Lovin' From the Oven

Day 5: Chocolate Jumbles

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Day 5 of my 12 days of cookies: So far, so good! I’m still on the right track to finish my list this year and I am ever so determined to do it! Chocolate Jumbles. A dark chocolate, cakey cookie with chopped pecans and white chocolate. You can make them as big or as small as you want. The recipe says it yields 18 cookies, but I managed to make over 4 dozen with the batter by using a small cookie scoop. Instead of making them huge, I baked them into miniature poppables. The recipe also said that you have to flatten them a bit before baking, but since I made mine so tiny, I left them as is.
I took just over 3 dozen cookies to work, thinking no one would want them in my family (my parents aren’t a big fan of chocolate). When I came home, my mom asked me where the rest of the cookies went. I had left a little plate of about 6 cookies on the counter, which seemed to have mysteriously disappeared while I was at work. My mom confessed to eating 4 of them and was asking for more. Um, what? Where is my mom and what have you done with her? Apparently, they reminded her of some cookie she ate back in the day. She wasn’t even phased by the chocolate in it.
I was in a rush taking these pictures because I did it in the morning before work, so I texted my DB asking if he could take some extra shots just in case I didn’t get one that I liked. “Sure,” he said, “but you never like my pictures!” Grateful, I started uploading the pictures when I came home. Curious as to what his shots look like? Notice anything out of the ordinary?
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I was laughing so hard when I saw this. He didn’t even bother flipping an upside down cookie! EVERY picture he took had a flipped cookie. Hahaha.
This recipe came from a beautiful cookbook that I recently received from Tate’s Bake Shop. Not only did they send me a cookbook, they also sent me cookies! Three different kinds!

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The beautiful box it came in..
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and even more boxes!
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Each pack has two individually wrapped packages, each filled with a row of cookies. White chocolate macadamia nut…
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Oatmeal raisin..
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and your classic chocolate chip…
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These cookies were thin and crispy. I’m not usually one to like those kinds of cookies, but I couldn’t stop eating the white chocolate macadamia nut. My dad actually finished all of them. True story. The oatmeal raisin, I could do without… but as for the white chocolate macadamia nut– I’d eat it for dessert every day.
For those of you who want cookies right away, you can use the 15% discount code “cookie” on their website (valid until December 31st) for instant satisfaction. Here’s the recipe for the jumbles to tie you over!
Chocolate Jumbles
By Kathleen King from Tate’s Bake Shop Cookbook, p. 50
  • 2 1/2 cups AP flour
  • 1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup salted butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups firmly packed dark or light brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 cups white chocolate chips or chunks
  • 1 cup pecans, chopped
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease two cookie sheets, or line them with silpat.
  2. In a lage bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  3. Cream the butter and the sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs and vanilla. Mix and scrap down the sides of the bowl.
  4. Add the white chocolate chips and pecans. If the dough is too stiff, wet your hands and finish the mixing by hand. (Don’t worry, it’s not a big sticky mess.)
  5. Using two tablespoons, drop the cookie dough onto the cookie sheets. Use and ice cream scoop if you have one. Wet it with warm water between scoops so the dough falls out easily. Press the dough balls down gently with your fingertips.
  6. Bake the Jumbles for 20 minutes. The cookies will be soft when they come out of the oven. Do not overbake them.
  7. Cool them on the cookie sheets for 5 minutes and remove the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Day 2: Triple Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

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Day 2 of my 12 days of cookies: Triple Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies. Yeeeeesh. How long can a cookie’s name get? That’s okay, because these cookies will leave you speechless anyways.
These cookies were a hit! Best eaten the day of. The mixture of the three chocolates fuse together with the dried cranberries. It may seem like a lot of mix-ins, but it really doesn’t take away from the cookie dough itself. I haven’t made oatmeal cookies in so long that I almost forgot how good they were. Thanks for the reminder, Epicurious! These cookies get that beautiful golden trim around the outside, with a hearty and chewy inside. Under bake them a bit for a chewier bite (like I do)!
I really love this time of the year. The internet explodes with plenty of desserts and food porn. It seems as if December is when bloggers try to bake as many sweets as possible, leaving me drooling all over my computer screen. It’s also my favorite time of the year because I get to watch Love Actually everyday and not seem like a crazy person. Although, I’m pretty sure my DB hid it somewhere from me to stop me from playing it so much. What can I say… It’s the perfect Christmas movie! I adore everything about it. What are your favorite holiday movies?
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup old-fashioned oats
  • 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  1. Whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Set aside.
  2. Cream butter and both sugars in large bowl until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla.
  3. Add flour mixture and oats and stir until blended. Stir in all chocolate chips and cranberries.
  4. Flatten cookie dough into a one inch thick rectangle. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least two hours, or overnight.
  5. Preheat to 350°F.
  6. Just before baking, cut dough into one inch squares and place on baking sheet at least two inches apart.
  7. Bake cookies until edges are light brown, about 12 minutes. Cool on sheets 5 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool completely.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Blondies

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I was curious as to if the same dough would be able to make cookies, too. Sure, enough…

They make pretty cookies!

But definitely not as tasty.


The wonderful people at Oh Nuts! offered to send me some items to try out in my baking endeavors. Their customer service is amazing. Really. They kept in touch and updated me instantly on my order and shipment. I received the items in less than a week after they contacted me! They allowed me to choose a couple items to try, and one of my picks was a bag of macadamia nuts. Here’s a picture of all the goodies that I tweeted a while ago:


From left to right: macadamia nuts, dried cantaloupe, dried guava slices, dried mango.

Little did I know how big the bag I was going to receive really was. I always hated buying macadamia nuts from the grocery store because it’s SO expensive, but Oh Nuts! solved this problem my selling in bulk! What a great deal for a baking necessity. Not only that, but it comes in a resealable ziploc heavy duty bag.. perfect for using and reusing! No need to worry about storage. They also use good quality ingredients that result in wonderful items.

This recipe comes from Erin’s Food Files. They made very thick bars and I would even bake it in an even larger pan to get better results. These are definitely for the white chocolate macadamia nut lovers! I tried to bake them as a cookie just to see how it would turn out, and although they turned out, they weren’t very tasty. They didn’t spread and stayed as balls. This recipe wasn’t meant for cookies! I thoroughly enjoyed the bars, but I’d prefer a regular white chocolate macadamia nut cookie any day.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 pound, plus 1 teaspoon butter, at room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 3 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 cups white chocolate chips
  • 1 cup macadamia nuts, toasted and rough chopped

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Place 1/2 pound of the butter and the brown sugar in a bowl and cream together on medium speed until a smooth batter is formed. While the machine is running, add the eggs and vanilla extract, until incorporated into the batter.
  3. Sift together 3 cups flour and baking powder. Slowly add the flour mixture to the batter and mix on low speed until a dough is formed. Very gently, by turning the mixer on and then off, fold the chips and nuts into the dough.
  4. Once the dough is all blended, grease a 9 x 13 pan with the remaining butter and dust with the 1 tablespoon of flour. Pour the batter into the pan and place in the preheated oven. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until set yet still moist.

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