My First Perfect Chocolate Chips Cookies

Sweet version

So, here’s the thing.

Many people search for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe, like those made by Pepperidge Farm, Mrs. Fields, St. Michael, Famous Amos, or perhaps a small café in the countryside of Liverpool or Tuscany. Including me. Especially the soft-baked kind: large in size, half-baked, soft and slightly chewy, loaded with fillings, the aroma of butter and vanilla, premium chocolate chips, and… the perfect wrinkles!

It seems that only in the world of archaeology and culinary arts are wrinkles so highly valued :)

Wandering from recipe to recipe, trial after trial led me to one conclusion. The perfect chocolate chip cookie requires using many ingredients that I prefer not to consume. Non-halal ingredients, trans fats, excessive sugar, flavor enhancers, colorings, leavening agents, and emulsifiers. It’s almost impossible to make them in a home kitchen while minimizing the use of artificial ingredients and trans fats.

Repurposed: Chewy Peanut Butter Oat Cookies a.k.a. I'm Back!

Taken with my phone in 2017. Yea, it's an excuse :)

As the self-proclaimed “The Cookie Lady,” making cookies is serious business for me. I found this recipe on JoCooks.com because, well, it was the first one that popped up when I searched on Pinterest, hehe. And it's delicious. Soft, chewy, thick, slightly spread but with an amazing texture. Easy to make, quick, yields plenty, and tastes great. Happy day!

Chewy Peanut Butter Oat Cookies

Now Perfected.

Photo mat by Ria Nirwana

The chewy chocolate chips cookies recipe was perfected! Alhamdulillah..
It uses bread flour to produce to chewy texture, but it tends to dry quickly after a few days. So the best way is to bake fresh, to finish in like 2 days. You can stock the dough in the fridge and bake fresh each time.

Secrets:

• Bread flour
• Store dough in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight
• Good vanilla
• Do not omit the salt
• Use real butter, not margarine, not butter substitute, not butter blend, not recombined butter
• Use real chocolate chips. The one with cocoa butter. Not palm compound.

I hope you like it like I do. Trust me, it's perfect :)

Ka'ak. Nigella sativa Cookies.

Dalam Ash-Shohihain diriwayatkan hadist dari Ummu Salamah dari Abu Hurairah R.A, bahwa Rasulullah SAW bersabda:  

“Hendaklah kalian mengkonsumsi Habbatus Sauda’, karena didalamnya terdapat kesembuhan dari setiap penyakit, kecuali saam. Sedangkan saam artinya kematian.”  

Imam Bukhori juga meriwayatkan hadist dari Aisyah R.A bahwasanya ia mendengar Nabi SAW bersabda; ”Sesungguhnya Habbatus Sauda’ ini merupakan obat bagi setiap penyakit, kecuali saam. Aku bertanya, “Apakah saam itu?” Beliau menjawab, “Kematian.” 

Dalam riwayat Muslim: “Tidak ada suatu penyakit, kecuali penyembuhannya ada didalam Habbatus Sauda.”

So happy this morning, finding out Photoscape X was just released. Alhamdulillah. :*

These are middle-eastern cookies called Ka'ak, made by Nadrah Shahab. It has habatussauda (Nigella sativa), cardamom, spikuk spices (mix spices), and canarium nuts. If I was to make it, in syaa Allah, I will add cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg and omit spikuk spices. Just a personal preference.

I love that habatussauda brings heat and intensity, and loads of health benefit, which beautifully characterized the rather sweet and crumbly cookies. The specks of black seeds here and there created pretty sight, too.

PennyLane Chocolate Fudge Cookies

The first post of this cookie was back in 2008. I have nothing to say except that I never bake chocolate cookies any other way anymore. Crackly outside, fudgy inside. Strong chocolate, vanilla, coffee. Lavished with almond and canarium nuts. A keeper ever-since.

I sell these on mood basis :). Masya Allah, the whole batch was usually sold out even when they're still in the oven. I never escalated the price per piece since 2008 and one of my customers now already suggested me to do so. Masya Allah, it is THAT good :)

I hope the recipe can benefit you too, and if it puts a smile on your face, my smile will be wider than yours :)