Introducing Wael to chocolate chip cookies from the grocery store the beginning of the month was asking for trouble. LOL First bite and he looks at me and asks, "Can you make these?"
Well of course I can. I mean, they're so much better homemade than processed anyway. Little did I know the challenge it would actually be.
The search for ingredients began.
First, baking soda... Which we could not find in Port Said or Port Fouad. Maybe possible in Cairo but that's a 3+ hour drive. With a little online searching, 1 tsp baking soda is equivalent to 4 tsp. baking powder. Problem solved.
Next was the search for brown sugar. No one even heard of this. Wael's mother brought me some "brown" sugar. These cute little sugar packets, about 20 of them, which might equal 1/4 cup if I'm lucky.
It was just... Sugar colored brown. So the next step was then to find out how to substitute brown sugar. Well thanks to the wonderful world of Google I learned that brown sugar is just regular white sugar with molasses. Alhamdulillah! 1 cup white sugar with 1/4 cup molasses for dark brown sugar. Ok. That will work.
Chocolate chips. Really? No chocolate chips. Ok I was utterly thrown by this, but it wasn't really a problem. We would have chocolate chunk cookies. I would chop baking chocolate.
So... After all the ingredients were collected we started.
First problem. Chopping chocolate with a steak knife. Wael's mama does not believe in kitchen technology. So I ended up using a standard, flimsy, serrated steak knife to chop 1/2 kilo of 6cm thick baking chocolate. It took about 15 minutes but I ended up with my 4 cups of chopped chocolate.
Next issue... The only mixer was from the 1970s and had only one beater... How am I going to cream the butter and sugars? Wael, who has always been really great about helping me in the kitchen, decided to try the food processor. I was willing to try anything and not willing to argue. Did Not work-end of story. Well, I just ended up hand mixing it until it creamed. Fun. LOL
Baking powder was 8 packets (we made a double batch of cookies). Four packets of vanilla powder. Added Eggs and flower. And finally chopped chocolate. Looked like cookie dough. Tasted like cookie dough with a slight molasses taste...
Now for the final test. Would they bake the same? Taste the same or like molasses chocolate chunk cookies?
They turned out amazing. Same great classic taste. Alhamdulillah!
Here is my recipe for Egyptian Chocolate Chunk Cookies
7 cups (coffee cups work well) or 3/4 kg all purpose flour
1/2 kg butter, softened
4 cups sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2 eggs
4 teaspoons of dried vanilla powder
8 teaspoons of baking soda
1/2 kg baking chocolate
1. Chop chocolate into small 1-2 cm chunks. This will take some time. I recommend a LARGE serrated knife. Please use safety measures to keep your fingers. Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F).
2. Mix 2 cups sugar with 1/2 cup molasses. This step is really not necessary but its fun, right?
3. Cream together butter and sugar (and molasses if you skipped step 2) until smooth. Add eggs, baking powder, and vanilla. Stir in flour slowly. Finally stir in chocolate chunks.
4. Drop by large spoonfuls onto metal serving trays or baking sheets. Whatever you have available.
5. Bake for 10 minutes in preheated oven or until edges are golden brown.
The search for ingredients began.
First, baking soda... Which we could not find in Port Said or Port Fouad. Maybe possible in Cairo but that's a 3+ hour drive. With a little online searching, 1 tsp baking soda is equivalent to 4 tsp. baking powder. Problem solved.
Next was the search for brown sugar. No one even heard of this. Wael's mother brought me some "brown" sugar. These cute little sugar packets, about 20 of them, which might equal 1/4 cup if I'm lucky.
Chocolate chips. Really? No chocolate chips. Ok I was utterly thrown by this, but it wasn't really a problem. We would have chocolate chunk cookies. I would chop baking chocolate.
So... After all the ingredients were collected we started.
First problem. Chopping chocolate with a steak knife. Wael's mama does not believe in kitchen technology. So I ended up using a standard, flimsy, serrated steak knife to chop 1/2 kilo of 6cm thick baking chocolate. It took about 15 minutes but I ended up with my 4 cups of chopped chocolate.
Next issue... The only mixer was from the 1970s and had only one beater... How am I going to cream the butter and sugars? Wael, who has always been really great about helping me in the kitchen, decided to try the food processor. I was willing to try anything and not willing to argue. Did Not work-end of story. Well, I just ended up hand mixing it until it creamed. Fun. LOL
Baking powder was 8 packets (we made a double batch of cookies). Four packets of vanilla powder. Added Eggs and flower. And finally chopped chocolate. Looked like cookie dough. Tasted like cookie dough with a slight molasses taste...
Now for the final test. Would they bake the same? Taste the same or like molasses chocolate chunk cookies?
They turned out amazing. Same great classic taste. Alhamdulillah!
Here is my recipe for Egyptian Chocolate Chunk Cookies
7 cups (coffee cups work well) or 3/4 kg all purpose flour
1/2 kg butter, softened
4 cups sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2 eggs
4 teaspoons of dried vanilla powder
8 teaspoons of baking soda
1/2 kg baking chocolate
1. Chop chocolate into small 1-2 cm chunks. This will take some time. I recommend a LARGE serrated knife. Please use safety measures to keep your fingers. Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F).
2. Mix 2 cups sugar with 1/2 cup molasses. This step is really not necessary but its fun, right?
3. Cream together butter and sugar (and molasses if you skipped step 2) until smooth. Add eggs, baking powder, and vanilla. Stir in flour slowly. Finally stir in chocolate chunks.
4. Drop by large spoonfuls onto metal serving trays or baking sheets. Whatever you have available.5. Bake for 10 minutes in preheated oven or until edges are golden brown.
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