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.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Great cupcake hero entry!!! yum!
You’re right – it’s a freaking cute cupcake! I especially love that frosting and how you got it to look like a scoop of ice cream. Nicely done!
This is my first CH and I can’t wait till the voting begins! : )
Wow, what a yummy looking cupcake! Great idea!
This is ADORABLE!! I love it!
Gorgeous cupcake, Jen! I love how the cherry stands out. How do you get that black background if you don’t mind me asking? I’m pretty new to this food photography thing 8)
Yummmm!!!!!
Xiaolu – It’s actually just my black table. I’ve also had luck using a plain black piece of construction paper (most of my backgrounds are the 12×12 scrap-booking papers) or a black towel to get the background all black.
Here is an example using paper, and one using a towel.
Thanks! That’s really helpful.
Yum! Great idea 🙂
Awesome idea!
Very creative and it looks great!
What a cute idea! I love it!! And I know my nieces would be in love!
Great idea…they look delicious!
holy deliciousness! I NEED one of those! 🙂
How creative, I love them! So cute and tasty with that cherry on top!
Very cute looking! I like your idea.
~ingrid
These cupcakes are pure genius… you’ve definitely got my vote!
Cute idea! What a great entry!
Wow – super cute! A lot of work, I’m sure, but such a big payoff! Great job!
So stinkin’ cute!
Very cute, indeed and loving the pineapple in the frosting. I can just imagine how delicious this would taste. What a great idea.
MMM, it looks fantastic! I’ll have to try this one 🙂 xox
These cupcakes are precious besides, I am sure, being delicious. What a great idea.