Cookie Blitz-Day 3

Cookie Blitz-Day Three

Ever Ready Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Cook's Notes: 
I loved these cookies which taste like a brownie, crispy on the outside with a chewy inside. A dusting of powdered sugar gives them a festive snowball look. Check out some cooking tips for making these cookies at the end of the recipe.
Recipe adapted from cafedelites.com and makes 15 cookies.
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons  vanilla extract
• 1 cup all purpose or plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon espresso powder
• 1/3 cup confectioner's sugar (for coating)

Directions:

• In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, granulated sugar and vegetable oil. Beat in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Mix in the vanilla.
• In another bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, espresso powder and salt. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet mixture just until a dough forms (do not over beat). Cover bowl with wrap and put in freezer for an hour.
• When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets or baking trays with parchment paper.  Roll 1 tablespoonful of dough into balls for smaller cookies, or 2 tablespoonfuls of dough for larger cookies.
• Add the confectioners  sugar to a smaller bowl. Generously and evenly coat each ball of dough in confectioners' sugar and place onto prepared cookie sheets.
• Bake in preheated oven for 9 minutes (for small cookies) or 11 minutes (for larger cookies). The cookies will come out soft from the oven but will harden up as they cool.
• Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool. Use a sifter and sprinkle baked cookies with more confectioners sugar.

Cooking Tips:

• Make sure you start with room temperature ingredients so the oil and egg mix together easier.
• If you can, use Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa powder instead of Dutch process cocoa powder
• Make sure you chill the cookie dough in freezer for at least an hour as the dough is super sticky and easier to manage once it has been chilled (the longer, the better). Chilling also ensures thicker cookies with a fudgy texture, and less spreading while baking.
• Once they are rolled into balls and placed onto your baking sheet, there is no need to press them down. They will naturally bake into shape.
• Cookies will be super soft when they come out of the oven and harden as they cool. If you bake them for too long, the centers will not be fudgy.

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies with Walnuts
Cook's Notes: No cookie list would be complete without the classic chocolate chip cookie. The spin on this recipe is vegetable oil substitutes for butter. The crispiness and chewy center makes this cookie the perfect accompaniment to a glass of milk or a cup of coffee/tea. The recipe makes a generous 5 dozen. A Dollar Store visit for a festive plate and you are all set to give a gift of holiday cheer. 

Cooking Tip: Keep dough chilled while one batch of cookies bake. 

Ingredients:

• 4 large eggs beaten
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups Wesson or Canola oil minus 3 tablespoons 
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 5 cups flour
• 1-12 oz. package semi-sweet chocolate chips 
• 2 cups chopped walnuts

Directions: 

• In a large bowl beat eggs. Add in sugars and vanilla, mix well.
• Measure out oil and then subtract 3 tablespoons oil and return it back to bottle.
• Beat eggs, sugar, vanilla and oil until well combined. 
• In another bowl whisk salt. baking soda and flour together. Fold in half of flour mixture to sugar oil mixture. Mix well and then add in rest of flour mixture. Mix well. 
• By hand fold in chips and walnuts. Chill dough in freezer for 45 minutes. 
• Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone pads. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 
• Roll dough into 2 inch balls, no need to flatten and place on baking sheet. 
• Bake 11 minutes and cool a few minutes on baking sheet and then transfer to cooling rack. 

Tablescape: Napkin Folding Christmas Tree

A tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUIoqUEs_RY
Advice: turn your sound down a notch as the origami lady comes on a bit loud but her tutorial is quite good and easy to follow.