Recipe Review(s): Cookies

Wow, I can't believe how un-bloggy I've been this week. From busy days at work to staying up late making cookies to participating in a medical study, I've just not been feeling like spending more time in front of the computer. I also don't have photos of the recipes for today's posts because I didn't start the cookies until 10 pm and didn't have time to deal with the camera and all the cookies.

So first I made a batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies from the Eating Well website. First, I was thrown off by the small amount of sugar in the recipe, then I saw that it had cream cheese. Cream cheese is one of my favorite ingredients. I can also eat it straight, but MSH usually insists that I at least put it on a Town House cracker. He says that it at least suggests that I have some class. The cookies turned out light, airy, almost fluffy and not very sweet. The 8-year old girl, GG, who came to our office for "Bring Your Child to Work Day" ate at least 8 of them, so the lack of sugar was not a bad thing according to her. I thought the were pretty good, too.

Next, I made an alternate version, Bev's Chocolate Chip Cookies from the same website. Now this recipe uses whole-wheat flour and ground oatmeal. Since it was almost 11 when I started this batch, I didn't grind up the oats. Well, because it was nearly 11 and because I love oatmeal cookies, I didn't grind the oats. Maybe because I didn't grind the oats, the chip to batter ratio was a little too high, so these cookies had a hard time sticking together when I dropped them on the cookie sheet and a few fell apart after baking as well. Despite their difficulty holding up, these were my favorite cookies. The whole wheat flour didn't make them heavy, as I had feared. Rather, they were crispy and buttery and a little sweeter than the first, but not overly so. Next time I need to clear the chocolate chips out of my freezer, I'll make these, but I'll increase the batter to oats and chips ratio. Yummy.

Finally, there where the Chocolate Cookies with White Chocolate Chips from Cooks.com. The first batch out of the oven were too soft and a little undercooked, so I increased the cooking time to 10 minutes for the next batch. These were better, but still a bit too soft. The final 2 batches, I left on the foil to cool overnight. These were perfect, still soft, but not falling apart. This recipe also makes more than 36 cookies using my teaspoons to measure them out. I actually was so exhausted by the time I finished the last 2 batches, I put the remaining batter (about enough for 8 more cookies) down the disposal. These were good, and the flavor was very brownie-like, and they were a little too sweet for me. However, they were the favorites of GG's older sister HG and most of the other people in my office.

So, all 3 recipes were a hit, but I preferred the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip above all others. There was also an adorable little blond boy who broke my heart. When I offered him a cookie, he looked my offering, turned up his nose and said, in a cute Italian accent, "I'm quite sure that I hate choc-co-lot!" He couldn't have been more that 5 years-old. I almost cried, but then he smiled at me, and my heart melted, and I forgave him instantly.

Have fun baking!