Tayto Chocolate Chip Cookies

And here we go ya’ll. Day two of my 2024 Countdown to St. Patrick’s Day! What I’ve got on deck for you today is Tayto Chocolate Chip Cookies! So I’m sure you’re thinking “how is this different from the average, run of the mill chocolate chip?” as well as “what is a Tayto?”. These scrumptious little chocolate chips are different from any other you might have come across because they have a surprise ingredient. Yup there is a bag of Tayto Cheese & Onion crisps (potato chips) crumbled up in them. Light and chocolatey, with an extra bit of crunch from the savory crumbled crisps, these particularly Irish chocolate chip cookies are quite crave worthy!

The iconic Tayto Crisps have been a favorite in Ireland for generations. Their original crisp factory was founded in 1954 in Dublin by a man known as Joe “Spud” Murphy. He is credited with having invented the worlds very first seasoned crisp, and yes Cheese & Onion was their first flavor variety on offer. Indeed, Tayto’s Cheese & Onion crisps are reported to be the number one snack that expats miss the most after moving abroad.

Believe me, I have eaten a fair few packets of these crisps in my day. I gotta say, I love potatoes, in pretty much all of their incarnations. Crisped, baked, fried, mashed…you get it. I particularly love french fries (chips in Ireland). In fact, I’m told that one of my first words was “fry fry”, clearly a testament to my enduring love. And yes, I prefer my french fries to be thick cut. Not those skinny McDonalds variety, but more like proper Irish Chips. I swear to you the potatoes in Ireland simply taste better than any available in the States – sorry Idaho! On our most recent visit, the Husband and I were delighted with the chips we ordered at The Porterhouse in Temple Bar. Crisp on the outside with a gorgeous soft center, splashed with lashings of malt vinegar and salt, they were absolute perfection!

We might have had one or two of these while visiting the Porterhouse as well…

But I digress. Let me get back to today’s cookies featuring Tayto Cheese & Onion crisps! I found this recipe in Graham Herterich’s book Bake: Traditional Irish Baking with Modern Twists. I love this cookbook.

Visually it is gorgeous, but it doesn’t rely on looks alone. This book is chock full of fantastic recipes. Graham Herterich, better known in Ireland as the Cupcake Bloke, initially trained as a chef and then went on to open The Bakery in Rialto Dublin. In this, his first cookbook, he offers a traditional recipe followed by a modern twist on that recipe. Last year I shared his Malted Coffee Chocolate & Pecan Brack.

And also my take on his Irish Jambons.

Tayto Chocolate Chip Cookies are his modern twist on regular chocolate chips. Now I must admit, although I love Tayto’s and I do enjoy a good chocolate chip cookie, I was not sure how I would feel about mixing a cheese & onion flavor into a cookie. But hey, you never know, so I went for it and liked them much better than I thought I would. The cookie was very light and airy, but with a wonderful crispy texture from the crumbled crisps. And while I could taste the onion flavor a bit, it was not at all overpowering and gave the cookie a less sweet and more savory profile. Cheese & Onion crisps in a chocolate chip cookie definitely works! Who knew? Apparently Graham Herterich.

• Servings: 28 - 30 cookies or 12 big monster cookies
• Print

recipe from: Bake: Traditional Irish Baking with Modern Twists by Graham Herterich

Ingredients:

• 160 grams butter, softened
• 80 grams light brown sugar
• 80 grams caster (superfine) sugar
• 1 medium egg, beaten
• 1 Tablespoon milk
• 225 grams all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (bread soda)
• 200 grams chocolate chips ( I used a blend of milk and dark chocolate chips, just as Graham Herterich recommended, but you do you.)
• 1 bag of roughly crushed Tayto Cheese & Onion crisps ( potato chips if you are from the states. If you can’t get Tayto, you could substitute in your favorite brand)

Directions:

Cream the butter and sugars together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and set on medium. Keep mixing until they are pale in color and light and fluffy, about 5 – 6 minutes.

Add the egg and milk and continue mixing for approximately 30 seconds. Add the flour and baking soda a mix for another 30 seconds.

Add the chocolate chips and mix until they are just evenly incorporated.

Add the crushed potato chips.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Scoop cookies using a medium sized cookie scoop – approximately 2 Tablespoons, placing the dough right next to each other. Flatten the dough slightly. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours. Allowing the dough to to sit for 24 hours lets the starch and proteins in the flour begin to break down, which leads to a more even bake. I should mention here that Graham’s recipe calls for making really large cookies. He advises that you divide the dough in 12 portions. These are some monster cookies. If this sounds like the cookie you’d like to make, do as he advocates. Place six of these big boys on each baking tray and bake for the 15 – 18 minutes recommended.

On baking day, preheat the oven to 320 degrees F (160 degrees C fan) and turn on the convection fan. Line two baking trays with parchment. Divide the dough balls equally among the trays.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 -18 minutes. The cookies should be slightly brown and the edges and still soft in the center.

Allow to cool on the baking tray for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Links for Helpful Kitchen Tools & Ingredients for Tayto Chocolate Chip Cookies:

*Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase*

Kitchen Aid Artisan Stand Mixer

Oxo Good Grips Stainless Steel Food Scale

OXO Good Grips Medium Cookie Scoop

Tayto Cheese and Onion Crisps (Chips)- A national institution in Ireland!

Bake: Traditional Irish Baking with Modern Twists by Graham Herterich – It does not appear that this book is available on Amazon, but you can get it here or when you go and visit Ireland. I love this cookbook! Visually it is gorgeous, but it doesn’t rely on looks alone. This book is chock full of fantastic recipes. Graham Herterich, better known in Ireland as the Cupcake Bloke, initially trained as a chef and then went on to open The Bakery in Rialto Dublin. In this, his first cookbook, he offers a traditional recipe followed by a modern twist on that recipe. It also contains a brief history of Irish baking as well as a guide to baking essentials and lesser known ingredients.

Travel Planning Guide:

Getting there: Icelandair! We love Icelandair and have always had great experience with them. Icelandair flies to Dublin, Ireland. Take advantage of their Stopover program on your next flight to Europe.

Car Rental: New Way Car Hire – Love the all-inclusive pricing on these cars as well as the Dublin Airport pickup!

Accommodation: Number 31 – This luxurious hotel is half traditional Georgian townhouse and half modernist mews which are connected by a charming courtyard. The Georgian townhouse half is where we have always chosen to stay and we love the mildly eccentric jazz age flamboyance. The location of this decadent hideaway is also superb. It is steps from St. Stephen’s Green in the heart of the city. We would not dream of stying any where else and cannot wait to visit again!

Restaurants/ Cafés/ Bakeries/ Pubs:

Bar 1661 – Voted Ireland’s Bar of the Year in 2022! My favorite cocktail bar full stop! Not just in Ireland, but everywhere! Folks, if you are visiting Dublin and you like cocktails at all, this is an absolute must!!! The ambiance is in point, not to mention the historical significance as well as the absolute enthusiasm everyone there has for crafting exceptional cocktails! I will say, make sure you book a reservation. You do not want to miss this!

The Porterhouse -This large airy brewpub offers a wide selection of ales, lagers and stouts. It has a fun, folksy atmosphere and often you can catch some live music. They serve some tasty pub grub as well and some of the best chips I’ve had in Dublin.

Attractions:

Dublin Castle – 13 Century castle. Today Irish Govenment and Conference Center.

Grafton Street – One of the principal shopping streets in the city center. Mostly pedestrianised and lined with many cafes, shops and street performers.

Temple Bar- Busy riverside neighborhood with many pubs, restaurants and quirky boutiques.

Guinness Storehouse – Learn about the history of Ireland’s most iconic beer over seven floors. Enjoy 360 degree views of the city from the Gravity Bar!

Chocolate Nutella Cookies

Have ya’ll put enough distance between yourselves and the Christmas Cookie explosion that I am sure you experienced back in December? Do you think you could lay eyes on another cookie yet? Hopefully it is not too soon because you are not going to want to miss out on these scrumptious Chocolate Nutella Cookies. These little gems not only have a chewy brownie like base with a crisp edge but are also filled with a creamy luscious Nutella topping. A sprinkling of hazelnuts give them an irresistible little crunch. Reminiscent of a chocolate lava cake, these little devils will shoot to the top of your favorite cookie rankings!

So I gotta ask….are there any Nutella fans out there? Cause let me tell you I love me some Nutella! I actually didn’t even know it existed until I was living in Ireland and my friend Theresa had a jar. I watched with amazement as she spread it over her toast. I was like “What! You can eat chocolate on toast!” I had no idea it was a thing. Yup, love at first bite.

It is not by chance that I’m blogging a recipe which features Nutella today. Today February 5th is World Nutella Day. This celebration of all things Nutella was started in 2007 by Sara at Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle at Bleeding Espresso as a day to celebrate, get creative with and most importantly, to EAT Nutella.

A couple of years ago, the founders have transferred Nutella Day to Ferrero the company who owns that most beloved spread. Take a peek at their Facebook page and see how folks are celebrating the day! I love Nutella so I usually try to participate with a Nutella laden recipe every year. One of my favorite Nutella creations was this Nutella, Double Chocolate & Banana Tart which was quite stunning if I do say so myself.

Last year I whipped up a batch of these Fudgy Nutella Brownies:

just look at these delicious Homemade Banana Toaster Tarts drizzled with Nutella

And how do you like this big ole Malted Nutella & Biscoff Brownie Torte 

Then there was this gorgeous Nutella Star Bread:

And some amazing Nutella Chocolate Chip Babka:

And I don’t want to forget these irresistible Salted Peanut Butter & Nutella Sandwich Cookies – sweet salty bliss I tell you!

But let me get back to today’s tasty treat – these Chocolate Nutella Cookies! Decadent, crispy, chewy, chocolaty, sweet and salty bliss!

Not only are they delicious, but they are sooo easy. I used a stand mixer, to whip these up, but you could get away with doing it by hand. They come together quickly, so you could be serving ’em up in no time flat! So what are you waiting for, bake up a batch today!

• Servings: 16 - 20
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

recipe by: Genevieve Ko via New York Times Cooking

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces/113 grams bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• ¼ teaspoon fine salt
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• ⅓ cup/78 grams granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup/34 grams all-purpose flour
• ⅓ cup/110 grams Nutella or your favorite chocolate hazelnut spread
• ¼ cup/35 grams roasted and skinned hazelnuts, chopped
• flaky sea salt for sprinkling over the top (optional-yeah, maybe not…I do love salty sweet)

Directions:

Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl set over a saucepan of gently simmering water, stirring until smooth. Stir in the salt, remove from the heat.

Whisk the egg and sugar in a large bowl by hand or using a stand or an electric mixer until pale yellow and foamy, 3 to 5 minutes. Whisk in the vanilla. Add the chocolate mixture and stir gently with a spatula until all the streaks are shades of brown

Add the flour and stir gently until no traces of flour remain. Drop tablespoons of dough onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet in rounds, spacing 2 inches apart. I used a small cookie scoop. If the tops are rounded, gently press them flat. ( I actually waited until the cookie dough was chilled to flatten the top. It was much easier.) Refrigerate until stiffened, at least 15 minutes and up to overnight.

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Sprinkle flaky sea salt over the top of each cookie.

Using a pastry bag or resealable plastic bag with a ½-inch hole cut in a corner, or a teaspoon measuring spoon, pipe or drop dollops of chocolate-hazelnut spread on top of the dough, leaving a border of dough uncovered. Sprinkle the tops with hazelnuts.

Bake until the cookie dough looks crackled and just dry, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on the sheets and enjoy warm or at room temperature. These cookies taste best on the day they’re baked, but will keep for up to 2 days in an airtight container at room temperature.

Enjoy!

Useful links for Kitchen Tools & Ingredients for Chocolate Nutella Cookies:

*Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase*

Oxo Good Grips Stainless Steel Food Scale

Kitchen Aid Artisan Stand Mixer

Small Cookie Scoop – I used this King Arthur Baking scoop, but you could try this one

St. Patrick’s Day Round-up 2023

Oh my goodness ya’ll…St. Patrick’s Day is only 7 days away. Tomorrow I will be starting my annual St. Patrick’s Day blog-a-thon. Yup, I’ll be sharing one lovely Irish-y recipe everyday with you, right up to the big day Thursday March 17th! And this year it’s going to be just a wee bit extra. I was fortunate enough to visit Ireland between last St. Patrick’s and this. Hadn’t been there in ten years, so a visit was well past due! So not only will I be sharing a bunch of delicious recipes, but I will also share a travel pic or two as well as some travel recommendations just to inspire you all the more. So make sure you tune in daily!

My First View of Ireland in 10 years!

Now I think managing to publish one recipe daily for six days straight is a pretty impressive feat. But, a few years ago I was completely mad and used to start on March 1st and do a new recipe each day until March 17th. That is why you can find over 100 delicious St. Patrick’s Day recipes on my blog. If you’d like to take a peek at my past St. Patrick’s Day posts, you can click Runcible Eat/Recipes up at the top navigation bar and scroll down to the St. Patrick’s Day category. That’s where you’ll find them! And stay tuned here for my latest additions this year. Today I thought I might inspire you with some of my favorite St. Patrick’s Day dishes from years past. I’d like to first remind you of the dishes on deck last year in case you missed them:

Vegetarian Cottage Pie and Brown Bread

Irish Whiskey Cake

Guinness Punch

Whiskey Butter Tarts

Baileys Tres Leches Cupcakes

And I’ll follow up with some bread:

Classic Irish Soda Bread

Theresa’s Prize-Winning Scones w/Strawberry Jam & Clotted Cream

Struan

Classic Irish Soda Bread, Theresa’s Scones & Struan

And here are some drool worthy mains:

Chicken Skink

Guinness Braised Beef Sandwiches on Waterford Blaa

Irish Ale Potato Cheddar Soup w/Beer Battered Leeks

Crock Pot Corned Beef & Cabbage Soup

Dublin Coddle

Guinness Beef Stew

Irish Stew

Smithwick’s Beef & Cheddar Pies

Chicken Skink, Guinness Beef Sandwiches, Potato Cheddar Soup, Corned Beef & Cabbage Soup, Dublin Coddle, Guinness Beef Stew, Irish Stew, Smithwicks Beef & Cheddar Pies

I wouldn’t want to forget the sides:

Corned Beef & Irish Cheddar Potato Nests

Champ

Corned Beef Potato Nests & Champ

And now for the decadent desserts:

Baileys Bite sized Cheesecakes

Chocolate dipped Baileys Pistachio Shortbread

Guinness Pretzel Truffles

Guinness Chocolate Chip Cookies

Baileys Salted Caramel Pots de Crème w/Baileys Whipped Cream

Baileys Cheesecakes, Baileys Shortbread, Guinness Truffles, Guinness Chocolate Chips, Baileys Pots de Crème

And last but not least….something to wash it all down with:

Irish Whiskey Marmalade Cocktail

Guinness Hot Chocolate topped w/ Homemade Guinness Marshmallows

Whiskey & Orange Oat Cream Toddy

Whiskey Marmalade Cocktail, Guinness Hot Chocolate, Whiskey Toddy

Is your mouth watering yet? Quite the galleries of goodies if I do say so myself. And there are many more recipes to be found on my blog as well as seven new ones starting tomorrow! Along with some lovely pictures of the Emerald Isle and my travel recommendations. Don’t miss out!

Chocolate Black Cat Macarons

So here it is Halloween! I can hardly believe. Once again, I’ve taken a break from blogging since Easter. Last year I did have a good excuse – major home renovation. This year? I got nothing. I won’t even try. But perhaps you will forgive me when you take a peek at these divine, spooky sweet Chocolate Black Cat Macarons I’ve whipped up for Halloween 2022! These sinful little delights boast a crisp outer shell surrounding a lusciously chewy center filled with a silky, dark as your soul, decadent chocolate ganache.

Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. I mean, think about it…You get to dress weird, drink booze and eat candy for dinner. In fact, all of that fun stuff is encouraged. How could you go wrong on such a day! Our modern holiday of Halloween, actually has Irish origins. Today’s celebrations are derived from the Celtic holiday of Samhain. Samhain was Celtic New Year. It was a harvest festival which marked the dying of the sun-god and a turning to the colder, dormant half of the year. On this night, the Celts believed the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead was at its lowest point. The dead could more easily travel back over to our side, and if we weren’t careful, we could accidentally wander over in to their world and be trapped-a good reason to stay close to home and bonfires, no doubt! This belief likely gave rise to our Halloween legends of ghosts, ghouls and witches wandering about on this night in particular. I’ve posted some great Halloween recipes in past years ranging from the historically based traditional recipes such as:

Soul Cakes (Traditional Halloween/ Samhain)

Yeasted Irish Barmbrack Bread (traditional Halloween/Samhain)

Irish Tea Barmbrack with a Whiskey Honey Glaze (traditional Halloween/Samhain)

To the more whimsical offerings such as:

White Chocolate Mummy Pretzels

Halloween Cookies & Cream Owl Cupcakes

Mini Mummy Brownie Bite Cupcakes

As well as some wonderful boozy libations to kick your celebrations into high gear:

Fireball Cider Cocktail

Or this Roasty Toasty Cocktail

A few year’s ago I managed to combined whimsical and boozy altogether in my Halloween treats with these adorable – I mean terribly frightening Itsy-Bitsy Tipsy Spider Cupcakes.

or how about these Black Velvet Frankenstein Cupcakes

A couple of years ago, I had a howling good time making these little rascals:

Reese Cup Werewolf Cupcakes

I loved making these boo-tiful Spooky Ghost Cupcakes!

And last year’s offering was these diabolically delicious <a href="http://<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iLOaolI8Fgc&quot; title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen>Malted Chocolate Devil Cupcakes!

So yeah, I’m breaking out of the cupcake mold this year by going with these Black Cat Macarons!

Macarons can be notoriously finicky to make. I was definitely worried that the trick might be on me when I set out to make these, but I had taken efforts to get everything right. My egg whites were aged overnight, my bowls were wiped squeaky clean and I had sifted, pulsed in a food processor and sifted again. I had thoroughly read the recipe several times over. I found watching this video from Sugar Geek Show was also very helpful as far as my batter folding technique.

Truth be told, I didn’t get these to come out perfect the first time. My shells were cracked. Could’ve been I didn’t let them age enough to form the proper skin. Could’ve been I over mixed. Not sure. Yet, I persisted and Voila! So don’t despair ya’ll. Macarons are difficult, but not impossible! I think they are without a doubt worth the effort. And the good news is that even the ones that don’t look purty, still taste delicious!

All right, now that you’ve done all your prep work, get ready to make some amazing bakery quality level Chocolate Macarons! Now I realize I didn’t give you much time to get these done for Halloween – seeings how today is actually Halloween and this recipe calls for aged egg whites. But think of it this way, you will be more than ready to make these spooky macarons next year, or you could just leave the ears and kitty faces off and still be able to enjoy these fabulous treats. The choice is yours. I suppose if you are a real rule breaker you could just make these without aging the egg whites – but you didn’t hear that from me! I did make these Baileys & Coffee Macarons once and did not use aged egg whites. They came out just fine but from what I hear, aged egg whites are the preferred ingredient. But what the heck- Halloween is the perfect time for being naughty! Bake up a batch of these tricksy spooky darkly delicious Black Cat Macarons before the sun sets today! Happy Halloween ya’ll!

• Servings: 18
• Difficulty: moderate - attention to detail required!
• Print

recipe slightly adapted from: Sugar Geek Show – design inspired by Posh Little Designs

Ingredients:

For the Shells:

• 50 grams almond flour
• 114 grams powdered sugar
• 7 grams cocoa powder
• pinch of salt
• 57 grams egg whites aged overnight in the fridge and brought to room temperature
• 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 28 grams granulated baker’s sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the ganache filling:

• 2 ounces heavy cream
• 2.5 ounces dark chocolate
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

For the Royal Frosting:

• 1 Tablespoon meringue powder
• 2 Tablespoons warm water
• 120 grams powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• green and black gel or powdered food coloring

Directions:

Preheat oven to 320ºF and line a 1/2 baking sheet with parchment paper and a macaron template or a macaron silicone baking mat as I did.

Sift together the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and almond flour, twice if not blended.

Pulse the mixture in a food processor 8-10 times to make the almond flour mixture even finer and texture and to blend the ingredients together. 

Whip the egg whites on low to frothy consistency and slowly add the sugar in thirds.

Once the egg whites turn white and you can see some lines forming in the surface from the whisk, add cream of tartar, whipping on medium until soft glossy peaks form.

Add the vanilla to the meringue during the soft peak stage. Then continue whipping on medium-high until you get stiff peaks that start gathering and bunching on the inside of the whisk.

Add 1/3 of your almond mixture to the meringue. Fold your spatula under the batter and around the edges and then cut through the center until almond flour is mixed in. Continue with the rest of the almond flour and folding until homogenous. (see video)

Gently press the spatula on top of the batter while you turn the bowl to take out some fo the air from the meringue. Continue folding around the outside edge until the batter forms a ribbon and moves like lava. 

Your meringue is ready when it forms a ribbon off the spatula and the batter that settles almost dissolves all the way back into the rest of the batter but still leave a bit of a line. 

Place the majority of the batter in a piping bag fitted with a 1/4 inch piping tip – like a Wilton #12 or Ateco #802. Place a tiny bit of the batter in a separate piping bag fitted with a small round tip. This will be to add the ears to your macarons.

Pipe small rounds about 1″ in diameter on the macaron template.

Go back and using the second piping bag fitted with the small tip add the triangle ears to the top edge of every other macaron round, being sure that the ears level with the height of the round batter.

Drop the pan onto the table 5-6 times from about 5″ above the table to release bubbles. Use a toothpick to remove big pockets of air trapped under the surface. Use a very small amount of water on your fingertip to smooth any rough spots. 

Allow to dry, uncovered until a crust forms on the surface. About 30 minutes – 2 hours or until a dry film develops over the surface of the cookie. For humid areas put a space heater nearby to help dry the cookies faster. 

Bake at 320ºF for about 14-15 minutes or until lightly browned. If not quite brown baked, bake for an additional 1 minute. Cooled cookies should pull away from the parchment paper without sticking. If they do stick, they were not baked enough.

For the Ganache:

Place all the ingredients into a heatproof bowl and microwave for one minute. Let sit for 5 minutes then whisk until smooth. Heat for another 15 seconds if not fully melted. Place into the fridge for 20 minutes then whisk until smooth. It should be the texture of peanut butter.

For the Royal Frosting:

Combine water and meringue powder in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Add extract and whisk on medium high for about 2-3 minutes.

Mix in powdered sugar until combined.

The icing will be very thick. Add warm water a few drops at a time until the icing is the consistency of toothpaste. 

Divide the thick toothpaste like icing into 2 bowls

Add black food coloring to bowl 1 until desired colors are achieved.

Mix well. 

Transfer finished black icing to a piping bag and seal closed.

Add green food coloring to bowl 2 until desired color is achieved. 

Mix well.

Transfer finished green icing to piping bag and seal closed.

For Assembly:

Once shells have cooled, evenly pipe rounds of ganache into the center of the bottom of each macaron shell. Top with “earred” shells to create a sandwich.

Decorate top “earred” shell with royal frosting to make cat’s eyes and whiskers. Or use mini M&M’s for the eyes as I did. You can draw the pupil on with food safe markers and stick the eye to the macaron by adding a small dot of royal frosting on the back.

Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

Links for helpful Kitchen Tools & Ingredients for Black Cat Macarons:

Kitchen Aid Artisan Stand Mixer

Oxo Good Grips Stainless Steel Food Scale

Cuisinart Food Processor

Simple Baker Silicone Baking Mat for Macarons

Oxo 3-in-1 Egg Separator

King Arthur Flour Almond Flour

Ateco disposable piping bags

King Arthur Baking Company Black Cocoa– This is how I got the deep dark color of the macaron shells without using food color

Vanilla Bean Paste

Wilton Icing Colors – Gel will not thin icing

Salted Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ok, so while we’re talking cookies…like you know, those cookie recipes that I wanted to share before the Christmas holiday, ‘cept didn’t….Today I have a truly tasty treat to share with you. And I guess the good news is that although I often bake them for Christmas, just like my Vermont Maple Shortbread, these darlings are delicious year round. So, drum roll please… may I present: Salted Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies! Packed full of three different types of chocolate chips and topped with a sprinkling of flaky sea salt, these chocolate chip cookies are crisp and chewy, sweet and salty perfection!

Now I know some of you are rolling your eyes around in your head and thinking ‘Good Lord Woman, we know how to make a chocolate chip cookie!” I’d wager you are correct. But hear me out – You don’t know how to make these chocolate chip cookies and let me tell you, they are da bomb!

Well, I guess you might know how to make them, that being said. This recipe is from the New York Times originally. I really just decided to add a blend of chocolate chips to the mix rather than the solely 60% dark chocolate that they indicated. I also decided to change the size. The Times had recommended making really large cookies, batter scooped out in the size of large golf balls! That makes for one big cookie. Not a skillet cookie mind you, but still…I use a medium cookie scoop for these little gems.

These cookies are pretty easy to make but do require a bit of planning both time wise and ingredient wise. You do have to keep in mind that there is an overnight (24 hour) chill involved and instead of good ole all purpose flour you use a combination of cake and bread flours. But believe me, the effort is so worth it. And another fun thing you can do with this recipe is keep that 24 hour rested dough in the fridge for up to 72 hours. This will let you scoop out dough for batches of fresh baked cookies over several days. Hold on. I said, Fresh baked cookies. Every day. I bet everyone will want to weekend at your place once the news of your hospitality gets out!

• Servings: 48 cookies
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

recipe adapted from: New York Times

Ingredients:

• 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour 
• 1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour 
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt 
• 2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter 
• 1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar 
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar 
• 2 large eggs , room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (or vanilla bean paste)
• 6 oz. dark chocolate chips
• 5 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
• 5 oz. white chocolate chips
• Flaky Sea salt for sprinkling over top

Directions:

Sift the flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together until very light. This will take about 5 -6 minutes and please do not cut this time short. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly between each addition. Add the vanilla and mix until incorporated.

Add the flour mixture to the bowl. Mix on low speed until just combined. Seriously, as soon as the four is just combined turn the mixer off. This should only take 5 – 8 seconds. Mix the blend of three chocolate chips into the dough.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a medium sized cookie scoop, scoop out dough balls and place them on the prepared cookie sheet. (For instructions for larger cookies, see below) You do not need to leave any space between them. Sprinkle the dough balls with flaky sea salt. Cover the tray with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 -36 hours. (If you would rather not scoop out the dough balls ahead of time, you can just press plastic wrap onto the dough and pop the whole bowl into the fridge. Then when you are ready to bake you can portion the dough. I prefer to scoop while the dough is at room temperature. Once it is refrigerated it is definitely a bit more of a challenge to scoop.)

Once ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Transfer the chilled cookie dough to the baking sheet, leaving about 1″ between cookies. Bake until golden brown, about 8 – 11 minutes.

Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

***I will sometimes make up a batch of the dough and once it has chilled in the refrigerator for 24 hours, I remove the dough balls and place them in gallon freezer bags. The dough keeps well for 1 – 2 months. When ready to bake, remove the desired amount of dough balls and bake as usual. You may need to add 1 minute or two to the baking time if baking from frozen.

***If you would like to make big cookies, scoop our 3.5 oz of dough, the size of a large golf ball. When ready to bake, make sure you give them plenty of room to spread out on the baking sheet, probably only getting 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 18 – 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Links for helpful Kitchen Tools & Ingredients for Salted Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Kitchen Aid Artisan Stand Mixer

Oxo Good Grips Stainless Steel Food Scale

OXO Good Grips Medium Cookie Scoop

Chiptastic Chocolate Chip Blend – King Arthur Baking has a ready made blend of chocolate chips which includes milk, semisweet and white. I make my own blend which is white, semisweet and dark chocolate. Love dark chocolate around here. But I thought you might want to know about this time saver.

Vermont Maple Shortbread

Happy New Year ya’ll! Hope it has gotten off to a great start for everyone. How are those resolutions going so far? Well I’m here to tempt you with a fantastic recipe for Vermont Maple Shortbread! Who doesn’t love the decadent taste of buttery shortbread? And this shortbread adds the irresistible flavor of maple into the mix. Yup it is just bursting with maple goodness! Maple sugar has replaced regular granulated sugar in this recipe and the finished cookies are also brushed with a slick of maple syrup once they are hot out of the oven for good measure. Maple lovers will go wild I tell you!

And this shortbread doesn’t only taste amazing, it isn’t too hard on the eyes either. How adorable are these little snowflakes?

Now I had hoped to share this recipe with you before Christmas. I actually made several batches of this shortbread with my usual round of Christmas cookies. Alas time got away from me, so I figured it would be better to go ahead and share it right now, you know when folks were trying to lay off the sweets. I just want to see how strong your dieting commitments are. Just kidding! Although I often bake this shortbread around Christmas, it is delicious year round. I usually bake it in an adorable Nordic Ware snowflake pan (check out the links below – King Arthur Baking has a big sale on this pan right now!), but you can also simply bake it in a 8″ round cake pan. It won’t have the fancy embossed snowflakes on it, but it will taste just as good. So without further ado, here you go!

• Servings: 16
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

recipe from: King Arthur Baking Company

Ingredients:

• 16 Tablespoons (227 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature, at least 65°F
• 3/4 cup (117 grams) maple sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon maple flavor, optional, for enhanced flavor
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla-butternut flavor, optional, for enhanced flavor
• 2 1/2 cups (300 grams) All-purpose flour
• 1 cup (113 grams) chopped pecans or walnuts, optional
• scant 2 tablespoons (28 grams) maple syrup

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Melt a tablespoon of butter and brush it onto the bottom and sides of a shortbread pan. Alternatively rub soft butter onto the bottom and sides of an 8″ round pan.

Beat together the remaining 15 tablespoons butter, maple sugar, salt, and flavors until well blended.

Weigh your flour; or measure it by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. Mix in the flour to form a smooth, cohesive dough. The dough will be crumbly at first, but will come together as it’s mixed.

Fold in the chopped nuts.

Divide the dough in half. Wrap one half in plastic and set aside. Press the second half into the prepared pan.

Use a fork to prick the dough all over; this allows any steam to escape, and prevents the shortbread from bubbling as it bakes.

Bake the shortbread for 25 to 30 minutes, until the surface is a light golden brown, and the edges are a darker golden brown.

Remove the shortbread from the oven, and immediately turn it out onto a clean work surface. Gently brush the shortbread with the maple syrup (you want to be careful not to brush away the pattern if you used a shortbread pan).

Using a pizza wheel or sharp knife, cut the shortbread while still warm into 8 equal wedges and transfer them to a rack to cool completely.

Repeat the bake with the remaining half of dough.

Store the shortbread, well wrapped, at room temperature for several days; freeze for longer storage.

Enjoy!

Links for helpful Kitchen Tools & Ingredients for Vermont Maple Shortbread:

Kitchen Aid Artisan Stand Mixer

Oxo Good Grips Stainless Steel Food Scale

Le Creuset Silicon Pastry Brush

Nordic Ware Snowflake Shortbread Pan Ya’ll! As of today (1/6/22) King Arthur Flour has this Snowflake Shortbread Pan on sale for $9.99! What a steal!

Pure Vermont Maple Sugar

Cooks Maple Extract

LorAnn Vanilla Butternut flavor

St. Patrick’s Day Recipe Roundup!

Oh my goodness ya’ll…St. Patrick’s Day is only 7 days away. Tomorrow I will be starting my annual St. Patrick’s Day blog-a-thon. Yup, I’ll be sharing one lovely Irish-y recipe everyday with you, right up to the big day Wednesday March 17th! Now I think managing to publish one recipe daily for seven days straight is a pretty impressive feat. But, a few years ago I was completely mad and used to start on March 1st and do a new recipe each day until March 17th. That is why you can find over 100 delicious St. Patrick’s Day recipes on my blog. If you’d like to take a peek at my past St. Patrick’s Day posts, you can click Runcible Eat/Recipes up at the top navigation bar and scroll down to the St. Patrick’s Day category. That’s where you’ll find them! And stay tuned here for my latest additions this year. Today I thought I might inspire you with some of my favorite St. Patrick’s Day dishes from years past. We’ll start it off with some bread:

• 

  Classic Irish Soda Bread

• 

  Theresa’s Prize-Winning Scones w/Strawberry Jam & Clotted Cream

Classic Irish Soda Bread & Theresa’s Scones

And here are some drool worthy mains:

• 

  Chicken Skink

• 

  Guinness Braised Beef Sandwiches on Waterford Blaa

• 

  Irish Ale Potato Cheddar Soup w/Beer Battered Leeks

• 

  Crock Pot Corned Beef & Cabbage Soup

• 

  Dublin Coddle

• 

  Guinness Beef Stew

• 

  Irish Stew

• 

  Smithwick’s Beef & Cheddar Pies

Chicken Skink, Guinness Beef Sandwiches, Potato Cheddar Soup, Corned Beef & Cabbage Soup, Dublin Coddle, Guinness Beef Stew, Irish Stew, Smithwicks Beef & Cheddar Pies

I wouldn’t want to forget the sides:

• 

  Corned Beef & Irish Cheddar Potato Nests

• 

  Champ

Corned Beef Potato Nests & Champ

And take a peek at these decadent desserts:

• 

  Baileys Bite sized Cheesecakes

• 

  Chocolate dipped Baileys Pistachio Shortbread

• 

  Guinness Pretzel Truffles

• 

  Guinness Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 

  Baileys Salted Caramel Pots de Crème w/Baileys Whipped Cream

Baileys Cheesecakes, Baileys Shortbread, Guinness Truffles, Guinness Chocolate Chips, Baileys Pots de Crème

And last but not least…something to wash it all down with:

• 

  Irish Whiskey Marmalade Cocktail

• 

  Guinness Hot Chocolate topped w/ Homemade Guinness Marshmallows

• 

  Whiskey & Orange Oat Cream Toddy

Whiskey Marmalade Cocktail, Guinness Hot Chocolate, Whiskey Toddy

Is your mouth watering yet? Quite the galleries of goodies if I do say so myself. And there are many more recipes to be found on my blog as well as seven new ones starting tomorrow! Don’t miss out!

P.S. I tried to get links to the recipe added to the pictures, but with my limited skills, was unable to make it work. You can find links to the pictured recipes in the gallery captions. Sorry ’bout that!

Mimosa Butter Sweetheart Cookies

So are ya’ll thinking about Valentine’s Day yet? I was way ahead of the game this year, that is for me anyway! May I present my Valentine’s Day treats – Mimosa Butter Sweetheart Cookies! What we got here is a crisp and light butter cookie which has been jazzed up with the addition of some champagne, orange juice and the perfect dollop of decadent chocolate raspberry jam. These little devils are addictive! And if you make them, it forces you to open a bottle of champagne and once it is open…you absolutely have to finish it. Hurray! Mimosas all around!

The Husband, who conveniently also happens to be my Valentine, generally doesn’t like any chocolatey super sweet sugar bombs that seem to be all the rage for this holiday.  Which is totally unlike me. That is exactly what I would want. Truth be told…in a the shape of a cupcake if all were going my way. Just saying…He, on the other hand, prefers fruit forward desserts such as this lovely Cashew Crusted Blackberry & Lime Tart:

Or these Luscious Lemon Squares,

And then there was that Poached Pear Tart with Lemony Cream.

One year, I was even clever enough to combine what he loves, a good Gin & Tonic, and what I love, cupcakes by making  Pink Grapefruit Gin & Tonic Cupcakes:

This year’s offering, Mimosa Butter Sweetheart Cookies, was pretty sly on my part as well. I really like cookies and was able to not only add some of his favorite jam into the mix with these, but was also able to get some champagne on deck.

The Husband and I do love our champagne! Though truth be told, when we first started dating, he told me he didn’t like champagne. I tell you, it stopped me in my tracks! I was pondering whether or not it was a deal breaker. Turns out, he had only ever had cheap champagne. When he got a taste of the good stuff, he realized his mistake. Whew! What a relief!

So Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! Crack open a bottle of champagne (the good stuff) and whip up a batch of these delightful little Valentine’s Day nibbles. Rich and buttery, crisp and citrus-y with just the right amount of chocolate raspberry zing, they go great with a cup of tea or a glass of the bubbly! You won’t be sorry!

• Servings: approximately 3 dozen
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

recipe from: Taste of Home: Mimosa Butter Cookies + inspiration from their Sweetheart Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1-1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 2 teaspoons grated orange zest
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup champagne
• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 – 4 Tablespoons of Jam ( I used homemade Chocolate Raspberry Jam)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, cream butter, confectioner’s sugar, orange zest and salt until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes.

Mix juice and champagne together.

Add flour to creamed mixture alternately with juice mixture, beating until just combined after each addition.

Transfer cookie dough to a pastry bag fitted with a star tip. Pipe 2-in. circles, 2 in. apart onto parchment-lined baking sheet.

Using the rounded end of a spoon or spatula, make small indentations in the center of each cookie.

Fill with about 1/8 teaspoon of your favorite jam.

Bake until edges are just starting to brown, 10-12 minutes. Cool on pan 5 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Enjoy!

Links for helpful Kitchen Tools & Ingredients for Mimosa Butter Sweetheart Cookies:

Kitchen Aid Artisan Stand Mixer

Ateco Disposable Decorating Bags

Prepworks Pocket Zester

German Rolls

Today I’d like to kick off the holiday cookie season by bringing you the recipe for a very unique cookie – The German Roll. Only slightly sweet, coated with a dusting of walnuts, this little delicacy is almost more bread-like than any cookie I’ve nibbled before. I was introduced to them by one of my best friends, John Richards.

John was my “Man of Honor” when I married.

John’s grandmother would make these every year for Christmas. It was love at first bite for me! Each year I would send some of my Christmas cookies to Ohio with John when he went home for the holidays and then he would return with some of these elusive German Rolls for me.

These cookies, pictured with the blue linens, were actually made by John’s Gramma in 2012.

I’ve never found their like. I have googled “German Rolls, German Christmas Cookies,” you name it, to no avail. Totally mysterious! I really wanted to get the recipe, so I asked John if his family would be willing to share. He was sure that they would, though he cautioned me that he thought the recipe might be somewhat difficult to recreate. You know, it was once of those recipes that had been passed down for years. One that the family matriarch had mastered; one that they could literally nail in their sleep. But to an outsider, it was full of inaccurate measurements like “a tablespoon” which didn’t mean the standardized tablespoon, but a particular wooden spoon that their husband had carved for them when they first married. And truly subjective instructions like “just mix it up until the dough looks right”. So, although we loved these cookies, we were a bit intimidated and took no action, but kept the idea of making them on the back burner.

It has been several years now since we lost Cecilia Batya,  John’s Gramma. Today is actually the anniversary of her passing. You might have assumed she was German, you know what with the cookies being called “German Rolls”, but no. Cecilia, born Cecelia Smocer, was from Slovakia.

She immigrated with her family to the United States at the age of nine and settled into a small coal mining town in Pennsylvania. There she met and married Joseph Batya.

They had six children,

The Batya Clan

followed by a dozen or so grandchildren and many great and great-great grandchildren by the time she passed at the age of 98 years. Cecelia learned the recipe from her mother, Bubbha. It is thought that she may have gotten the recipe from one of the German women in their local church, St. Hedwig. From what we hear, many folks in the town requested that Cecelia and her mother bake these cookies not only for Christmas but also for weddings and other celebrations.

Cecilia brought this recipe with her as the family migrated further west into Cleveland after the coal mines closed. She taught her three daughters Marguerite, Antoinette and Kathy how to make these German Rolls along with many other of the traditional Slovak dishes like Kolache and Bobalki.

John & his sister Heather have now taken on the Christmas cookie making mantle for the Batya clan and were determined to make German Rolls this year. Their Aunt Antoinette had written the recipe down for me several years ago, so we all got together one afternoon to give it a whirl. Now what I will say is this is a strange recipe! It taught me quite a lot! First of all, we had to find cake yeast. Apparently many stores only stock it around Christmas time and we knew that this recipe might take several times to master, so our efforts had begun in early November. No cake yeast in sight. Literally a cake yeast free zone. So I got busy trying to figure out the conversion so that I could use dry yeast. Scalding the milk was the next thing that I pondered. I was under the impression that when an old time recipe contained this step that it wasn’t really necessary. I thought that it was done in the days before pasteurization to make sure there wasn’t any bacteria present. Turns out, that when making a yeast bread, scalding the milk is actually an important step. The whey protein in milk can weaken gluten and prevent the dough from rising properly. Scalding the milk deactivates the protein so this doesn’t happen. It makes the milk a better food source for the yeast, so you get a quicker rise and fluffier product. The dough is smoother and retains moisture much better.

And then, just when you think the rest of the recipe would be straight forward, you are instructed to wrap the cookie dough in a cheese cloth, submerge it in water and wait for it to float. What! I have never come across this in any other recipe. So I looked around online to see if I could find anything about this proofing method. I was able to find this reference from a book by Andrew Whitly entitled “Bread Matters”. He states that “an original method of judging proof is given in a famous Russian Cookbook and household manual from the 1860’s called “A Gift to Young Housewives” by Elena Molohkovets.” She wrote:

“After molding the dough made with fine flour, you may put the loaves in a bucket of water (the temperature of a river in summer) where they will lie on the bottom until they are fully proofed. When they float to the surface, put them straight into the oven…..Incidentally if you are proofing bread on the table, you can put a small test piece of dough into cold water; when it rises to the surface, you can put all your loaves into the oven.”

Weird right!!! But we did it and achieved flotation! Here is the photographic proof of the proofing!

Success! From what I understand, if the dough doesn’t float, you are done for. Mission accomplished!

We were quite happy with these little gems. And having made them ourselves, appreciated them all the more. I’m telling you, a German Roll (or two or so…) is absolute perfection with a nice cup of tea.

So were these cookies exactly like Cecilia’s? Well they were very close. I don’t doubt that she was smiling down on us with great amusement as we tried to fill her cookie baking shoes, which of course, can not ever be done. Cecilia was such an amazing woman. The true matriarch of the Batya clan and very much beloved, she cemented the family together. We won’t see her like again. By recording her recipe for these German Rolls we have been able to capture some sweet memories and a tradition will continue to endure for new generations to come. We think Cecilia would definitely approve!

Cheers!

 

***If anyone out there reading this is familiar with these cookies – I would love to hear from you! Please leave me a comment.

• Servings: full batch 68 - 72 cookies, half batch 34 -36
• Difficulty: moderate. yeast rise involved. will teach you new techniques!
• Print

recipe from: The Batya Clan

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. Crisco
• 1 Cup scalded milk (heated to 180° F)
• 1 ounce of Cake yeast (10.5 grams or 3 1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp of dry yeast)
• 6 Cups all-purpose flour ( add up to 1 additional cup as needed)
• 1/2 Cup granulated sugar
• 4 Eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon salt

For the coating:

• 4 Cups ground nuts (walnuts are traditional, but pecans or whatever you prefer)
• 3/4 Cup sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a cookie sheet with Parchment paper or lightly grease it.

Place four cups of the nuts of your choice in a food processor and pulse a few times until ground. Add 3/4 cup sugar and pulse to combine. Place in bowl and set aside.

Scald milk by heating to 180° F. Scalding deactivates the whey protein found in milk. This protein can weaken gluten and prevent the dough from rising properly. Allow milk to cool to lukewarm (between 98° – 105° F). Add yeast to milk and stir to dissolve.

Mix flour and crisco together, as you would do for pie dough. You can do this by hand, or in a food processor. Add sugar and salt to the mixture. If dough seems too rich, add up to one cup of flour to firm it up.

Add yeast mixture and beaten eggs to flour mixture. Mix well, until a smooth dough is achieved. No serious kneading is necessary. Again, this can be done by hand, or in a stand mixer.

Fill a large dough rising bucket or Dutch oven or bowl half-full of cool water.

Form dough into a large ball and place in the center of a cheesecloth (or you can use a flour sack kitchen towel). Twist the ends of the cloth loosely around the ball and place it in the water. Add more water to almost cover dough ball.

Soak the dough in water until it becomes boyant, about 1 1/2 hours but no longer.

When ready, put hand under dough ball and undo the cloth, letting the water drain a bit. Flip dough gently onto a large platter.

Drop hearty tablespoons of dough (I used a Tablespoon (size#40) cookie dough scoop – link below- so that all the cookies are uniform) onto the nut/sugar mixture. The dough will likely be sticky, but if you coat it a bit before rolling a shaping,and use a light touch, it works pretty well.

Roll into approximate 8″ strand. Tie it into a loose single loop knot, leaving enough dough (about 2″ at each end) to wrap around the strand one wore time. bring one end around and down through the center and the other end around and up through the center.

Transfer the German Rolls to a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 15- 20 minutes or until lightly browned.

Enjoy!

***I’m told by the Batya clan that these cookies freeze well!

Links for helpful Kitchen Tools & Ingredients for German Rolls

Cuisinart Pro-Classic Food Processor

Kitchen Aid Artisan Stand Mixer

6 Quart Dough Rising Bucket

SAF Instant Yeast

OXO Good Grips Medium Cookie Scoop

Cheesecloth

Baileys Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here we are, with St. Patrick’s Day only 6 days away. That means it is time for me to start my annual St. Patrick’s Day blog-a-thon. Yup, I’ll be sharing one lovely Irish-y recipe everyday with you, right up to the big day this Sunday March 17th! Now I think managing to publish one recipe daily for seven days is a pretty impressive feat. But, a few years ago I was completely mad and used to start on March 1st and do a new recipe each day until March 17th. That is why you can find over 100 delicious St. Patrick’s Day recipes on my blog. If you’d like to take a peek at my past St. Patrick’s Day posts, you can click Runcible Eat/Recipes up at the top navigation bar and scroll down to the St. Patrick’s Day category. That’s where you’ll find them! And stay tuned here for my latest additions this year. I’m going to kick this whole thing off with this lovely recipe for Baileys Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Soft and pillowy, these cookies are a bit more cake-like than your traditional chocolate chip cookies due to the addition of cream cheese and cornstarch. Another thing they’ve got on your average chocolate chip cookies is that these little devils are infused with Baileys. And let me tell you, that decadent Baileys flavor is very prominent. An what flavor is more evocative of Ireland…you know I mean besides Guinness…oh and whiskey. But then again whiskey is in the Baileys, so there you go.

Folks absolutely love Baileys. In fact, on December 3rd, 2007, the manufacturers of the beloved liqueur, announced the sale of the billionth bottle of Baileys since it was first introduced. A billion is a lot right? But you’re probably thinking, yeah but Baileys has been around for ever. They’ve had a lot of time to get to 1 billion. You’d be wrong. Baileys wasn’t introduced until 1973! Hard to believe! Baileys was the first Irish Cream to go on the market as well. There have certainly been plenty of  imitators since then, but Baileys continues to rule supreme.

And a little birdie just told me that the Baileys folks have introduced Irish Cream flavored chocolate baking chips! The chips are at a few select retailers right now but will roll out nationwide ahead of Easter this year. If you just can’t wait, you can also get ahold of them on Amazon. I have provided a link below.

But back to the Baileys Chocolate Chip Cookies we have today. The Baileys is in the batter, not the chips. And Oh my does it pair so well with those rich chocolate morsels. So easy to make and even easier to scarf down with a cold glass of milk…or maybe a nice cup of coffee spiked with a bit of Baileys. Don’t worry, I’ll never tell!

• Servings: 30 cookies - depending on how you scoop them
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

recipe from: Tutti Dolci

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3 oz reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 3 Tbsp Irish Cream
• 12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.

Beat butter and cream cheese in a large mixer bowl at medium speed until smooth; add sugars and continue to mix until creamy.

Beat in egg, then add Baileys and mix in until combined.

Reduce speed to low and gradually add flour mixture; taking care to mix just until incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips, cover dough, and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop out the batter and place 2″ apart on the prepared baking sheet. Flatten the scoops slightly.

Bake for 12 minutes, until the tops and edges are just turning golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Baileys Chocolate Chip Cookies brought to you by: Runcible Eats (www.leaandjay.com)

Useful links for Kitchen Tools & Ingredients for Baileys Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Kitchen Aid Artisan Series 5 Qt. Stand Mixer

OXO Good Grips Medium Cookie Scoop

Baileys Original Irish Cream Baking Chips – These are not actually used in this recipe, but I promised you the link – so here it is!