Thursday, January 10, 2013

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bowls

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bowls

On a lazy Saturday afternoon while watching TV, the ladies at Bake, Decorate, Celebrate were making Chocolate Cookie Bowls with a Wilton cookie bowl pan.  Their dessert bowls looked yummy and it looked like lots of fun making them, so I hunted down the pan, then read the reviews.  Whoa...this pan got a public lashing.  Cooks were having a hard time making the bowls and complaining that the chocolate chip cookie recipe that came with the package was terrible.  Well, I ordered the pan anyway.

My first attempt at making the chocolate chip bowls with the Wilton recipe was so bad I am embarrassed to post a picture here.  If you need a good laugh today, you can see it on my facebook page

The final recipe and batch #3 is a community recipe written with the help of Ileen Cummings, Robin Wilson, Nathan Andre, and Sue Hale Hayes. Thanks again for all of your input and help.  You can visit Robin's cookie recipe and blog at Rustic Flavor.   

I am not sure why Wilton continues to publish the terrible chocolate chip cookie recipe, because as you can see from the picture above, the bowls are really cute with a good recipe.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bowls

Our bowl recipe is a cross between a soft cookie and pie crust, perfect for holding a bowl shape.

1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 stick butter
1 1/2 teaspoon molasses
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 + teaspoon baking soda (just a wee bit more than a 1/4 tsp.)
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, frozen (I used Ghirardelli semi-sweet)

Cream the butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, molasses.  Whip your egg then add it to the butter/sugar and mix. Add 1 1/2 cup flour and mix.  If you dough is very sticky add another 1/4 cup of flour and chill dough for at least 10 minutes.

Lightly spray your pan with butter spray and then wipe it off.  The pan should be oily feeling but not slathered with spray.

Roll out your chilled dough on a floured surface and cut in 4 1/2 inch diameter circles. (I used a lid that I dipped in flour).  Place dough on the backside of the pan and lightly firm up around the pan with your fingers.  Do not pull the dough down the sides, it will spread as it bakes.

Cook in a 350 degree preheated oven for 9-11 minutes.  Remember the cookie bowls will continue to bake on the pan after they are removed from the oven, so under-bake them.

If saving your bowls for later use, store with a slice of white bread, it will help keep them moist.

Lessons learned:
Whip your egg right before you add it to your dough to introduce air, but don't whip it and let it sit around because it will deflate.
Molasses is acidic and reacts with the baking soda, which adds more air.
If butter is too firm, your dough will not get fluffy.

Extra special thanks to Robin Wilson for suggesting I freeze my chips to help bind them to the dough...it works! 

For more baking science fun, check out http://www.culinate.com/articles/features/baking_chemistry

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