put them in a bowl for snacking alongside dessert or use as part of a sweet and salty cheese and snack board.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday with your family and friends and I’ll be back here with a fun post on Wednesday!

Candied Pecans

 

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Yield: A little more than 2 cups

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 egg white
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 8 ounces pecan halves

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon and cloves.
3. In a small bowl, beat the egg white and vanilla until frothy. Add the pecan halves then toss to completely coat. Spoon the coated pecans into the bowl with the sugars, trying to leave any excess egg white behind. Place on the prepared baking sheet and spread out the pecans. Bake for 1 hour, tossing the pecans on the pan every 15 minutes. I use a spatula to separate the pecans from the parchment paper then spread them back out in an even layer before putting back in the oven.

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Lauren Uncategorized 0 Comments

This morning I am writing to you all to ask for your forgiveness. I owe you the biggest of apologies. Like, the biggest ever. You see, I’ve been making these Nutella Stuffed Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies for a few years now. I know, I’m sorry! They are the most amazing cookie I’ve ever eaten and in fact, my absolute favorite dessert, but this is the first you’re hearing about it. It’s just every time I make them I want to eat and share them immediately so I never got around to taking decent photos for Lemon & Mocha. I’m hoping once you make and eat these cookies all will be forgiven. Unless that will just make you more angry with me when you taste how crazy delicious they are and realize you could have been enjoying them years sooner. So, for what it’s worth, I apologize.

The base of these cookies is my Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies. What makes them so perfect is that they have a rich flavor from the browned butter, a satisfying chewiness from the brown sugar and additional egg yolk and excellent chocolatey-ness from all the chocolate chips. When you’re dealing with such an exceptional cookie the only possible way to improve it is with Nutella.

There’s a secret little pocket of Nutella inside these cookies so when you get into the center, creamy and nutty Nutella oozes out of the warm cookie. Or, if you’re like me and eat cookies cold out of the fridge, then you get an extra rich pocket of Nutella that’s softer than the chocolate chip bites providing a nice chocolate texture contrast. One of the biggest questions I get with these cookies is how to get the Nutella inside so I’m going to share my not-so-secret secret with you all. I find it super exciting, but that may just be because I find anything that helps me stuff Nutella into something super exciting.

Take a baking sheet that will fit in your freezer and line it with wax or parchment paper. Then, use a spoon to scoop teaspoon size balls onto the baking sheet. It’s okay if they aren’t exactly the same size and it’s also okay if they aren’t well-formed balls since they definitely won’t be. Keep going, making sure they aren’t touching, until you have about seventeen Nutella balls. Pop the baking sheet in the freezer and let the Nutella balls firm up for at least twenty minutes. When your cookie dough is ready, scoop a tablespoon and a half of dough onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet, keeping the dough balls about two inches apart. Slightly flatten each dough ball with your index and middle finger.

Now you’re ready for the firmed up Nutella blobs. Plop one onto each flattened cookie dough then scoop another tablespoon and a half of cookie dough on top of the Nutella balls.

Quickly bring the two dough halves together around the Nutella to form a cookie dough ball. Try not to touch any one cookie ball too much or they will get too warm.

While the cookies are baking, the Nutella melts, but stays in the center of the cookie. It’s like magic! The most delicious magic I’ve ever seen or tasted. I cannot wait until you try these Nutella Stuffed Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies! I know you will love them as much as we do!

Nutella Stuffed Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

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Yield: 16-17 cookies

Ingredients

• Roughly ⅓ cup Nutella
• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ cup unsalted butter (1½ sticks)
• ½ cup sugar
• ¾ cup dark brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
• 2 cups semi-sweet Ghiradelli chocolate chips

Directions

1. Line a baking sheet or sturdy cutting board that will fit in your freezer with wax or parchment paper. Use a spoon to scoop out scant teaspoon size blobs of Nutella onto the baking sheet. It’s okay if they aren’t exactly the same size or a completely round ball. Keep going, making sure the Nutella balls aren’t touching each other, until you have about 17. Put the baking sheet in the freezer and let the Nutella balls firm up, at least 20 minutes. Keep them in the freezer until you’re ready to use them.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
3. In a medium bowl sift together the flour, salt and baking soda, then set aside.
4. In a small skillet over medium-high heat melt 8 tablespoons of the butter. Keep cooking, making sure to continuously swirl the pan, until the butter is golden brown in color, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and pour the browned butter into a large heatproof bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir in the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter until melted. Let the butter cool slightly.
5. Add the sugar, brown sugar and vanilla to the large bowl with the browned butter. Whisk for 2 minutes. Add the egg and egg yolk and whisk for 2 minutes. The dough should be smooth and shiny. Stir in the flour mixture until a few streaks remain. Stir in the chocolate chips. The dough will be thick at this point so mixing in the chips will be a little hard, but do the best you can without over mixing.
6. Use a medium cookie scoop to scoop out a tablespoon and a half of dough onto the first prepared large baking sheet, keeping them about 2 inches apart. Lightly press with your index and middle finger to slightly flatten each dough ball then grab the Nutella baking sheet from the freezer and place one Nutella ball on top of each slightly flattened dough ball. Return the Nutella baking sheet to the freezer.
7. Scoop another tablespoon and a half of cookie dough on top of the Nutella balls. Return the other half of the cookie dough to the fridge. Bring the two dough halves together around the Nutella to form a cookie dough ball with the Nutella in the center. Try not to touch any one cookie dough ball too much or it will get too warm.
8. Bake the first cookie tray on the middle rack for 11-14 minutes. Cookies are done when they are golden brown and the edges have just started to set, but the centers are soft. Once removed from the oven let cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute, then carefully remove to a wire cooling rack. When the first batch of cookies is 3-5 minutes away from being done, repeat the above steps to make the remaining half of the cookies on the second prepared baking sheet. Bake according to the same instructions below when the first batch is out of the oven.

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Lauren Uncategorized 2 Comments

This post was originally published on 5/20/2014. It has been updated with new photos and content.

I would be surprised if there is anyone who doesn’t have some sort of special memory related to chocolate chip cookies. They are just one of those foods that tend to remind you of home and comfort. My memory has to do with my grandma, as most of my food memories do. She was known throughout my family and friend group as having delicious chocolate chip cookies, so much in fact that they were dubbed “Babu Cookies.” (Side note: we call my grandma Babu, which is short for Babushka, or grandmother in Russian).

The best part was that there was always a batch of them somewhere in the house. Whether they were stocked in the freezer or a fresh batch was sitting warm and gooey on the cooling racks in the kitchen, Babu made sure we never were lacking chocolate chip cookies. I have not been able to perfect the Babu cookie as I remember it, slightly cakey and chewy, and part of that is probably because the memories associated with some foods can tend to elevate them in your mind. So instead, after much practice in the kitchen I now make my own delicious chocolate chip cookies.

Although I’m ice cream obsessed and having a very close relationship with my Perfect Chocolate Cupcakes, my favorite dessert is a chocolate chip cookie. If I’m going to be specific though, my absolute favorite dessert is my Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies. I know, it sounds so egotistical, which is not me at all, but they are my ideal chocolate chip cookie. Chewy, soft, rich flavor and loaded with chocolate chips. They are also my favorite cookies to bake because there’s no resting time for the dough! This is ideal for whenever you are having a cookie craving, which is my usual state of being.

Chewy Texture

Having a higher percentage of brown sugar rather than granulated sugar, as well as an additional egg yolk, is what gives the cookies that chewy texture. Now, the secret with these cookies is that they are actually Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Rich Flavor

Browning the butter gives them a rich, deep flavor, and as an added bonus you don’t have to remember to let your butter come to room temperature!

Loaded with Chocolate

Really good chocolate chips are key and bring this cookie to a straight-up heavenly status. I stick to Ghiradelli or Trader Joe’s semi-sweet chocolate chips, but I’ve heard great reviews about Scharffen Berger and Guittard as well. If they are out of the Ghiradelli semi-sweet I use the bittersweet chocolate chips instead. Sometimes I even mix it up and do half chocolate chips and half chocolate chunks – yum!

I could eat the entire batch of these cookies, but Matt would never let me get away with not sharing. Even though it takes an enormous amount of willpower to not devour them as soon as they’re out of the oven, my favorite way to eat them is cold out of the fridge. So make these Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies and make some food memories. Or at least make your taste-buds extremely happy.

Extra Tips

• If you don’t already have one, get a cookie scoop. I promise it will make your life 10,388,772 times easier. I also use mine for scooping muffin and cupcake batter. It helps make your cookies the perfect uniform size every time and the dough doesn’t get soft from you touching it with your warm hands to make dough balls, resulting in thinner cookies that spread.
• Put the dough in the fridge after scooping out the first batch to go in the oven. If you leave it out the whole time your first batch is baking, the dough will be too soft and the cookies will spread a lot during your second batch. Even though the dough will only be in the fridge for just 5 or so minutes between batches, it really helps.
• Don’t overcook them! The cookies will be really soft when they come out of the oven and the centers will look not done. If you keep cooking them the cookies will get overcooked. Let the cookies rest on the cookie sheet on a wire rack (not the stove-top, which is most likely warm from the oven) for 1-2 minutes before transferring the cookies to a wire cooling rack. A cooling rack with grids is more stable for the cookies.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

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Yield: 24-28 cookies

Ingredients

• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ cup unsalted butter (1½ sticks)
• ½ cup sugar
• ¾ cup dark brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
• 2 cups semi-sweet Ghiradelli chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl sift together the flour, salt and baking soda, then set aside.
3. In a small skillet over medium-high heat melt 8 tablespoons of the butter. Reduce the heat to medium and keep cooking, making sure to continuously swirl the pan, until the butter is golden brown in color, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and pour the browned butter into a large heatproof bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir in the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter until melted. Let the butter cool slightly.
4. Add the sugar, brown sugar and vanilla to the large bowl with the browned butter. Whisk for 2 minutes on medium then medium high speed, scraping down the sides as needed. Add the egg, whisk for 1 minute on medium speed, then add the egg yolk and whisk for 1 minute on medium speed. The dough should be smooth and shiny. If using a stand mixer, switch to a paddle attachment. Stir in the flour mixture on low speed until a few streaks remain. Stir in the chocolate chips. The dough will be thick at this point so mixing in the chips will be a little hard, but do the best you can without over mixing.
5. Use a medium cookie scoop to arrange dough balls, about 1½ tablespoons each, 2 inches apart on the first prepared baking sheet. Put the rest of the dough in the fridge. When the first batch is 5 minutes away from being done, take the cookie dough out of the fridge and scoop dough balls onto the second prepared baking sheet.
6. Bake the cookies one tray at a time on the middle rack for 10-12 minutes. Cookies are done when they are golden brown and the edges have just started to set, but the centers are soft. Once removed from the oven let cool on the baking sheet on a cooling rack for 1-2 minutes, then carefully remove the cookies from the pan to a wire cooling rack.

Notes

If you prefer larger cookies, use a large cookie scoop to make dough balls of 3 tablespoons each.

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Lauren Uncategorized 0 Comments

I ultimately settled on Soft Gingersnap Cookies, but I wasn’t really sure what to name these cookies. Technically they aren’t ginger“snap” cookies since they have none of the crunchy “snappy” texture that the traditional cookies have. Some people refer to the soft version of a gingersnap cookie as a molasses cookie, but since those typically have less ground ginger than these cookies, I felt Soft Gingersnap Cookies would do the trick.

I first made these cookies for the Lemon S’mores with Soft Gingersnap Cookies. Side note: If you are missing summer right now use some of these Soft Gingersnap Cookies to make yourself some Lemon S’mores and you will be feeling all the summer vibes. Normally, even with Christmas cookies I am all about the chocolate, but when I first made these Soft Gingersnap Cookies they kind of stole the show. Here I was sneaking into the kitchen to grab another cookie and thinking, who is this person dying to eat another cookie that’s not chocolate or lemon?

There’s a few factors in play here that account for my bizarre behavior. One, these cookies are so soft and chewy, which to me is the best kind of cookie. Two, the ginger, cinnamon, cloves and molasses all work together to make it taste like you’re literally taking a bite out of the holiday season. Finally, the cookies are rolled in sugar before being baked giving them that sweet crunch on the outside that is irresistible.

This recipe makes nice big cookies and like most drop cookies, they freeze really well. You could either freeze them baked in freezer bags or you could freeze the dough balls to make freshly baked Soft Gingersnap Cookies all December long.

To freeze dough balls, form the balls of dough, skipping the sugar rolling step, and place them on a parchment or wax paper lined tray that will fit in your freezer. Once firm, put the dough balls in a freezer bag. When you’re ready to bake them that is when you can roll them in the sugar. Use the recipe’s oven temperature and time and just add a couple more minutes to account for them being frozen. Do you ever freeze cookies or freeze cookie dough?

Soft Gingersnap Cookies

 

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Yield: 30 cookies

Ingredients

• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar, plus additional for rolling the dough
• 1 large egg
• ¼ cup molasses

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy, scraping down the sides as needed. Add the egg and molasses and beat to combine. Slowly add the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
4. Place a few tablespoons of sugar in a small bowl. Use a medium cookie scoop or a heaping tablespoon of dough; roll into a ball then roll in the sugar before placing on the baking sheet. Continue, placing the cookie dough balls about 2” apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are puffy and the edges have started to lightly brown. Let cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet then carefully move the cookies to a wire cooling rack to cool.

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Lauren Uncategorized 0 Comments