Cooking

[trailerparkmedic]

I made Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles today, because making food is much more fun than writing papers. So delicious!

Does it count as cooking if all I had to do was heat the chocolate and mix stuff together?

Anyone else make anything fun lately?

[Exaspera]

Dayam! I'm gonna make those for the next event I have or go to!

Seeing as I an really a horrible cook, what if I just bought the slice and bake type cookies and made them that way?

[trailerparkmedic]

I don't think you are supposed to eat most cookie dough raw. If that doesn't bother you, I don't see why it would make a difference. The only difference is that the dough in the recipe is very soft so rolling into balls and then dunking it was a bit slow since I had to keep popping it back in the freezer. I don't think my fiance's coworkers will care if they're soft!

Even if you're a bad cook, making the dough involves 3 steps. Mix, then mix, then mix. I skipped the salt & baking powder since you're not actually baking the dough (and since all I had on hand was self rising flour).

[CoffeeMonkey]

I think the problem with the slice and bake dough is that it contains raw eggs. While I've never been concerned enough about raw eggs to not eat homemade cookie dough (yum), the more significant risk comes from products where lots of eggs are mixed together before being used, such as with cookie dough. And I've seen several recalls for possible salmonella in refridgerated dough products before.

What you CAN do, and I've done doughballs like this before, is make toll house cookie dough, just like on the chocolate chip bag, but instead of raw eggs, use a pasturized egg product (half a cup for the standard 2 egg recipe). It's safe to eat raw cuz it's pasturized, and it won't likely be as soft as the milk version.

Don't leave out the salt! Salt is there to enhance the other flavors, and everything always tastes better with a little salt.

Thanks for reminding me about these awesome treats. I know what I'm bringing to my potluck next weekend.

[MaggieTheCat]

You can also get actual eggs that as pasteurized, at least around here you can. I made homemade raw eggnog out of them for Christmas.

Yesterday I made a semi-healthy oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. It had whole wheat flour instead of white flour and applesauce in place of some of the shortening. They were divine and all my friends raved about them and totally didn't notice that they were a slightly healthier cookie.

[Exaspera]

Good idea about the pasteurized egg product, thanks! I was trying just to make the whole thing lazier.

[Magpie]

While I've never been concerned enough about raw eggs to not eat homemade cookie dough (yum),

I never was until my bout with food poisoning. Of course, I don't think I bothered to inspect the shells like you're supposed to. (I was cooking it, why bother with that?)

[BookstoreEscapee]

I had a chocolate cream cheese truffle recipe I was going to make at Christmas (you should be able to find it on the Philadelphia cream cheese web site), but I never got around to it. I was softened cream cheese and melted semi-sweet baking chocolate mixed together, rolled into balls, then coated with more melted chocolate. I still have the chocolate in my kitchen. Last week I took a square, chopped it up and mixed it into cherry vanilla ice cream.

I have no problem eating a bit of cookie dough as I'm baking, but I don't think I'd want to eat the whole tube. Though if I make them it's usually the Toll-House recipe from the bag, not refrigerated dough. When I was a senior in college, we used to buy a thing of dough and we'd make eight cookies at a time (I had 3 roommates) and eat them fresh out of the oven. Mmmmm.

Yesterday I made a semi-healthy oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. It had whole wheat flour instead of white flour and applesauce in place of some of the shortening. They were divine and all my friends raved about them and totally didn't notice that they were a slightly healthier cookie.

Recipe????? I love oatmeal and chocolate (sometimes I even melt dark chocolate Hershey Kisses into my instant oatmeal).

[MaggieTheCat]

I agree, oatmeal and chocolate are a wonderful combination. Let's see...

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 cup oatmeal or rolled oats (I used the Quaker quick-cooking oatmeal)
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup chocolate chips (or more if you want them extra chocolatey!)

1. In a small bowl, combine the oats, whole wheat flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream the butter with the applesauce and sugars. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until well blended.

3. Gradually add the dry ingredients and beat until incorporated. Mix in chocolate chips.

4. Drop by spoonfuls on parchment-lined baking sheets and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, until golden brown around the edges and just set.

I used my own homemade applesauce for this, which is somewhat sweet, so if you use unsweetened applesauce, you might have to add a little more sugar to sweeten them. I also used a slightly "heaping" 1/4 cup of applesauce. Makes about 30 cookies.

Enjoy!