Monday, February 12, 2007

Mondays with Maida - Chocolate-Chip Pillows


Page 194 in the old book / page 222 in the new book

Wouldn't you know... chocolate finally shows up again and Denny is away for the week on travel. It would be hard to imagine anyone not liking these little pie-shaped cookies filled with chocolate chips. They taste much like a Toll House cookie, with brown sugar and just the right amount of salt, but all the chocolate chips are buried in the middle.

These cookies take a little time to make, but really are not difficult. The dough is rolled before chilling between sheets of waxed paper, which makes for easy handling. Maida tells you exactly how many chocolate chips to use in each cookie (6), so the assembly is straight forward. The only trouble I had, if you can even call it that, is the fork tended to slice through the top piece of dough rather than sealing it to the bottom. Whether this was because the dough was still stiff from chilling or the shape of the fork tines, the cookies managed to stay together.



Here's the panel ...

Suzanne: "I can’t figure out how Cathy got the chocolate chips inside of the cookie without them melting. Anyway, the cookie was buttery, crunchy and I loved the chocolate chip surprise inside. Rating - 5.0"

Laura: "These are yummy crunchy cookies with a chocolate pillow surprise. The cookie tastes like chocolate chip cookie dough without the chocolate chips (in the dough). Inside the "pillow" are several gooey chocolate chips. Yum! Rating - 4.0"

Terri: "This is a delicious and fun cookie with the surprise of chocolate chips inside. It resembles a mini-pie from the outside with a shortbread type dough. The chocolate chips are piled in the middle and make this just the right combination of chocolate and cookie. Rating - 4.0"

Overall rating by the panel - 4.3

Next week - Prune Pillows

Nutrition Facts

13 comments:

Sam Watson said...

I have this page bookmarked, these cookies look delicious! I am going to try them out, I also have a recipe blog myrecipesforyou.blogspot.com
Kind regards
Sam

Reid said...

Cathy,

These look soooooo good right now. I think I'm going to have to do some baking soon. :)

Nupur said...

Adorable! They do look like baby pies :)

Anonymous said...

These look great. I'm going to have to try this.

Suma Gandlur said...

Cathy,
Those cookies look like yummy mini pies. I am visiting your blog for the time. I apologise if i am missing something. Is recipe for those delicious cookies somewhere?
Thanks

Anonymous said...

Sometimes I wish my real pillow were filled with chocolate...

jacob said...

that looks so good. and your picturrs are awesome.

Cathy said...

Hi Sam - thanks! Lots of yummy stuff on your blog too!

Hi Reid! Yes, I think you've been working too hard - time for a cookie break! :)

Hi Nupur! They do, don't they? Actually, I've been thinking this technique could probably be applied to lots of different cookies. It might be time to experiment!

Hi Mady - thanks!

Hi Suma - thank you! No, you haven't really missed anything... I don't post the recipes because I'm making every recipe in the book and I just don't think it would be right for me to post the recipes. Instead, I encourage people to get a copy of the book (you'll find links just below the photo at the top of the post), which can be had for not much money (or very likely can be found in your library). I happen to think it's the best cookie book in the world!

PS - your recipes look delicious!

Hi Mari! Me too - oh so handy for late night nibbling!

Hi Jacob - thanks so much! What beautiful illustrations you have - I love your header!

Niki said...

I think they look like the best cookies I've seen! Gorgeous. They'd be so tempting, laying about the kitchen...

Cathy said...

Hi Niki! Yes, they were tempting... probably the only thing that kept me from gobbling several straight away was the fact that the batch was fairly small and I wanted to have enough to bring into work :)

Leigh said...

Wow! Do those ever look scrumptious. Ok, I admit it, I have a weakness for chocolate.

Thank you so much for your comments on my spinning. Besides Melda Montgomery's video for spindle spinning, I would absolutely recommend Patsy Zawistoski's Spinning Wool - Basics and Beyond for a beginning video for wheel spinning. It is loaded with lots of wonderful information and Patsy is an excellent teacher.

Anonymous said...

Wow, chocolate chip pillows. Hmmm...sounds like a great idea on this chilly winter morning. But to take a great idea even further, I wonder if there's a chocolate-scented softener to that I can really sleep on choco-pillows. I've already got the shower gel!

Cathy said...

Hi Leigh - thanks! Those two videos are on their way - I can't wait to give spinning another try. The yarn that you produce is so lovely and nothing would make me happier than to be able to do the same myself someday!

Hi Rowena! Gosh, that shower gel makes me think of the flavored toothpastes Santos found in Manilla. Nothing of the kind around here... so there's little hope of chocolate-scented fabric softener, though you may fare better in your part of the world :)