Friday, April 6, 2007

Cakey Cookies



Last nights dinner was a reheating of leftovers, so there certainly isn't an exciting dinner post. But despite being gone most of the day having fun with the kids, by the time I got home I was ready to bake something. I decided to knock another cookbook off of my list and make a cookie out of Sara Foster's Fresh Every Day. This cookie intrigued me- pumpkin white chocolate cookies sounded really different to me, and I had all the ingredients on hand. So while the oven warmed up, I pulled some frozen pumpkin out of the freezer to defrost and gathered the rest of my ingredients.

The very first step is one I should talk about because it is vital to this cookie, and is different from other cookies that I've made. You begin by placing your flour and baking soda in a food processor and whirring to combine. Then you add 1 cup of butterscotch chips to the flour, and process again. This chops up the butterscotch chips into the flour and adds a very light flavor of butterscotch to the cookies without being overwhelming. The rest of the ingredients are stirred in and then the whole mixture is chilled for a bit before baking. I did not make these cookies as big as the recipe recommends. My cookies were more like two inches, and it made about 40 cookies for me.

And they were a very different cookie! They were not a crispy cookie, which disappointed me at first, but the flavor was good enough to get me going back for another cookie. The pumpkin comes through, and the white chocolate bites are really balanced, and not overwhelming like white chocolate can get. Overall, a really good cookie. Next time I make them I plan to add a dash of cinnamon, but other than that, these cookies are a winner and different enough to make them a repeater. You can never have enough variety when it comes to drop cookies. Then last night as I was putting away these cookies, I was struck with inspiration. These are on the cakey side, and it occurred to me that they would be really good with ice cream. So I pulled out the vanilla frozen yogurt and placed a generous scoop between two cookies. This I wrapped with plastic wrap and tucked into the freezer for a few hours to meld. A little bit later, Andy and I had ice cream sandwiches while we got caught up on The Amazing Race. These cookies make very excellent ice cream sandwiches. In fact, those sandwiches were so good, that these cookies are worth making just for that purpose! Pumpkin White Chocolate Chunk cookies are really good, and the recipe is in the trove, ready for sharing. Thanks Sara Foster!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I really want that cookbook. I've been eyeing it for a long time. Pretty much anything with pumpkin is going to be more cakey...that's just the quality pumpkin gives to baked goods. Sounds like you made the best of it, though!

Erika W. said...

Claire, this is my favorite cookbook. There are very few recipes in it that I wouldn't make- they all just sound so fresh and appealing, and many of the recipes have variations that go with the different seasons. Well worth the purchase price for this one. (I've heard the new Sara Foster isn't as good as this one)

Jeanna said...

Where did you find the frozen pumpkin or did you save it yourself? I have a friend down here in the Madison/Stoughton area that was going nuts trying to find frozen pumpkin.

Erika W. said...

Jeanna it was pumpkin that I had cooked up and frozen last fall. I have seen it frozen though at Woodman's here in Green Bay- it's in a little box, and here it's on the top shelf in the freezer.

Anonymous said...

we have a pumpkin white chocolate chip cookie that we make pretty frequently, I'll have to find the recipe for you

Erika W. said...

Please do Andy! I'd love to see how it compares.