1 and ? cups white (granulated) sugar
1 cup salted butter (2 sticks, 8 ounces, ? pound)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
? teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
? teaspoon cardamom
? teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated is best)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons coffee (you can use coffee left over from breakfast)
? cup molasses
? cup light Karo syrup
? cup golden raisins
4 cups quick cooking oats (I used Quaker 1-minute)
3 and ? cups all-purpose flour (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)
1 cup milk chocolate chips (I used Nestle)
Place the sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. (You can also mix up these cookies by hand, but it’s easier and quicker with an electric mixer.)
Pour the softened butter on top of the sugar.
Mix the sugar and the butter until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
Mix in the eggs and beat until it is well incorporated and the mixture is light and fluffy.
Sprinkle in the baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix them in until they’re incorporated.
Add the cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, vanilla extract, and coffee. Mix well.
Add the golden raisins. Mix them in thoroughly.
Mix in the molasses and the light Karo syrup. Beat until everything is combined.
Add the oats. Mix thoroughly.
Add the flour in half-cup increments, mixing after each addition.
Take the bowl out of the mixer, give it a final stir by hand, scrape down the sides to make sure that none of the yummy cookie batter sticks to the sides, and stir in the milk chocolate chips by hand.
Set the bowl aside on the counter while you prepare your cookie sheets.
Spray your cookie sheets with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray, or line them with parchment paper.
Hannah’s 1st Note: I prefer to use parchment paper when I’m baking at home. The paper makes it much easier to remove the baked cookies from the baking sheet. All you have to do is leave an “ear” of paper at the top and the bottom so that you can pull the parchment paper, baked cookies and all, over to the wire racks to cool.
Drop your cookies by heaping large spoonfuls onto your prepared cookie sheets, no more than 9 large cookies to a standard-size sheet. Think double-sized cookies and you won’t go wrong. (Lisa and I use a 2-Tablespoon scoop, rounded with dough on top, to do this down at The Cookie Jar.)
Bake your cookies at 350 degrees F., for 15 to 18 minutes, or until they are springy on top when touched lightly and quickly with a fingertip.
Let your Soft Chewy Milk Chocolate Cookies sit on the cookie sheets for at least 2 minutes.
Remove the cookies from the cookie sheets with a metal spatula (or, if you used parchment paper, simply pull the whole sheet off) to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Yield: 2 to 3 dozen large soft cookies that everyone will enjoy.
Hannah’s 2nd Note: This recipe can be doubled, if you wish. You will probably wish, because otherwise there won’t be enough cookies for the kids and their friends after you get through tasting them.
Chapter Ten
“Everything checks out, Hannah. We’re ready.”
Hannah adjusted her apron and turned to look at Michelle. Perhaps her sister was ready, but Hannah felt as if she were facing a final exam without ever going to any classes or reading the textbook.
“Relax. You’ll be fine as soon as you begin baking,” Michelle told her, slipping their recipes in the Plexiglas holders on the counter in front of each of them.
“But what if my soufflé doesn’t rise? Then I won’t win and I’ll disappoint everyone in Lake Eden.”
“It’ll rise,” Michelle reassured her. “Has Anne Elizabeth’s recipe ever failed to rise?”
“No.”
“Then there’s no reason to think it might fail to rise tonight. How many times have you made it?”
“Over a dozen.”
“Exactly my point. And it worked perfectly when you baked it at The Cookie Jar and perfectly during rehearsal this morning.”
“You’re right. I guess it’s just stage fright. I’m really nervous, Michelle.”
“So is everyone else. Just look at Brooke Jackman. She must have checked her ingredients twenty times.”
“But she’s an important dessert chef!”
“That’s true, but she’s still nervous. I talked to Loren Berringer this morning and he said that this was completely different from working in a restaurant.”