Raspberry and Chips Cookies

Difficulty: No
Time consuming: No, I made these from start to finish in under 2 hours, and most of that was because I was socializing with a friend.

The staff at my school is super cool.  So cool I can't even tell you about it for a few weeks, or else I might ruin the surprise.  But let's just say it's epic, and when I can, I'll post a video.  But while practicing all this super cool and super secret awesomeness,  I made these cookies to share.  They are apparently the cookies that are sold at Disneyland near Splash Mountain.  Since I was around 6 the last time I was there, I couldn't tell you.  But regardless, they are amazing.

The cookies are packed full of white and semisweet chocolate chips and swirled with raspberry jam.  The flavors just party together and taste amazing.  The cookies end up soft and chewy, and just a little crispy on the edges.  Basically the perfect cookie that can satisfy just about anybody.

But as a side note, these may not be the best cookies for kids. Based on meticulous research (aka polling 3 students Friday morning), these cookies got a 0/3 vote with 5th graders (they were in favor of s'more brownies). And one child tester did not care for the cookie. However, adults loved them! Even my super picky, I-dont-like-sweets-but-if-I-do-they-better be-soft-Thin-Mints (wtf?) husband likes these cookies.

I can also imagine these cookies with chopped, toasted almonds in place of (or in addition to) the chocolate chips for a more sophisticated cookie.

Yields around 40 small cookies (made with a standard tablespoon sized scoop), or 13ish extra large, bakery style cookies (made with an ice cream scoop)

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
4 tablespoons raspberry jam (More or less to taste)
3/4 cup white chocolate chips (about half the bag)
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (about half the bag)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda and powder, cream of tartar, and salt), set aside.

2. Using an electric or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy (note: mine never became "fluffy," just mixed together). Add the egg and egg yolk, continue to mix (note: at this point, my mixture started to look a little better, so I creamed for a minute or two). Add and mix in both the vanilla and almond extracts.

3. Add in dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Make sure to scrape down the bowl as necessary (note: my cookie dough was fairly dry at this point, but I just kept on with the recipe and it turned out ok). Gently mix in the white and chocolate chips.

4. Portion about 1/4 of the dough into a small bowl. Add around a tablespoon of jam and cut it into the dough with a butter knife. Do not over mix, you want solid stripes and chunks of jam.

5. Scoop and place on cookies on parchment lined sheets. Bake for 12-17 minutes, depending on the size of your cookie (note: my small cookies took 12 minutes, I rotated the pan after 7 minutes, and when they came out, the bottoms were golden brown and the tops were still pale and their centers still soft). Let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes (this helps maintain the chewy texture, if you want a harder cookie, move to a cooling rack as soon as the cookies aren't too soft).

Repeat steps 4 and 5 until all the dough has been jammed and baked.

These cookies are amazing warm from the oven or with a glass of milk. While baking, my friend and I may have eaten 5. You know, strictly for scientific purposes to make sure they were good enough to share with the other teachers.

Recipe from My Baker Lady. Her pics of these cookies are really pretty, go check them out.