btw
did you take your username from .... either way, i take your kindly advice on board ha
Recipes & Cookbooks
off topic... Yes, I love to bake and my friends call me Betty Crocker, so whe joining here it was pretty much a no brainer to drop the first "r" in the last name ..LOL
@RBKWP - completely agree, the precise nature of baking has made me try to stay away
@Betty - cookies would be a good shout. Any nice chocolate chip recipes? I tried triple choc chewy ones a few weeks. It was fine until the baking; then they all merged into one huge cookie in the oven lol.
Was fun eating it though.
A few tips on baking cookies:
1. spacing - make sure they are far enough apart so if they spread they don't join.
2. Humidity/altitude affects baking.
3. Chill your dough. (very important)
4. Don't "overcream" the sugar/butter, and don't "overbeat" after adding the dry ingredients. Overcreaming will make your cookies runny, overbeating will make them tough.
5. Timing is everything! For the perfect cookie, follow the directions and bake precisely. Use a timer for the perfect cookie.
For exampel: If you want it soft and chewy, typically 10 minutes will do the trick (depending on the size, thickness of the cookie.) That is for an average cookie. If you want it crunchy, bake for 2 minutes longer.
Good luck. Her is a basic chocolate chip that I WOULD say is foolproof, but... we all know how that goes... haha.
CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
1 cup COLD butter flavored shortening
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs (straight from the fridge... not at room temp.)
2 teaspoons Mexican vanilla extract (Mexican Vanilla ROCKS!!)
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter flavored shortening, brown sugar and white sugar until light and fluffy. (You may have to stop the mixer and scrape the beaters to make sure that all the shortenig and sugars are fully incorperated.)
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, stopping the mixer to scrape the sides of the bowl; then stir in the vanilla .
Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually stir into the creamed mixture. (I use a very large tablespoon and just drop the dry ingredients in by spoonfuls as the beaters combine the wet/dry together.)
Finally, fold in the chocolate chips and pecans.
Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets. (I use a large melon baller for perfect cookies.)
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until the sides are light brown. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. (8 minutes = soft chewy cookies; 10 minutes = darker cookies that will be more like cookies you get at the store.)