help with cookie mix pouches?

[AngelaM]

I picked up a baking magazine and about half of the recipes call for 1 pkt Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie mix, peanut butter mix, chocolate chip, etc...you get the idea. When possible I try to do homemade...does anyone have a link to subs for these?

[donleyk]

I hate when that happens. Sometimes I have to laugh out loud when a recipe calls for one processed thing after another. That's not how I cook either.

I usually google the name of the recipe and see what's out there if I'm really interested in a dish but don't want to use processed stuff.

Good luck.

[AngelaM]

I hate when that happens. Sometimes I have to laugh out loud when a recipe calls for one processed thing after another. That's not how I cook either.

I usually google the name of the recipe and see what's out there if I'm really interested in a dish but don't want to use processed stuff.

Good luck.

You understand me EXACTLY. Now these treats are for a bunch of 18-20 year olds. And I do have a busy schedule. And I'm sure they would taste just fine if I went ahead and used the pouches-but I'd feel like a FRAUD. lol

I did try to research on the Betty Crocker website a little bit and poked around at some of their other recipes. I am not against using canned broth or frozen veggies, but the amount of recipes that call for a pkt of gravy seasoning, or some other sort of ingredient are atrocious. Most of the recipes are like that. When I was growing up, Betty Crocker was how we referred to someone who liked to cook. Times have changed.

[blazedog]

I pass on those kinds of recipes because the universe is too full of scrumptious cookie recipes and I would be almost certain that there is a "real" recipe for the cookie that is being made with mix.

I haven't made cookies in large quantities for awhile but when I did, I did a assembly line process where I would mix up several of the doughs and either refrigerate or freeze. Once you have all the standard dry ingredients out, it's really not that much more time to just use the recipe for each cookie.

I have seen "master cookie" recipes which might have five variants made from the same basic dry ingredients but they are generally cookies for which there are better recipes anyway and the master recipe doesn't seem to be much of a time saver.

[AngelaM]

Blazedog-Well, I had posted a while back asking for people's favorite cookie bar recipes and I got a couple, but not nearly the amount I thought this board could generate! So I picked up the magazine. I'll try to search by name and maybe there are variations out there. Or like I said, I may just suck it up and use the cookie mixes.

[blazedog]

Blazedog-Well, I had posted a while back asking for people's favorite cookie bar recipes and I got a couple, but not nearly the amount I thought this board could generate! So I picked up the magazine. I'll try to search by name and maybe there are variations out there. Or like I said, I may just suck it up and use the cookie mixes.

I have a lot of cookie recipes loaded on my computer. If you are looking for a specific flavor or ingredient, let me know.

I wasn't meaning my response as a criticism -- I just get very frustrated as well when I see a recipe that uses a "finished" food as the main ingredient.

[HealthyinMN]

Blazedog-Well, I had posted a while back asking for people's favorite cookie bar recipes and I got a couple, but not nearly the amount I thought this board could generate! So I picked up the magazine. I'll try to search by name and maybe there are variations out there. Or like I said, I may just suck it up and use the cookie mixes.

But, have you tried a search of the boards?

Here is a 9 page thread discussing favorite bars and cookies from members of the board. Hope that helps your quest!

[AngelaM]

Blaze-I didn't take your response as critiscm. Sorry if it came across that way.

Joe-Thanks for that link! I usually do a search before I post, but I don't recall coming across a 9-page post, so maybe I didn't that time.

If anyone has any experience with specific cookies they have packaged and shipped, let me know. These are gonig to college students. I'm paranoid that they all will all be broken or melted. When I send them, I am going to ship them overnight or next day mail and will be sure to mark fragil. The analytical side of me wants to google every article I can find about shipping cookies before I embark on this. I'm probably a little OCD like that.

[blazedog]

Blaze-I didn't take your response as critiscm. Sorry if it came across that way.

Joe-Thanks for that link! I usually do a search before I post, but I don't recall coming across a 9-page post, so maybe I didn't that time.

If anyone has any experience with specific cookies they have packaged and shipped, let me know. These are gonig to college students. I'm paranoid that they all will all be broken or melted. When I send them, I am going to ship them overnight or next day mail and will be sure to mark fragil. The analytical side of me wants to google every article I can find about shipping cookies before I embark on this. I'm probably a little OCD like that.

There have been some threads on shipping cookies. There have also been some cookie exchanges on CLBB. Many people used the Priority Flat rate boxes so there wasn't an issue of staleness. You can of course use Priority with any size box and then weight would be used.

Here's a search engine Gumbeaux created specifically for the CLBB which works better than the one on the forum.

http://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=01...51:piy9ljr98cc

As for specific recommendations, most bars ship well. FWIW, most college students are happy with what some of us might consider "boring" -- i.e. chocolate chip cookies, brownies, blondies -- and these tend to ship well.

Some of the Mexican/Russian/teacake variants can be shipped well if packaged carefully. Generally if the cookies don't rattle around, they would be fine.

The only problem I've had with shipping (as well as just gifting in general) is that some traditional Christmas cookies have very strong spice elements which can permeate throughout the other cookies.

Generally there isn't a melting problem during the Christmas season -- especially with cookies in which chips are integrated into the cookie. Even the thumbprint type cookies which have a Kiss in the middle generally are fine if you allow them to firm up after baking.

[AngelaM]

Blazedog-Wow! Thanks for that link! No, I've never seen that before. I am going to use that and to the threat Joe posted and some cookbooks and make a list of what I want to make this weekend.

As for searching your recipes...I have a bag of unopened pretzels on my kitchen counter...so if you have a recipe that involves those, that's great. I do know that she doesn't like dark chocolate.

[blazedog]

Blazedog-Wow! Thanks for that link! No, I've never seen that before. I am going to use that and to the threat Joe posted and some cookbooks and make a list of what I want to make this weekend.

As for searching your recipes...I have a bag of unopened pretzels on my kitchen counter...so if you have a recipe that involves those, that's great. I do know that she doesn't like dark chocolate.

I'll look but I know there were some people who made chocolate dipped pretzels and then used Christmas sprinkles to make them festive. White chocolate or milk chocolate could be used.

[blazedog]

Here are my Pretzel recipes


White Trash

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Recipe By: Alton Brown - I'm Just Here For More Food

Ingredients:

3.5 cups Cheerios
3 cups Rice Chex (small box)
3 cups Corn Chex (ditto)
1 Pound plain M&Ms
2.5 cups mixed nuts (salted, no peanuts)
2 cups small pretzels (Eagle Snacks work well)
2 (11 ounce) packages white chocolate chips (Ghirardelli brand preferred)


Directions:

Get a really big metal bowl and place it over a large sauce pan/pot containing about an inch of water. Put this over medium heat.

Dump in the chips in the bowl and stir with a rubber spatula (every now and then) until they’ve melted smooth. You can walk away from time to time but be careful not to let the water get to hot or the cocoa butter will bog.

Dump everything else in the bowl and fold over and over until the hunks and chunks are well coated.

Spread the mess out on parchment paper or freezer paper and set in a cool place until it sets solid, then break it into pieces and seal in tins.


Notes:

Two 11 ounce bags of white chocolate chips (I like Ghiardelli but that’s just me. And yes I know that there’s not really any such thing as white chocolate…it’s “white confectioner’s coating” but come on…who doesn’t really just call it white chocolate?)


Chubby Hubby Cookies
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Recipe By: CLBB

Ingredients:

2 cups butter or margarine, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 large eggs
2 Tablespoons vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips, (12 oz)
1 package peanut butter chips, (12 oz)
1 cup salted peanuts
2 cups crushed pretzels (see note below)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350* degrees. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Blend into creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate and peanut butter chips, peanuts and pretzels. Drop by heaping tablespoons about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-13 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned and centers are still soft. Do not overbake. Cool one minute on cookie sheet. Cool completely on wire racks. Store tightly in covered container.

Cook's note: The pretzels should be about the size of the chocolate chips, not pulverized. You want to taste bits of pretzel as you munch. This is a crunchy cookie. I use a food processor and just pulse until the desired size is achieved.

Chocolate Chip & Pretzel Cookie Bars

Makes 32 squares

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1½ sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12-ounce bag bittersweet (or semisweet, if you prefer) chocolate chips
1½ cups mini pretzel twists, coarsely chopped
¼ cup chocolate chips, for drizzling (optional)
¼ cup peanut butter, for drizzling (optional)
¼ cup pretzels, crumbled, for topping (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray.

2. In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt. Using a mixer, beat the butter and both sugars at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Beat in the eggs and the vanilla extract. On low speed, beat in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips and pretzel pieces.

3. Spread the batter evenly in the pan and press it down evenly with a spatula. Bake for 30 minutes, until golden brown. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool completely.

4. In separate sandwich size baggies, melt the chocolate chips and peanut butter. Cut off a small corner on each bag and drizzle the chocolate and peanut butter over the top of the bars. Sprinkle the extra crushed pretzels on top. Let set and then cut into squares.
(Adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod)


Pretzel Yummies

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Recipe By: CLBB

Ingredients:

2 cups walnuts (8 oz)
1 cup peanut butter chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup light-colored corn syrup
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cups sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
25 pretzel rods or one 14-oz package whole Bavarian pretzels

Directions:

In a food processor, combine walnuts, peanut butter chips, and milk chocolate chips. Cover and process until mixture is coarsely chopped (or coarsely chop nuts, peanut butter, and chocolate pieces with a knife and combine). Transfer to a larger bowl; set aside.

In a small, heavy saucepan, combine brown sugar, corn syrup, and butter. Bring to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. Stir in sweetened condensed milk. Return to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium low. Clip a candy thermometer to side of pan. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until mixture reaches 236 degrees F, soft-ball stage, should take about 10 minutes. Adjust heat as necessary to maintain a steady boil. Remove saucepan from heat; stir in vanilla. Cool 15-20 minutes or until slightly thickened.

Dip each pretzel into caramel mixture, covering about two-thirds of the pretzel. Let caramel drip off slightly. Spoon or roll some of the chopped mixture onto the caramel on the pretzel, pressing crumbs lightly with back of a spoon. Let stand on nonstick foil until caramel is set. Store in an airtight container between layers of wax paper in a refrigerator up to 4 days or freeze up to 1 month. Makes 25 pretzel rods or 15 whole Bavarian pretzels.

[Beth]

Meringue types ship pretty well too if they don't get crushed. They might chip, but they will taste good as long as they stay dry.

Popped corn is a good packing material for cookies -- crumpled plastic bags too. Pringles cans are good for stacking drop cookies. I put bar cookies in zip loc bags or containers.

I found a one dough done several ways, but I know I have a sugar cookie mix thing somewhere too. I will keep looking and come back if I find it.

[Jmaplem]

AngelaM,
I'm going to go out on a limb here and admit to having used the Betty Crocker cookie pouches. I sent Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies to my college daughters and they were a huge hit. We don't have the need for cookies too often, but I find these hard to beat!
Go ahead and give that new cookbook a whirl!