Saturday, February 7, 2009

Our maiden voyage!

Yes, I finally figured out what I was going to make first with my new mixer. It was a tough decision. Last week's cookies were such a disappointment, I wanted to be certain that today's pick was a good one. So, for the maiden voyage of the Kitchen Aid mixer that Superman surprised me with (I'm still squealing on the inside!), I decided to make these awesome Simple Chocolate Drop Cookies from Heather at HomeEc 101. As you can see, Valiant was an awesome sous chef to help me (and play with the new mixer) today and his assistance made it all the more fun. (Everyone has been so excited. They've been impatiently waiting all of 24 hours for me to try out the mixer...it is definitely a family affair!) Simple Chocolate Drop Cookies 1/2 cup butter - softened 1/2 cup brown sugar - packed 1/4 cup granulated sugar 1 tsp vanilla (okay, I never measure, I just pour) 1 egg 1 cup all purpose flour 1/4 cup Special Dark cocoa powder (I used regular Hershey's Cocoa) 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/8 tsp salt A couple of handfuls of semi-sweet chocolate chips (see Note) Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter and sugar together at medium speed until fluffy (roughly two minutes). Add egg and vanilla and stir until just combined. In separate bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Add to batter mixture and mix gently until just combined. (This is where I threw in a few handfuls of chocolate chips.) Spoon by rounded tablespoon (I used my Pampered Chef scoop) onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-11 minutes. Notes: Since I didn't have Special Dark cocoa powder, I added a couple of handfuls of semi-sweet chocolate chips to make certain the flavor was rich enough. Other than that I didn't make any modifications to the recipe (I did double the recipe for game night...I got 30 cookies out of the double batch). I must say, these are terrific and, as you can see, the kids agree! (Don't mind the tough one - he wasn't going to smile.) The other great thing about this recipe is that it uses stuff I always have on hand, so I can whip them up whenever. Give them a try, you'll really like them. One last note I just had to share with you. The Armchair Housewife found a radio station that plays Big Band era music with online streaming and was kind enough to share the find with us all, so I've been enjoying the Big Band sound for the last two hours...it is amazing. It reminds me of the times we would visit my grandparents and my grandpa would have this music on in the background. It is so fun...click here and push "play" if you want to listen on your computer. (Thanks again, Superman, I love it!)

6 comments:

MaMa eNCHaNTeD said...

Congrats! What fun to have the whole family involved. What did you use before this lovely mixer made it's debut? BTW,I just made some homemade french fries, and am getting grease all over the keyboard. oops.

Erin said...

Ooh! How did the french fries turn out? The second time I made them they turned out even better than the first. Before I had this lovely mixer, I have had two of the Kitchen Aid hand mixers. They are really, really good and so I spent a long time saying I didn't want/need the stand mixer. The past two years, though, I've been doing so much more...Superman says I NEEDED it. Plus, I could buy the wheat grinder attachment instead of a wheat grinder...maybe...that is 2010s dream machine!

Anonymous said...

I am so excited for your kitchen Aid. The cookies look good. I have to remember when I bake that there are only 2 of us in this house. I went a little over board and had 4 baked goods sitting in the house at one time... corn muffins, banana bread, brownies and oatmeal cookies. Time to slow down a bit.

Erin said...

You know you can freeze them, right? You can even freeze cookie-shaped dough so that you only cook a few at a time and always have fresh cookies...

Charming said...

The cookies were so good!!!

Melissa Henning said...

I love this. every time I read, "okay, I never measure, I just pour" I laugh out loud! lawl!