Sometimes the recipe has an outcome you hadn’t expected. Good or bad! This time it’s somewhere in-between. The cookie flavor is lacking ‘though a tablespoon of vanilla is used, and all the nuts and chocolate chips can’t help. So … rather than sharing a recipe I doubt I will ever try again I’d like to share some of my favorite chocolate chip recipes.
Thanks neighbors for being my taste testers.
Chocolate is still my favorite dessert flavor. I can go days without it. But then thoughts of chocolate begin to circle and are relentless until I meet the craving. My recipe for this rich and moist chocolate pound cake does the trick. One must, the chocolate (for me) must be very very good if not the best. This recipe uses an entire cup of cocoa and it will drive the taste of this cake. You want the best available cocoa. If you haven’t an idea about what’s the best unsweetened cocoa ingredient to use check out Cook’s Illustrated’s ratings here.
Devil’s Food Chocolate Pound Cake, a great treat for those Halloween visitors!
This looks more like a drink. Just a teaser until the dessert is finished. Try it! Limoncello
Did I say Picnic! The perfect dessert for the backyard barbecue. Yes, this is a doctored cake mix. But I have all the secrets to give this cake a homemade taste. Have you noticed the chocolate cake mixes are the most difficult to conceal that box taste. Even brownie mixes have that telltale taste. This is easily resolved by using a yellow cake mix and adding the cocoa, (better quality, I would bet). Here’s the other issue with box mixes … They have become smaller in weight. Now every recipe you have using a cake mix is thrown off. The recipes might work but only sorta … texture is different and the overall cake size is smaller.
So, if you can find a 18.25 ounce box mix for this recipe you are ahead but if not, here is something you can do. First, what is the size of your cake mix? Most likely 15.25 ounces instead. You are now 3 ounces off. Here are some choices:
The Perfect Solution
Buy two box mixes. With the second box mix contents measure out 3 ounces by your kitchen scale. Add this to your first box mix contents and save the remainder of the second box for your next cake. One extra box will provide enough additional contents for 5 recipes … if converting to 18.25 ounces from a 15.25 ounce box. Does this make sense?
Almost Perfect
You say you don’t have a kitchen scale. Neither do I. You can pour all the ingredients of the second box into a large multi-cup measuring cup and divide this measured amount by five. Then use this 1/5 as the amount to add to the ingredient shy box mix.
Stretching Perfection
First, there are approximately 2 tablespoons in a liquid ounce. How does that help us? It doesn’t! That’s trying to convert weight into a liquid measurement formula. OK, that understood, in my reading I have found, according to King Arthur Flour, 1 cup of all purpose flour is equivalent to 4.25 ounces weight. And since one cup is equivalent to 16 tablespoons then every tablespoon is .26 ounces. And if we use this math then 10 tablespoons would be equivalent to 3 ounces or close, 2.6 ounces. (Other reading I have found a claim that 6 tablespoons of all purpose weigh 1.75 ounces. Closer yet, .29 per tablespoon. I think we’re good.) How does this work with cake mix ingredients? Is cake mix equivalent in weight to all purpose flour? Probably close enough. But let’s take it a step further. How about just adding 10 tablespoons of all purpose flour to your 3 ounce shy cake mix and forget buying the extra box of cake mix that may end up wasted anyway. There you go!
Here, too, is another SMORE recipe for those days you’re not into a whole cake. Or it’s raining outside, Oven S’mores.
The taste of this cake (cupcake) recipe reminds me of a chocolate malted, mildly chocolate. For years I’ve baked this recipe and dressed it with all sorts of frostings … from coconut pecan to chocolate coffee, chocolate buttercream to vanilla buttercream. This moist cake is perfect for everyone. With a slight change up of frosting it becomes a special cake for that special someone. And yes, someone in our family likes Malted Milk Ball candies. I believed I had come up with something original only to find Malted Milk Balls have been used for sometime in this way. Ha. BUT not with this cake recipe. Cake recipe here.
Just about any candies can be treated in this way. Try my Peanut Butter Cake and suggested frosting with chopped up Butterfingers or Peanut Butter Cups or Heath Bars.
Coming up … Have I a new delicious dessert for you. Soon! Get your 9″ springform pan ready. Here are a few of my favs for Valentine’s. Some are time intensive and others, not so much. All perfectly delicious. Enjoy!
Tiramisu  Red Wine Dessert Sauce  Chocolate Pie   Oatmeal Raspberry
Bread with Heart       Decorated Hearts       Italian Cream Cake
Butterscotch Pie                            Blondies
German Chocolate    Fudge Sauce    Brownies    Chocolate Eclairs
It’s probably no surprise this is the busiest time of year for candy, and over 70% purchased will be chocolate. And when you add America’s favorite drink to the mix how can you go wrong. Chocolate and coffee are not only loved they are the classic combination! So why not add brewed coffee in place of water called for in this classic Devil’s Food Cake recipe. Sounds good to me! And add coffee to the buttercream frosting too. WOW! Coffee Rich Devil’s Food Cake, a delicious dessert. You just can’t go wrong! Use your favorite brewed coffee for that hint of favorite flavor. Have fun with it!
Try this Devil’s Food Recipe too.
Complicated and difficult can produce wonderful results but it’s not an approach that is always necessary for deliciously wonderful results. So quick and simple, mix it up today! Double this recipe for an eight inch double layer cake.
I’ve been making Chocolate Chip Cookies for many years using the original Toll House Recipe. I don’t know if my memory is failing me but I don’t remember a butter option … The recipe called for shortening and a teaspoon of water. No longer.
Often we develop cookie (other foods too) taste and texture preferences early on and we tend to go back to these over and over. You may prefer a chewy chocolate chip cookie while another prefers a crispy one and still another may even prefer a Chips Ahoy.
Butter and shortening may be used interchangeably in this homemade cookie recipe but know the results will be very different. There is nothing like a butter taste but I enjoy a taller cookie that is hard to achieve with butter unless the dough with butter is refrigerated until firm before baking. And still there is a chance if baked just a little too long the cookie will be crispy. I have a taller chewy cookie preference but not too tall. I solve this by using half butter and half shortening. I’ve become accustomed to using salted butter for cookie making. Options for no salt butter were not often available many years ago. And since shortening has no salt I add just a pinch more salt.
The chocolate chips used are equally important. The choices today are pretty varied. Since I grew up on one particular type, the only one available except for a waxy knock off, it’s my choice to this day. Use the chocolate chips you and your family like best.
It has been my experience too that the baking makes a big difference in texture. Most old recipes call for a 375 degree F oven. I like to knock this down to 325 degrees … baking a little longer and removing the cookies at the right moment, a slightly golden brown. Any longer and the cookies will become crunchy when cooled to room temperature.
Hope you enjoy comparing some old recipes for this Old Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookie. And just maybe trying something a little bit different.
