Morning Maple Cookies
Gooey, buttery, maple cookies with a hint of honey, inspired by mornings at my grandparents’ house.
This recipe makes 16 larger cookies (with a #10 cookie scoop)
Prep time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 14 minutes
Cooling time: 30 minutes (or until room temperature)
Total time: 1 hour, 45 minutes (not including cooling time)
Equipment needed: half-sheet trays, electric mixer, #10 cookie scoop, rubber spatula, measuring cups/spoons, digital scale (if weighing in grams)
See *Notes for more important tips/clarifications
I know I’ve said it before but I think its really true this time- This is my favorite recipe yet, but it sure didn’t come without its challenges. Its a long story but I’ll try to keep it brief!
At the start of April, I began a month-long online baking class hosted by Milk Bar’s Christina Tosi. Christina shared her techniques and baking philosophy and I learned a ton from the experience. The first baked good assignment of the class was cookies. While we started out baking the famous Milk Bar Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow cookie, the main assignment involved coming up with our own cookie recipe. Christina had us dig into our food-related childhood memories and build something using those memories as inspiration.
I won’t lie - I struggled quite a bit as I tried to figure out what my cookie would be. The childhood memories that spoke to me the most were the ones of me eating breakfast at my grandparents’ house, particularly all the breakfast foods my grandpa would make sure they had for me whenever I was around. However, trying to chase a specific type of sweet breakfast food to recreate as a cookie pushed me into focusing on following a rigid structure that then had me spiraling all over the place. The ideas I was coming up with just weren’t feeling like they were... very me. Instead, I decided while I had all these memories about eating honey buns and sweet goods with Grandma and Grandpa, what made those memories special to me wasn’t the food, but how they made me feel.
Warmth, comfort and sweetness: that’s what those memories evoked in me and, with that new focus, I began working on what would end up being these yummy maple cookies!
Now, I have what I think is an incredibly solid cookie dough recipe foundation that can serve as a base for future cookie recipes. While incorporating Christina’s teachings with my own processes and approach to cooking, I think I’ve landed in a place with this cookie that I’m incredibly proud of. These cookies don’t just remind me of those breakfasts I had at my grandparents’ house; they also remind me of the warmth and comfort I felt when I was with them.
Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups (344 grams) all-purpose flour, spooned & leveled
1 tsp (2 grams) baking soda
1/2 tsp (2 grams) baking powder
1 1/2 tsps (9 grams) fine sea salt
1/2 tsp (1 gram) cinnamon
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes (about 1/2 inch x 1/2 inch)
1/2 cup (96 grams) vegetable shortening, room temperature
3/4 cup (150 grams) light brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
2 large eggs, cold
1 1/4 tsp (5 grams) vanilla extract
1 tsp (4.5 grams) maple extract
2 tbsp (24 grams) honey
250 grams Belgian waffle butter crisps, broken into small bite-sized pieces (I found mine at Ralph’s and Trader Joe’s). Link in notes!
1- 1 1/2 cups Cinnamon Toast Crunch (for rolling the cookies in) + 1 tbsp granulated sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon
*Notes
Why cold eggs & butter? Using cold eggs and cold, cubed butter helps the cookies keep their shape in the oven, helping to achieve a beautiful thick cookie (my fav).
Short creaming process: the total creaming time may seem very short, but creaming the butter and sugar for such a short time also helps to create a large and thick cookie, versus a flatter, crunchier one.
Chilling the dough: chilling the dough in the fridge gives a chance for the fats to cool. Because of that, when baking the cookies will expand more slowly and keep their texture - also to help achieve a perfectly chewy and gooey cookie instead of a flat one.
Baking time: In order to get that crunchy on the outside, gooey on the inside cookie, err on the side of less baking time rather than more. Remember: the cookies will have some carryover baking time on the sheet tray, so as soon as you see the cookies start to turn golden brown and look mostly set, pull em out of the oven.
Weighing ingredients: using a digital scale and measuring ingredients in grams is a great thing to do when baking as helps even more to achieve a quality and consistent baked good. This is one of the main things I took away from Christina’s class. It just helps you to be much more precise when measuring, as to prevent using too much flour (ending up in a dry cookie) or too much baking powder/soda (throws off the balance of your cookie). If you don’t own a digital scale, no big deal (although I highly recommend it), just make sure you at least spoon and level the flour with a knife when measuring it out. You can also level off the baking powder/soda.
Belgian waffle butter crisps: Crushing up these cookies for the inside of the maple cookies creates such a nice bite and adds even more buttery flavor without too much more sweetness. I was able to find some at Ralph’s and Trader Joe’s. If you find a similar thin, butter cookie, feel free to use it!
Storing: these cookies will stay fresh 3-4 days at room temperature, stored in an airtight container. Heat for 10-15 seconds in the microwave for a warm, gooey center every time you eat them 😊.
Process:
In a medium bowl, crush up the butter cookies using your hands, a food processor or put them in a ziplock bag and use a rolling pin or meat mallet. You’re looking for small pieces, about the size of half of a piece of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
Using a stand or hand mixer, beat the butter, shortening and both sugars for no longer than 1 minute on medium-high speed until combined and light and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle(s) of the mixer each time you add something to ensure everything gets evenly distributed.
Add the eggs, extracts and honey and beat on medium speed for another 30 seconds - 1 minute until combined.
Add the dry ingredients in two additions, beating on low speed until the ingredients are evenly distributed, no longer than 1 minute total. Scrape down the sides in between. It’s okay if the dough isn’t completely smooth at this point, it’ll mix a little more after you add the crushed butter cookies.
Add the butter cookies and beat on low speed until incorporated about 30 seconds. Finish mixing by hand to bring the dough completely together.
Cover cookie dough and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, up to overnight.
While the dough chills, use a food processor or put in a ziplock bag and use a rolling pin or meat mallet to crush up the Cinnamon Toast Crunch in a small bowl into smaller bits. When the dough is almost done chilling, preheat your oven to 350°F (177°C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop the dough using a 2 3/4 ounce ice cream scoop (#10) or a 1/3 cup measuring cup and place 8 per tray. Then, firmly roll into balls and then roll in the Cinnamon Toast Crunch bits and place back on the trays, spaced about 2-3 inches apart. I then like to freeze the dough balls for about 10-15 minutes, to further ensure that the cookies hold their shape when baking. You can do this on a quarter sheet pan if you have one (or even a large plate or cutting board), and then transfer to the half sheet pan for baking.
Bake 14-16 mins, rotating the pan halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown on the top and no longer look doughy. Let cool on the baking sheet for 10 mins and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. It’s okay if the center still looks a slightly gooey when you take the cookies out of the oven, they’ll finish baking on the sheet tray. Also, nothing wrong with a slightly underbaked and gooey cookie 😉. Enjoy!
Fun optional addition! Freeze 2 tsp-sized balls of Nutella on a wax paper-lined plate or baking sheet until hardened (about 20 minutes). You can freeze them while you chill the dough and when the dough is done chilling, make a well in the dough ball and place a frozen ball of Nutella inside. Pinch the dough around the Nutella and tightly roll the ball of dough around it to make sure the Nutella is completely covered in dough. If the Nutella gets too soft to work with, you can always pop it back in the freezer. These will spread more than the cookies without Nutella, so I’d recommend freezing these dough balls a little longer before baking.