Last week was all about getting myself into the holiday spirit. What better way than by baking cookies? Cookies are the ultimate in holiday goodies. There's nothing better than making the perfect cookie and sharing it with friends and loved ones.
Deciding on cookies was the easy part. Then I starting thinking about what flavour combination I wanted to play around with. Butterscotch reminds me of the holidays. So I decided to tweak a tried and true recipe (Chocolate Damnation Cookies) and swap out the pecans and dried cranberries in that recipe with butterscotch chips for this one.
With the recipe sorted out I then had to remember another key component of baking cookies; it's all about that perfect bite.
With these cookies it really is all about under cooking them just a wee bit... a gooey centre to bite your teeth into is always a good thing! These are already being handed out to friends and loved ones... my friend Jeff is a real fan (so is his office).
The one thing about these cookies... the batter needs to chill at least 60 minutes (or up to 3 days) in the fridge before you can shape the dough and bake them. Just factor in that extra "prep" time... and you're good to go! Oh, and by using the salted butter you don't need to add any additional salt to this recipe ;0)
Chocolate Butterscotch-Chip Cookies
ingredients:
10 squares of semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 c. salted butter, room temperature
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 c. dark chocolate chips
1 1/2 c. butterscotch-chips
Melt the chocolate in a saucepan (small pot) over medium-low heat, stirring continuously (so that the chocolate doesn't burn). Once completely melted, set the pot aside and start on the rest of the batter.
In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda.
With your mixer, cream together the butter and sugars together (paddle attachment) - start at a lower speed (2) and then increase to a medium speed (4 or 6) to create that pale, fluffy look. Lower the speed and beat in the eggs (one at a time) and then the vanilla until everything is very blended. Beat in the melted chocolate.
Stop your mixer and add the flour mixture to the batter. Turn your mixer to the stir speed and slowly incorporate all the flour into the chocolate. Toss in the chocolate chips and butterscotch chips and turn on the mixer so that they distribute evenly into the batter (about 30 seconds). Cover the bowl and allow to chill for at least 60 minutes in your fridge (it will firm up). Easy eh?
When you're just about ready to bake these babies... preheat your oven to 350 F. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Shape the dough into golf sized-balls - it's easiest to form them with your hands; pull up your sleeves and get your hands a little dirty, it's fun! Place them about 2 inches apart - I got about 8 cookies per cookie sheet; and bake for 13 minutes - you want them to just set; soft cookies are good. Leave them on the cookie sheet for an extra two minutes (once out of the oven) and they will firm up a bit without getting too hard. Cool completely on a wire rack.
I got 25 cookies. If you decided to make small cookies (using a mini ice-cream scooper) you'll get 4 dozen cookies and you should bake them for about 7-8 minutes.
Whichever size you decide on, you'll end up with lots to share and even more people with huge smiles on their faces (oh, and a great smelling kitchen)!
Enjoy... and happy beginning of the season! :0)
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