I originally set out to make yin-yang cookies from a recipe I stumbled across a few weeks ago. After spending over an hour making the two different doughs, rolling them into logs, wrapping them in plastic wrap, and refrigerating them over night, I pulled the logs of dough out to mold them, only to find them cracking, crumbling and falling apart in my hands. To ameliorate this problem, I stuck the dough logs in the freezer for two hours in hopes that they would be easier to handle... but to no avail; the dough still crumbled to bits. Frustrated, I tossed every single one of the dough logs into the trash and gave up.
After my frustration had subsided, I decided to try my hand at another cookie recipe, this time going the much more reliable traditional route, with a basic chocolate chip cookie. Except, the cookies I made turned out to be not-so-basic after all - I mixed semi-sweet chocolate chips, bittersweet chocolate chunks, and finely chopped walnuts into the batter. Then I split the batter into three batches, adding shredded coconut to one batch (for Mike), chopped up Reese's peanut butter cups to another (for myself) and I kept one batch of the original batter (for everyone!).
The resulting cookies were exactly what I was hoping to accomplish - both crispy and chewy, with a light nutty flavor and just the right amount of chocolate.
My only complaint? I could have used a few more chopped up Reese's peanut butter cups because those cookies were slightly lacking in peanut butter flavor. Otherwise, the cookies taste delicious and they store well for a few days in an airtight container; I also froze some of the batter for later.
For those curious, my next baking endeavor with most likely involve the quickly ripening batch of bananas I have sitting in the kitchen; perhaps another banana loaf but with chocolate chips this time? I would also like to make some more bread soon; I came across a great looking recipe for oatmeal wheat bread that I'm dying to try out.

Labels: cookies