Have you ever added ingredients to a recipe and something wasn't quite right? Suddenly your tried and true recipe for the most amazing cookies ever were too dry or too oily and sadness usually ensues. Skip the tears and stick to one of these basic cookie add-ins to take a great recipe and make it omg-nom-nom worthy!
1. Dried Fruits: Dried fruits are easy to add, but there is one trick that's extra important. Make sure to soak them in hot water for 30 minutes before adding. That way they don't wick moisture from your existing recipe and will help punctuate the dough with their sweetness instead.
2. Chocolate: There really isn't many a cookie that can't take a handful of chocolate being added to it. Just remember, the darker the chocolate, the more you'll need something else to balance it's bitterness.
3. Herbs: Quite often herbs are forgotten when it comes to cookies but a sprig of rosemary or a bit of basil can leave quite an impression. Just make sure things are in super small pieces and add away!
4. Spices: Although a recipe might give you exact amounts for nutmeg and ground ginger, add what your tastebuds like, if you're worried, let the dough sit in the refrigerator for 1 hour before baking and give it a taste before prior.
5. Nuts: Many pantries have nuts in abundance in them, so why not take use of them in cookie making! Some nuts with larger ridges might need a slight chop (otherwise they can cause the cookie to break or crumble), but they're a great thing to toss in!
6. Powdered Milk: Quite often a few tablespoons of powdered milk can make a recipe a little bit more lavish or full of flavor. Don't add any more or else you'll be needing to adjust your liquid ingredients, but it can make a good cookie simply great!
7. Custard Powder: And also it's US counterpart instant pudding mix or Jello can be added to a mix. Sometimes for flavor, other times for color and sometimes just to be rich like the powdered milk above.
8. Coffee: Any recipe that has chocolate in it can benefit greatly from the addition of coffee. Just substitute it in for any water or milk the recipe calls for. Be sure that it's room temperature so it doesn't harm any eggs in the mixture!
Do you have a great mix in idea that always works out well for you? Let us know in the comments below!
Related: Gourmet Magazine's Favorite Cookies: 1941-2008
(Image: Flickr member YannGar Photography licensed for use by Creative Commons)
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jello? really?
plain old food colouring is a good one... think of all that "red velvet" hype which is just buttermilk batter with a heap of red dye added :)
I think they meant Jell-O pudding mix.
I think they mean Jell-o pudding, although I may be mistaken. I can't imagine Jell-o (gelatin) would do anything particularly nice to a cookie recipe ;)
In the UK we have this wonderful condiment known as Marmite. You either love or loath this savoury flavoured yeast extract but it does work in cookies. The simple reason being is that Marmite is one of those "less is more" type of foods so you can add it to chocolate, peanut butter and other cookies without altering the recipe.
I was eyeing up a small jar of Marmite in my organic grocery store yesterday. I've heard mixed reviews--mostly praises from Brits and gagging sounds from fellow Americans. I kinda want to try it but I don't want to buy a whole jar if I'm going to hate it. I'm sure one day I'll break down and do it. I hemmed and hawed over nutritional yeast and now I put it on everything.
I absolutely love Marmite and butter on toast, but adding it in cookies is new to me. It's one of those ideas that sounds so wrong that I want to try it - that's how I have come to love a lot of weird flavor combinations.
I wonder if it's the saltiness or the yeastiness or both of marmite that adds that something something to cookies.
If you're a newbie to the stuff, vegemite is milder in taste and easier to spread in my opinion than marmite. It's harder to find though...my only source is World Market.
I have a chocolate chip cookie recipe that I add a package of jello pudding mix to. It is divine. Just make sure you don't overbake them or they are crumbly! Usually I adjust the amount a flour a smidge.
I'm vegan so I sub 1 tablespoon of flax seeds that I grind in a coffee grinder and 3 tablespoons of cold water. It works perfectly!
"if you're worried, let the dough sit in the refrigerator for 1 hour before baking and give it a taste before" - I would strongly advise AGAINST this as many eggs in the US contain salmonella bacteria. Only heat will kill the bacteria. If you want to taste the flavour before you bake up a full batch - you'll need to bake up a test cookie.
I do, however, like the suggestions for additions. I had not considered the powdered milk or rehydrated fruits trick before.
I think I can safely say most of us are willing to risk the next to non-existent real risk of salmonella to snag a taste or two of cookie dough at some point before baking!
#4 "before prior"?
Should be "its" bitterness. "It's" means "it is." "Its" means "the bitterness belonging to it."
What exactly does powdered milk add to a cookie recipe? Milk flavor? Texture?
citrus zest! Orange zest added to any chocolate cookie recipe amps up the flavor and give it that bit of extra that is really delightful.
jencolucci - Texture and flavor, but not milk flavor, it's more like salt where it just enhances the natural flavors that are already there (Without being salty of course).
mntwmyn - That's a good one, just make sure you stay below 1/4 cup or else the oils could have an effect on your outcome.
jj11news - Try using sugar free versions, you won't need to adapt your recipe!
i regularly use coffee when baking with chocolate. really enhances the flavor.
also - this is completely silly, but i can't stand the phrase "nom-nom-nom" that people throw around these days. not sure why, but it gets under my skin! :)
Rachiti - you can always use pasteurized whole eggs, too. particularly important if you get your eggs from a supermarket/bodega (you're less likely to find salmonella in really fresh eggs from a farmer's market or farm. if you can shake the hand of the person who collected the egg, you're probably good to go).
Salmonella is not always a matter of cleanliness when it comes to chickens (though it can be exasserbated by poor sanitation).
Kathleen3641-my aunt raised chickens on her farm. Each year they arrived from a chick supplier. There isn't the quality control you envision when the babies often come from factory farms. I agree though that pasturized eggs are a wonderful solution - but I haven't found a single store in my part of Wisconsin which carries pasturized whole eggs.
jmorri - if I'm going to risk my health on a food product...I'll stick to blowfish.