Dump Cookies Courtesy of My New Kitchenaid Mixer

Have I told anyone it's my birthday? Happy Birthday me! Well, actually, it's not until Monday (Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday too), but I made sure to celebrate early this year.  What did I give myself? New pens? No, that's what I gave myself last year.  Some iTunes credits? Nope.  Moleskins? Already bought some for the new semester.  A Kitchenaid Mixer? YES!!! Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to my very first kitchenaid mixer.  I have yet to name him/her, much less assign its gender, but after years and years of pining after one, I finally bought the real deal--the industrial strength Kitchenaid Mixer that is essential to any real chef's kitchen (see an upcoming post on Kitchen Essentials in which I discuss the value of a real Kitchenaid Mixer in detail).

After spending an afternoon with Laura today, she casually said, "I could use dessert."  After humming and hawing about possible options--the begnet place around the corner (Coffee Call, hollah!)?, ice cream from the drug store?, a brownie from somewhere, or Sonic for chocolatey goodness? No, we decided that homemade cookies were necessary since I needed to break in the new mixer.

The below recipe is an adaptation of what is often referred to as a "Dump Cookie," a "Monster Cookie," or even a "Compost Cookie" although each of these carries its own variance in the ingredients list.  For this recipe, I'd like to refer to this as a "Dump Cookie a la Recession."  Basically, the concept is very simple--you mix a combination of what you have in the pantry cabinet for baking (chocolate/vanilla/butterscotch/peanut butter chips, nuts, candies, and really anything else you want in this recipe.  Through a combination of whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour mixed with peanut butter, and almond extract, the resulting cookie is so flavorful that it really takes several bites to taste all of what's going on in there.  This batch yielded about 30 medium-to-large cookies and originally comes from Elise Bauer over at Simply Recipes.  However, my version substitutes the wheat flour, adds almond extract to the vanilla extract combination, and really plays with what the filling ingredients are.  Welcome to Clearly Delicious Dump Cookies a la Recession.

Dump Cookies, Monster Cookies, Cookies a la Recession
One of the truly great things about this kind of cookie is that you can include any ingredient and it will still taste good.  Elise Bauer smartly noted on her food blog that there are certain combinations of Monster Cookies that please adults, others that are popular with children, and so on and so forth.  Below is my own version of this recipe, but I highly suggest looking into Elise's variances here.

*1/2 cup of unsalted butter, room temperature
*1/2 cup of peanut butter, creamy or crunchy
*3/4 cup of granulated sugar
*3/4 cup of brown sugar, packed
*2 eggs, room temperature
*1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
*1 teaspoon almond extract
*1 teaspoon of baking soda
*1 teaspoon of salt
*2 1/4 cups of wheat flour

 Filling:
*1/2 cup of butterscotch chips, optional*
*1/2 cup walnuts, chopped, optional*
*1 cup of White Chocolate Chips, optional*

*Note: all of these ingredients can easily be substituted or played with.  However, you want to keep a 2 cup filling average when substituting.

1.) Preheat oven to 375F.  Add butter and peanut butter to mixer and mix on low speed until fully integrated and creamy.
2.) Add sugars 1/4 a cup at a time on medium speed.  Mix all sugars until light and fluffy.
3.) Add vanilla and almond extract and eggs.  Mix to integrate.
4.) Now add the dry ingredients.  Add baking soda until fully integrated.  Then, add the flour/salt mixture slowly.  Remember, every cook knows that the wet-to-dry ingredient combination is a delicate process and needs to be done the right way.  So, take your time sifting in the dry ingredients to your wet ingredients.  In the words of Alton Brown, "Remember Kids, Speed Kills!" So behave here.
5.) Once you've added your wet and dry ingredients, you should have a basic dough.  Now, add the filling ingredients--chocolate chips, nuts, etc. and mix on low speed to properly integrate.
6.) Lift mixer's head and scrape down bowl and mixing attachment.  Cover metal mixing bowl with seran wrap and refrigerate for about an hour if you have the time.  If you don't, this dough moves easily from fresh batter to pan, so cooking it instantly won't sacrifice the shape or texture of the cookie (probably because of the sturdyness of the wheat flour addition).
7.) Bake on a greased/sprayed cooking sheet for 8-10 minutes or until cookies' edges are light brown.  Cookies should be about an inch apart, and 6 medium-to-large cookies will fit on a standard cookie sheet. Transfer immediately to cooling rack or parchment paper to stop the cooking process.  Enjoy!

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