Coconut Squares, Coconut Kisses with Chocolate Cream, and Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip

ITS BEEN A VERY LONG TIME SINCE I POSTED...JUST BEEN WAY TOO BUSY WITH SCHOOL. Fortunately, I have been baking, just not posting. I have made a total of three different cookies. Two of them solo bakes and the third one, a buddy bake with good ol' friend, Joyce Chang. These first "cookies" were called Coconut Squares. They were different than any other cookie I have baked in that they were from the Bars and Brownies section of the book. So, yes, not exactly a cookie, but it did come from the book, so it definitely still counts. Nothing super special about the preparation or anything, and I realized much too late in the preparation that I did not have the right sized cake pan for the job. I had a 9 x 13 in. pan and the recipe called for an 11 x 7 in. pan...SOOO looks like I was gonna have to watch them the entire time they were in the oven. Thankfully, my anal-ness with respect to and determination not to burn cookies helped me approximate their time in the oven. And as usual, I knew I should check at least 5 minutes before the minimum amount of time the recipe calls for.SO, I did, and I was rewarded. They were just finished when I pulled them out! Perfectly Browned! Taste-wise, another winner. Some people, who seem to have not liked some of the previous cookies as much LOVED these ones for some reason, but my roommate and I agree that they were sub-par with respect to most other cookies I have made thus far. So, I would have to give them a 5.5/10. This, of course, accounting for preparation ease as well. I'm just more of a cookie man, so these just weren't quite cutting it for me.

These next cookies, though, definitely cut it...

They were called Coconut Kisses with Chocolate Cream...mmm, sound delicious, don't they?

If the picture isn't strong enough, let me try and describe these cookies. Number 1, they are doubled up, which is always better (2 cookies is always better than one). Number 2, they contained my new favorite ingredient, confectioner's sugar and it's beautiful and delectable mixture that is the cream that conjoins the two delicious cookies. Number 3, they have coconut, and let's just face it, everything that has coconut in some form is delicious. And if you

disagree, well, then something's wrong with you, because coconut is basically fat, and everyone knows that fat is delicious.

Let me say real quick, that this bake is dedicated to Aaron and Kathy, as they got me to bake these for their coming down to see me the day after SUNGOD, which, let me tell you, was eventful in itself, once again...

Now, preparation-wise, these cookies were different in that rather than mixing the coconut in with the other ingredients, like they were with the previous bar "cookies," i was told to roll them into little balls and roll the balls into a bowl with the coconut in it. Now, I don't know what went

wrong, but the recipe called for 3 tbsp of coconut and I think i ended up using like a cup or two. Don't get me wrong, all the better I say, but I made pretty generously sized cookies and I definitely needed a lot more than 3 tablespoons of coconut. So, like I said, all the better, and really, I'm glad I did because I have WAY TOO MUCH cocnut to be using like only a 20th of one bag or so. I finished rolling them around, gathering all the coconut they could, then ate one, again risking salmonella (hmmm), because the dough has to taste good for the end result to be good. And let me tell you, the dough did not disappoint. And, as I said before, the cookies were made up of two cookies, so I obviously had to eat another one so that I didn't have an odd number of total cookie halves...Mmmm....Delish, as my brother would say.

The cookies, for the most part, unfortunately, due to the varying sizes of the little balls, came out good, not exceptional, but good. DEFINITELY NOT

BURNED, but very much borderline. I commenced making the filling...This went as planned, then I began adding it to the cookies. One thing I definitely learned though, is that cookies need to cool before you add the chocolate and powdered sugar based filling...or else, as you can see in the picture, you get melt-y filling. This, in effect, made the cookie tops (and at this point they looked sort of like hamburgers), so the top buns, slide off. This was annoying, but I did not have time to wait for them to cool, so I got them finished, took the picture and ran away before all hell broke loose.

Taking into account prep time, deliciousness, and mood?

I would have to say that these cookies are among the big-leaguers, and get a score of 8.5/10.

BUDDY BAKE TIME!

WITH JOYCE CHANG!

Joyce and I have known each other for a good 6 years now I think. We both went to Homestead High School and both competed on the track team and also both were in band. While she played a string, and I played a wind instrument, we still seemed to find some common ground between us. I feel like we've known each other forever, and it's probably because I get this very nurturing, motherly sense from her. Let's just say that if I was going to have anybody take care of my home or sickly self, I would want it to be her. To make it clear, however, I would like to point out that she is no pushover, solely at-home wife either. She is one of the most ambitious people I know, and to be completely honest, I sometimes am a bit scared of her if she is determined, or is not on my side of an argument (debate was one of her specialties, if I recall, back in high school). Further, she's an amazing friend and I have spent countless hours talking to her about everything that went on in our previously much more integrated lives and in our now, very distinct lives.

This post separates itself not only through the buddy-ness but in the type of cookie we were going to make. Now, if you have yet to see The Book, you should know that a lot of the cookies inside of it are very specialized in that they require ingredients most people do not necessarily carry in their cabinets at home. While this is annoying in its own way, I have learned a lot about grocery stores now because of it...but the point is, we baked at her place and she had a tasty looking recipe already picked out that she had the ingredients for, so we decided to make them, straying out of the book, while keeping constant the theme of cookies.

They were called Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Oatmeal cookies have always been high up on my list of favorite cookies, so I was excited to make them. The prep time for this was very quick as there were two, now very seasoned bakers, working at it at one time (three if you count my buddy Melissa that also joined us for the bake and who is well known for her birthday gifts that typically involve some baked good).

Yay for wet hair!

As you can tell, we were having tons of fun as we rolled the dough up into pretty large sized drops and put them on the sheets. They baked fairly quickly and we took them out to start them on post-oven baking (on the hot sheet).

They did this, and not long after we got to taste them...

They were falling apart as i scooped it up to my mouth (usually a good thing, and today it definitely was, as it means the cookies were melt-y and warm so that they would split like they would on a commercial for example). And then I placed it in my mouth...

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!

They were SOOO Good!! It disintegrated in my mouth as all of the tiny little chocolate chips melted and became one with my tongue. Then all of the delicious oatmealliness came down and just blew my taste buds out the door. It was one of those time when you just go into a place of complete relaxation; when someone talks to you and you just cannot respond; when all of your other senses fail because your tongue is caressing all of your senses' energy to focus on this tangible version of multi-faceted LOVE between chocolate, sugar, oatmeal, shortening, flour, baking powder, and salt. Overall Rating, 9/10 for classic-ness, deliciousness, simplicity, and lightly weighted with 'fun while making them.'

THANKS JOYCE!!!!!

Chocolate Munchies

This has been another long week, minimizing the time I have to bake for the blog. Fortunately, I finished my homework early and felt the urge to bake. My buddy for today's bake was someone that I hold very close to my heart. Someone that I barely had the chance to meet in person. Someone whose life was taken unfairly and prematurely 19 years ago to date due to Tongue Cancer. This someone is my father. And though he couldn't be there with me physically, I knew he was there in spirit, ensuring the success of these next cookies.

They were called Chocolate Munchies

These delicious-looking specimen brought back horrible memories of the failed Chocolate-Covered Macaroons, which, if you read before, were also drizzled with chocolate. Thankfully, the rating of these cookies was only level 1. The process was pretty simple. MESSY AS FETCH. But simple. This was, however, one of the few times I get to use Cocoa Powder. Now, I don't know what you're experience with this misleading product is, but I've decided that cocoa powder is not as delicious as it sounds. In fact, it's quite bitter and not tasty...not like a crushed chocolate bar which is what I was kinda hoping for when I purchased it. What I have learned however, is that cocoa powder is meant to taste bitter, counteracting the sweetness typically found in cookies. So, with that in mind I prepared the batter.

The batter was different tasting, not quite something you would want over the actual cookie, mostly because of the cocoa powder. I moved on, saving the opportunity to contract salmonella for a later bake. Then I put them in the oven.

Burn-wise, they came out perfectly (golden brown isn't quite the term as they are already chocolatey brown cookies...but yeah, perfect). While they were baking, I remade the double boiler used for the macaroons (a plate on a boiling pot of water). After removing them from the pan, I drizzled them and understood immediately that this is why the cocoa powder was added, to counteract the drizzled chocolate (which actually tasted good).

MMMMMmmm. They were pretty good. Again, I am not a big fan of cocoa powder still, even with the other chocolate. So overall, I would say that these were about 6.5 /10, especially because of the mess.

RIP (4.24.91)

LOVE YOU DAD

RIP (4.26.99)

LOVE YOU JACORI

Frosted Butter Cookies

First, I would like to say sorry for such a lengthy time between cookie posts. Its been a crazy week, until, of course Friday night, when I did something that has changed my view of Luigi's at the beach and pizza forever. My room mate, Kevin, and I decided to do their massive pizza challenge where it is up to two of you to eat one of their entire 30" pizzas. It seemed doable at first, and it started out well until I was at the last few bites of my fourth piece. It was at this point that where my gag reflex kicked in and WOULD NOT let me eat any more of the cheese. I tried changing it up with Parmesan cheese and peppers, but the cheesy taste of the once-delicious Luigi's Pizza was too much...Together, we were unable to finish the pizza :( and I ended up puking (in the bathroom thank God, and not on the table like I had for the Iron Man Challenge at the Broken Yolk). The experience was great...and I would have to rate my performance overall as a 7.5/10

NOW ON TO TODAYS COOKIE!

These beautiful cookies are named Frosted Butter Cookies. This, I believe, is the THIRD recipe we've followed to completion! YAY! So, the beginning of the cookie baking went just as expected, nothing exciting, nothing horribly wrong. Basic mixing and stuff. Then I had to let them chill, and afterwards I had to do one of my least favorite things regarding the baking of cookies...rolling them out and cutting them. Now, normally, this is all fine and dandy, but when you are lacking a rolling pin and the correctly sized cookie cutter, it takes away from the once homely cutting out of cookies. The things I used to roll them out kept getting stuck, the dough, in general, was very sticky and wet, and it was just a long, difficult process without the right equipment. Eventually, however, I was able to get them all cut out and into the oven.

DANGIT!! For the first time this year, I OVERCOOKED one of the trays. To me, this is blasphemous. NO COOKIE SHOULD EVER BE BURNED!! So, I saw this batch as a failure, but luckily, the other pan was fine and the rest of the cookies turned out great. Next, I had to melt the raspberry preserves (hidden in the middle of the cookies), and put it on. Finally, with the help of my friend Anthony, I was able to make frosting (which was just confectioner's sugar and water...WHO KNEW? ) and place the cherries on top. They turned out beautifully and as you can see, pretty similar to the picture. Overall rating (lowered b/c of the rolling and cutting out, sorry, it just really bothered me) 8/10.

Strawberry (Raspberry) Cinnamon Cookies

To attract more attention to the blog, I decided to change it up a bit and start having SEXY LADIES on the blog. This is to ensure more male viewers lol. So, to begin a series of Buddy-bakes, I had my friend Sara over for this delicious-looking cookie. They are called Strawberry Cinnamon Cookies. BUT, as usual, there was something that we did not like and want in the recipe or something that we simply did not have (the strawberry preserves) so we decided to replace it with that already -purchased Raspberry preserves that I had bought for another cookie recipe I have yet to try out.

Thanks to my buddy, the mixing of the ingredients went very quickly, but next we had to do something very new to us...squeeze dough out of a pastry bag...yep! never done that before! So, number 1, we did not have any pastry bags so we tried to use a ziploc bag as is typically used to replace a pastry bag...i think. BUT, the difference is, we were not squeezing out soft frosting or the like...instead, we were trying to squeeze out little, rounded dough pieces. As you might have imagined, this did not work out at all. The dough began to rip the bag almost immediately and basically pushed out little nothingness pieces...SO, we decided against the bag and just made them into drop cookies. We put them on the sheets and pushed in the centers to make a little divot for the raspberry jelly. They came out great! Just the right amount of browning on the bottom of them...I think I speak for the both of us when I say it was really hard to keep from eating them at that point, but we had to...we had to wait until we got the preserves onto them.

We warmed the jelly and put them onto the cookies. As you can see, they ended up looking very, very much like the picture in the book. And let me tell you, they were SO GOOD. The cookie minus the jelly was delicious enough but the combo of the two??? So Good. The cookies were simple too, so their overall rating is going to have to be..................8/10. Thanks so much Sara!! Hope you had as much fun as I did!!

Vanilla Honey Cookies

Yes, weekends mean extra time which can only mean...

more time to bake cookies! So, today I chose to bake a simpler cookie...Vanilla Honey Cookies. There was nothing very special about these as you can probably tell. The recipe basically said, put all the stuff in the bowl at once, mix it up, chill, it, cut it, bake it. I finished them really quick, and I ended up with about 50 of them. The were scrumptious, not the best cookie I've ever eaten, but very simple goodness. So, though this was a short post, I am kind of tired and am going to get some homework done. Thanks for reading!

PS, let me know if you want some lol...got quite a bit of them

Overall rating: 6/10

Sugar Cookies with Pink Filling

As I sit here, listening to Kev-O play guitar, eating my cookie crisp, i reminisce about the most current bake-sesh. These cookies jumped to the top on the list of my favorite cookies to make. I mean, look at them, they look like little sugary hamburgers!! This was going to be my second attempt at a LEVEL 2 Difficulty cookie (the other being the Chocolate Covered Macaroons). Daunting, yes, but impossible? Of course not, so I decided to go for it! The process reminded me of the days when I used to make Christmas cookies with Mom and Dan, whereas we got to roll out the dough and cutout the cookies. The odd thing about these sugar cookies was though, that they did not have any sugar in them before they were baked...just cream, flour, and salt lol. To my inexperienced self, this was odd, but I figured all of the sugar that was added later would make up for it, so I just went with it.

I mixed up the stuff, cooled it, brought them out to bake 30 minutes later, then realized that I had a problem...No Cookie Cutter to make the perfectly rounded shape shown in the picture. Time to improvise!! I looked around for something that was about an inch and a half in diameter. Nothing was that close, so I decided on the bottle cap to the drink I was currently downing. It ended up working out for the better as this produced many small cookies rather than the estimated 12 by the book. I watched them closely in the oven, taking care not to overcook them because the consistency of the cookies was sure to be important as it was basically going to be a vessel for the sugary filling and confectioner's sugar to reach the mouth. They came out great, bland from what I was used to, but very puffy, which was way different from anything I had baked before.

Next came the filling, yet another thing I had never made from scratch before. It was an interesting little mixture, and though I would have preferred a deeper color for my filling, I decided to stick to the recipe.

Then came my favorite part...the combining of the cookies with the filling! Something was oddly satisfying about the assemblage of the cute, little, and sugary sandwiches. As I topped the already amazing cookies with sugar, I reflected on how much fun I had making these cookies. So, because of that, and how freakin' delicious they were, I am going to have to give these cookies an overall rating of...

8.5/10

Brown Sugar Drops

Yep! Todays cookies were very simple! Just all the basic cookie ingredients with a little emphasis on the brown sugar and vanilla extract. This recipe was rated a level 1 (out of 3) on the difficulty scale and it was just that...nothing like the macaroons which, for some reason, only happen to be a 2 on the scale. So, due to lack of good cookie sheets, I decided to minimize the number of times I would be going in and out of the oven. To do this, I made many small cookies, instead of the recipe's teaspoon sized cookies. In doing this, however, I was forced to check the time myself the entire time, so I went for a couple minutes less, pulled them out and BOOM BABY!! The cookies came out perfectly!!! There was a little bit of browning on the bottom though...OH WAIT! THATS PERFECT!! haha so yeah, they came out chewy, tasty, and overall pretty delicious. I personally would have wanted to add some cinnamon or more vanilla, so were these the best cookies ever...no, but for how quickly I baked them, I have to rate them pretty highly. Then again, they definitely weren't very special, so Id have to give them an overall rating of 7/10.

YAY!!

Chocolate-Glazed Macaroons

YES! Today was the day that I reattempted the Chocolate-Glazed Macaroons....they were rough. Multiple times throughout the baking process I had to ask for others' opinions and input. Thanks to Lauren, Kev, Greg, and Max for all the suggestions!! But yes, with the help of the mixer we could finally fluff up the egg white and sugar mixture. I let it cool while I was in class, then I came back and started baking them. We have two different cookie sheets, and I have been noticing that one of them gets hotter than the other and it usually screws up half of the cookies. Once again, the bad pan made half of the cookies look different than the other half...half of them really looked something like the book, and the other half looked like they were being baked for too long.

So, 3 minutes before they were supposed to be ready I took out both pans and began melting the chocolate that goes on top of the macaroons. This was a totally new thing for me as I had to make a double boiler...so with Kevin's help that was possible. We melted them and began drizzling first the milk and then the white chocolate. This was the gamebreaker of these cookies. The combo, once again, of white and milk chocolate made the rice cracker crunchiness and almond-ness worth the time in your mouth. The overall cookie was delicious! Unfortunately, all the work and time that went into the cookies lowered the overall rating of them, but I'd have to say that they are a

6.5/10.

Mmmm

Dusted Cookies

SO,today was supposed to be a second attempt at the failed Chocolate-Covered Macaroons, and we finally got a mixer, but there were no more of the things that stick in the mixers and spin...yep, forgot exactly what they are called...whatever. So, I decided to try more drop cookies, the type of cookie that generally works out. After much deliberation, I settled on Dusted Cookies. These were initially appealing because they were decorated in a similar fashion to black and white cookies (white on one side, black on the other), but with sugar and cocoa powder. These cookies mark the first batch that I have ever added milk into, and the first batch that didn't have more than like a cup of sugar, so I was curious as to how sweet they could possibly be.

The dough worked out alright. It seemed a bit stickier than it was supposed to, but it still worked, and I was still able to make rounded drops out of it. The baking was quick, only 2 pans with like 15 cookies each on them, for about 15 minutes. Thankfully, I checked at like 14 minutes as my usual worrying self does to ensure that they were not burning...because that is definitely one of the saddest things ever...burnt cookies. Unfortunately, I was a little late with half of the cookies on the older, less silvery pan of ours. Some of the bottoms were a little past GOLDEN BROWN but definitely still edible. The other pan was just about perfect, so I took them both out and had my roommate and his guests taste test them...

Their descriptive words included "subtle," and "tastes like pancakes" so I just had to try one. I initially felt that they were kind of bland, but this could have been expected seeing as I still had to "dust" them. So, I let them cool and I began dusting them. Many of them were lost in the dusting process (meaning some were not perfectly half and half dusted) but we definitely got a few to look relatively similar to the picture in the book as you can see from the picture.

This was a fun cookie to make. Kinda bland, even after the sugar and powder came on, but definitely better, but by far the prettiest cookies I've made thus far.

Overall rating 5.5/10

Super Chocolate Raisin Cookies

Day 3 of Cookie baking...We went to the store today so we actually have the ingredients necessary to make the macaroons that we were supposed to make yesterday...unfortunately, we did not have the mixer necessary to make them still, so that will have to wait until tomorrow. However, my good ol' roommate decided that we should make another one of the cookies since we had the ingredients, just not the mixer, so I told him to go ahead and pick one. He decided on one of my favorites, Super Chocolate Raisin Cookies...but we did not want the raisins so we had everything but those. I am pleased to say that nothing went wrong with the dough making, for the first time since this blog thing started. Also, this is the first time that the cookies came out looking like the book picture...YAY! These cookies were delicious!! White and milk chocolate combos tend to work out, but like I said to my roommate..."This is why I bake cookies" Golden brown deliciousness-Mmmm

Overall Rating

8/10

Chocolate-Glazed Macaroons

So, today was the first time baking back at school after Spring Break. Unfortunately, when we went out to get the ingredients for this recipe, we forgot the eggs...so stupid...I said it like 3 times at the store. Oh well, we'll deal with it...at this point, we is my and my good ol' roommate with whom I met last year and havent gotten sick of...yet. Lol, but yeah, I hope he's as down as I am for all of these cookies, even though I know for sure that he might get upset with me for making him fat...but hey, thats the joy of baking cookies...getting fat. HOPEFULLY, he and I will workout enough on the side to counteract the force of the cookies.

Anyway, today's cookie choice was his pick and looked SUPER-GOOD in the picture, so we went for it...So without the eggs, I was forced to borrow some from a friend on campus. Unfortunately, the eggs, when I tried to crack them open and release the egg whites, were frozen...so retrieving the whites failed. Furthermore, we do not have a mixer, and, in retrospect, this is a problem when one is planning on making macaroons. Welp, let's just say that the lesson was learned...The egg whites were never completely thawed, they frothed up a bit, but never peaked when the sugar was added. EFFF...So now I had this thin mixture of sugar, egg whites, and very little flour, baking powder, and salt...not a pretty combination, and obviously not what we were going for. At this point, realizing that I needed to provide my own eggs and maybe find a mixer on campus somewhere, I decided to try and salvage this mixture by turning them into drop cookies. Additionally, I had some butterscotch chips leftover from past supercookie baking so I decided to throw them in as well as some additional flour. I baked them for a little bit, pulled them out, and tried them.

They were OK, very sweet, almost too sweet, but there was just no substance to them...again the picture will be uploaded later, but I would like to say that tonight was an EPIC FAIL, and I hope to make a more correct version of these cookies later this weekend.

Overall rating... 2/10

Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies

So, I decided on making this blog a few days after my first cookie baking, so I will not have any picture for the first one except for maybe the one in the book. However, I would still like to describe the interesting reaction that took place within them. So, as you know, they were called Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies. As my friend and I were looking for the ingredients we came upon one named Kirsch...and I needed a 1/2 cup of it to soak the cherries in. Luckily, as we were looking for some of the more uncommon ingredients (Kirsch, raw sugar, pitted sour cherries), we ran into this very kind lady who asked us what we were up to with our confused-looking selves in the middle of the baking aisle. We asked her where to find those things and she said to look for that type of stuff at Whole Foods rather than the Safeway at which we were presently. Fortunately, it was still early enough for Whole Foods to be open so we headed over there to get the remaining ingredients. After finding the cherries and the raw sugar, we went in search for the Kirsch. With no luck, we decided to ask someone who worked there for help...they had no idea of course, so I looked it up on my HANDY DANDY, iPhone! As it turns out, it is a liqueur and, as you may know, I am not 21, so I was unable to purchase this ingredient...WELP, OFF TO A GREAT START ID SAY

We went home and I searched for some extra alcohol behind the bar in the house, and was lucky enough to find an orange liqueur to soak the cherries in. So, aside from that, everything was going great...the chocolates were brown and white, the macadamia nuts were whitish, the cookie dough was green...GREEN??? WTF?? Yes, after all the ingredients were in and mixed, the dough had an odd, green pukish look...so i was just like, "Well, maybe they will brown up nicely in the oven"...and they did...on the edges. I wish I took a picture of these cookies because they were very odd...they tasted great but looked disturbingly green...not like it did in the book. I passed them around and they were enjoyed, but questioned quite a bit. Id have to give them an overall rating of 5/10

Ill post the picture later...till next time!!

The Golden Book of Cookies

Inspired by the movie (and novel) Julie and Julia, I have decided to start a blog that will trace and record my journey through this recipe book that I got but a few days ago. It is called the Golden Book of Cookies by Barron's Bardi, Egan, Moore, and Morris. I was initially drawn to it by its gold-leafed pages and further encapsulated by the over 330 recipes of delicious-looking cookies inside of it. I am no great baker, but I enjoy doing it in my spare time as many people know by the multitude of cookies leaving the apartment weekly. After my first skim through, I decided I would take the time to go through every single recipe, look at the picture, scan the recipe, and decided whether or not I would try to bake that cookie. I will not be quite as intense as Julie was in the movie, but I will do my best to push out at least one new cookie every week. As my experience with actual baking is minimal at best, there will for sure be some major screw-ups for you to laugh at and enjoy reading about, so I hope you continue to check in here and see the progress being made.