Introductions: Chocolate Chip Based Baking Week

I have exciting news! And no I am not:

1. Going overseas (just up to the coast actually)
2. Buying a car (soon, you’ll all see)
3. Getting my Ps (a little early I think but in approximately 8 months I shall be a lone driver!)
4. Running away from home (I can’t even do all those grown up things like ‘balance a cheque book’ or whatever – I knew there was a reason so many people took economics in our school)
5. Getting a dog (again, I need to be a wee bit older and a wee bit moved out…)

But I FINALLY am finalising my chocolate chip cookie categories. Yes I know, I will now HAVE TO ignore every single chocolate chip cookie recipe UNLESS it is absolutely amazing in look and COMPLETELY DIFFERENT in recipe. I will now officially have my stick-to chocolate chip cookie recipes which bakers (I joke not) spend years toiling over to get the perfect one. I am not going to change my mind, I am going to be stubborn and stick to my choices. I CAN DO THIS…

After all, I am Choc Chip Uru… if these weren’t some of the first things I personally decided as a blogger, what would be?

Ok, my categories are:

• Favourite – Pretty easy to see. No matter how beautiful all other recipes and categories may be, this is my most dependable, presentable and delicious chocolate chip cookie recipe. Currently, this is an Exclusively Food recipe.
  Chewy in the middle with slightly crispy outsides, I have done nothing to this recipe except omit the nuts (because I feel it takes away from the chocolate chipp-iness of it all) and increased the amount of dark chocolate chips
  
• Crispy & Crunchy – I want a thin, lean cookie here which delivers a good burst of crispness while still giving an oomph of chocolate chips in every bite. The crunch factor has to be good but not overdone and for chewy lovers look away. The position in this recipe is currently taken by the vanilla chocolate chip dough of these cookiolis I made a while back. To get this at such a high position, I flattened the dough slightly before baking and baked them until they were golden-golden (but NOT brown) rather than light golden.
• Most Fun – I know, sounds a little weird as a category but this is a cookie which I fits my kitchen ‘fun’ definition a.k.a fast, easy and with highly (I do have standards) satisfactory results – If you feel like eating well but not working, these Pan Skillet Cookies I made a while back (hence not being on blog – see my Note on Chocolate Dishes) were the clear winner. They use melted butter – need I say more. This Cookie Cake is also in the same style of a huge rounded cookie but because it is made in the traditional style of creaming, it is not the winner.
• Soft & Chewy – This White Chocolate & Macadamia Cookie recipe is my staple chewy cookie. And don’t tell me this doesn’t belong because when it comes down to the core, just because there are no dark chocolate chips doesn’t mean it is not part of the chocolate chip cookie adventure! Anyway, this is one of the first baking experiences I have ever had and it has a timelessly soft and chewy cookie result every time. Thick or thin, nothing stops the first bite being melting.
• Thick & Cakey – Open for a winner!
• Most Creative Use of Choc Chip Cookie/Cookie Dough – A tough category this one is for sure! There are some things I haven’t tried involving this category and it is truly very hard to place a winner but the winner has to be these Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes if you remember from Miss PDS’s birthday 2011. You can taste the marriage of chocolate chip cookies and cupcakes in this so well it just blows my mind!

These are some other recipes I love but haven’t been made a winner – but still, seriously just try them:

• Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Raviolis
• Deep Dish Cookie Pies
• Pillow Cookies

These are some recipes involving chocolate chip cookies/dough which are tasty but I found they were no way near the standard of being a winner of a category:

• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies
• School Recipe: Choc-Nut Cookies – Email me if you me to post up this recipe 🙂

These are the recipes I intend to make – Let’s see if they can place as a winner, steal a spot or even make me make up a new category…

• Traditional Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies – You know the Friends episode “The One With Phoebe’s Cookies”, yes well, if Monica can make up such a hubbub over these (horrid French accent in place) ‘Niestlee Toulhoouse’ Cookies, I want to see what the fuss is about!
• Mrs Field’s Chocolate Chip Cookies – This is the alleged real recipe from the best cookie bakery in the world (sorry Cookie Man) – let’s see if it really is because in that case, it will be a huge competitor!
• Ice Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies – Who knows, maybe the extra creaminess and dough-i-ness from chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream is just what a perfect chocolate chip cookie needs?
• Brown Butter Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies – Maybe browned butter is the secret ingredient to make perfect chocolate chip cookies… who knows? I guess we’ll find out!
• Thick And Cakey Chocolate Chip Cookies – No prizes for guessing which category this one is aiming to win!
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream – A classic flavour – can I really replicate it at home? To be good enough to become a staple and the most creative use?
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Milkshake – A homemade drink made out of cookies? GET OUT Max Brenner (no sorry, take that back, I didn’t mean it :P)!
• Chocolate Chip Mini Cheesecakes – My adaptation has made this much more chocolate chip cookie orientated – and I do adore cheesecake… – although I will do a post on these, this adaptation is basically making a whole chocolate chip cookie as my biscuit base (and adding an extra tsp of vanilla essence!)
• Eggless Chocolate Chip White Sugar Cookie – Could eggs be ruining the taste? Could overdoses of brown sugar in ratio to white sugar be the culprit? A molasses lacking cookie without the ‘horrid smell of egg’ (quoting my mum)
• Malted Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies – Have you ever drank malted milk powder? The more I search, the more I find it in recipes all claiming to be enriched by this ingredient. Shall we take a shot? And since I could only find Ovaltine, chocolate malted milk powder will definitely be an adaptation

What are your opinions? Which cookies should take home the prize(s)???
Please enjoy this week as a Christmas Special on Go Bake Yourself – Happy Upcoming Holidays!