Crispy Chocolate-Cherry Treats

Around the holidays, I received a complimentary copy of America's Test Kitchen's Holiday Cookies 2010 issue.  Sure, it was last year's issue but I still loved perusing through the recipes.  I flagged the recipe for Crispy Chocolate-Cherry Treats because I thought they would be a fun little dessert for our New Year's Eve feast!

First, I gathered the ingredients for these grown-up Rice Krispies treats:

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 (10 ounce) bag marshmallows
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 cups Rice Krispies cereal
• 1 cup dried cherries, chopped
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips melted

I haven't made Rice Krispies treats in over a decade and I forgot how much fun they are to make:

• Line a baking pan with aluminum foil and allow the excess foil to hang over the pan edges.
• Grease the aluminum foil.
• Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat.  Add the marshmallows, white chocolate chips, and salt and cook until smooth.
• Once smooth, stir in the vanilla extract.
• Remove the marshmallow mixture from the heat and mix in the cereal and dried cherries.
• Scrape the entire mixture into the aluminum foil-lined baking pan.  Spread the mixture evenly and press into the bottoms and corners with a greased spatula.
• Let the treat mixture cool for about an hour before drizzling the melt chocolate.
• After the chocolate has cooled, use the foil overhang to lift the treats onto a cutting board and cut into squares.

I made these Crispy Chocolate-Cherry Treats first thing on Saturday and we definitely had a square with some champagne at midnight!

My friends also enjoyed some of these treats on New Year's Day, along with the leftover chicken and sausage gumbo, salsa and chips, and lots of cheese and crackers!  These treats were a big hit and I'm definitely going to experiment in the future with different ingredients like peanut butter chips, dried cranberries or melted Nutella!

What sweet treats did you enjoy on New Year's Eve?

Boston Blogger Cookie Challenge: Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

Last week, I read online about America Test Kitchen's Boston Blogger Cookie Challenge.  Basically, America's Test Kitchen is challenging local bloggers to try Cook's Illustrated's recipe for Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies.  The winner gets to tour the test kitchen and attend a live taping of the show, which is pretty cool since their studio is normally not open to a live audience.  Now normally, I wouldn't dare think of entering a baking contest but the recipe for Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies looked pretty straightforward so I thought I would give it a try.

First, I gathered my ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 14 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 3/4 sticks)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (you can also use semi-sweet chocolate chunks)
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnut, toasted (optional - I opted not to use them!)

I started out by checking my oven to make sure the oven rack was in the middle position and pre-heated the oven to 375 degrees.  I lined two baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside.  I also whisked together the flour and baking soda together in a medium bowl and then set the bowl aside.

I warmed ten tablespoons butter in a small saucepan on the stove at medium-high heat until the butter melted.

I continued cooking the butter and swirling it constantly until the butter was browned to a dark golden-brown and had a nutty aroma.  I didn't take any photos while I was browning the butter because this takes careful attention to not burn the butter!  When the butter was browned, I removed the saucepan from the stove and poured it carefully into a large bowl.  I stirred the remaining four tablespoons of butter into the hot brown butter until completely melted.

I added the granulated sugar, dark brown sugar, salt and vanilla to the bowl and whisked after each ingredient to make sure the butter mixture was fully incorporated.

I then added the egg and egg yolk to the mixture and whisked until the batter was smooth with no sugar lumps remaining.

I let the mixture stand for three minutes, then whisked for thirty seconds.  I repeated the process of resting and whisking two more times.  These little rest intervals were great because it gave me time to put away my ingredients, measure out the chocolate chips and wash the dishes I've already used. 

By the last resting and whisking interval, the mixture was thick, smooth and shiny.  It looked (and tasted) like a luscious caramel.

Using a rubber spatula, I stirred in the flour mixture until the cookie dough was just combined.

I then stirred in the chocolate chips and made sure that there were no flour pockets in the cookie dough.

I then spooned out three tablespoons worth of dough and arranged them a few inches apart on the baking sheet with eight dough balls per sheet.

I baked the cookies one baking sheet at a time until the cookies were golden brown and puffy.  The recipe says to bake the cookies for ten to fourteen minutes, rotating baking sheets halfway through baking.  Since my oven runs a little hot, I cut the baking time down to eight minutes and rotated the baking sheets after four minutes.  When the cookies were done, the edges had set but the centers were still soft.

I let the cookies cool down before plating and serving.

When Bret saw the cookies, he said that they looked fake...in a good way.  He thought they looked like the cookies that you see in movies or in food magazines...and not the ones you typically see coming out of home kitchens.  He didn't say it but I knew that cookies this beautiful don't typically come out of my kitchen!

But the real test was in the taste.  These large cookies tasted even better than the Toll House classic version that I've eaten many times before.  I really think the brown butter and the quality chocolate chips made a huge difference in these cookies.  They were soft and chewy in the middle but had a nice almost-crispy edge around them.

I say this as modestly as possible but these might simply be the best chocolate chip cookies...or the best anything...that I've baked on my own!  I seriously encourage you all to try this recipe out yourself!