Favorite Cookies

[Mark Heide]

I have not been able to find a place anymore that makes good pizzelle cookies, so I finally decided to buy a pizzelle baker and make my own. Well they turned out great! So, if you're interested in making the best pizzelle cookies follow my reciepe for thick southern Italian style:

Three grade A eggs from cage free vegetarian hens. One cup of ultra fine bakers sugar. Mix together with a hand mixer. Add one stick (1/4 pound) of melted unsalted butter. Add one teaspoon of vanilla extract along with about 3/4 of a teaspoon of anise extract (do not use imitation extracts). Mix well. Add 3 1/2 cups of natural white flour (use Hodgson Mill organic--do not use flour that is bleached). Add two tablespoons of baking powder. This will create a very thick mixture and you will have to mix it by hand once you get all the flour mixed in. For baking on a dual 5 inch pizzelle baker, roll up the mixture into approximately one inch balls and place them in the baker for 60 to 90 seconds depending on how dark you want them. These are the best!!!!

Good Luck

Mark

[Ray Zee]

of course they are good you knucklehead. they have a whole stick of butter in them.

[Rockfish]

[ripdog]

Here, off the top of my head, is the best recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies that I've ever tasted:

2 C. flour
2 C. oatmeal
2 C. white sugar
2 C. brown sugar
1 C. raisins
2 sticks butter (softened)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
0.5 tsp. nutmeg
0.25 tsp. ground cloves
2 eggs

In a large bowl, mix eggs, sugars, vanilla, cloves, nutmeg, and butter. Add baking powder, baking soda, salt, flour and oatmeal and mix. Mix in raisins, then chill dough for at least an hour. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Drop dough by the spoonful onto an ungreased cookie sheet, then flatten them with the palm of your hand. Cook for 8-10 minutes, then get them onto a cooling rack as quick as possible--they'll stick hard after 5 minutes and you'll have only crumbs to eat.

If the dough isn't cold enough, it'll stick to your hand. Flattening is very important! The cookies don't taste as good if you skip this step. Also, the dough doesn't taste very good and the cookies taste better after they've had a chance to cool off some. Don't leave out the cloves--they make the recipe, I think. Also, don't add more then the suggested amount of cloves--I tried doubling it once and it was way too much. They're crispy/chewy and taste great, I always talk to myself after an batch of these, they're the best. I've been making these for 15 years (but eating them for 34) and haven't had an O.R. cookie that compares. My sister-in-law always begs me to make them--but she's a [censored], so no cookies for her.

[Jimbo]

"My sister-in-law always begs me to make them--but she's a [censored], so no cookies for her."

Ripdog was the censored word Republican? /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

[Zeno]

Tollhouse chocolate chip. Use semisweet chocolate and forget the walnuts. If you make the oatmeal cookies, forget the raisins. It is a crime to add raisins to any cookie.

-Zeno

[Mark Heide]

Ray,

The butter is the key ingredient. Almost all grocery store cookies are made with some type of oil which is why they taste so terrible. You can still get good cookies most of the time from private family bakery shops.

Mark

[Mark Heide]

ripdog,

Thanks for posting the receipe.

Mark

[Mark Heide]

Zeno,

Try using Giardelli semi-sweet chocolates. I don't like the Nestle or Hershey brands.

Mark

[Allan]

Mark,

If you've never tried plugra I suggest you try and find it see what you think. It is european style butter and is much more flavorful than typical Land o' Lakes or whatever. There is a company, I believe called Keller's, that makes it and I see in some of the better grocery stores. If you do find it try a taste test of your current butter against this stuff, just plain....no toast or crackers or anything. I was amazed when I first tried it. It can be a little pricey but it is well worth it.

Allan

[Jimbo]

Allan is correct, it is the best. Try here Plugra Locater (http://www.butter1.com/plugralocatormap.html) to find a store near you.

[Ray Zee]

4hours drive for me to get there. why i would have the heart attack before i even got the stick of death.

[Jimbo]

Ray it must suck to live 4 hours from a "real" grocery store, and thought I had it bad living 4 hours away from the nearest casino. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

[Ray Zee]

i am four hours from the grocery store but ten minutes from 50 casinos.

[Mark Heide]

Jimbo,

Thanks for the link. There's a specialty grocery store called Trader Joes that stocks Ray's "death sticks."

Mark

[John Cole]

"It is a crime to add raisins to any cookie."

Agree completely. Once I mistook raisins for chocolate chips, and the regular coffee container had been mistakenly filled with hazelnut. This deadly combination, if not for the quick actions of the EMTs, would have had dire physical effects. The psychological effect? Well, I still have trouble speaking about it.

[The_Baron]

Absolutely correct. Raisins and nuts are nature's versions of Cheetos and Doritos. They're intended to be eaten by themselves as a snack. Raisins and nuts should never be included in any recipe you wouldn't be equally comfortable with using Cheetos or Doritos.

[snakehead]

what's a cooling rack?

[ripdog]

[ripdog]

The word was not republican. Think female dogs! I wouldn't withhold these babies based on political affiliation. That would be un-American! /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

[Allan]

cooling rack (http://ww2.williams-sonoma.com/cat/pip.cfm?vs=ecomm&src=scscbkwbaci%7Crshop%7Cv&sid=W SE05OSHE52GCECWKA13M0P5QELS8XHD200306300938&root=s hop&gids=b033&cat=bkwbaci)



Allan