52cookies

[52cookies]

Maple Oatmeal Bread - Bread Toast Crumbs by Alexandra Stafford

4/5 - Not as good as Aunt Deb's Oatmeal Bread, but very quick and easy, nice texture, just barely sweet. Would try with a milder whole wheat or all AP flour next time.

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Big and Bubbly Focaccia - King Arthur Baking Company

4/5 - Better crumb than the Serious Eats, still a little fiddly (the bowl folds!)

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Baguette - The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum

4/5 - Classic baguette! Maybe a little better than the King Arthur recipe but takes longer and more fussy (can be done in for dinner if you make the poolish & scrap dough ahead of time and the main dough at 7:30am the next morning, but a lot of active steps over that day)

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Roasted-Garlic Focaccia - Serious Eats

3/5 - It was fine! The roasted garlic on top burned in the high heat, and it was not quite as airy as some other recipes, but I liked the garlic butter finish.

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Brioche- The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum

4/5 - Surprisingly light for such an enriched dough, soft and barely sweet. Shown here sliced to be turned into bostock -- 5 out of 5 use of bread.

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Classic Baguettes - King Arthur Baking Company

4/5 - Classic baguettes for sure! Makes 3 baguettes but only two are pictured here because I ate a whole one in one sitting. Don't keep at room temp very well.

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Swirled Cinnamon Sugar Croissant Loaf - Half Baked Harvest

3.5/5 - I'm going to eat both loaves and enjoy them, but it won't be my go-to cinnamon bread -- not quite cinnamon-y enough and I'm not sure the faux-lamination is adding a lot. It's extra work and I'd rather put the butter on when it's fresh out of the oven or toaster, instead of working it into the dough.

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Three-Cheese Semolina Bread - King Arthur Baking Company

3.5/5 - I cheaped out and used grocery store Parmesan, asiago, and provolone, and I felt like you could tell. I'm gonna finish both loaves, don't get me wrong, but I think I'd pick a different set of cheeses next time, if there is a next time -- I have a lot of cheese breads to try.

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Ciabatta - The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum

4/5 - Light, open crumb with a thin crisp crust. A little fiddly and using a baking sheet instead of a baking stone did not work out as well as suggested (bottom crust not as dark and crisp as the top).

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sour cream and chive fantails - Smitten Kitchen

3/5 - Nice texture but I didn't love the flavor, more Pringles-y than I was expecting/hoping. A little fiddly but I'd be open to trying a garlic-Parmesan version.

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Small-Batch Cheesy Focaccia - King Arthur Baking Company

4/5 - Great crispy cheesy crust on top; I think the recipe was designed for a metal loaf pan not a glass one, so it came out both a little too olive oil-y (in terms of flavor) and not oiled enough (stuck to the bottom of the pan). Seems unfair to ding it for being too small as well since it says "small batch" right in the title, but a little too fiddly for something that will only get you 2 servings.

(Served with tomato soup, A++ combo for a cold winter day.)

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Alexandra Stafford's No-Knead Peasant Loaf (Alexandra's Kitchen)

4/5 - Very quick and easy no-knead recipe (the one you bake in a buttered Pyrex bowl). Springy crumb, not enough textural contrast in the crust vs. the crumb for me. Won't become my go-to, but a good option for those "oh dang, it's 4pm and I forgot to start the bread" days.

Ingredients

4 cups (512 g) unbleached all-purpose or bread flour

2 teaspoons (10 g) kosher salt

2 cups (454 g) lukewarm water (made by mixing 1.5 cups cold water with 0.5 cup boiling water)

2 teaspoons (8 g) sugar

2 teaspoons (8 g) instant yeast

room temperature butter, about 2 tablespoons

Instructions

Mixing the dough: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, and instant yeast (I love SAF Instant Yeast). Add the water. Mix until the flour is absorbed. (If you are using active dry yeast, see notes below.)

Let it rise. Cover bowl with a tea towel or plastic wrap and set aside in a warm spot to rise for at least an hour. (In the winter or if you are letting the bread rise in a cool place, it might take as long as two hours to rise.) This is how to create a slightly warm spot for your bread to rise in: Turn the oven on at any temperature (350ºF or so) for one minute, then turn it off. Note: Do not allow the oven to get up to 300ºF, for example, and then heat at that setting for 1 minute — this will be too hot. Just let the oven preheat for a total of 1 minute — it likely won’t get above 100ºF. The goal is to just create a slightly warm environment for the bread.

Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Grease two 1-qt or 1.5-qt oven-safe bowls (see notes below) with about a tablespoon of butter each. Using two forks, punch down your dough, scraping it from the sides of the bowl, which it will be clinging to. As you scrape it down try to pull the dough toward the center (see video below for guidance). You want to loosen the dough entirely from the sides of the bowl, and you want to make sure you’ve punched it down. Then, take your two forks and divide the dough into two equal portions — eye the center of the mass of dough, and starting from the center and working out, pull the dough apart with the two forks. Then scoop up each half and place into your prepared bowls. This part can be a little messy — the dough is very wet and will slip all over the place. Using small forks or forks with short tines makes this easier — my small salad forks work best; my dinner forks make it harder. It’s best to scoop it up fast and plop it in the bowl in one fell swoop. Some people like to use flexible, plastic dough scrapers for this step. 

Let the dough rise again for about 20 to 30 minutes on the countertop near the oven (or near a warm spot) or until it has risen to just below or above (depending on what size bowl you are using) the top of the bowls. (Note: Do not do the warm-oven trick for the second rise, and do not cover your bowls for the second rise. Simply set your bowls on top of your oven, so that they are in a warm spot. Twenty minutes in this spot usually is enough for my loaves.)

Bake it. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375º and bake for 15 to 17 minutes longer. Remove from the oven and turn the loaves onto cooling racks. If you’ve greased the bowls well, the loaves should fall right out onto the cooling racks. If the loaves look a little pale and soft when you’ve turned them out onto your cooling racks, place the loaves into the oven (outside of their bowls) and let them bake for about 5 minutes longer. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before cutting.

[52cookies]

Crusty No-Knead Cranberry Walnut Bread from French Pressed Kitchen

5/5 - A copycat of one of the breads in the Le Diplomat bread basket; an easy overnight rise, no-knead recipe. I really liked it even though I'm not a huge fan of fruit and nuts in bread, they didn't overwhelm the bread here.

Ingredients

3 cups (400 grams) bread flour*

1 ¼ teaspoons salt (8 grams)

½ teaspoon (2 grams) instant or active dry yeast

Dash of cinnamon

¾ cup (75 grams) chopped walnuts

⅓ to ½ cup (about 60 grams) dried cranberries

1 ½ cups (about 350 grams) water

3-4 Tablespoons cornmeal

Instructions

In a large bowl, stir together all the dry ingredients. Add in the water and combine using your hands or a wooden spoon until a sticky dough forms. This will take 30-45 seconds. If it seems dry, add a spoonful of water (it should be sticky when you touch it). Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature (~70 degrees F or 21 degrees C) 12-18 hours.

Cover a flat surface with more flour or cornmeal (I prefer the latter). Scrape the dough out of the bowl and place onto the surface area. Fold it over once, forming into a rounded ball.

Prepare for the second rise: Place a tea towel or other thin cloth on your work area. Dust with additional cornmeal. Gently place the dough ball onto the cloth and cover loosely. Let rise until doubled in size, 1-2 additional hours.

Preheat the oven to 475 F (246 C). Place the dutch oven with the lid in the oven so it also heats up at the same time (you want it to be super hot when you put the dough in).

When the oven is fully heated, remove the dutch oven (with oven mitts or a towel!!). Remove the lid, quickly place the dough inside and recover. The faster you work the more heat will stay inside.

Bake for 30 mintues with the lid on. Remove the lid and bake for another 15-30 minutes until the bread is a deep brown color (or sooner if you like it not as done).

Let cool for an hour before slicing (the hardest part!).

The bread stores well at room temperature for 2-4 days. I cover mine with a tea towel - a bread box would work as well. Slice any unused portions and freezer for later if needed - it reheats beautifully! Also great for French toast.

[52cookies]

The Rankings

All the new cookie recipes I tried in 2024, grouped by how much I liked them.

5/5 - No notes

Potato chip chocolate chip (Baking Yesteryear)

Parmesan galettes (Dorie's Cookies)

4.5/5 - Just short of my platonic cookie ideal

Soft grapefruit (Snacking Bakes)

Classic Jammers (Dorie's Cookies)

4/5 - Would make again, no question

The Food Lab's Chocolate Chip Cookies (Serious Eats)

Double Coconut Meltaways (Smitten Kitchen Every Day)

3.5/5 - Good cookies, would probably make again someday!

Brown butter oatmeal chocolate chip (Half Baked Harvest)

Micro chip cookies (Dorie's Cookies)

Coconut brown butter cookies (Smitten Kitchen)

The best chewy chocolate chip cookie (Sally's Baking Addiction)

Cowgirl cookies (Baking Yesterday)

Supersized, Super-Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies (King Arthur Flour's 2024 Recipe of the Year)

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (NYT Cooking)

Guava Pinwheels (King Arthur Baking)

New Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie (Dorie's Cookies)

Churro Cookies (Sugar Spun Run)

Macarons (Dorie's Cookies)

3/5 - They're fine!

Chocolate peanut butter chip (Snacking Bakes)

Marshmallow-Surprise Hot Cocoa Cookies (Sally's Baking Addiction)

Homemade Nilla wafers (Smitten Kitchen)

Blueberry and Cream Cookies (Momofuko Milk Bar via Serious Eats)

The best soft chocolate chip cookie (Sally's Baking Addiction)

Piloncillo Chocolate Chip Cookies (NYT Cooking]

Strawberry Lemon Cornmeal Cookies - (Snacking Bakes)

two thick, chewy oatmeal raisin chocolate chip mega-cookies (Smitten Kitchen Everyday)

Chocolate chunk cookies (Dominique Ansel 

Buttered popcorn cookies (Smitten Kitchen)

Peanut butter chocolate chip breakfast cookies (Sally's Baking Addiction)

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies (King Arthur Flour)

Whole Wheat Oat Chocolate Cookies (Smitten Kitchen)

Quick and Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies (Serious Eats | BraveTart)

Snack Attacks (Snacking Bakes)

Strawberry Coconut Macaroons (Sally's Baking Addition)

Levain Bakery-Style Super-Thick Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe (Serious Eats)

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (King Arthur Baking)

Giant Crinkled Chocolate Chip Cookies (NYT Cooking)

Rye Chocolate Chip Cookies (King Arthur Baking)

Double Lemon Thumbprints (King Arthur Baking)

Marshall Fields Chocolate Iced Cookies (Chicago Tribune)

Mint Chocolate Sables (Dorie's Cookies)

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies (NYT Cooking)

2.75/5 - Hmm, not quite

Oatmeal raisin (Snacking Bakes)

New Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies (Snacking Bakes)

Microwave chocolate chip cookies for two (Jane's Patisserie)

Breakfast cookies (Sally's Baking Addiction)

Our Favorite Chip Cookies (King Arthur Baking)

Bake Club Gooey Butter Cookies (Christina Tosi/Milk Bar)

One Chocolate Chip Cookie (Dessert for Two)

Lavender White Chocolate Sables (Dorie's Cookies)

2.5/5 - Meh

Salted peanut butter cookies (Smitten Kitchen)

Funfetti Cookies (Pillsbury)

1.5/5 - Yeah, it was bad

Lemon Almond Cookies (lost the link)

[52cookies]

52 Cookies

The list of all the new cookie recipes I tried in 2024, with notes, in chronological order.

Chocolate peanut butter chip (Snacking Bakes) - 3/5 - need to remake when I'm COVID-free

Soft grapefruit (Snacking Bakes) - 4.5/5 - great afternoon tea cookie

Potato chip chocolate chip (Baking Yesteryear) - 5/5 - no notes

Oatmeal raisin (Snacking Bakes) - 2.5/5 - they're fine, but it turns out I don't like cinnamon and nutmeg in my oatmeal cookies

Brown butter oatmeal chocolate chip (Half Baked Harvest)- 4/5 - great right out of the oven, a little drier than I'd like once cooled

Parmesan galettes (Dorie's Cookies) - 5/5 - easy savory shortbreads, good cheese flavor, try with unsalted butter and/or Aleppo or black pepper

Marshmallow-Surprise Hot Cocoa Cookies (Sally's Baking Addiction) - 3.5/5 - Good concept, would ditch the hot cocoa mix and try marshmallow fluff next time

Homemade Nilla wafers (Smitten Kitchen) - 3/5 - 5/5 in the banana pudding, but 2/5 for a standalone cookie, too much work and expense (half a vanilla bean? in this economy?) for something that is dry and crunchy.

Classic Jammers (Dorie's Cookies) - 4.5/5 - used cherry jam; rave reviews from others, loses half a point for being a little fussy and non-feeezeable

Salted peanut butter cookies (Smitten Kitchen) - 2.5/5 - they're fine, I just don't like plain peanut butter cookies that much; used dark brown sugar which maybe contributed to the faint bitter/burnt aftertaste

Blueberry and Cream Cookies (Momofuko Milk Bar via Serious Eats) - 3/5 - they're fine; bonus points for being unusual but negative points for being fussy (have to make the milk crunch, then the cookies)

Micro chip cookies (Dorie's Cookies) - 3.5/5 - Will not become my go-to chocolate chip cookie, but they are fun to eat by the handful; would use 2 chips or extra large chunks next time

Coconut brown butter cookies (Smitten Kitchen) - 3.5/5 - a richer, more nuanced macaroon

The best soft chocolate chip cookie (Sally's Baking Addiction) - 3/5 - it's fine, but the mouthfeel was almost too dry even right out of the oven?

The best chewy chocolate chip cookie (Sally's Baking Addiction) - 3.5/5 - good classic chocolate chip cookie, but with an extra egg white left over

Cowgirl cookies (Baking Yesterday) - 3.5/5 - maybe too soft right out of the oven, would be better with dark chocolate chips instead of semi sweet, but good taste/texture

Supersized, Super-Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies (King Arthur Flour's 2024 Recipe of the Year) - 3.5/5 - Good texture, should have used 60% chocolate as recommended instead of 73%; not sure it's worth the the tangzhong step

Piloncillo Chocolate Chip Cookies (NYT Cooking) - 3/5 - They're fine, did not blow me away, molasses-y notes are noticeable if you're looking for them, not sure it's worth the effort of grating the piloncillo

Funfetti Cookies (Pillsbury) - 2.5/5 - tastes exactly like you'd expect boxed funfetti cake mix cookies to taste but the kids loved them & easy to make with them

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (NYT Cooking) - 3.5/5 - Good classic chocolate chip cookie, slightly grainy texture, but with an extra egg white left over

New Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies (Snacking Bakes) - 2.75/5 - They're fine, whole wheat flour and brown butter didn't seem very noticeable; not enough chocolate as written

Strawberry Lemon Cornmeal Cookies - (Snacking Bakes) - 3/5 - Nice enough, slightly bitter aftertaste maybe from the polenta

Guava Pinwheels (King Arthur Baking) - 3.5/5 - Tasty and interesting, but loses points because pastelitos are tastier and easier

New Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie (Dorie's Cookies) - 3.5/5 - They're fine, maybe a little too chewy-crisp on the edges for my taste; did not use the spices

Churro Cookies (Sugar Spun Run) - 3.5/5 - Fun idea, tasty enough, but the ganache felt a little claggy after baking; maybe try again with just chocolate

Lemon Almond Cookies (lost the link) - 1.5/5 - Flavor was not bad, lemony and only mildly sweet, but the texture was terrible; I did overbake them and did not have enough almond butter so maybe it could be redeemed

two thick, chewy oatmeal raisin chocolate chip mega-cookies (Smitten Kitchen Everyday) - 3/5 - They're fine, exactly what I wanted when I already have a freezer full of cookie dough, but not that much easier than a regular recipe which can be frozen for later

Chocolate chunk cookies (Dominique Ansel - 3/5 - They're fine, a little claggy, maybe better cooled than fresh out of the oven, no vanilla and I feel like you miss it

Buttered popcorn cookies (The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook) - 3/5 - Had to make some substitutions due to limited ingredients at Sunday dinner, but not bad; popcorn didn't retain its crunch well, but maybe should have been made from scratch instead of microwave

Microwave chocolate chip cookies for two (Jane's Patisserie) - 2.75/5 - Not bad, not really a cookie texture even when baked, more like a chocolate chip biscuit; adequate in case of emergency

Breakfast cookies (Sally's Baking Addiction) - 2.75/5 - I always like the idea of almond butter more than the actual thing, and the combination of apple butter and cranberries made it too sour for me, but I'd try it again with some alterations

Peanut butter chocolate chip breakfast cookies (Sally's Baking Addiction) - 3/5 - Used butter and apple butter instead of coconut oil and bananas; I think the apple butter makes it ever so slightly too sour for me, but I'd tinker with it as an afternoon snack cookie

The Food Lab's Chocolate Chip Cookies (Serious Eats) - 4/5 - Good classic chocolate chip cookie, maybe what I've been searching for? Kind of fussy, brown butter & an overnight rest

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies (King Arthur Flour) - 3/5- They're fine, maybe a little dry once fully cooled; I think my cocoa powder was stale

Double Coconut Meltaways (Smitten Kitchen Every Day) - 4/5 - Vegan, really nice coconut flavor and good short texture; try again with lime zest?

Whole Wheat Oat Chocolate Cookies (Smitten Kitchen) - 3/5 - Good, a little dry for an everyday chocolate chip cookie

Quick and Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies (Serious Eats | BraveTart) - 3/5 They're fine, not as good as the SE version with brown butter, and it's getting harder to track down good quality plain dark chocolate in the grocery store

Snack Attacks (Snacking Bakes) - 3/5 - They're fine, I'd try them again if I've got snack-y things (chips, pretzels, etc) to use to, but not as good as the potato chip chocolate chip cookie

Strawberry Coconut Macaroons (Sally's Baking Addition) - 3/5 - They're fine, not as good as Mom's recipe and more fussy; strawberry doesn't really add anything

Levain Bakery-Style Super-Thick Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe (Serious Eats) - 3/5 - Don't like the nuts; if I want an extravagant oversized chocolate chip cookie, I'd go with the KA Flour recipe or the NYT brown butter recipe, but fun for others who like the original

Our Favorite Chip Cookies (King Arthur Baking) - 2.75/5 - Too thin and crunchy, and too chewy/toothsome even fresh out of the oven, probably the ground oats; acceptable for others who like that kind of cookie

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (King Arthur Baking) - 3/5 - They're fine, decent texture, not sure the corn syrup is doing anything; not the depth of flavor as the Food Lab ones

Bake Club Gooey Butter Cookies (Christina Tosi/Milk Bar) - 2.75/5 - A boxed cake mix recipe so maybe affected by shrink-flation; first underbaked then overbaked, but they're fine, still taste like boxed cake mix

Giant Crinkled Chocolate Chip Cookies (NYT Cooking) - 3/5 - They're fine, a little too thin and crispy for my taste and too fussy with the pan-banging, but would be fun with a group

Rye Chocolate Chip Cookies (King Arthur Baking) - 3/5 - They're fine, rye is subtle and mainly texture-y; I'd make them again to use up rye flour but wouldn't go out of my way for it

Double Lemon Thumbprints (King Arthur Baking) - 3/5 - Pleasant enough and easy, not as good as the Dorie Greenspan jammers

Marshall Fields Chocolate Iced Cookies (Chicago Tribune) - 3/5 - Surprisingly close to what I remember, including the vibe of being really close to a perfect cookie but not quite there

One Chocolate Chip Cookie (Dessert for Two) - 2.75/5 - Better than the microwave recipe, but still too claggy (maybe because no leavening agents?) and faintly sour (maybe my butter was too old); I like the idea of a cookie you can make if you're almost out of butter but I'd try a different recipe next time

Lavender White Chocolate Sables (Dorie's Cookies) - 2.75/5 - I always want lavender to taste better then it does for me, but the Sunday dinner crew liked them

Mint Chocolate Sables (Dorie's Cookies) - 3/5 - They're fine, good balance of mint and chocolate, a little fussy

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies (NYT Cooking) - 3/5 - They're fine, dry dough and comes out a little crisper after cooling then I prefer

Macarons (Dorie's Cookies) - 3.5/5 - A satisfying baking project and at least as good as Trader Joe's macarons