from Kris B.

Vanilla White Chocolate Chip Drops

I love it when it’s cookie week in the Sifted Together world.  I like to make them.  I like to eat them.  And I like to share them.  When I take cookies to school to share with my students, I’m always surprised by how many of them are amazed at the fact that I actually make, from scratch with my own little piano-playing hands, cookies.  They are always most appreciative, though I think they’s be almost as happy, just not as amazed, with store-bought cookies.  They are starving college students, after all.

I am amazed at not only my cookie choice recipes lately, but my dessert choices in general.  I was always a “head for the chocolate” kind of girl – brownies, chocolate cake, French silk pie, chocolate chip cookies.  Not so much anymore.  Maybe my taste buds are finally maturing.  Who knows.  All I know is that I surprised myself when I really wanted to make the Vanilla White Chocolate Chip Drops for this week’s post.

Everything about these “drops”, from the ingredient list to the making and baking, is super easy.

INGREDIENTS

• unsalted butter, softened
• sugar
• eggs
• vanilla extract
• salt
• baking powder
• King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
• white chocolate chips

The slight oddity in this list is the use of bread flour, although there is a note that says an equal substitution of all-purpose flour will work just fine.  I can’t say that I’ve ever run across a basic cookie recipe that specifies the use of bread flour.  Perhaps the recipe’s creator needed to use up a stash of bread flour and gave it a whirl.  Who knows?  Anyway, don’t let that keep you from trying the recipe.  I used the bread flour because I had it.  I may try another batch with all-purpose flour just to see if I can tell any difference.

There are no fancy steps to the preparation of the dough.  The butter and sugar are creamed together.  The eggs are added one at a time.  When they are fully incorporated, the vanilla, baking powder, and salt are stirred in.  Finally, the flour is mixed in a little at a time.  The last step is to stir the chips in by hand.

I also about a 1/4 tsp of King Arthur Flour’s Princess Cake and Cookie Flavor.  One of the criticisms of these cookies on the King Arthur website was that they didn’t have enough flavor.  The Princess Cake and Cookie adds a hint of citrus.  The recipe instructs you to refrigerate the cookie dough for at least two hours and up to forty-eight hours.  It says that the chill significantly enhances the flavor of these cookies.  I refrigerated mine for twenty-four hours.  Their flavor is excellent!

Weber and I like this recipe as is, but if you are looking for a bolder flavor, this recipe can be a point of departure lots of experimentation.

Try:

• Using different flavored chips – cinnamon, butterscotch, or chocolate
• Drizzling the cookies with a flavored icing – lemon, orange, chocolate
• Partially dipping the cookies in chocolate
• Adding crushed peppermints or other candy pieces instead of chips
• Experimenting with different extracts and flavorings

All this to say that this recipe is a fantastic basic recipe to get you started with thinking beyond the recipe card!

I hope your share your suggestions with us!  Happy baking.

from Tracey G.

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies from King Arthur Flour

It was funny because when I opened the KAF website to find a recipe for this week in the cookie section, this was the first recipe to pop up! And I didn’t look any further!

I love peanut butter cookies, this recipe makes 18, so I doubled it figuring the boys would eat a few and I’d still have plenty left for photos. Interestingly I’ve since found out peanut butter cookies are not one of Jeremy’s favorites, so now I have way too many cookies! I can’t be trusted with all these cookies. I’ve already had 3 for breakfast…

But, anyway, they couldn’t be simpler to make.

The ingredients you need are:

• Peanut Butter (they do say that the results aren’t as good with a “natural” peanut butter as with standard store-bought)

• Egg

• Brown Sugar

• Vanilla

• Salt

• Baking Soda

• Chocolate Chips

That’s it. You combine the peanut butter, brown sugar, baking soda & salt in your mixer and mix until it’s well blended. Next you add your egg and vanilla. Lastly, stir in your chips.

I used my tablespoon-sized scoop to place the cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes at 350° F. When they’re done, you cool them right on the baking sheet.

For as easy as these are, the problem I had was deciding when they were done. The first batch that I thought was underdone, ended up being the just right ones compared to the subsequent batches I made. Not to mention I slightly flattened the other batches too much I think. Oh well, easy enough things to fix/adjust the next time!

These are really yummy, super easy and are earning a space in my recipe favorites book!

Have fun and cookie on!