Texas Governor's Mansion Cowboy Cookies

I apologize for the lack of posting lately.  Things here have just been, well, busy.  Life seems to get away from me before I even realize it has begun.  My girls are absolutely beautiful and wonderful and make every day worth living (and every night worth waking up several times).  But, they are a handful.  There never seems to be a moment when everyone is happy.  Unless, of course, everyone is sleeping.  But, even then the moments are fleeting.  Baking is typically my refuge, but there just does not seem to be enough hours in the day to bake the things I want.  You should see the list of recipes I've been planning to try - it grows daily!

Despite our wonderful (and reliable) chaos, I have been working on a chocolate nut-free, milk-free macaron with a pretty amazing milk-free filling.  I have the taste down, just not the aesthetics.  So, hopefully that will be on here soon enough.  In the meantime, though, I did whip up these chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.  There's a bit of a back story, and you may find it irrelevant, but well, it's my blog and I feel like telling it (so there)...

*If you are a guy, or are not, or have never been, a nursing mother, you really may not care about this next part.  In fact, you may find it a little TMI and be annoyed by it.  Whatevs.  Just skip on down.*  

As I've mentioned 8000 times before, I am nursing my milk-allergic infant.  We had a bumpy ride the first few weeks (cracking, bleeding, mastitis twice and a nasty case of thrush. Yuck.), but overall things have gone smoothly.  For some reason, though, in the last few days I have become a bit worried about my milk supply.  Truthfully, I have no reason to be concerned.  I've always had oversupply.  If my little one pulls off before let-down has subsided she gets a shot to the face.  And she usually ends up drenched.  But, she's now 6 months old and my supply is evening out a bit.  Instead of waking up leaking and engorged, things are fairly controlled now.  But, I've also been spending lots of time in the gym and I know I'm not drinking the water I should.  As any nursing mom knows, this can all lead to panic.  Where's my crazy-huge supply?  Why am I not walking around with two giant, painful rocks anymore??  What have I done????  Mah poor bay-bay!!!

I know.  And you're right.

But, in order to calm my nerves, I decided to eat me some oats.  Yup.  Oats.  I have read in several places that oats can help to boost your milk supply.  And by several I mean KellyMom.  But, the thing is, I hate oatmeal.  HATE it.  It's just so mushy.  And gross.  Yuck.  But, oatmeal cookies?  I can get behind those.  So, there you have it.  The reason I randomly made oatmeal cookies at 9pm on a Sunday night.

Okay, so if you've made it this far in the post, just bear with me as I quickly explain these cookies...  These are out of the book, Presidential Cookies.  It includes a cookie, or sweet treat, from every administration through President George W. Bush.  (I do not know if a new version has been released since the latest election, so please do not go crying foul over lack of inclusion.)  I have been making Laura Bush's Texas Governor's Mansion Cowboy Cookies out of this cookbook for a few years now, and they are always a hit.  But, somehow, I managed to forget about them and it's now been over a year since I last baked them.  Horrible!

But, these are so yummy.  In fact, in the middle of baking these, I went to nurse my daughter back down to sleep, and when I came into the kitchen again, there were suddenly four less cookies.  In ten minutes.  Obviously, my husband likes them a little.  

Mrs. Bush's recipe calls for coconut and nuts.  Because of our food allergies, I don't use either, but I will include them below so you can add them if you'd like.  Also, I halved her recipe.  The original quantities make either an enormous cookie or an enormous amount of cookies.  Mrs. Bush recommends using a 1/4 cup dough per cookie for giant ones, or 2 Tbs. per cookie for smaller ones.  I just used a large spoon to scoop them and even with the recipe halved still made 25 very large cookies.  If you would like to make her full recipe just double everything (you will need 3 eggs for the full version).   

Laura Bush's Texas Governor's Mansion Cowboy Cookies:

1 1/2 Cup all-purpose flour
scant 1 Tbs. ground cinnamon  (full recipe also calls for 1 Tbs, but I used nearly the full Tbs. in the recipe)
1/2 Tbs. baking powder
1/2 Tbs. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 sticks Earth Balance vegan butter, at room temp (or, regular butter)
3/4 Cup packed light-brown sugar
3/4 Cup granulated sugar
1 egg, 1 egg yolk (3 whole eggs for full recipe)
1/2 Tbs. vanilla
1 1/2 Cup milk-free semi-sweet chocolate chips, such as Enjoy Life
1 1/2 Cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 Cup sweetened flake coconut
1 Cup chopped pecans (4 oz.)

Preheat oven to 350.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

In the the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy.  Slowly add in the sugars and beat for an additional two minutes.

Add in the egg and yolk, beating well.  Add in vanilla.  On low speed, slowly add in chocolate chips.  Add flour mixture on low speed and mix until just combined.  Add in oats and mix on low until all ingredients are well incorporated (but do not over mix).

Scoop out approx. 2 Tablespoons of dough per cookie (or, 1/4 cup dough per cookie for giant cookies, leaving 3 inches between each) and place on parchment lined cookie sheet.  Bake in preheated oven for 12-17 minutes for smaller cookies (it took mine 13.5 minutes), or 17-29 minutes for the larger cookies.  Makes 2-2.5 dozen using 2 Tbs. dough per cookie.

Enjoy!

Source:  Adapted from Presidential Cookies Cookbook by Bev Young.

 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups

Okay, so I have to be honest.  This recipe was not what I intended to make when I started baking on Thursday.  I needed to take goodies to a baby shower for a mom in our playgroup.  My vision was of beautiful, buttery phyllo purses filled with sweet goodness.  But, I knew almost immediately it was going to be one of those days.  You know what I mean...the kind of day where anything you attempt in the kitchen is going to be a complete bust.  The butter burns when you try to melt it like you have done successfully 10,000,000,000,000 times before.  The chocolate just refuses to melt, despite being submerged in boiling cream (that you splashed on yourself) and lots of whisking.  The powdered sugar somehow spills all over you, your stand mixer, the floor and and the cat all at once (and your two year old yells, "Mess! Mess!" until you clean it all up).  And, the phyllo dough crumbles in your hands just for spite.

You know, one of those days.  You do have them, too, right?  Or is it just me?

Wait.

Don't answer that.  I don't want to know.

Ignorance is bliss.     

So, this recipe was born out of complete desperation at 8am for a yummy and pretty but quick and uncomplicated dessert.  I had been thinking of trying my hand at cookie cups for a while, and just hadn't done it.  I mean, how hard could it be?  I whipped up my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.  Pressed large scoops into a cupcake pan.  Baked.  Cooled.  Voila!  Cookie cups.  It really was that simple.  I then, of course, filled them with cream cheese frosting, and sprinkled a few mini chocolate chips on top.  They reminded me of the gooey cookie cups I used to get at the cookie stand in the mall as a child.  So good, but so, so bad for you.  Eat them with caution.

One final note - I did not make these milk free because I was baking for other people.  But, these would be easy enough to do, and I have included instructions below.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups (made from my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe):

12 tbsp. unsalted butter (or Earth Balance vegan butter), melted

1 cup brown sugar, packed

½ cup granulated sugar

2 cups plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 egg plus 1 egg yolk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 ½ cups Ghiradelli semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325.  Generously grease a muffin tin.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine melted butter and both sugars.  Cream until well combined.  While the butter/sugar mixture is mixing, combine flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside.

Once butter and sugars are well creamed, beat in the egg, yolk and vanilla, mixing well after each addition.  With the mixer on low, add in the flour mixture and mix just until combined.  Mix in chocolate chips.

Scoop out enough dough for a large cookie.  Press it into the bottom and around the sides of the muffin tin.  Repeat until each of the cavities in the muffin tin has been filled.  Bake for 13-15 minutes until edges are *just* beginning to brown.  Remove from oven and immediately use a knife to go around the edges and loosen so the cookies will pop out easier when they're cool.  If centers of the cookie cups have risen too much, use a small spoon to press them down a bit.  They will settle more as they cool.

Once the cups are cool, place an inverted cookie sheet on top of the muffin tin and flip them over, so the muffin tin is upside down and on top of the cookie sheet.  Use a knife or wooden spoon and tap each muffin well to loosen the cookie cup.  Carefully lift off the muffin tin and check to see if they've all popped out.  If a few are still left, just repeat the process of tapping and lifting the tin until each of the cookie cups pops out (if the muffin tin is very well greased beforehand this will be much easier).

Use whatever frosting you would like and pipe it into the cookie cups.  Sprinkle a few mini chocolate chips on top for garnish.  Enjoy Life chocolate chips are fantastic for baking without common allergens (or just baking in general), as they taste fantastic. 

For a vegan frosting scroll towards the bottom of this post.
For cream cheese buttercream, make half of the recipe found here.

*Frosting is colored with 2 drops of Americolor Sky Blue.

Source:  Adapted from Annie's Eats.