Joe Joe the Baker !

I had a guest in my kitchen this weekend, Joe Joe the Baker , he's our baker for camping. Joe and I baked up a bunch of goodies. He was a good sport as I outfitted him for our day of baking, doesn't he look sharp?!?!

We made Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chocolate Cake and Tea Cookies. Starting off with Chocolate Chip Cookies we got to it right away.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe


2 sticks of butter at room temp 
1 cup of brown sugar- the darker the better
1/2 cup of raw sugar or white sugar
2 eggs at room temp - makes for better whipping
1 teaspoon vanilla - real vanilla please
2 1/4 cups flour- unbleached
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup toasted nuts- your choice
1 cup dried fruit- cherries, blueberries or raisins if you must...uugghh


Preheat oven to 350
Whip the butter with a hand mixer or on a stand mixer until very light and fluffy, then add the sugars until mixed well. 

Add the eggs one at a time until well blended, then add the vanilla. Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and add to wet mixture slowly, mix well. 

Now you're ready to add the chips and anything else you may like in your cookies, toasted walnuts, dried cherries, oats. Joe liked his with just chocolate chips, so that's how we rolled this batch. 

Bake for 10-13 minutes depending on how you like your cookies, crispy or softy. We baked up one dozen for snacking while we continued on to the cake. I packed up the remaining cookie dough for Joe to take home and bake up for his family. Now he knows how to make CC Cookies from scratch, so he can always have dough in the fridge ready to bake up at anytime.


Next item Chocolate Cake - Joe's made cakes before, but never a layered frosted cake. We used a cake mix for ease and to secure a solid outcome. Cakes from scratch are tricky and we wanted success so we took the easy route. Joe enjoyed all the gear we used. He listened and learned very well. We got the Kitchen Aid all the way to 10 while mixing the cake batter, he thought that was pretty cool.

We baked up our 8" rounds and let them cool for frosting. They came out of the pans perfectly.

Joe took to frosting the cake... with careful concentration.

We also made Tea Cookies for his mom Nicky. Here's a shot of Joe and all his goodies.

Here's a shot of his family enjoying the Cake later that day.... Jimbo seems happy enough, where's Jack ?

Big thanks to Joe for coming to bake with me, you did a GREAT job !! Come back anytime.