Alton Brown’s “The Puffy”

As you all know, I love Alton Brown. I’ve made a few of his recipes recently including his overnight cinnamon rolls and his famous chewy chocolate chip cookie. He did a great episode of Good Eats where he created three very different versions of chocolate chip cookie by making slight variations of the Nestle Tollhouse recipe.

To say I really enjoyed “The Chewy” is an understatement. It is delicious. I can’t rave about it enough. I decided to try out another recipe from the episode “The Puffy”.

I didn’t have any butter flavored shortening, so I ended up using 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening. Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly. These cookies were very puffy when they came out of the oven, but they deflated quite a bit as they cooled. The cake flour gives these cookies a great texture and this is another great chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I much prefer The Chewy. I just like chewy cookies.

The Puffy – from Alton Brown – I got 4 dozen cookies using my cookie scoop1 cup butter-flavored shortening – I used 1/2 cup shortening + 1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine the shortening (and butter), sugar, and brown sugar in a bowl, and cream until light and fluffy. Sift together the cake flour, salt, and baking powder; set aside.

Add the eggs 1 at a time to the creamed mixture. Add vanilla. Increase the speed until thoroughly incorporated.

With the mixer set to low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine well. Stir in the chocolate chips. Chill the dough (I chilled the dough overnight). Scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 per sheet (I used a my regular sized cookie scoop to get smaller cookies). Bake for 13 minutes (mine baked for about 9 minutes) or until golden brown and puffy, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool and store in an airtight-container.

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13 Responses to “Maple Syrup and Birthday Cupcakes”

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    1
    Brisbane Baker — March 29, 2010 at 12:32 pm

    Mmmmm I love one dish cupcakes!

    http://www.brisbanebaker.blogspot.com

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    Carly — March 29, 2010 at 12:57 pm

    Those cupcakes look delish! Can you tell me more about the “dipping in ganache” technique? Does the ganache need to be a certain consistency first?

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    yumventures — March 29, 2010 at 2:38 pm

    I have seen some maple cheesecake around the blogs, maybe that would be awesome use for the sugar? Or to top maple sugar cookies 🙂

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    Joanne — March 29, 2010 at 5:36 pm

    I made a seriously awesome maple mousse cake to go with Christmas dinner this year and it used maple sugar. It was one of the best desserts I’ve ever eaten. The link to the post is: http://joanne-eatswellwithothers.blogspot.com/2010/01/frozen-maple-mousse-pie-with-chocolate.html.

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    KV — March 29, 2010 at 7:55 pm

    Go Butler!! I think I’m going to use your “go to” cupcake recipe to make some Final Four treats for the office Friday

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    Kelly — March 29, 2010 at 10:05 pm

    Wow that maple syrup event looks really cool, I wish I had known about it- it looks like they only do it once a year!

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    Jen — March 30, 2010 at 1:08 pm

    Carly – I dipped the cupcakes in the ganache while it was still very liquidy. I did it a few minutes after making the ganache and then let it set up on the cupcakes. Hope that helps.

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    Cara — March 30, 2010 at 1:44 pm

    Jen, the maple syrup experience sounds like so much fun and I’ve always wanted to do it! I wonder if it’s too late this year.

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    Lila — March 31, 2010 at 7:50 am

    Those cupcakes look so pretty. Can you tell me what kind of liners you’re using? They stay so nice and bright.

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    stephchows — March 31, 2010 at 1:10 pm

    ooo I love sugar houses!!! The tastings are always the best 🙂

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    Jen — March 31, 2010 at 1:15 pm

    Lila, I get the liners online. Here is the link for the colored ones, and I also get brown liners as well.

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    Memória — April 9, 2010 at 5:02 am

    The cupcakes look beautiful and festive!! I love real maple syrup!

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    Kyle — April 15, 2010 at 2:14 am

    I should have a birthday more often. So good…

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