Altruistic Monkey: Midnight Madness

A couple items *just* came out fresh from the oven! It's a two-fer late-nighter tonight! Why? I'm not too sure. I do know it became a midnight cooking session because I became preoccupied with a computer problem as I waited for the butter to soften to room temperature. As for why both tonight...quite frankly it just came down to the fact that I'd been wanting to try both recipes out and their oven temperatures were quite close. Also, I had the OJ in the fridge (nearly gone!) so that had priority, and I wanted to double check that the cake flour hadnt' gone bad. I couldn't smell a problem but sometimes, you just gotta take the plunge and EAT it. Ew! ;)

First up to bat:

Chelsea Clinton's Chocolate Chip Cookies
I made these waaaay too big so 24 cookies became 12. Obviously, I don't know how to eyeball 2 tablespoon's worth of dough. =P As a result, I had to bake them a bit longer than 8-10 minutes which translated into crunchy cookies. The first batch I definitely overbaked as they were very well done (not burnt) and crunchy-crisp with a bit of stick-to-your-teeth chew. The second batch I caught on that the cookies were continuing to bake as they cooled off so I took them out at just a touch golden brown. Still crunchy but with a more delicate flavour. Overall, pretty good. I could recognize that these cookies were the type that would sprawl out in the oven but they didn't taste exactly like the previous types I've made. Could the cake flour make such a big difference in flavour? I liked it. It didn't taste as sweet and heavy too which is always a plus in my book.

Next up:

Nigella Lawson's Orange Breakfast Muffins
Self-rising flour is a pain to piece together especially when it's a fraction of a cup. Aside from that though, this is pretty easy to whip up. I left out the ground almonds (none on hand) and the orange zest (same issue) but they certainly smelled good going into the oven. Coming out, they smell like Japanese-style pancakes with maple syrup already doused on top. I was fearful that the copious amounts of baking powder and baking soda would be apparent in the taste, but the OJ seemed to cover it up. If I had the missing ingredients, I probably wouldn't have even noticed it one bit. These muffins are very very airy inside. Fascinatingly airy...like eating muffin clouds. So tender too! Oh my! These MUST be eaten fresh. Orange zest really would have added a nice oomph of orangey flavor. Perhaps next time, I will add a touch of orange extract if I don't have the zest on hand. Surprisingly, the top has a bit of crunch to it as if it had cornmeal in the batter, but I believe this is due to the airiness which allowed the high oven temps to crisp it up really quickly. I'm quite impressed by how different they are to the average denser muffin. Forget about muffin tops. I'll take these! Though they don't look particularly tasty, I find them quite delicious!