Lotus - Lavender Lady

Chocolate Chip Cookies Challenge

Chocolate chip cookies is one of the favorites for many.  My friends seem to know how to bake them, but not I.  Over the years, I only had one 'gwey' chocolate chip cookies that turned out with a wow.  But, I forgot to write down the ingredient measurements, and how.  So after twenty some years, it's start all over for the search for the best gwey chocolate chip cookies.  As a start, this year, I tried this recipe that was printed in the back of 25 lb All Purpose flour I bought.  The ingredients seems to be a bit different than the ones in the back of the chocolate chip package, so I decided to give it a try.
Well, the result of the taste is - very good.  Texture:  I would like to improve on it.
My friends tell me not to beat the eggs and butter like I do with my cakes with the mixer.  So, I basically beat and mixed everything manually with whisk and spatula.  Then, scooped the cookie dough with the 1 Tbsp cookie scoop.   Placed each one on top of the Silpat over the cookie sheet and baked at 350'F as recommended.  I also made sure to chill the dough before each handling because it is quite warm in my kitchen during the summer - 80 - 84'F.  I was also short in time, so I put the dough in the freezer for 2 min before each use.
My friends bake for 8 min.  I followed my recipe and baked for 12 min.  But they did not brown as theirs do.  They said to bake at 375'F the next time.   If you have a chocolate chip cookies recipe that is gwey or chewy, do please share with me.
I took my batch to the office and my friend brought her batch.  Well, it's like night and day difference.  Her's look nice and brown and soft.  Mine is pale and soft after 12 min.  or Brown and dry - after 17 min of baking to get them browned.  But taste wise, we like both.    Texture wise, my friends chocolate chip cookies win.

Makes 60 cookies when 1 Tbsp cookie scoop is used.

Ingredients:
 1 C brown sugar
3/4 C Zuca Cane Sugar
1 C softened butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

2-1/2 C All Purpose Flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 pk 12 oz chocolate chips
3/4 tsp salt

Beat eggs and sugar together.  Than, add butter and vanilla.   Mix well.   Preheat oven to 375'F
Mix flour, baking soda, and salt together.  Add to the beaten batter.  Fold the mixture and add Chocolate Chips.
Scoop the dough onto Silpat over cookie sheet or on the cookie sheet.
Bake for 8 min and or take out when the edge of the cookies brown.
Transfer to the cooling rack and cool.

Crispy Fresh Japanese Pear Pie

Nothing is better than a fresh homemade scratch pie.  But, who really wants to bake on a hot summer day.  But it's time to crop my Japanese  NIJU-IiSEIKI NASHI - "21st Century" Pears.  Sadly, out of 60 pears, only 1 was good enough to eat whole.  The rest got the dear ants and bird bites before they got ripe ... how did they know???  which one is the sweetest.... well, they got to them all - all are sweet.  They could have shared some with me.  Selfish bugs...  And as for some, for whatever reason, the sun burned them down.  They just dropped off the tree.  Since this pear tree is only 3 summers old, I am not expecting a lot.  The spring pear blossoms were a beautiful sight, though.   I gathered what's left on the tree and washed and peeled and sliced the best part.   It's still in the oven baking as I type this blog.  I hope it would turn out the way I imagine - I want it to be - tangy crispy pear pie.

Ingredients:
4 C Fresh home grown Japanese Pears peeled, cut into 1/2 inch strips or chunks
1/4 C - Squeeze 1 whole large lemon, including pulps and pour over cut pears to keep from browning
2 tsp cornstarch - mix into pear+lemon juice
2 Tbsp brown sugar

Pie crust:
4-1/2 oz butter, sliced
4-1/2 oz all purpose flour
1/2 Tbsp lemon zest - chopped finely
1-1/2 Tbsp to 2 Tbsp ice cold water

1 Tbsp dried cranberries - soak in hot water for 30 min, then, drained.
1 Tbsp maraschino cherries, strained, chopped
Egg wash - 1 beaten egg + 1 Tbsp water

Tools:  Rolling pin, silpat, pie tin, glass bowls, mixing bowl, large spoon, knife, measuring spoons & cups; teaspoon pastry brush.

Preparation:
Peel and cut Japanese pears into a glass bowl.  Cut lemon into halves.   Holding the lemon over the glass bowl with pears, use the teaspoon and wiggle it into the lemon and squeeze at the same time to extract juice.  Add cornstarch.  Toss and mix well.   (Do not add the brown sugar, yet).

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour and zest.  Add butter and mix them together with hand.  The butter and flour flakes should be mixed until the size of  nickel or dime is achieved.  About 1-1/2 min.  Add 1 Tbsp of cold water and mix with hand to incorporate.  Does it form a ball, yet?  Add a bit more.  Tonight, my kitchen is about 80 degree, butter softened quickly, so I did not add more than 1-1/2 Tbsp.  Quickly form it into a ball and place in freezer for 2 min. to rest.

Bring it out, and roll it out to a rough looking 6 inch shapeless sort, then, fold the side to the center and the other side to the center, then fold over into halves, then, fold into halves again.
Roll out with rolling pin over a silpat mat, without using any flour.  Roll into 8" round.

Freeze the dough for 1 to 2 min.

Pre-heat oven to 425'F.
Transfer to a baking pie tin.  I am using a 6" aluminum cheese cake pan.  If you would like, you can place the dough flat on a Silpat mat.
Toss the pear mixture well, then add to the pie dough.
Top with dried cranberries and maraschino cherries to add colors to the pie.
Form the pie dough edge any way you want.  I just folded them over like Crostada - open pie.
Apply egg wash with pastry brush.
Bake till the crust is golden and fruits are bubbly - about 1 hr 15 min.
If the fruits looks bubbly, but the dough looks pale, cover the open area with a piece of aluminum foil.  
Remove from the oven.
Cool completely.
Serve with fresh whip cream or homemade ice-cream.

** So the pie is ready when the internal temperature reached 200 - 207'F.

I changed my recipe to read to use dried cranberries that have been soaked for 30 min, then, strained.  I forgot that in the open pie, when the dried cranberries or raisins are exposed to the heat, they tend to burn. The pie looks good.  It's cooling off right now. 

* By the way, it was Delicious - it was tangy like the way I wanted.  Crispiness... well, I maybe able to do that the next time if I didn't double pan to bake - put the pie tin on top of a baking sheet (double panned).  That took a bit long to bake to brown the pie dough, so the pears have the usual nice baked texture.  Not mushy, but softer than I wanted.  But perfect sweetness...; Pie crust was delicious as well.