Comments on: 32 dozen cookies: a whole lotta bakin’ goin’ on.

By: Rose

Rose — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:37:42 +0000

PJH,
Sorry the photos are NOT posted on any website or blog. They’re just sitting here on the Desktop.

By: Rose

Rose — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 22:24:58 +0000

I’d love to show you the Kitty Kookies I baked for the local Humane society, but see no way to upload the photos. Any help out there?

Rose, if they’re posted online somewhere (Flickr? a blog?), just provide the link. Otherwise, no, sorry, technologically there’s no way (that I know of) to post photos… - PJH

By: Lee

Lee — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:29:57 +0000

I just did a mass cookie baking for an informal wedding reception for two dear friends that are both marrying for the second time. The most popular cookie I do starts with a bag of macademia nuts for baking (I bring these home from Seattle when I visit my grandkids because I can’t find them in Maryland) that I toast in the oven and cool. Then I make the standard Toll House recipe, add the nuts, a bag of white chocolate chips, and a little extra vanilla. Bake them like the standard Toll House recipe (about 10 minutes at 350 for the size scoop I use–probably close to 2 teaspoons) and they will disappear!

WOW - those sound great! Thanks for the inspiration, Lee- PJH

By: Irene Peery, RN

Irene Peery, RN — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:51:26 +0000

When I was still working at UVA Hospital in the OR , I took it upon myself to thank all my co-workers with a BIG box of homemade cookies each Christmas. It took a week, working after I got home from work and the weekend before, to make and bake the cookies. Thank goodness for cold weather because I put the finished cookies in plastic containers to keep on my back porch, since I didn’t have freezer space enough. The last Christmas, I counted how many I baked and it totaled 127 dozen. I used a lot of bar cookie recipes or refrigerator recipes but the box usually had 20-30 different kinds of cookies. Like you, I used a stand mixer with two bowls, a food processor, small ice cream scoops but I only had one oven. All I can say is thank goodness for parchment paper. I could lift one batch off when done and put another one on the cookie sheet. My shopping list usually consisted of 15 lbs. of flour, 8 lbs. of butter, 3 doz. eggs, 4 lbs. brown sugar and 15 lbs. of white sugar. That was just the beginning. Now that I am retired and don’t do this anymore, I really enjoy Christmas cookies a lot more. I do miss the look on the staff’s faces when the cookies came to the front desk. Thanks for all of your great recipes.

Irene, what a great Christmas gift - I can bet they were all happy. Cookies and other baked treats, in my experience, are ALWAYS a welcome gift - one size fits all!-PJH

By: jwg

jwg — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:00:33 +0000

What about Silplat. You specify parchment paper. I just love my silicon sheet liners.

Hi! The Silpat would be fine to use instead of parchment paper. Enjoy. Jessica @ the Bakers Hotline.

By: Pam

Pam — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:21:35 +0000

I place my cookies which have been rolled into logs, chilled and then sliced onto parchment paper and slide the parchment paper into stoneware pans that live in my oven. When the cookies come out, can they cool on the parchment on the counter or should they be in a rack for circulation?

Hi Pam,

We rarely use racks for cooling our baked cookies. Unless the recipe specifies moving to a rack, or the cookie will be soggy if you don’t use a rack, go ahead and cool on the parchment.

Happy Baking!

MaryJane @ The Baker’s Hotline

By: Jamie

Jamie — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:44:37 +0000

I used to bake 100 dozen Christmas cookies every year. I would give them as large gift baskets/plates for the mailman, UPS guy, doctor’s office, hair stylist and all the bachelor men I knew, etc. It was a labor of love, but I would make 2-3 batches of “quantity” recipes and make at least 6 different types of cookies so they looked good on a plate. Once you get the rhythm, you learn the best multi-taskers. Make one dough while another is cooling, bake one batch while frosting or packaging something else.
But I am curious as to what is in the middle of the peanut butter cookies. There isn’t anything about this in the recipe. Is it chocolate or jam?

Jamie, it’s just a single chocolate chip - I plopped them on just as I took them out of the oven, so they kind of melted and settled in. - PJH

By: Carol Rosen

Carol Rosen — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:17:43 +0000

Glad to hear from other mass bakers out there. About 4 years ago when my youngest left home, I figured I had to do SOMETHING, so every other weekend I bake 600 to 800 cookies for a a downtown soup kitchen. I make 6 to 8 double batches, and measure all the ingredients the night before. I begin work at about 4:30 a.m. and usually finish by 11:30 (I have two ovens). Favorites are chocolate chip, peanut butter criss-cross, oatmeal raisin pecan, peanut blossom, cherry chocolate chunk, and gingersnaps with white chocolate frosting, which I make less frequently because I have to cover every level surface in my house with cookies while the chocolate hardens, and it takes 14 lbs. of Belgian chocolate!

By: Mavis

Mavis — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:57:50 +0000

I do a lot of ‘mass’ baking for holidays, or our church, in my home. I try to never ‘make’ and ‘bake’ on the same day. When I’m making the dough, I scoop the dough onto parchment lined cookie sheets that fit into my freezer, putting as many raw cookie dough cookies onto a sheet that I can. When they’re frozen hard, they’re put into gallon sized baggies, and labeled with what they are and the baking requirements. Whenever I’m ready for fresh cookies, I just pull out a bag and they’re ready to go. I’m also a big fan of refrigerator cookies that I can freeze in bars, and I also do a lot of biscotti that I freeze in bars as well. When I’m ready to bake them, just put the cookies on parchment covered sheets and let them have a few minutes to thaw if you have the time to do that. If not, just pop into the oven frozen, allowing a few extra minutes for defrost in the oven.

Usually all my Christmas cookies are in the freezer by Thanksgiving time. I like everything fresh baked, so as the season gets closer I can pull them out of the freezer and bake them fresh as needed. The house always smells yummy through the holiday without the kitchen mess and hassle at an already stressful time.

By: Roberta Partridge

Roberta Partridge — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:15:28 +0000

I would like to add one more aid to cookie making. I had to make 8 recipes 6 times each for an OCCASION. Fancier rather than plain cookies. I found that mixing in the final ingredients using the dough hook - speed low - on my KitchenAid (mine is at least 30 years old) saved a lot of elbow grease. It meant that I could double recipes and stir in the chocolate chips, nuts, raisins, rice krispies, oatmeal, etc. with ease and no smashing of the ingredients. I now use this when I’m only making one recipe! I just switch over from the paddle to the dough hook when the right time in the recipe comes - time and effort saved makes cookie making fun again. And if you don’t have the cookie scoops put all four sizes on your present list! They make such a difference.

Hi Roberta,

Love the dough hook idea! I’m going to try that myself!

Happy Baking!

MaryJane @ The Baker’s Hotline