Specifically, I’m looking for recipes for the following goodies:
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Brownies
Oatmeal/Raisin Cookies
There are a ton of online recipes but I was wondering if anyone had a favourite that they wouldn’t mind sharing. It doesn’t have to be limited to the above list, feel free to add anything else you have. Thanks.
Edit: should this be moved? If I say they’re for training purposes can it stay here 
Carbo loading…
this will show my nuerotic tendencies, but i practiced 2 years to finally make awesome chocolate chip cookies (and for cheesecake…i’m embarrassed to tell how long i practiced that!!)
basically, i buy the milk chocolate toll house chips and follow that recipe, minus the nuts. baker’s chocolate also has a terrific recipe–if you feel like hand grating or choping up your chocolate (again, minus the nuts unless you like them in cookies).
what makes a cookie terrific is the technique. the toll house recipe is as follows --please see notes: 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (note 1) 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt (SEA SALT is best, non-iodine is critical)1 cup (2 sticks, 1/2 pound) butter, softened (note 2) 3/4 cup granulated sugar 3/4 cup packed brown sugar 1 teaspoon PURE vanilla extract 2 eggs (note 3) 2 cups (12-ounce package) NESTLE TOLL HOUSE Semi-Sweet or milk Chocolate Morsels 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
for the flour, you want to use the sweep method when measuring (the sweep method is taking a spoon loaded up with flour and dusting it across the measuring cup. you do not dip in your meauring cup to get the flour, instead, use the spoon to dust in the flour to your measuring cup. the measurement per weight will be more accurate, and this is part of the key to a perfect cookie). once you have your measuring cup full, take a straight edge butter knife and level off the measure.
butter should be soft, but not on the verge of melting. room temp or slightly cooler, but not hard.
eggs should be room temp. not warm, but the temperature of the air in the room when felt. leave them out for one hour should be fine.
Preparation:
COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl-whisk together, set aside for later. crack the two eggs into a small bowl, add vanilla (this will allow you to slide one egg at a time later one)
If you like flatter cookies that have a slight crunch when you bite, and then chewy and melted in the center, then the focus of the preparation is all in the butter. The way you beat the butter is the key in how your cookies will turn out. If you like cookies to be “cakey”–thicker and more like a cake, then beat the butter less time.
For thinner chewy cookies (that’s how I like them) beat butter in a mixing bowl by itself. when it looks a very pale yellow, beat it some more for good measure. then you’ll need to “cream the sugar”. this is also a big key in the chewiness or lack of in the cookie. for chewy cookies, gradually add in the sugar and beat. you want to get alot of air into the butter and sugar so beat it good–adding in sugar small amounts at a time. you want it to look “whipped”. if you like the cookie cakey, just add sugar and beat only a little bit.
once the butter is beaten and you’ve creamed the sugar, you’re ready to add eggs. Add eggs one at a time, and the vanilla, beating on low and slow after each addition of eggs. once the eggs are incoporated a little bit, begin to mix by hand now so that the eggs aren’t over beaten (which can make the batter stiff and dry) and also ensures the air stays in the batter. once eggs are mostly incoporated, gradually mix in by hand in flour mixture. once flour is incoporated, fold in your chocolate chips.
cover and freeze for 15-30 minutes so your mixture sets up, and you can spoon it out better for the cookie pan. (the best pan I’ve found is the doughmaker’s cookie pan with the “crackle” finish…it is awesome)
BAKE in preheated 375-degree oven for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
the thing I wan to add is that the butter technique can apply to all cookies as a fundamental (slight crunch and chewy–really beat the butter. cakey and fat, less beating on the butter), as well as hand mixing once eggs are slightly incoporated.
too many cooks over beat the eggs…when this happens the tenderness of the cookie (or baked good) is compromised and moisture is lost. if you’ve ever tasted a cake that was firm and spongey instead of light and fluffy–you can guess the eggs were over beaten in the batter. so, you want to have finess with the eggs, a kind hand and keen eye (unless of course, you are beating stiff peaks…then in that case, beat the hell out of 'em!!)
you probably didn’t even care about all this did you? lol!
That’s perfect. Thanks for writing all that down Kittycat! - I’ll be trying these this week and will report back with the results :D. Yum.
well, sorry if it was over the top. i just know from years ago when I was learning to cook (16 years old!) , the recipes can read fine, but in the end, results can be dissappointing…and the reason is because most recipes leave out techniques and reasons for doing things (and that too is a pet peave of mine).
i guess you know now i’m kind of serious about the whole thing of cooking. LOL!!!
I’ve never baked in my life… until Satruday. I made some chocolate slice stuff. My training partner and I went mountainbiking yesterday. I got four punctures. I digress… back to the matter in hand…
I took some of my ‘baking’. We ate it afterwards. It had no name. I asked Jim to name it. He named it Killer Chocolate Cake:
200g 70% Coco Dark Chocolate
50g Butter
1 tsp sugar
about 250g digestive biscuits, mashed in the smoothie maker.
100g dried fruit
3 tbl spoons finest Peruvian Rum (you can only get this in Peru, slight problem, but any nice rum will do)
Melt the chocolate & Butter. Mix it all together. Put it in the fridge. Eat it.
Goes AMAZING with coffee and Icecream
B
Sweet treats that can double as energy food…
1c. butter
1.5 cups fructose
whip together before adding…
4-5 ripe bananas
2 eggs
then add in…
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups coarse grind (stone ground) whole wheat flour
1 TBL baking soda
2.5 tsp. cinnamon
.5 tsp. nutmeg
4 cups oatmeal
1/3 cup flaxseed
mix all this together then add to the butter mixture
lastly mix in…
2 cups raisins
2 cups dark chocolate chips
1.5 cups broken walnut pieces
bake 7-10 minutes at 350-75 degrees
ENJOY!!!
what are digestive biscuits?
sounds good otherwise
http://www.britshoppe.com/mcvitdigbis.html
Nice dipped in a cup of tea 
Must be able to get them in the US. If not, let’s set up an import business!
yup i’ve seen those… Cost Plus World Market… a big chain store import retailer. thanks for the info
KittyCat’s recipe looks great and here are a few alternatives that I use.
Alton Brown and Good Eats is a great thing. He readily acknowledges that the Nestle Toll House Cookie recipe is the best one. He has three variations on a theme that are referenced below. I STRONGLY recommend the chewy ones. Hands down the best Choc. Chipppers I have had.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ea/episode/0,1976,FOOD_9956_17114,00.html
Additionally his cocoa brownies are great too:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/cda/recipe_print/0,1946,FOOD_9936_17907_PRINT-RECIPE-FULL-PAGE,00.html
Finally for Oatmeal/Raisin cookies, I just use the recipe on the top of the Quaker Oats can - “Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies”. Simple, yet excellent.
Hope that this helps out your carbo loading!
Jumbo Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies.
First saw the recipe on “Everyday Food” on PBS, but didn’t write the recipe down in time. Finally found it online and HAD to make them that night. Absolutely fantastic. Good excuse to use my Kitchen Aid mixer for the first time, too!
http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=content&id=recipe4926&contentGroup=MSL&site=living
Jen
For any kind of recipe, “Cooks Illustrated” is the way to go. I started subscribing to the magazine a few years ago and own 2 of their books (“Best Recipe” and their grilling book). I’ve had only positive experiences.
dear god, no wonder my cookies turn out different every time I make them! I think I am going to have to invite myself over for a baking lesson.
anytime!!! lol. nothing is as good as a warm and chewy chocolate chip cookie. it’s a little heaven on earth i tell ya. 
kittycat,
Please tell me where you found an extra 6 hours per day. From reading your past posts I know you are a successful business woman, I know you are a successful triathlete, you are a prolific debater (as seen in your recent LR topics) and now I find out that you are a baker who “practices” making chocolate chip cookies and cheese cake. Simply amazing! By the way, my wife is the same way about her baking, however she doesn’t share the whole technique thing. Instead she just inwardly smiles as people gush all over her cookies, and when they ask her how she does it she simply says, “I just follow the recipe on the Nestle package.” I have watched her over the course of our 15 years and I know that she has a system that she follows PRECISELY EVERY time she bakes. Thanks for the recipes!
Bernie
thanks slowbern. i don’t know how but sometimes i can do 10 things at one time somehow (i think it’s my memory).
anyway, my husband has told me that i could take over a small country with nothing but a telephone and a note pad. LOL!!! lord knows i will call anybody–HAHA!!
Mmmm mmmm good :D. So I made these cookies yesterday and they taste great. I’m not sure if I did everything right (thanks for the tips) but I ended up with thin chewy chocolate chip cookies. Mmmmm.
Thanks again for the recipe Kittycat.
tom
I have this brownie recipe that is off-the-charts-unhealthy, but people love it. I know what’s actually in it, so I only make it for other people as a present:
-250g butter. (cup to cup and a half)
-500g dark or baking chocolate. (2cups) when i run out, i use choc chips and whatever chocolate is left around the house.
-2cups sugar (feel free to use half or more brown)
-4 eggs
-2tsp vanilla, or two packets of vanilla sugar
-1.5 cups flower.
-2or3pinches of salt, a little pinch of cinnamon
optional nuts, marshmallows, choc.chips, caramel chips, m&ms, or some rum, bacardi, cointreau…
-Use a big enough sauce pan to handle the entire batter. Melt chocolate and butter over low heat, while stirring with spoon. Take off heat when smooth and let sit a min
-Stir in the sugar. Mix in the salt, vanilla, spices, opt. alcohol.
-Let cool 5min. Stir in all 4 eggs and keep stirring by hand with a spoon, until the mixture starts to get hard and smooth. (min or two)
-Add flour, mix well using same spoon, pour into greased brownie pan (9x13inch or so), Add optional candy or nuts either into the batter with the flour, or top it while the batter is in the pan, if making turtle brownies or whatever.
-bake until center is done at 180C/350F, (takes about 45min depending on pan and oven. Check after 30min the first time youre making these, so you dont burn them or dry them out) They should still be a little gooey when taken out of the oven.
Prep time is about 15min, so the whole recipe takes about an hour.
Enjoy! Just don’t eat too many yourself.
Ziva
that’s awesome. if they came out thin and chewy–and tasted good, then consider it perfect!
i’m glad the recipe worked for you–that makes my day
(am I a nerd or what? lol.)
kc