Monday Menu – Levian Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted on October 21, 2013 by Jackie

I love cookies so much… they’re so easy to make. So easy to take and grab as you walk past them because they’re calling to you from their plate on the counter. Especially chocolate chip cookies and even more so these ones.

When I first started blogging I caught an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay and he went up against the ladies from Levian Bakery in NYC and they made these amazing cookies. Well, since a trip to NYC to get some of the cookies wasn’t in the budget I set out to make my own batch of Levian Bakery chocolate chip cookies and as far as I was concerned it was pretty successful But after making them a few times I decided that I needed to change it a little bit because they seemed too sweet to me.

I know what you’re thinking… a cookie? Too sweet? Yes, it is possible. Although it still tasted good the sugar seemed to over power the cookie. I decided to cut back some of the sugar and see how it worked out.

Monday Menu – Levian Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup cold butter – cubed *
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 large eggs, cold
1 tsp vanilla
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips – I used Ghiradelli Semi-Sweet
* I used salted butter. You can also use unsalted just add 1/4 tsp of salt.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 and make sure the rack is in the middle. If it’s to close to the bottom of the oven the cookies will be way to dark on the bottom.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy and then add eggs one at a time and mix well after each one, then vanilla and mix until well incorporated.
Sift together the dry ingredients and slowly add it to the butter mixture until it is combined. Add chocolate chips and stir by hand.
Scoop the cookies onto the baking sheet. I used the medium scoop from Pampered Chef which is about 2oz. Two scoops make about a 4oz cookie which is perfect.
Bake 10 – 15 min (up to 20 depending on how big your cookies are) and are lightly brown on the bottom.
Place on a rack to cool.

https://withjustabitofmagic.com/levian-bakery-chocolate-chip-cookies

The end result was just about perfect and my family loved them. They gobbled them up and there are but a few left.

Now, if you feel like waiting a little bit longer for your cookies, after scooping them onto the cookie sheet chilling them for about 20 – 30 minutes will help them stay a little thicker… fuller. I haven’t done this yet simply because I can’t wait for a warm, soft, gooey chocolate chip cookie and even without waiting the cookies are been perfect.

They’re slightly crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.

Oh! I almost forgot… most of the other recipes out there call for adding walnuts to the cookie dough. I leave them out since most of my family (me included) doesn’t like nuts in their cookies.

Since I first tried to make the Levian Bakery chocolate chip cookies I have had the chance to actually try one. A friend of mine went to NYC and brought me back one of the famed cookies. It was delicious and my knock off was almost just as good!

What is your favorite cookie recipe?

Have you every tried to recreate a recipe that you’ve seen on TV?

Monday Menu ~ Soft & Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

Posted on September 9, 2013 by Jackie

Over the weekend I got this craving for some peanut butter cookies. But not just regular ones… they had to be a little thick, soft, and chewy and that meant making them myself and experimenting a little bit to get them exactly the way I wanted.

Usually, experimenting means that I have to try it a couple times before I get things right (like with the black bean brownies but that’s another story). This time it all worked out the first time! I was impressed and everyone loved them…. but who doesn’t love cookies?

There is just something about cookies that I love so much. They’re so fast and easy to make, you can eat them right away, you don’t need a plate or silverware, and you can pop one in your mouth quickly after you’ve told the kids that they can’t have anymore. See… perfect.

Soft & Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

3/4 C cream peanut butter - I used Jiff
1/2 stick or Crisco Butter flavored baking stick (or 1/2 C out of the container)
1 1/4 C firmly packed brown sugar
3 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 3/4 C all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Combine the peanut butter, shortening, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed until it's well blended and then add in egg. Blend until just mixed in.
Combine the dry ingredients and then add to the peanut butter mixture at low speed until blended together.
Scrap down the edges of the bowl and then cover with plastic wrap and chill for an hour.
Drop by rounded tablespoons on to a cookie sheet (I used a scoop for this). Flatten slightly with a fork dipped in sugar to make a crisscross pattern.
Bake for 7 - 9 minutes, or just until set and the edge is beginning to brown. Cool for 2 minutes before removing the cookies from the sheet. Cool completely (if you can wait that long) on a rack.

https://withjustabitofmagic.com/soft-chewy-peanut-butter-cookies

These are probably not the most healthy cookies but that’s fine as long as you don’t eat all of them at once. Now that I think about it what cookie is really healthy?

I think that what really gives them that softness and extra flavor is the butter flavored Crisco and the full tablespoon of vanilla. You can use real butter if you want to and I don’t think that it’ll change to much but I knew that the Crisco would keep them soft and chewy like I wanted.

When I was younger I remember my grandma and mom using Crisco to bake with… cookies, pie crusts, and to even make the most creamy, delicious frosting ever. I make that frosting to this very day on occasion. I suppose that it’s little things that bring back memories… like cookies.

Give these peanut butter cookies a try and I think that you’ll like them.

Monday Menu ~ Whole wheat sugar cookies

Posted on July 22, 2012 by Jackie

It’s been a while since I’ve shared a recipe with you but since baking is my favorite thing ever and I’ve been really trying hard to lose weight I’ve set aside baking.

Well I couldn’t do it. I just had to bake something! It wasn’t that I really wanted to eat something sweet but more that I missed baking and trying to find a recipe that is great. I was given the chance to try out Melt again and knew that I wanted to use it for a cookie and with that my journey began!

First of all, I want to let you know what Melt Buttery Spread really is. It’s an organic butter alternative that is made from virgin coconut oil, flax seed oil, palm fruit oil, and canola oil with no artificial colors or additives. It is the perfect blend of healthy fats that can be used just the same as regular butter, whether you bake or cook with it or even spread it on your toast it really is one of the more healthy oils that you can use. Best of all…. it’s delicious! I love it!

My first thought was chocolate chip cookies because those are just about everyone’s favorite, but I really wanted something that was lower in calories. What I came up with was whole wheat sugar cookies and the recipe needs some improving.

Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies – Round 1

1 cup white sugar – I used Stevia
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter flavored shortening – I used Melt!
2 tablespoons milk – skim
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg – I used egg beaters 1/4 cup
2 cups whole wheat flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In large bowl, combine first 10 ingredients and blend well. Stir in whole wheat flour. (I chilled the dough while the oven was pre-heating but I don’t think it was really necessary)
Shape into 1 inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Flatten each cookie slightly with a fork or your hand.

Bake in pre-heated oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown

I did succeed in making them healthier and lower calorie than your typical cookie! I mean take a look at those nutrition facts! 50 calories per cookie!

Alright here’s the final results…. one kid took a bit, handed me the cookie, and then asked what it was, the 2nd barely took a bite and said she didn’t like it oh… and that they smelled like bread, and my oldest daughter said that they weren’t to bad & agreed with me that they were missing something.

I have to agree… something is missing. I think that they need maybe 1/2 to 1 cup more sugar and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla instead of 1. Another idea is to roll the cookies in sugar before baking.

Alright all of you foodies out there…. what are your thoughts?

Jiffy Mix Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Jackie

Recently I really wanted some cookies and some with chocolate in them but I wanted something fast and easy. My search online began and I had to blend a few recipes together to finally come up with one that worked.

The Ingredients

This is what I came up with.

4 T butter
3 T sugar (I didn’t use sugar but it needed some)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 boxes of Jiffy chocolate chip muffin mix
1 C chocolate chips

Note: I had to add some flour because the batter seemed a bit thin and I didn’t want the cookies to be really flat.

Preheat over to 350..

Mix softened butter with the sugar. Mix in the egg and vanilla. Add both boxes of muffin mix. Stir until completely incorporated. Add the chocolate chips. Bake for 10 minutes or until cookies are light brown on the edges and fully cooked on the top. Cool and enjoy.

These cookies were simple to make and turned out a lot better than I thought they would. As a matter of fact I think I’m going to try them again with with other flavors of Jiffy muffin mix.