By Request

By Catherine Kekoa Enomoto

Wednesday, December 17, 1997

Crisco
Joyce Kawamura thinks the way to get crisp
chocolate chip cookies is to use shortening.

Give crunch to
chocolate chip cookies

PATTI and Judy of Aiea want to make crispy chocolate-chip cookies for Christmas. "What makes cookies crispy?" asked Patti, who said she varies recipe ingredients, but always ends up with chewy morsels.

"I think it's Crisco that makes it crispy," said First Hawaiian Bank secretary Joyce Kawamura, who bakes delectably crispy, "two-bite-size" munchies. "Even when I use butter, the cookie can be crispy, but it kind of spreads out," she said.

Kawamura quadruples her recipe below, adding two bags of chocolate chips to produce 1-1/2 gallons of small cookies at a time.

Her secret: She refrigerates the soft dough for three to four hours before baking. "I mix it in the morning," she said. "About lunchtime I start baking. I work with such a large batch, so I scoop out half into another bowl" to keep chilled while baking the first half.

"It may take a little longer than 10 to 12 minutes to bake, because the dough is cool. I just watch it," she said of each batch in the oven, "until it's that nice, brown color."

Two other crispy recipes follow from "Maida Heatter's Cookies" (Cader, October 1997, $21.95). In time for holiday giving, the author has updated and re-released the 220-recipe collection along with her other classics, "Maida Heatter's Cakes" and "Maida Heatter's Pies & Tarts."

Crispy Chocolate-Chip Cookies

(By Joyce Kawamura)

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Crisco
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips (see note)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Optional addition: 3/4 cup Rice Krispies or 1/2 cup raisins

Into a bowl, sift flour, baking soda and salt.

In a separate bowl, cream Crisco and sugars. Mix in egg. Mix in vanilla.

Combine wet and dry ingredients; mix well. Add chocolate chips, nuts and, if desired, Rice Krispies or raisins.

Refrigerate dough, covered, 3 to 4 hours.

Then drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 2 or 3 dozen small two-bite-size cookies.

Or drop by rounded tablespoonful for larger cookies.

Note: Use miniature chocolate chips for small cookies and regular chocolate chips for larger cookies.

Approximate nutritional analysis per cookie: 90 calories, 5 grams total fat, 1.5 grams saturated fat, 5 milligrams cholesterol, 50 milligrams sodium. Per cookie with Rice Krispies: 95 calories, 55 milligrams sodium. Per cookie with raisins: 100 calories, 50 milligrams sodium.*

Chocolate-Chip
Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

("Maida Heatter's Cookies")

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons instant coffee
1/4 cup hot water
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate morsels
3 cups quick cooking (not instant) rolled oats
2-1/2 cups (10 ounces) walnuts, broken into medium-size pieces

Dry ingredients:
1-1/4 cups sifted unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch process

Sift dry ingredients.

With electric mixer, cream butter. Beat in vanilla and almond extracts, followed by sugar; then egg; then coffee mixed with water.

With mixer on low speed, add sifted ingredients to butter mixture. With a heavy wooden spoon, stir in chocolate morsels, oats and nuts.

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto foil- or parchment-lined cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 14 to 16 minutes or until cookies just barely spring back when pressed lightly in center. Cookies will feel soft when removed from oven, but will turn dry and crisp when cooled.

Cool cookies briefly on sheets; then, using a wide spatula, transfer to racks to cool. Store airtight. Makes 46 cookies.

Approximate nutritional analysis per cookie: 160 calories, 10 grams total fat, 3.5 grams saturated fat, 15 milligrams cholesterol, 40 milligrams sodium.*

Chocolate
Chocolate-Chip Cookies

("Maida Heatter's Cookies")

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch process
2 tablespoons light cream
1 cup (3-1/2 ounces) pecans, in medium-size pieces
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate morsels

Dry ingredients:
1-3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Use directions in preceding recipe, except add cocoa and then cream after the egg.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls on parchment-lined cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 13 minutes or until cookies feel soft and not done; don't overbake or they will turn too hard. Makes 54 cookies.

Approximate nutritional analysis per cookie: 100 calories, 6 grams total fat, 3 grams saturated fat, 10 milligrams cholesterol, no sodium.*