cookieclickerbaker

[cookieclickerbaker]

1/5/2025 (part 2): Florentines

"These make up for being the fruitcake of cookies by at least having the decency to feature chocolate."

Recipe

My review: Once again, a case of reading the description too late to make changes; if I had, I would have added a chocolate drizzle. However, I do heavily contest the claim these are the fruitcake of the cookie world. The recipe was more like a candy recipe than a cookie recipe in some ways, and rather than candied or dried fruit (as might be in a fruitcake), it contained a good amount of citrus zest, as well as a ground almond base for the dry ingredients. The results were thin, lacy, crunchy cookies with a nice citrus-almond flavor. They were also incredibly sweet. The recipe calls for both corn syrup and sugar in fairly sizable quantities, and you can very much taste it. I have quite a prominent sweet tooth, and even I can only eat one at a time.

I'm honestly not sure how I feel about these cookies. The recipe was good, but if I had to give one piece of advice about it, I would say that you absolutely need a silicone baking mat or parchment paper for these, because no matter how good you grease your baking sheets they will stick really, really bad (hence why most of my cookies are broken). I also just don't know if the outcome is what I want in a cookie. Additionally, though they're delightfully crisp on day 1, by day 2 they start to get a little soggy and limp-feeling, which makes them much less enjoyable to eat. They also leave a slight sticky residue on your fingers. Ultimately I enjoyed making florentines and I do think they taste good, but I'm not sure they taste good enough to make up for the negatives.

Recipe rating: 4/5

Taste rating: 3/5

My boyfriend's review: "I think they definitely taste good and they're really good frozen, but they're just... not really what I want in a cookie. They taste like brittle-- they're brittle, they're the brittle of cookies-- and if I want a cookie, I don't want brittle. So while they taste is good, they definitely leave something to be desired for me, at least texturally speaking."

Taste rating: 3/5

[cookieclickerbaker]

1/5/2025 (part 1): Gluten-free cookies

"Made with browned butter and milk to closely match the archetypal chocolate chip cookie. For celiacs, a chance to indulge in a delicious risk-free pastry. For others, a strangely threatening confection whose empty eyes will never know heaven nor hell."

Recipe

This is the first of two cookie posts, both of which I baked yesterday and neither of which I posted. First of all, I know the description for these cookies does specify that they're chocolate chip, but I didn't read the description until it was too late, so they're oatmeal chocolate chip. Sue me.

The gluten-free flour I used was Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Baking Flour, which seems to be primarily rice flour.

My review: This was probably the simplest recipe of all: pour everything into a bowl and stir, no stand mixer required. As a result, it generated very few dishes, which greatly increased its already high rating. I think the cookies themselves were very tasty, but I'm highly biased because I'm a known oatmeal cookie enjoyer. I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of difference the gluten-free flour made in taste, and though the texture was slightly more crunchy/less chewy than I prefer my oatmeal cookies to be, that may have been a function of oven temperature or baking time rather than ingredients.

Recipe rating: 5/5

Taste rating: 4/5

My boyfriend's review: "I fucking love oatmeal cookies."

Taste rating: 5/5

[cookieclickerbaker]

1/3/2025: Cinnamon cookies

"The secret is in the patented swirly glazing."

Recipe

Another late-night baking event! These will have to stop when I go back to work, but for now, have some cinnamon cookies.

My review: Most of the recipes I found for cinnamon cookies were basically just sugar cookies with a cinnamon sugar topping, but I thought those wouldn't introduce enough of a true cinnamon element-- I wanted the cinnamon to really feel like the star of the show. With that in mind, I searched until I found the above recipe, which uses molasses, brown sugar (or in my case, granulated sugar + more molasses), cinnamon, and butter to create what is essentially cinnamon roll filling. This is made separately from the cookie dough, and the two are swirled together, chilled, and baked. The resulting cookie is something reminiscent of a snickerdoodle, but amped up to 100. The cinnamon takes a place of pride in the cookie without being overpowering, and the use of butter and molasses in the cinnamon swirl adds a richness to the flavor that I really enjoyed. The recipe was also easy enough that dropping the first bowl of filling didn't stress me out at all; it was very simple to make a second one. Initially I wasn't going to give these 5 stars, but having reflected on it, I don't know that there are any actual improvements that could be made to these cookies. They're awesome, and not only is this recipe going into my rotation, I highly recommend anybody reading this who likes cinnamon to make them too.

Recipe rating: 5/5

Taste rating: 5/5

My boyfriend's review: "Perfectly soft with a crisp edge, these cookies were delightfully cinnamon-y without being overpowering. The texture and flavor come together to make a cookie that is the platonic ideal of a cinnamon cookie. The hint of molasses in the recipe really underscores the flavor and adds a subtle note I really enjoy. Are they perfect? No. But I don't know what else you could reasonably ask for in the case of a cinnamon cookie."

Taste rating: 5/5

[cookieclickerbaker]

1/1/2025: Pinwheel cookies

"Bringing you the dizzying combination of brown flavor and beige taste!"

Recipe

Yes, it's technically January 2nd, but I started this baking process before midnight my time so I'm still treating these as my New Year's cookies. Let's get started!

My comments: I'll be the first to admit that I fucked this one up a little bit when it came to shaping and chilling the dough, but they turned out pretty good for a first attempt at pinwheel cookies IMO. The recipe was pretty easy despite my mistakes, and I think the instructions for chilling/rolling really helped stop them from spreading out of control. With that being said, I wish I'd added more cocoa powder than the recipe called for, because the chocolate flavor wasn't overwhelmingly present in the final product. They mostly just tasted like sugar cookies to me, with a very mild chocolate/coffee flavor (from the instant coffee I used to flavor them). Despite this mild disappointment, they were still tasty and I ate like 4 of them.

Recipe rating: 4/5

Taste rating: 3.5/5

My boyfriend's comments: "They had a good texture, but the flavor was definitely lacking-- I didn't even get a strong vanilla flavor. They tasted a little floury. They have potential, but the recipe definitely needed more chocolate, and more vanilla extract if I'm honest. Other than that, I thought they were visually appealing and I wouldn't be upset if you baked them again."

Taste rating: 3/5

[cookieclickerbaker]

This week's cookies:

Pinwheel cookies

Cinnamon cookies

Lebkuchen

Gluten-free cookies

Florentines

[cookieclickerbaker]

How many of the cookie upgrades from Cookie Clicker can one man bake in one year? Let's find out!

My New Year's resolution for 2025 was to try to bake as many of the cookies from the Cookie Clicker cookie upgrades as I possibly can. In total, there are ~245 upgrades (including many non-cookie ones, such as pastries). I'll be trying to get through as many of those as possible in 2025, starting with the standard cookies and moving on to the cookie boxes and other cookie groups. I'll be choosing 5 cookies per week from a list at random and baking small batches of each type, and I will then rate them on how fun the baking process was vs. how fun the eating process was.

This blog was (obviously) inspired by @cookieclickercookieeater!