The WKMS Sounds Good Cookie Contest Bake-Off was Saturday, September 15, 2012 in the food preparation laboratories of Murray State's Nutrition, Dietetics and Foot Management Program. Five finalists baked. Judges Kathy Timmons, Anne Newberry and Cadelia Turpin selected winners as follows: 1st: Patricia Carrico's French Cream Wafers; 2nd: Barbara Cox's Double Chocolate Dream Cookies; and 3rd: Jessica Evans' Macadamia Cookies with Lemon and White Chocolate. The top three cookie bakers received Gift Certificates from Elements of Murray. All finalists received autographed copies of Lynne Rosetto Kasper's book A Summertime Grilling Guide from the Splendid Table. WKMS received 23 recipe entries in its first cookie contest.
1ST PLACE: Patricia Carrico - French Cream Wafers
This recipe has been passed down from my French Canadian grandmother. We used to make these at our house at Christmas only even though we would beg my mother at other times of the year. She always thought that they were too time consuming to make. As we got older, we would help her with these cookies. My mother became concerned about using raw egg (in the original recipe it called for an egg yolk in the filling), so she didn't make them for several years until egg beaters became available. We played around with the amounts of egg beaters until the filling was just right.
These are melt in your mouth cookies that everyone who has tasted them, enjoys them.
French Cream Wafers
1 cup butter
2 cups flour
1/3 cup heavy cream
Mix ingredients thoroughly and chill. Roll out to about 1/8 inch thickness and cut with 1.5 inch circular cookie cutter. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven.
Filling
2 TBSP egg beaters
1/4 cup softened butter
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp. almond extract
Combine all filling ingredients. Put two cooled cookies together with the filling in between like a sandwich. Makes 2.5 dozen.
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2ND PLACE: Barbara Cox - Double Chocolate Dream Cookie
This was my Nonna from Italy's cookie recipe that I have updated a bit over the years . It took me awhile to find the right dark chocolate that she used. I was using Hershey's till I came across Cacao di Pernigotti which I found at William &Sonoma.She always used milk chocolate chips,one day my neighbor who loves dark chocolate said you should try them with dark chocolate. So I did and my friends and neighbors and of course my grandchildren love them!
They are definitely for chocolate lovers!
Double Chocolate Dream Cookie
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour.
1/2 cup dark chocolate powder.
1 tea soda
1/2 tea salt
2 sticks butter
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cups white sugar
2 tea Madagascar vanilla
2 large eggs
2 cups dark chocolate chips
Oven at 375
Combine flour,cacao,soda & salt in small bowl. Beat together sugars,vanilla,butter and eggs till creamy,gradually add flour mixture. Drop by tablespoons on baking sheet,bake 9 minutes.
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3RD PLACE: Jessica Evans - Macadamia Cookies with lemon and white chocolate
This recipe came about to satisfy a particularly exact friend.
My budding entrepreneurial skills during my senior year of high school led me to a plan to sell cookies to make some extra money for college. As an entering freshman, the burden of not having any money became even more apparent when the first tuition statement arrived at my house left me wondering, “How am I going to pay for this?”
I secretly hustled cookies between classes, and had become pretty successful in my venture after a few weeks. My most memorable experience happened when a friend made a special request for macadamia nut cookies. I proudly presented him the next day my cookies and anxiously awaited the expressions of palatable delight and mouthwatering deliciousness to appear after tasting one. “Where’s the chocolate?” he said with a less than satisfied look. “ There are supposed to be little white chocolates in here”. I told him that he asked for macadamia nut cookies, not white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, to which he became even more displeased. “They’re good, just not what I wanted”. Horrified, I took a cookie from the bag and asked another nearby person how they were. I sold a dozen on the first bite to the person who would subsequently become my best customer. My friend on the other hand asked if I could make white chocolate macadamia nut cookies next time.
Macadamia Cookies with lemon and white chocolate
2 cups flour
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup light brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
½ cup salted butter
4 oz cream cheese
1 lg. egg
2 tsp lemon juice or lemon extract
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 ½ cup macadamia nuts (variation, ½ cup macadamia nuts, 1 cup white chocolate chips)
Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Mix well. In a separate large bowl, blend sugars until combined. Add butter and cream cheese, beat with mixer on medium speed to form paste. Add egg, lemon juice , and vanilla extract and beat at medium speed until light and soft. Add flour mixture and macadamia nuts (and white chocolate chips if using). Blend at low speed. Drop rounded tablespoons onto cookie sheets. Bake 23-25 min. Remove and place on cooling rack.
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FINALIST: Erin Carrico - Coconut Butter Cookies
Ever since I was a small child (I am currently 27), the women in my family have always had "Cookie Day" the week before Christmas. This is an entire day devoted to baking cookies and holiday creations to hand out to friends and family. It is a long-loved and highly anticipated day in the Carrico family. Every year my mother pulls out her recipe box containing generations of cookies handed down from her grandmother. As my mother stands in my great-grandmother's apron, we review and pick and choose what treats to make for the year. Last year, my mother pulled out this recipe from my great-grandmother's recipes. She told me of how my great-grandmother had made these amazing cookies, basically with just butter and coconut. The recipe sounded almost too simple, but it made an incredible cookie! I asked my mother, "Why have you waited so long to teach me this recipe?!?" She simply replied, "Well, I just have so many in this box, we have just never gotten around to it."
This recipe is interesting because I had never used a sugared glass to flatten a cookie BEFORE the cookies are baked in the oven. It creates a crunchy, chewy affect when the cookies are taken out of the oven. Even though my mother waited years to teach me this recipe, all of the cookies were eaten very quickly from our pile of baked goods that Christmas. "Cookie Day" we have celebrated year after year, through grandmothers and now with just my mother, sister and I. It is a day we spend together as women with my mother teaching us old techniques passed down through our generations.
Coconut Butter Cookies
1 Cup Butter
2/3 Cup of Light Brown Sugar
1 Egg
2 Teaspoons of Vanilla
1/4 Teaspoon of Salt
1 Can of Coconut
Directions: Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in egg, vanilla and salt. Add flour gradually, blending after each addition. Stir in coconut. Drop by teaspoon on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten with sugared glass. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes or until brown at edges. Makes 4.5 dozen.
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FINALIST: Susie Fenwick - Brown Butter Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies
Barbara Jordan once said, "Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap."
Now if only bacon could be incorporated into this scenario, I believe the world would approach a state of utopia. We would all dwell in Shangri-la!
At one point in my baking endeavors, I would never have dreamed of incorporating the delectable, savory taste and texture of bacon into a sweet treat of chocolate chip cookie. Let alone increasing the complexity of this sweet/savory cookie by browning the butter. If you have not embraced browned butter, let me assure you that browned butter takes butter to a whole new level.
I was first introduced to the idea of incorporating the salty, smoky goodness of bacon into a confectionery at the gastro pub, "The Blind Pig" in Louisville, KY. After a great dinner, my son and his roommate who was a server at the establishment at the time insisted I try the Butter Pecan Bacon Brittle Ice Cream. Even being the devout foodie and adventuresome eater I am, I was a bit skeptical about the combination.
One taste and you could count me among the believers!
It was sublime!
I like vanilla and I like ice cream but I love cookies especially when they are studded with bacon and three varieties of chocolate and held together with a browned butter laced batter.
So let's grab a warm Brown Butter Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookie, a glass of frosty milk and cozy up for a good old nap, make the world a better place and dream of Shangri-la!
Brown Butter Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies
(adapted from Cooks Illustrated)
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
14 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
4 oz semisweet chocolate bar, diced into 1/4? pieces
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (I like Ghirardelli 60% cacao)
3 tablespoons milk chocolate, grated
1 cup bacon that’s been fried until crispy and diced into roughly 1/4? pieces
Adjust your oven rack so it's in the middle position. Pre-heat to 375 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Whisk flour and baking soda together in a medium bowl and set aside.
Heat 10 tablespoons of butter in a 10 inch skillet over medium-high heat until melted. Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly. Watch this carefully - butter can go from brown to burned very quickly. When butter is dark-golden brown and has a nutty aroma, remove from heat and immediately transfer to a heatproof bowl. Stir the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter into hot butter until melted.
Add granulated sugar, dark brown sugar, salt, and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until completely mixed. Add egg and egg yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth and there are no lumps of sugar remaining.
Let sugar/egg/butter mixture stand for a few minutes. Then whisk again for 30 seconds. Do this several times - you want to make sure that the sugar has "melted" into the liquid. When ready, mixture will be smooth, thick and shiny. Using wooden spoon, stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Stir in grated chocolate, chocolate chunks, chocolate chips, and bacon pieces. Don't overmix but make sure no flour pockets remain.
Using a teaspoon, place a heaping teaspoon of cookie dough on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I get about 14 on a baking sheet. Bake for 10-14 minutes (my oven takes 11 minutes) until cookies are golden-brown and set along the edges but the middle is still soft. Remove from oven and set baking sheet on a wire rack and let cool for at least 10 minutes.
