Cookie Confessions

So last night -- just a little after midnight, we were watching TV when my husband had a craving for cookies -- specifically the ones we had a few days ago from Panera. He asked if I could find the recipe and bake some. Lo and behold, I actually found a thread about it in Yahoo! Answers. The "best answer" wasn't the exact recipe by Panera, but it was close enough.

Toffee Nut Cookies Recipe from allrecipes.com.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg yolk

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:

1. Cream together butter or margarine and brown sugar, packed.
2. Add 1 egg yolk, sifted flour, and vanilla. Batter will be stiff.
3. Spread on a greased 13 x 9 inch cookie sheet. Bake at 375F (190C) for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.
4. While still warm, add 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips to top of cookie until melted. Spread with knife until top is covered. Add chopped nuts, if desired. Let cool, then cut into squares.

Sweet. Nice texture (simultaneously crunchy, soft, and smooth). Chewy-good. Delicious.

But a couple (or more) confessions:

1. I forgot to add the vanilla extract. But it still turned out quite sweet.
2. I used white chocolate chips.
3. By stiff, the recipe MEANS stiff. I had a hard time spreading the batter on the cookie sheet, and it might have ended up being too thick.  Hence, uneven baking.
4. I had to cut and take off the edges and put the sheet back in the oven because the dough in the middle was still a little raw.  I baked it for 8 more minutes.  Even then, I don't think the whole cookie was baked through enough.
5. Instead of squares, I cut them in circles... and made everyone eat the crumbly bits first.
6. Despite these mistakes, no one suspected I made any. They actually tasted pretty incredible.

A couple last confessions: I never used the cutesy measuring spoons seen in the photos during the baking process.  And not one person drank chocolate milk while consuming the cookies.


Recipe from Allrecipes.com.  Styling and photography by Anji Panganiban.