Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Kahlua Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Perhaps not surprisingly, I've always loved to bake, especially cookies. I've been making Toll House chocolate chip cookies for just about as long as I can remember. I memorized the recipe by the time I was about 12 years old and have only strayed from it a few times. I flirted with the legendary Neiman Marcus cookies (this version) — and completely believed the story the first time I heard it, long before the advent of viral email. Before the advent of email, period, at least for me. I've bookmarked countless others and have read many rave reviews of the infamous New York Times version. (I'd still like to give that one a shot.)

But I always come back to the back of the chocolate morsels bag, knowing I'll get a good chocolate chip cookie without having to wait for an overnight chill down in the refrigerator (one of the "secrets" to the NYT recipe).

No, this probably isn't the BEST chocolate chip cookie recipe ever, but it's very, very good. It is a twist on the Toll House recipe, kicking up the flavor a bit with Kahlua and espresso powder. They're best fresh from the oven, not surprisingly, but you can get that fresh-from-the-oven gooey-ness by nuking them in the microwave for about 10 seconds. Mmmm...

Kahlua Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
3 tablespoons Kahlua or other coffee liquor
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, espresso, cinnamon, soda and salt. Set aside. In large mixing bowl or stand mixer, beat butter until smooth, then add both sugars. Beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition, then add liquor. Add dry mix to creamed mixture and beat well. The dough will be pretty stiff. Mix in chocolate chips.

Drop by tablespoon on to parchment lined baking sheet. Bake 9 minutes, or until just turning golden brown, erring on the side of slightly underbaked. Pull pan from oven and let rest on sheet about 4 minutes. Remove cookies from sheet to cool on wire racks. Cool pan before next batch. I have two sheet pans going, one in the oven, one cooling. It takes a bit longer, but works better to have the pan cooled down. It can be a bit warm, just not hot.

Makes approximately 48-52 cookies. I got about 52 using my medium Pampered Chef scoop.

mini cake stand
Now let's talk about this adorable cake stand for a minute, shall we? It was a present from my mom and dad for Christmas. In fact, they got me all kinds of totally adorable baking goodies.

Look at this!
xmas loot
The cake stand, cute labels, goody boxes, cupcake liners... and .... the cupcake stand. Isn't it crazy adorable? Unfortunately no one got a picture of my reactions to these gifts as I was opening them. It would have been hilarious. I squealed and clapped like a 2 year old at her birthday. I couldn't help it. I mean, LOOK at that stuff. Isn't it great?!

5 comments:

  1. Wow you did get cute things from your parents, they really have cute taste! My Ma got me sponges, you know the ones that are yellow on one side and scruby green on the other. She has been giving them to me every Christmas for years. Can your parents adopt me?

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  2. LOVE that cake stand. Adorable!

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  3. These cookies look really good - and I love all your sweet baking gifts! :)

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  4. Oooh, I have the same cake stand in two different sizes! I haven't use them yet but I know they'll look great with different ribbons for different occasions! In case you hadn't guessed, I'm a cake stand addict...

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