Are You Kidding Me Cake from Cooktop Cove

Are You Kidding Me Cake - made May 8, 2024 from Cooktop Cove 

1 box cake mix, any flavor (I used yellow cake mix)

1 can pie filling (I used apple pie filling)

3 large eggs

Caramel for drizzling on top of baked cake, optional

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 9 x 13-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix all three ingredients until combined. Pour into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Drizzle with caramel glaze if desired. Serve.

I'm going to admit I was a little disappointed in this cake. Not in how easy it was to make because it was: cake mix, 3 large eggs and a can of pie filling. Mix together, pour into pan and bake. Drizzle with caramel topping if desired (I desired) and you have an easy snack cake.

The flavor was fine as you can hardly go wrong with caramel apple cake. My disappointment was in the texture. It was a little too "airy" for me as you can tell by the large air pockets/holes in the inside pictures.

The pictures from Cooktop Cove looked to be a more dense yet still soft crumb. This was mostly airy pockets. Still tasted good but you can tell it's from a cake mix. At least I could. And no, I didn't mix it too much either as I actually had to give a couple of manual stirs to incorporate all the cake mix into the batter after I mixed it with a paddle attachment for less than a minute.

Oh well, tried something new, got to serve it at a financial literacy class I gave at my house for a few local people and they seemed to enjoy it so all was not lost.

Black and Whites from A Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

Black and Whites - made dough April 3, 2024 from A Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

2 cups chocolate chips
3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks)
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar in separate bowl, for rolling

1. Melt chocolate chips and butter in the top half of a double boiler set over hot water. Stir until combined and completely melted.
2. Add in brown sugar and let cool, 5-10 minutes.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in vanilla, baking powder and salt. Add flour and mix until just combined.
4. Portion dough into golf-ball-size dough balls (or smaller), cover and chill or freeze for several hours or overnight.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
6. Roll chilled dough balls in confectioners' sugar and evenly space on baking sheets. Bake for 12 - 14 minutes, cool on baking sheets for several minutes then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Before you get too far into this post, let me caution that, as you can see from the pictures, these are not the traditional "black and white" cookies that are common on the East Coast (New York City comes to mind) where a vanilla cookie is covered half in vanilla glaze and half in chocolate glaze, hence the "black and white" term. This black and white is more commonly referred to as chocolate crackles: a chocolate cookie rolled in powdered sugar before baking. Black and Whites is what they were called in A Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke so that's what I'm listing them as.

I had mixed results on this one. After I mixed the dough, it was very, very soft and liquid-y, more like a thick brownie batter than actual cookie dough. I had to chill it for half an hour before I could even reasonably scoop it out into dough "balls". Even then the dough was still rather sticky.

I froze them before I baked them like I do with most cookie doughs as I was afraid these would spread too much if I didn't. They did still spread but not as much as I feared they would.

Flavor wise, they were good but I think I underbaked the first batch a tad too much as they were more like fudge than chocolate cookie. Nothing wrong with that but make sure they cool and set first before you eat them or you'll just have mushy goo instead of fudgy cookie.

Giant Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies from Mom on Timeout

Giant Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies - made dough March 1, 2024 from Mom on Timeout

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cornstarch and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together melted butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well combined. Add vanilla extract, egg and egg yolk, mixing until combined.
3. Add dry ingredients in 2 additions, mixing on low speed after each addition, until just combined.
4. Mix in chocolate chips until evenly disbursed.
5. Portion dough into 1/4 cup portions and roll into balls. Flatten each ball slightly, cover and chill for at least 1 hour up to overnight.
6. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space dough balls. Bake 12-15 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw. Remove from heat and let rest on baking sheet for several minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

I've been lagging on the posts because I've been lagging on the baking lately. You'll notice I made this cookie dough way back in early March. I didn't start baking it off until the past few weeks when I needed it for care packages and events I was hosting or going to so the dough definitely kept well in the freezer.

Besides being easy to make, handling beautifully (the dough was not too dry or too sticky), and keeping well in the freezer for a couple of months, this dough also baked into really good chocolate chip cookies.

I didn't make them "giant" as the recipe instructed but kept them normal-sized. They still turned out well. The edges were airy and crisp and the middles were chewy. The whole cookie had that brown sugar caramelization that marks a great chocolate chip cookie.

I definitely want to make these again in the giant size so I can see how they turn out. I imagine they would be even better with the same crisp edges but also a gooey middle.