Although Julie and I used to cook and do other chores together, we have changed tactics since having a baby. It’s more fun having company, but it isn’t quite so practical to have two people going to Target when I can go by myself. It’s enough just to video call her from the shampoo aisle and scan over the shelves to figure out which product is correct. Meanwhile, she’s handling chores in the brief time we have during naps.
Similarly, I have largely been doing the actual cookie baking on my own. However, Julie remains an active participant, not only in eating and critiquing but also picking out recipes and offering baking advice. I usually start each weekend by asking her for suggestions, and she usually redirects the question back to me.
Except this time. This time, I asked Julie what she wanted, and she clearly stated, “I was kind of in the mood for brownies.”
Now brownies aren’t quite cookies, but I also received a box of DŌ Brownie Batter. Despite the name, the box prominently features cookies, so it perfectly fit the request and my goal.
The first step was to melt the butter along with the chips. I will take this moment to point out a common but minor hiccup in the baking process: misaligned butter wrappers. Sticks of butter often helpfully come with measuring labels to divide it, but it does sometimes require some adjustment.
They definitely came up with an easy way to do this: although I have been using the double boiler for previous recipes, I just microwaved in 30 second increments until it all melted.
The instructions specified “until melted.” I actually went slightly short since I figured the rest of the chips would go with the residual heat.
That went into the mix and egg whites.
Unlike last time, I decided to follow directions more closely and used a hand mixer instead of the stand mixer. The instructions specified “until completely smooth and creamy (about 3 minutes)”. I got there between 1 to 2 minutes.
The best part about baking cookies with edible dough is licking the beaters. Actually, I heard on the Milk Street podcast that cases of salmonella from raw eggs are quite low and typically not severe. In fact, we should probably be worried about various vegetables more than eggs. Still, it’s reassuring to know it’s intended to be eaten.
I actually only ended up baking a few of the cookies just to try them: after eating the previous DŌ chocolate chip cookies, I figured the real hook was eating it raw either as is or mixed into ice cream. They baked quite soft, but I figured that was probably fine and not due to using the toaster oven.
The cookies were nice. Although the recipe called to melt the chocolate, the leftover whole chips were actually quite popular. Next time, I think I would either not melt all the chocolate or just add more.
And yeah, we definitely ate more dough. It’s really good.
