Saturday, March 29, 2008

3-CHIP COOKIES, adapted

Should I blame my 8 years of Catholic school training or my serious nature? I needed a recipe to use up Rice Krispies that I bought to develop a recipe for a contest. I couldn't just trash the cereal, and I don't eat it for breakfast. The Imperial Sugar people came to my rescue. Now, I ask you, do you think a recipe on a sugar company's website is going to be over-the-top sweet? They want to sell you sugar. As soon as I looked at this one, I knew I had to make some adjustments. If you want the original recipe, guaranteed to put you into a diabetic coma, go to their site, http://www.imperialsugar.com/. I cut the sugar almost in half and cut the chips by more than a half, and they're still sweet. Hubby Guy, who doesn't eat sweets, grabbed one from the cooling rack and gave it two thumbs up, way up. The combination of the 3 different chips with the brown sugar in the dough gives the cookie a butterscotchy flavor. They're very crispy on the edges and tender, delicate and almost -- but not quite -- cakey inside with a nice crunch from the cereal. I added an extra cup of Rice Krispies because I'm trying to get rid of them, and it didn't hurt the cookie at all. These are nice cookies that will surely please just about anyone who tastes them. And the nuns of the Sacred Heart would be proud of me for thinking of the starving people in China.

3-Chip Cookies, adapted
1 cup(2 sticks) unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar (I used 1 Tbsp. Stevia)
3/4 cup light brown sugar (You can cut brown sugar to 1/2 cup; it'll be plenty sweet)
2 eggs
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, lightly spooned and swept
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup white chocolate chips (be sure cocoa butter is listed, not partially hydrogenated stuff)
1 cup butterscotch chips
3 cups krispy rice cereal

Preheat oven to 350F. Line 2 12x17" baking sheets with parchment paper.
Combine butter and sugar in large bowl of stand mixer and mix on low speed only just till combined, about 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and continue to mix on low speed for another 2 minutes, or till the eggs are incorporated. Combine baking powder, baking soda, salt and flour and add to the mixing bowl. Mix on low speed till everything is combined. Do not worry if you see some small pieces of butter. Stir in the chips and cereal with the mixer on stir speed, about 30 seconds to a minute. You'll get a slightly sticky dough. Using about 2 Tbsp. of dough for each cookie, drop onto the parchment paper about 3 inches apart. You should get 3 pans of cookies, 22 in all. These only slightly spread, and the finished cookie should be 3-1/2" in diameter. Bake 13-16 minutes or until the cookies are a light golden color and are just beginning to brown around the edges. Use a toothpick inserted in center to test for doneness. When it returns clean, they are done. Let cookies cool on pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack to finish cooling. They are very soft when they first come out of the oven, but as they cool, they firm up and get crispy on the edges. Try not to eat them when they're hot, because they're much better when they've cooled.

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