Super-Easy Super-Yum Overnight Chocolate-Chip Cookies

Oh, but before I begin:  I’ve been selected to host an upcoming edition of the Kosher Cooking Carnival, a blog carnival focused on… okay, I won’t insult your intelligence.

Stay tuned in Adar for a round-up of exciting Purim-related posts from the blogosphere or blogoverse or bloggetty-blogland or whatever they call it these days.  And, of course, if you have something fun and foodie, please submit it because I haven’t a clue what I’m going to include!

Anyway.

While Ted’s outside wearing out the kiddies, I thought I would share a step-by-step tutorial for the best easiest and most fun and convenient way of making delicious chocolate-chip cookies. 

Basically, you are creating a homemade version of the Pillsbury slice-n-bake cookies:  completely pareve and made-from-scratch in minutes from the freezer!

I won’t go into recipes here.  We use the Crisco Ultimate Chocolate-Chip Cookies, but sub Fleischmann’s margarine in the recipe (because Crisco Butter Flavour is now dairy), omit the milk, and there you go.  We use President’s Choice Decadent Chocolate Chips, which are conveniently pareve.

The trick here, however, is chilling and rolling.  Most CCC (chocolate-chip cookie) recipes call for some period of chilling, which improves the flavour and texture.  The Crisco one doesn’t, but don’t let that stop you.  Any amount of chilling is helpful!

So:  the night before you want cookies, mix up your favourite recipe.

Now, prepare a sheet of tinfoil, and lay a sheet of parchment paper over that.  I make both sheets slightly longer than the width of the foil.

Plop half the cookie dough on the parchment paper:

 

Form the dough into a rough log shape with slightly damp hands.

Bring the ends of the parchment paper together over the dough.  Fold the ends of the parchment paper together and press it down tightly over the dough.  Here’s me, doing this step!  It’s hard to describe the fold, but it’s the same way my mother used to wrap sandwiches in waxed paper.  Though I  never did learn how to do that; mine fall apart the second you pick them up.

 

Now, seal the tinfoil around the parchment-paper log.  Twist the ends shut so they look a bit like a candy.  Roll it back and forth on the table a few times to get a nice, round log shape (I skipped this in the batch shown here – oops!).

Repeat for the second half of the dough (or you can bake half right away and use this method to save half for later… it’s up to you!).

Here are two finished dough-and-paper-and-foil logs:

 

Place them in the freezer.  If you’re awake, turn them after an hour or so to make sure the logs don’t get a flat spot on the bottom.  Otherwise, don’t worry about slightly lopsided cookies.

When you want to bake the cookies, preheat your oven first!  I set it to 375 degrees.  I don’t thaw the logs ahead of time; remember, they’re mostly made with fat, not water, so they don’t freeze solid.

Open the foil and paper and (with a very sharp knife) slice the cookies about 1/4 of an inch thin.  You should get about 12-15 cookies (give or take a few) from each log.  Here, I’ve done it on the paper – being careful not to cut the paper.  You can also transfer to a cutting board and do it there, but then you’ll have a dirty cutting board.

 

Spread the paper flat on a cookie sheet and arrange your cookies.  Bake as usual – I bake for 12 minutes and they come out exactly right.  You shouldn’t have to add more time to accomodate the dough being frozen.

 

And here are the finished cookies!

 

Good Shabbos!!!