Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies from Stephanie's Sweet Treats

Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies - made dough August 4, 2024 from Stephanie's Sweet Treats

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 3/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

1. Melt and brown the butter (see original blog post for more detailed directions). Pour browned butter (make sure you get all the browned bits) into the mixing bowl you plan to use, let cool to room temperature then cover and chill until solid.
2. Before making the cookie dough, remove from refrigerator and let come to room temperature.
3. In a separate medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, salt and cornstarch.
4. In the mixing bowl with the now-solidified brown butter, beat together browned butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
5. Add vanilla extract and eggs, one at a time, mixing to combine after each addition.
6. Add flour mixture in 2 additions, mixing on low speed after each addition until just combined.
7. Add chocolate chips and mix on low speed until evenly disbursed. Do not overmix.
8. Portion dough into golf ball size dough balls, cover and chill for at least 30 minutes or several hours or overnight.
9. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space dough balls. Bake 13-15 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw. Remove from oven and let rest on baking sheets for several minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

In my volunteer work with Soldiers Angels, the volunteers select a service member who'd signed up for baking care packages. Oftentimes you only get the bare bones info on them like military mailing address to send the package to and what branch of the military they're in. But I came across one service member who requested "brown butter chocolate chunk cookies". Ah, an appeal to my baking heart.

As it happened, I had a couple of recipes for exactly that on my pinterest board, just lurking to be tested. Unlike some recipes calling for the use of browned butter in chocolate chip cookies where you melt and brown the butter, let it cool then start making the dough with the melted browned butter, this one calls for chilling the browned butter back to solid form before using. This prevents having flat, greasy cookies which is prone to happen with using directly melted butter.

The original directions call for pouring the melted browned butter into a large cup and chilling. Then transferring the chilled browned butter to the mixing bowl when you're ready to make the dough. I skipped the cup step and poured the melted browned butter into the mixing bowl I planned to use. The best part of browned butter are the browned bits from the milk solids. It's hard to scrape every last browned bit if you keep transferring containers. So I found it easier and more efficient to pour the melted browned butter directly into my mixing bowl, cover, and chill that then plug it right into my stand mixer to start making the dough. 

As predicted, these cookies didn't come out flat or greasy. They baked to a fairly uniform thickness, had the crisp edges and the chewy middles. Best of all, they had the browned butter flavor. Hopefully the military service member I sent these to got what she expected and requested.

Crumbl Cookies review #81 - Banana Bread

Crumbl Cookies review #81: Banana Bread - visited September 3, 2024 

One of this week's non-cookie offerings at Crumbl is Banana Bread. The other one was "The Afterlife Cake" but it's basically a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting so I passed. I do still need to fit into my clothes after all. Even though this week's menu also has my favorite churro cookie. 

I was a bit skeptical at first about Crumbl doing a banana bread and my liking it. After all, I have a 3-decade+ recipe for banana bread that has not only stood the test of time but has been one of the most requested items I'm always asked to make from both (extended) family and friends. As in, to the point, I'm sick of making it and can make it half asleep with my eyes closed.

My banana bread is very purist in that it's only got bananas. No nuts, no raisins (shudder), no coconut, no pineapple bits, no chocolate chips, no crumb topping. Just banana bread. Crumbl's thankfully also doesn't have add ins inside the bread itself but it does have a brown sugar crumble on top.

Unlike most of the other specialty items, the banana bread has an upcharge of only $0.49 cents above the large single cookie price. Presumably it's also easier to make since there aren't layers and frostings to fuss with, just the mini loaf of bread which fit diagonally in the single cookie pink box and the crumble topping.

This is slightly more dense in texture than my banana bread but to cut to the chase: I loved this banana bread. Not too overwhelmingly banana-y but great texture and flavor. I recommended this to a fellow food bank volunteer when we did a shift yesterday. I told my niece this might be as good or better (gulp) than my banana bread. Yikes. A 30-year+ recipe toppled in one fell blow, lol. 

So yes, this was good. Well worth that upcharge. The streusel topping added a nice sweetness although not much crunch but that was okay too. Although Crumbl's description describes it as a cinnamon streusel, I didn't taste a lot of cinnamon so if you're a cinnamon lover, this might fall short. But again, I thought it was fine as the flavors were nicely balanced. Anyway, with banana bread, I think banana should be the star flavor and not overpowered by any spice.

Coconut Pound Cake from Flours and Frostings

Coconut Pound Cake - made August 7, 2024 from Flours and Frostings

1 1/14 cups (155 grams) all-purpose flour

1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup whole milk

3/4 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut (I used sweetened, flaked)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8-inch round baking pan with a round parchment circle and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking powder; set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter for 1 minute, until no lumps remain. Add sugar and beat another 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, and vanilla; beat on low speed after each addition. Scrape bottom and sides of bowl to keep mixture even textured. 
5. Add dry ingredients (3 additions) and milk (2 additions) in alternating additions, starting and ending with the flour.
6. Add coconut and mix until disbursed. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the top.
7. Bake 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
8. Remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes before running a spatula around the sides and overturning the cake onto a plate. Invert right side up and let cool completely.

Here's a simple summer picnic cake if you need an easy dessert to make and don't need to feed a large crowd. It can all be mixed up in one bowl, baked in an 8 x 8-inch baking pan and cut up and serve. If you like/love coconut, this is a great option if you want something quick and easy to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Although it has pound cake in the title, this was a bit more fluffy than the regular dense texture of a typical pound cake. It wasn't too light and cakey though like a box mix cake or a chiffon. Just the right note in between. Flavor wise, it's hard to go wrong with a vanilla butter coconut cake. This one is easy to overindulge with so if you're watching your intake, have a piece and give the rest away. Fortunately I had family in town visiting who were on their way to see other family members so I was able to do just that.

Crumbl Cookies review #80 - Banana Pudding

Crumbl Cookies review #80: Banana Pudding - visited August 20, 2024

                                             
I meant to write and publish this post last week when the Banana Pudding was available but alas, time got away from me. I did attempt to get it early in the week so I'd have time but when I went last Monday, they were already sold out. Presumably that was a combination of learning to make a new dessert and underestimating its popularity. While slightly inconvenient at the time, I was glad my store presumably had a winner if they weren't able to keep it in stock so early in the day.

Fortunately I had reason to be in the area the following day and was able to get one. Like the Dirt Cake Cup, this was served in a similar container and the store employee offered me a spoon. So it was easy enough to expect this is what it says it is: pudding.

If you like Crumbl's Banana Cream Pie cookie, you might like the Banana Pudding as it seems like the pudding is the exact same filling as in the cookie. 

So it was creamy pudding with pieces of real banana, topped with whipped cream. I liked the pudding itself and for me, the best part were the banana pieces in them, perfectly ripe and fresh. I would've preferred mine without whipped cream but a little was fine. This doesn't displace the banana cream pie cookie though as I like the cookie shell of that. But this was good to try and see.

Stamped Cookies #41 - Vanilla Brown Sugar Shortbread from Salted Sugared Spiced

Stamped Cookies #41: Vanilla Brown Sugar Shortbread - made dough July 4, 2024 from Salted Sugared Spiced 

1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup (1100 grams) light brown sugar, packed

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and brown sugar until well combined, 2-3 minutes.
2. Add vanilla and mix to combine.
3. Add flour and salt in two additions, mixing on low speed after each addition until just combined. Do not overbeat.
4. Using a 1 1/4" ice cream scoop, scoop balls of dough. Roll in granulated sugar and use cookie stamp to press each dough ball into 1/4" thickness. Use cookie cutter to cut each stamped cookie for neat edges. Cover and chill or freeze for at least 30 minutes or several hours.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line baking pans with parchment paper.
6. Bake 20-25 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are lightly browned. Let rest on baking sheet for several minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

It's hard to go wrong with brown sugar shortbread, especially one that can be stamped. This didn't go wrong at all as it delivered in both keeping the stamped impressions reasonably well in baking and tasting delicious.

The dough handled well, although, being summer and we were in the 90s and 100s where I'm at when I made this dough, it did require a bit of chilling in order to work with effectively. I also erred on the side of caution and used my cookie stamps that had larger impressions and not fine, small details. As you can see, that worked out pretty well.

As always, shortbread is the one cookie I recommend baking fully and not underbaking. You want the golden brown caramelization and the snap. Plus the butter and brown sugar flavor come through beautifully. This one's definitely a keeper.

Large Gourmet Snickerdoodles from Lady Behind the Curtain

Large Gourmet Snickerdoodles - made dough July 1, 2024 from Lady Behind the Curtain

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 cups granulated sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Cinnamon Sugar Coating

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together shortening and butter until combined and creamy. Add cream cheese and beat until combined. Add sugar and beat until combined. Add cinnamon, eggs and vanilla extract, mixing until combined.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder. Add to butter mixture in 2 additions, mixing on low speed after each addition until just combined.
3. Portion dough into 12 3.6-ounce balls. Cover and chill for several hours or overnight.
4. In a small bowl, stir together 1/3 cup sugar and cinnamon. 
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
6. Roll chilled dough balls in cinnamon-sugar coating mixture, covering completely. Evenly space on prepared baking sheets. Bake 20-22 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw. Let rest on baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

My friend Eileen loves snickerdoodles. It's a running joke between us that when I once made snickerdoodles for her and gave her 5, expecting she would give her partner 2 and keep 3 for herself, I was shocked to discover she kept all 5 for herself. I never let her forget that. Yet her snickerdoodle love means she is unbothered whenever I bring it up, haha. 

So around her birthday, I make it a point to try out a new recipe for snickerdoodles, knowing I have a willing taste tester for them. As Eileen knows, I'd been distressed over the past couple of years that nearly all of my snickerdoodle experiments have resulted in flat cookies, even with tried and true recipes that once yielded thick cookies. I'm convinced, and no one can tell me otherwise, that butter makers had been watering down their butter and only recently have they stopped with the watering down, probably because of the complaints they'd been getting. I haven't had the unexpectedly flat cookie problem so far this year and I'm glad to say I didn't have it with this recipe either. 

These made for some terrifically thick and also delicious snickerdoodles. I'm sure having the combination of shortening and butter as well as the cream cheese helped to prevent spread and added to the amazing texture. 

Not to overstate it (okay, I'm overstating but barely) but this could now be my favorite recipe for snickerdoodles. Texture and thickness were on point. I loved it, especially after my flat snickerdoodle cookie problems of the past. 

The only thing I would tweak the next time is to add a little cinnamon to the dough as it could use a slightly more cinnamon punch. I'm going to try that next time as I welcome any excuse to make this recipe again.

Crumbl Cookies review #79 - Peanut Butter Bar (tester) and Dirt Cake Cup (tester)

Crumbl Cookies review #79 - Peanut Butter Bar (tester), visited August 17, 2024 and Dirt Cake Cup (tester), visited August 19, 2024

Peanut Butter Bar

No, Crumbl didn't test two products in the same week. What they did do was change the Crumbl app so that I couldn't find the test products the way I used to and didn't discover until last Saturday that it was under the new "hometown" icon on the updated app. Hence why I didn't realize until almost too late that last week, my store was testing the peanut butter bar.

Menu week of August 12, 2024

Display week of August 12, 2024

One thing I don't like about this new version of the app is they don't describe what the test product is (the old version used to) until you go to fill out the survey after you buy the test product. I hope they fix that in a future release as it's always better for consumers to know what they might buy instead of telling them what it is they have after they bought it. Yes, you can ask the store personnel when you go in but this still feels like a takeaway from the old version of the app.

In any case, despite my indifference to peanut butter, I got it anyway because....test product and FOMO.

In my first bite of this, I wasn't impressed. I started at the corner and the texture seemed dry. It also had a dense, heavy texture, in part because the batter included oatmeal but also because that's what they made. It's not a cake or even a heavy cake. It really is a bar cookie. The peanut butter flavor wasn't that prevalent so the whole thing seemed bland. The chocolate frosting was okay; at least it imparted some flavor. 

I only ate a little when I first bought it then ate about 1/4 of a piece the next day. I have to say, I liked it much better the next day. I think it was because I wasn't eating just the corner but actually got into the bar itself. Surprisingly, that was moist, even a day later, and I liked the dense texture much better. The peanut butter flavor also came through better but that could've been because I scraped off all the frosting and just had it as a straightforward peanut butter bar. If I were Crumbl, I'd cut out the oats, amp up the peanut butter and add more chopped peanuts. And glaze it with a thin chocolate glaze rather than that heavy frosting.

This week, now that I've learned how to read the new app, I checked the "hometown" tab and saw they were testing "Dirt Cake Cup". Once again, no description and this time my survey link didn't even work but I bought it anyway, expecting it would be a cake version of the Dirt Cake Cookie, which I actually liked.

I was wrong. First, don't go by the picture above in the app; that's just for marketing purposes. The actual "dirt cake cup" only came to about 2/3 of the Crumbl cup and doesn't reach the top, much less overflow it. Being used to marketing tactics, I was okay with that.

But, second, I should've been tipped off by the container it came in that this wasn't a cake at all. Rather it was a container of mousse with some crunchy chocolate cake bits thrown in and, as a nod to the original Dirt Cake cookie, a gummy worm on top. 

This is a clear case of, if my expectations had been set on what I was buying (mousse), I might've liked it better. Or at least not been surprised when I started eating it and could only find mousse with crunchy bits. I even dug to the bottom, thinking the top layer of mousse was just thick and there was cake underneath.

Yeah, no. It looks like there would be from the pictures but that dark layer you see at the bottom was just more crunchy bits. Think yogurt with crumbles. The mousse itself wasn't bad but it was just mousse. Nothing special. Not worth the calories to me. I think Crumbl would've been better off making this more like a parfait with cake, mousse and then the crunchy bits. Or else, again, fix their app to include the description so people have their expectations set up front.

So, in summary, I'd probably get the peanut butter bar again (maybe) but definitely not the Dirt Cake (Mousse) Cup. I do want to try the Banana Pudding on this week's menu; that does have a description so I know what I'd be getting. But it was sold out yesterday when I went to my Crumbl so I'll have to try again later this week.