by Cleo Coyle
Step 3—Bake: Break off pieces of dough and gently roll into balls of about 1 inch in diameter. Place dough balls on lined pan, allowing room in between for spreading. Bake about 13 to 14 minutes. Cookies should be slightly underdone. Remove pan from oven and allow cookies to sit on the hot pan and finish cooking for another 8 minutes—this is a part of the process that will give you an irresistible chewy-on-the-inside, crispy-on-the-outside cookie. Enjoy!
Cooking tip: When baking cookies, never put raw cookie dough on a hot pan. Your pan should be no warmer than room temperature. A hot pan will make your dough spread too quickly and too much during baking. If you need to reuse a pan quickly after it comes out of the oven, simply run it under cold water and dry it off, and you’re good to go.
Clare’s Cozy Maple Sugar Cookies
These tender sugar cookies with lightly crispy exteriors yet soft and chewy interiors are beautifully flavored with maple syrup, vanilla, and a secret ingredient. While they may look like simple, Mom’s-cookie-jar snacking cookies, their complex flavor profile makes them delightfully satisfying treats to pair with coffee or tea for after-dinner dessert plates or holiday party trays. For best results, be sure to use real maple syrup and not “pancake” or “waffle syrup,” which is simply corn syrup with maple flavoring. When in doubt, check the ingredients. The real stuff lists only one ingredient: maple syrup. To see a photo of these cozy cookies, visit Cleo Coyle’s online coffeehouse at coffeehousemystery.com, where you can also download an illustrated guide to this recipe section.
Makes about 2 dozen cookies
12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup granulated white sugar
1 large egg
⅓ cup pure maple syrup (not “pancake syrup”)
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice (do not omit)
2 cups all-purpose flour (spoon into cup and level off)
1 cup granulated white sugar (to coat before baking)
Step 1—Make the dough: Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and ½ cup white granulated sugar in a large bowl. Add the egg (whisk lightly before adding), maple syrup, salt, vanilla, baking powder, and baking soda, and beat well. Blend in the lemon juice (an important part of the flavor profile; do not omit). Finally, turn the mixer to low and mix in all of the flour to create the silky dough. Do not overmix, but be sure all flour is incorporated and bowl is scraped clean. Dough will be soft and sticky and hard to handle, which is why you need to be patient and chill it. If you sample the dough at this stage, don’t worry about the lack of sweetness. This dough is designed to balance the addition of sugar before baking.
Step 2—Chill it, baby: Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap (to keep it from drying out) and chill the dough for 2 hour in the refrigerator to firm it up and allow the flavors to develop. If you’d like to store the dough longer than 2 hour, scrape it into an airtight plastic container and keep it chilled in the refrigerator. Do not store longer than 2 days before baking.
Step 3—Prep for baking: When you’re ready to bake the cookies, preheat your oven to 350°F and line a cookie sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicon mat. Pour 1 cup of granulated white sugar into a shallow bowl or pie plate. To form each cookie, dampen your hands and dust them well with sugar. Break off a piece of dough and form a ball, about 1 inch in diameter. Roll the ball in the bowl of sugar, generously coating, and place it on your lined baking sheet, allowing room for spreading.
Step 4—Bake: Bake in your preheated 350°F for 11 to 13 minutes (the time will depend on your oven). Finished cookies should be creamy on top and golden brown around the edges. That golden brown caramelization is important for flavor, but do not allow the bottoms to turn overly brown or burn. Remove pan from oven and allow cookies to cool a few minutes to set before carefully sliding the parchment paper of baked cookies onto a rack to finish cooling. As the cookies cool, they will harden, becoming lightly crispy on the outside yet soft and chewy on the inside. Eat with joy!
Clare’s Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake
No better cake could welcome Clare home to her beloved Village Blend better than this easy single-layer coffee (or tea) cake. This is an absolutely delicious and satisfying snack cake, layered with amazing flavor—no frosting required. Just mix up the ingredients in one bowl, slip the cake pan in the oven, and start the coffee brewing!
Makes one 9-inch round cake (12 servings)
2 large eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup 2% milk
½ cup granulated white sugar
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups all-purpose flour (spoon into cup and level off)
1 tablespoon cornstarch (for better cake texture)
½ cup mini chocolate chips, semisweet (if using larger chips, chop into small pieces)
Step 1—Prep oven and pan: Preheat your oven to 350°F. Prepare your 9-inch round cake pan by greasing the bottom and sides with butter (do not use oil or nonstick spray, which will overly toughen your cake’s bottom and edges and impart unappealing flavors in the crust). Also line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper (the butter will help the paper stay in place).
Step 2—One-bowl mixing method: Using an electric mixer, beat eggs, oil, milk, sugars, vanilla, salt, and baking powder for a full minute. Stop the mixer and measure in the flour. On top of the flour, sprinkle on 1 tablespoon of cornstarch (which will help create a more tender crumb), and lightly stir the cornstarch into the flour. With your mixer on low, fully blend in the flour-cornstarch mixture, but do not overmix, or you will develop the flour’s gluten and toughen the cake’s texture. Finally, fold in the mini chocolate chips. If using larger chips, be sure to chop into small pieces.
Step 3—Bake: Scrape the batter into the prepared 9-inch round cake pan. Gently shake the pan to spread the batter out evenly. Bake in your preheated 350°F oven for about 30 minutes. Cake is done when a toothpick, inserted into the center of the cake, comes out with no wet batter clinging to it. Remove the pan from the oven and allow it to set by cooling on a rack for at least 20 minutes before serving slices directly from the pan or (better yet) de-panning the entire cake (see how below). Note that the center of this cake will fall slightly as it cools, and that’s expected.
To store: Place completely cooled cake in an airtight container (like a cake keeper) or you can wrap the cake snugly in plastic wrap. If you live in a warm climate or wish to store the cake longer than 24 hours, move the airtight container (or plastic-wrapped cake) into the refrigerator.
To de-pan: Run a butter knife around the edge of the cake to release it from the pan. Place a plate over the pan’s top and turn everything upside down, flipping the cake onto the plate. Remove the parchment paper from the bottom of the cake. Use the same plate-on-top method to flip the cake again, turning it right side up. Now you’re ready to cut the cake and start that fresh pot of coffee!
To see a photo of this marvelous little cake, visit Cleo Coyle’s online coffeehouse at coffeehousemystery.com, where you can also download an illustrated guide to this recipe section.
From Clare, Matt, Madame, Quinn, Franco, Esther, Dante, Tucker, and everyone at the Village Blend . . . May you eat and drink with joy!
Don’t Miss the Next Coffeehouse Mystery by Cleo Coyle
For more information about the Coffeehouse Mysteries and what’s next for Clare Cosi and her merry band of baristas, visit Cleo Coyle at her website: coffeehousemystery.com.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cleo Coyle is a pseudonym for Alice Alfonsi, writing in collaboration with her husband, Marc Cerasini. Both are N
ew York Times bestselling authors of the Coffeehouse Mysteries. Alice and Marc are also bestselling media tie-in writers who have penned properties for Lucasfilm, NBC, Fox, Disney, Imagine, and MGM.
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