Baking "Friday" - Cookie # 5

How many ways do you like chocolate chip cookies?

"Whatever way Deb makes them," was the answer from the first-time daddy of this new little one.

How sweet is that?  (Yes, I mean the daddy's reply but mainly this little sweet face.  Babies really are just the best way for people to start!)

But back to chocolate chip cookies.  How about with bacon?  I served these at breakfast time after all.

These are our Father's Day cookies.  We did fancier cookies for Mother's Day...pretty cookies, ladylike cookies...remember these?

But I wanted to do more "guy like" cookies for Father's Day.  And chocolate chip may be just about the most quintessential standard, universally loved cookie by "guys".  So chocolate chip was chosen.

As you know, there are LOTS of chocolate chip cookie recipes available.  Some people SWEAR by their chocolate chip cookie recipe as the BEST there ever was.  And others swear by the recipe on the back of the Nestle chocolate chip bag.  (Anyone have visions of the Friends' episode about this recipe now?)  I tend to land in the camp "is there really a bad chocolate chip cookie recipe?"  There are truly as many recipes out there as there are ways that people like chocolate chip cookies.  Do you like a soft and bendy cookie?  Or do you prefer them a bit crisper?  Do you like nuts with your chocolate chips?  How about oatmeal?   Or are you a purest?  I am a soft and bendy girl myself, but in all honesty, if a chocolate chip cookie is offered along side of other things, I will usually choose from the "other things" side.  They just don't happen to be one of my favorite cookies.  But this isn't about what I like. This is about something fathers might like for their special day coming up in June.

Like you've read me type a few times before, I turn to the King Arthur Flour website for the chocolate chip cookie recipe that I use most.  And there are at least a dozen chocolate chip cookie recipes on their site.  I usually bake up the KAF Guaranteed recipe you find on that link with one fairly minor exception.  I add just a teaspoon of cornstarch to help them fluff up a bit.  But we will get to those details in a bit.  I wanted to do more than "jus'" chocolate chip cookies.  I wasn't sure I could come up with a true "Jus' Deb's Dissertation" about regular chocolate chip cookies.

So what to do?  Let's think about father's.  Father's are wonderful creatures.  I'm very glad that God thought of creating fathers, but I am also glad that they are not all the same.  Dads are far from cookie cutters.  Even when talking about cookies.

Some dads like the standard chocolate chip cookie.  These are the guys who ask questions like "why mess with perfection?"  My step kids father would be one of these.  I think it is safe to say that this is definitely one of his favorite cookies, if not his absolute favorite cookie.  But please don't go messing with a good thing!

And yes, even as I read this aloud to him, he starts shaking his head "yes" in that duh! sort of way, if you know what I mean!

Other dads are just a bit adventuresome - not crazy, you understand, but just a little - just a touch of spice to make their tongues wonder what is that flavor mixing it up with the chocolate chips - reminiscent of Mexican hot chocolate.  For these fine fellows, I offer you chocolate chip cookies with a few white chocolate chips and cinnamon chips tossed in and cinnamon chips added on the top right before baking.

Then we have dads who LOVE adventure, even in all things culinary.  But even these guys can be split into 2 camps.  Some like the adventure to mix it up with other sweet things like peanut butter cups and caramel and even sea salt for a slight savory finish.

And then we have The Bacon Dads.  Come on, you know who you are.  If "bacon" is close by, these guys are IN.  Always.  For these guys, the phrase "6 degrees of greatness" as penned by one of my most prolific taste testers (with an appropriate nod to Kevin B.) applies.  Bacon in the dough plus bacon on top of the cookie, glued in place with a touch of maple glaze - reminiscent of bacon and pancakes.  (Is anyone hungry about now?)

These.  These?  Were surprisingly good.  If you are into bacon that is.  If you are only mildly into bacon and bacon isn't The Best Meat Ever Invented, then these might not be your thing.  But for those who love bacon and chocolate chip cookies, ya might want to consider giving these a try.  Some used the word "phenomenal" to describe these.  Others said that they were "delicious!" and "most wonderful".  Our new daddy above had tried other bacony desserts, but they had been oversold and didn't really work.  He enjoyed these quite a bit, and I don't believe he is one that would simply blow smoke to make me feel good, if you know what I mean.  He's got a pretty discerning tongue.  I'm not trying to oversell these here, just letting you know that while the cookie might sound strange, they actually work quite well together.

You can always do what I did - make up a basic batch of dough and then split them however you like.  I did a double batch to be sure I had enough for everyone, but if you had less people to serve, you could split a regular batch just as easily.

Ready for the recipe?  Until such time as I ever have a "real" blog where I can make recipes easily printable, you may find it easiest to print the recipe from the KAF website.  I totally get that.  But here's the recipe as well, in the amounts that I made.

2/3 cup light brown sugar
2/3 cup dark brown sugar (see pics below)
1-1/3 cup sugar
1 cup butter (I'm bad, I used salted)
1 cup shortening (I used the butter flavored)
1 t. salt
Splash of vanilla and almond
2 t. white vinegar
2 t. baking soda
2 t. cornstarch (not in the KAF recipe)
2 eggs
4 cups all-purpose flour (yes, I only use KAF brand...signed Flour Snob)
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups milk chocolate chips

I began by creaming the butter and shortening.  How gorgeous and smooth is this?  This is with softened butter and shortening after about 4 minutes of beating.

Then I added the brown sugar.  Now, I had dark brown sugar in a canister and "dark" brown sugar in the bag, but I honestly think that this bag was miss marked.  Would you agree?  Don't you see two colors here?

So that's why I wrote it that I used 2/3 cup of light brown sugar and 2/3 cup of dark.  I've personally found them to be just about interchangeable with the dark giving only a slightly more molasses-like flavor.

I beat in these sugars with the white sugar, salt, flavorings, vinegar, baking soda and cornstarch until smooth.  Then I added the eggs, scraping the bowl from time to time, before beating in the flour on low speed.

Then I added the chocolate chips.  I like to combine the semi-sweet with the milk, but that is obviously only a personal preference.

Then I started rolling into balls using my small ice-cream scoop, ready to bake.  I did about half the batch as the standard, basic chocolate chip cookies.

These balls of dough weren't quite right.  I forgot two steps with these.

These baked up like this.  Not "broken" just not quite as pretty and appealing as they could be.

These I did right.  And by right I mean that I rolled each ball in superfine sugar and then added 3 chips on the top.  I blew up this picture so you could see those details a bit better.

And so this is how those baked up.  A bit more appealing, right?  Right?

Oh!  And yes, I am one of those that bakes one sheet of cookies at a time and always on parchment.  I also use my tried and true air-bake cookie sheets to keep the bottoms from browning too quickly and burning.  I figure - if I'm baking cookies, I would rather take a bit longer overall time and get each sheet as good as I can than cut the time but end up with mediocre results.  So I baked all of these in my oven at 375 for right at 9 - 10 minutes and then resting 1.5 - 2 minutes on the sheet before sliding all of them off at the same time by simply sliding the parchment paper onto the counter for final cooling.

Now to the rest of the dough, I went on the adventures!  To a small amount I added white chocolate chips, a few cinnamon chips and then after rolling in the sugar, I topped with a few more cinnamon chips.  These may have been my favorite of the bunch.  They kind of reminded one taster of a scone, and I get that.  They are not too sweet, but have a certain spicy sweetness to complement the chocolate chips.

For the next portion of dough, I added some butterscotch chips, and cut up some mini peanut butter cups.

Would you like a closer look?

I still rolled these in sugar but I didn't decorate the tops with any chips....because... I did something crazy to these when they came out of the oven.  I put a whole mini peanut butter cup on top of the hot cookie to let it melt just a bit and get all soft and gooey.

And then I drizzled a bit of caramel sauce (like for ice cream sundaes) and just a light sprinkling of sea salt.  The chocolate stayed soft and gooey.  So soft and gooey, in fact, that I couldn't cover them with waxed paper or plastic.  These are definitely SWEET, even with the sea salt, but if you are a peanut butter cup fan, I say, "Go for it!"

And now...finally....the Bacon.  I fried up about 5 thick slices that I had diced beforehand and sprinkled them with about a tablespoon of brown sugar and a drizzle of maple syrup right before removing from the pan to drain.

Then I fried up about 7 more full slices (3 of which were used for a BLT for G's supper that night.)  The remaining 4 got cut up into 6 bite-size pieces each or enough for about 24 cookies.

I mixed the diced pieces into the dough and began to roll into balls, again rolling them in sugar.  Can you see the bacon peaking out?

How about now?

After they had cooled, I mixed up a small batch of a normal powdered sugar glaze (pat of soft butter, few grains of salt, vanilla, powdered sugar & milk) and added a drizzle of maple syrup.  I added a dab of this to the top of each cookie, and then added a piece of bacon for "garnish".  And because The Bacon Dads could not care less what platter their bacon comes on, I served these on a Christmas platter.

And before I knew it, I had chocolate chip cookies 4 different ways.

Classic "Don't Mess with Perfection" - served on a basic platter, but served abundantly..

Slightly spicy - unassuming, for those dads who like to keep their adventure understated.

Sweet Adventure - served on a platter that my sister gave me after S&K got married as a MOTB gift...

And finally our "Cookies with Bacon!"  I have a feeling that I need to do something next week that does NOT include bacon, because as one manager put it, "These emails are more effective leading everyone away from their desks than the Pied Piper!"

How many ways do you like chocolate chip cookies?  Or more importantly, how many ways does your dad like chocolate chip cookies?  Where does he land on this flavor spectrum?

Intriguing questions...food for thought...Ooo!  Did you catch the pun?

Thanks for stopping by!  See you next week for a 5th Friday Pie!!