Chuckies Cookies and Tate's Bake Shop Giveaway

Cookies. There are so many kinds out there and several textures....soft, fluffy, thin, chewy, crispy. We all have our favorites. Some of us are picky....some of us aren't. Me? A cookie is a cookie. I love 'em all.

October is National Cookie Month and I'm barely getting there...by the skin of my teeth. It's finally cooling off a bit and I wasn't frowned upon for turning on the oven. Do you know how happy I was when the mercury dropped below 90'? And I got to make a beautiful batch of thin, chewy cookies from a recipe in Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook called Chuckies? Woo hooo!!! I have made a few recipes from this cookbook (which, by the way, is one of my all time favorite dessert cookbooks) in the past and have loved every one of them:

Chocolate Jumbles
Anadama Bread
Cappuccino Shortbread

And there are several more that I want to must try!

A few weeks ago, Tate's Bake Shop sent me 3 bags of their new award winning cookies, Whole Wheat Dark Chocolate All Natural Cookies

They almost vanished before my eyes...a bag left the house that night to a "kick-back" with one of my daughters. The next day, another bag disappeared at my office and the last bag disappeared somewhere in between. I think I got to eat 2 cookies. They were delicious! Thin, crispy yet the chocolate chips were soft (one of the first things my youngest, chocolate-loving daughter noticed with approval). I'm not a "whole wheat" fan. I just don't care for that earthy flavor but to be honest...I couldn't even tell that these cookies were whole wheat. Which is a huge plus in my book.

With all that said.....I have the pleasure of GIVING AWAY 3 bags of these fabulous Whole Wheat Dark Chocolate All Natural Cookies....AND a copy of the Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook,

autographed by Kathleen King, the owner and baker at Tate's Bake Shop in Southhampton, New York. If you're not familiar with them...I highly recommend checking them out... 

On their website
TatesBakeShop.com
or on FaceBook
Facebook.com/TatesBakeShop 
or.... on Twitter
Twitter.com/#!/TatesBakeShop

And now....for the cookies I baked for National Cookie Month....Chuckies. I made only 1 change. And it was out of necessity on my part rather then with the intent to alter or improve. You see, I thought I had bittersweet chocolate at home so I didn't buy any. But I didn't. Therefore, instead of having chunks of chocolate in this amazing cookie, I had a Mexican chocolate flavored dough. Which was wonderful. But I still wanna bake these again the way they are intended in the cookbook. You see...I had just bought some Mexican Chocolate (had no idea what for at the time....but I figured these cookies would be a great way to put the chocolate to the text). Only I didn't know that the kind of Mexican chocolate I purchased is intended for hot chocolate and it is not that great to eat...as in chunks...in cookies. Apparently, the chocolate is a bit grainy. But this was the chocolate I had at home (I seriously did not want to go to the store again). Soooo, with a little help from my wonderful baking buddies....whom I can go to with all sorts of questions and someone will have an answer....I was informed that I could stick the Mexican chocolate in a food processor, grind it up and use it that way (Thank you Lee...you're the bestest!!!). Which I did. With delicious results.

Chuckies with Mexican Chocolate
Printable Version

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar (dark or light...whatever you have)
1 cup sugar
2 TB corn syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 lg eggs
1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chunks (or 6.2 oz of Mexican chocolate)
1 1/2 cups macadamia nuts, lightly toasted and chopped
2 cups coconut, lightly toasted

Preheat the oven to 350' F. Cover 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper (or grease them)

To toast the nuts and coconut, spread on a cookie sheet and bake at 350' for about 10 minutes or more. Shake the pan part way through to ensure you get an even toast.

In a large bowl, combine your flour, ground Mexican chocolate if thats the route you're taking, baking soda and salt.

And while you're at it, get in touch with the child in you and play with your food

In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Add in the corn syrup and vanilla . Mix until just combined. Add the eggs and mix them lightly.

Then add the flour mixture to the creamed butter mixture until just combined. In other words...don't over mix.

Stir in the nuts and coconut and chocolate chunks (if that's the route you're going).

Using a small ice cream scoop, or 2 tablespoons, scoop and drop the dough onto your prepared cookie sheets. Leave at least 2 inches...if not more (don't skimp on the space.....you will need it!!) and bake them for about 18 minutes or until the edges start to brown.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the cookie sheet. Be warned...they may not even last that long!

Place on a cooling rack and let them cool completely.

 

If by chance you over bake this cookie and you find yourself with a rather hard, crunchy cookie (ya...I did that with a few of them). Don't worry. Don't fret. Don't beat yourself up over it.

There's a cure.

Place the cooled, hard cookies in a sealed container or baggy along with a slice of bread. Leave it for several hours or overnight. The cookies will absorb the moisture from the bread and become nice and moist again!

And now for the Giveaway! Are you ready?

To enter to win 3 bags of Tate's Whole Wheat Dark Chocolate All Natural Cookies....AND a copy of the Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook, autographed by Kathleen King....

Leave a comment (please note that if your comment doesn't link to your blog or email address and I have no way of contacting you....you will forfeit your winnings :( Make sure I have a way to contact you!!)
"Like" me on Facebook.com/pages/Peaceful-Cooking
"Like" Tate's Bake Shop on  Facebook.com/TatesBakeShop
"Follow" me on Twitter.com/#!/ImStuffed
"Follow" Tate's Bake Shop on Twitter.com/#!/TatesBakeShop

All entries must be made by 11:59 p.m. pst, Sunday, November 6, 2011

I will announce the winner in about a week or so! Good luck and enjoy!