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Ah, yes…the magical cookies that drove Hank to obsession and madness. They’re a fairly basic chocolate chip cookie recipe, with a few diabolical additives. For the sake of hygiene, we’re gonna skip using blood of the deceived and blood of the deceiver.
Instead? Jam.
I’m fairly experienced at chocolate chip cookies. In fact, chocolate chip cookies were the first thing I ever made all by myself, back when I was eight years old. They effectively set off my future love of cooking.
But these are no ordinary chocolate chip cookies, are they? Noooo they are not. They’re ZAUBERTRANK COOKIES. So we’re going to fill them with tasty not-blood, a.k.a. raspberry jam. But you see, I have no idea how to fill a chocolate chip cookie with jam. So we’re gonna experiment. FOR SCIENCE!
You’ll notice that in the following pictures, I’m using a silicone baking mat. I don’t usually do this, but I figured it’d be the safest thing in this case since some jam could (and probably will) escape—and if it does, it’ll end up stuck to the pan in a pool of sugary baked-on doom.
That said, on to the recipe.
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Indeterminate quantity of raspberry jam
Directions
Step 1: Pick a mixing bowl that is slightly larger than necessary (but you like it because it’s GREEN) and combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.
Step 2: Plop the butter into a separate, larger mixing bowl. Let it sit there at room temperature for a few minutes, so it softens up a bit. Add both sugars.
Step 3: Cream the butter and sugars until it looks kinda like peanut butter. (I remember this taking 16,000 years when I was eight. Now it takes maybe a few minutes.)
Step 4: Ignore the instructions to add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. WE ARE REBELS HERE. BOTH EGGS GO IN TOGETHER. MWAHAHAHA.
Step 5: Beat in the flour mixture a little at a time. No really, trust me on this one. Dumping all the flour in at once and then trying to stir it without setting off a flour-sposion tends to result in argh.
Step 6: Spill flour on the front of your clothes. Why did you wear navy blue while baking, again?
Step 7: Pour in the chocolate chips. Chase the last couple chips out of the bottom corner of the bag. Devour them. They shall not accompany their brethren.
Step 9: Stir in the chips. Totally do not steal any raw cookie dough. Nope. That would be bad.
Step 10: Put the bowl of dough in the fridge for about 20-30 minutes, because it is approximately eleventy bajillion degrees in this kitchen and the dough is way too soft and squishy right now to be handled the way I intend.
Step 11:
Anna: “Have you turned the oven on yet?”
Elle: “…”
Preheat the oven to 375˚.
* * * * *
We’re gonna try four different methods for the jam filling: the sandwich method, the injection method, the bowl method, and the cavern method. The second two are pretty much just variations on the first two that allow for MOAR JAM. You can try all of them, or just pick one you like.
Step 12-a: SANDWICH METHOD. Roll a palmful of dough into a ball and squish flat into a disc. I tried three different sizes to see what would work best: one 3” in diameter, one a smidge over 2” in diameter, and one 1.5” in diameter.
Step 13-a: Spoon a blob of raspberry jam onto the center of each disc. (Approximately 1 tsp for the 3” one, and progressively less for the others.)
Step 14-a: Roll and squish matching top discs. Set them on top of the bottom discs and pinch the edges together. You will end up with little cookie dough UFOs.
Step 12-b: INJECTION METHOD. (MWAHAHAHA.) If you’ve got one, fit an icing decorator (or pastry bag) with a bismarck tip. (The stabby-looking one that’s used for filling cream puffs.) Fill the decorator partway with raspberry jam. Lock and load.
Step 13-b: Roll a ball of cookie dough about 1.5” in diameter. Carefully stab your ball of dough (NOT all the way through) and inject it with raspberry deliciousness.
Step 14-b: Remove the bismarck tip. Take a little wad of extra dough and fill in the hole, smoothing it over. It seems to work best if you use a chocolate chip as the plug.
Anna, why are you laughing?
Step 12-c: Sandwich method evolves into…BOWL METHOD! Instead of forming discs with the dough, form little bowls.
Step 13-c: Fill the bowls with MOAR JAM. (Approximately a tablespoon or so.)
Step 14-c: Enclose the jam with another dough bowl. Tuck it in. Nighty night, jam.
Step 12-d: Injection method evolves into…CAVERN METHOD! Instead of stabbing the ball of dough, use your thumb to push a hollow cavern out of the center of the ball.
Step 13-d: Inject MOAR JAM into it. (It’s basically the same thing as the bowl method, but on a smaller scale. And you still get to use the jam injector gun. Hehehe.)
Step 14-d: Close the hole with more dough. This is, um…okay, this is gonna be a little messier than the injection method, because the hole is a tad more gapey than before. (Dammit, dough ball, stop bleeding jam all over me.)
* * * * *
Step 15: Make sure there is about 2” of spreading space between your cookies on an ungreased pan. (Baking mat or parchment paper is optional.) Bake for 10 to 13 minutes (depending on cookie size) or until golden brown.
Step 16: Remove from oven and let cool untouched for 2 minutes. (No, really. Don’t skip this step.) Remove to a plate and let cool a few minutes more before eating. DO NOT BURN YOURSELF ON MOLTEN JAM.
Result: Better than expected!
Structural integrity of cookies formed through methods A and B are surprisingly good, even for the massive UFO cookie. The jam actually didn’t escape at all. It doesn’t ooze when you bite or cut into it, either—the jam bakes in fairly smoothly, and the flavor is subtle. No real difference between the two methods of filling, except for overall size.
As for methods C and D…okay, structural integrity of the cookie may have been compromised a little. Plus, the risk of jam napalm has increased. Let these ones cool a little bit longer. But once you get to the eating part…the cavern method cookies have about mid-level jamminess, while the bowl method cookies have maximum jamminess. My beta testers agreed that the cavern method cookies were their favorites.
C: “I never would have thought these would be as tasty as they are. It’s basically jam on a chocolate chip cookie.”
Elle: “But it’s baked in. It infuses.”
C: “Yeah. Pretty delicious.”
Tune in next week for the inevitable follow-up: Wu’s Carpet Cupcakes!
Adapted from Nestlé Toll House.
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
~1/2 jar raspberry jam
Directions
Preheat oven to 375° F.
Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for 20-30 minutes.
Roll dough into 1.5” balls. Using thumb, push out the center and mold a small cavern inside the dough ball. Fill center with ~1-2 tsp raspberry jam, using the method of your choice. (Injecting with a bismarck tip, or carefully spooning the jam in.) Seal the hole shut using additional dough and smooth over.
Arrange jam-filled dough balls 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. (Optional: use silicone baking mat or parchment paper.)
Bake for 10 to 13 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to plates to cool completely. (Wire racks may be used instead, but have not been tested with this recipe. Results with the jam filling are undetermined.)
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