Coco in the Kitchen

Treats for the whole family!

Daisy’s Crumbs Cookies

| butter, chippers, chocolate, cookies, crumbs, old fashioned

 
Crumbs Cookies

Tis the season where the sniffles are persistent uninvited guests. Daisy still has a bit of a cough, but was very excited to go back to school today and see her friends.  When I picked her up and we headed home, I asked about her day.  I speak to her in Armenian, but she usually replies in English, which is easier to enunciate. I asked all the usual things,  like who she played with, what did she eat, did she learn a new song. Suddenly, she started reciting a little ditty about Autumn in Armenian:

Autumn came, beautiful Autumn.
It brought gold to the fields and pastures.
The wind danced with the leaf.
Slowly creeps in the misty fog.

My heart melted, hearing her speaking in full sentences.  I grabbed my phone and got it all on tape. 

Crumbs Cookies

 Now,  I listen to the recording, especially toward the end of the day at the office, when I miss her most.   On the drive home, I look forward to doing something fun with her, like baking. I am Armenian, after all. My people practically live on coffee and pastries. The best thing to bake with kids is a big batch of cookies. Growing up in the States has made me quite the chocolate chip cookie connoisseur, but I have not found that perfect recipe, the one that takes me back to the bake sales from my school days. Luckily, I did find an excuse to keep looking.

Crumbs CookiesWe had guests coming for dinner on Sunday, so I called my favourite my little blue-eyed culinary consultant for some ideas. When I asked her what we should bake, she suggested cookies, “Crumbs Cookies.” Never heard of them. So I googled it. (Yes, google is now a verb.) The first thing that came up was Fregolata, a big, crumbly Italian almond cookie with a very sexy name. Irresistible indeedy, but I doubt Daisy has ever had one. So I showed her more photos and she pointed to the chocolate chippers and nodded, “See, Mama?”

Crumbs CookiesI am always happy to bake chocolate chip cookies for any reason, on any day. There is never a bad time for them, even on Ordinary Tuesday. This was an especially good idea since it meant I was going to bake with my little sweetheart. A good chocolate chip cookie recipe is a hard find. There are just so many out there. So I went right to my girl, Dawn of the charming Vanilla Sugar Blog. She’s a Cape Cod surfer girl who knows her cookies. Her signature Friday Links are a fun read and I always learn something new, like grating butter. Yes, grating butter. I couldn’t believe my eyes, either, but it makes perfect sense. In case of a Chocolate Chip Emergency (You know what I’m talking about.), there is no time to wait for the butter to soften to room temp. That’s when you grab the cheese grater. 

This recipe is so lovely, no fancy equipment is needed. You can make this with nothing more than a wooden spoon and a big bowl, just like Grandma. Grating the cold butter helps it soften quickly.  The cute little cookie scooper is also not necessary – I just always wanted to have one. Actually, the cookies turn out much cuter if you drop them into clumpy mounds using two teaspoons. Chilling the dough briefly before baking makes for crumbly cookies, just what my little sweetheart wanted.  Pistachios and cherries went into the mix just to shake things up a bit.
 Crumbs Cookies

Daisy’s Crumbs Cookies

Note: You may want to save 1/2 cup of the cookie dough before adding eggs to make some double-dipped cookie dough truffles.

Inspired by Vanilla Sugar Blog
Makes about 3 dozen
 
Supplies
1½ sticks butter, cold
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 vanilla bean or 2 tsp extract
1 tsp instant coffee
2 1/2 cups flour
1 Tb baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch sea salt
2 cups chocolate chips
handful dried sour cherries
handful raw pistachios
 
Steps
Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
 
Using a cheese grater, shred butter into a bigger bowl.
Add sugars and mix until creamy.
 
If you are using a whole vanilla bean instead of the extract,
use a paring knife to split it lengthwise down the center.
Then scrape the pulp.
 
Incorporate coffee, eggs and vanilla.
 
Add flour mixture in batches to the butter mixture and stir until just combined.
Gently fold the chocolate chips, dried cherries and pistachios into the batter.
Transfer cookie dough into the fridge for 5 minutes.
 
Preheat oven to 350*F.
 
Using a small cookie scooper or a two teaspoons, measure 1-inch
mounds of dough spaced about an inch apart onto the cookie sheet.
Return remaining dough to the fridge.
 
Transfer to the hot oven and bake about 10-12 minutes.
Using a spatula, gently lift cookies and place onto a wire rack to cool.
 
Remove dough from fridge and measure next batch for baking.
 
Enjoy while still warm with a very cold, very tall glass of milk.
Store in an airtight container for 3 days. Remaining dough keeps well in the freezer up to 1 month.
 

This is now officially my fav chocolate chip cookie recipe, or as Daisy calls them, Crumbs Cookies. They come out crunchy, crumbly on the outside and chewy on the inside. The sour cherries and pistachios offer a make every bite a little different. As for the coffee, no one will ever guess you sneaked a pinch into the mix. They will just keep asking you what chocolate chips you used because they taste so darned chocolaty! Old fashioned recipes are the best. Picture a sweet purple-haired granny in her country kitchen, wearing a cotton smock apron, turning the dough around the bowl with a wooden spoon, despite the pain of her tired hands. She recalls the recipe from memory, like so many other delicious things she makes. This is that kind of recipe. She’s a keeper. These cookies taste so good that they demand a smile. I have already made them twice in the last week. But most of them were given away, because if they stayed at home with us, I could not stop eating them. Now I am looking for another excuse to bake them again and with the holidays coming, I should not have any problem finding a good one. You have my guarantee that Daisy’s Crumbs Cookies are easy to make, even at a moment’s notice. Keeping your hand out of the cookie jar, however, is not so easy.

 
You might also like these Bombshell Bars…

 

Comments

  1. These cookies look incredible, I love the recording of Daisy's voice, and the passion in yours when you talk about doing things with her. You have a beautiful blog, I am looking forward to hanging out more here.

  2. That recording of Daisy is so cute, you and her have the most special connection 🙂 Reminds me of my mum and I! I love these cookies, especially the gorgeous stack shot and will definitely be trying this recipe!

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

  3. Hi Colette! What a great post, I love reading your wonderful stories. These cookies sound so yummy! I'm always looking for another chocolate chip cookie recipe! I have a recipe that uses espresso coffee and it adds such a nice flavor! Thanks so much for sharing Daisy's wonderful recording! She's got such a adorable voice!!

  7. Oh, Chippy, I'm so glad I recorded it – she absolutely refuses to recite it for me, claims she's shy.
    Glad you have a wonderful family, too. Hope you try these cookies. xo

  9. Colette, what a darling post – I absolutely adore the picture of the cookies in that pretty purse – what a way to photograph those lovely, delicious sounding cookies. And what better way to share precious time with our kids than bake wonderful chocolate chip cookies with them!
    Hope you and your family are all well – it has been one busý month and I am sorry for being a bit slow on comments but there were so many things going on and I was gone for a good ten days for “repairs” to my stomach…not that nice…left-over problem from January.
    But all is well that ends well and I hope things will go their “normal” way again.
    Feel yourself hugged and give a big fat kiss to your little darling daughter, the charming inspiration for your post!
    Andrea

  10. What a beautiful entry that celebrates what cookies are about: not only deliciousness, but the delight of connection. I adore this.

  12. The recording is just perfect, Colette… what a gift! And the cookies? Can't wait to find our how you will use the dough, although I have my suspicions! 😉 xo, d

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