Chocolate Chip Cookie Cakes

I am a proud new owner of a stand mixer! My baking dreams came true last week when my mom went out and bought a Hamilton Beach stand mixer that doubles as a hand mixer as well. It's not big and fancy like the Kitchen Aids, but it's my very own stand mixer and I love it. Of course as soon as she brought it home I was dying to test it out...but I waited it out until the weekend.

Ever since our faithful hand mixer broke at the end of the summer I took to the internet to do some mixer related research. I found that overall, the Hamilton Beach hand mixers were highly rated because of their range of speeds. Not only is the mixer powerful at the highest speed but it is also gentle at the lowest, a quality that a lot of new mixers seem to be missing nowadays.

Although I have yet to test the mixer with a cake batter, my most frequent baking item, I did manage to use it to whip up some fluffy cookies. The funny thing about these cookies is that they actually don't taste much like cookies...they are so soft and fluffy that they taste like flattened little cake disks. When my brother ate one he said that it resembled eating the top of a chocolate chip muffin.

The recipe is interesting because it substitutes part of the butter with ricotta cheese, therefore giving the cookies a completely different taste and texture. The cookies tasted good but they were definitely unexpected; they felt almost like a sponge cake studded with chocolate chips all over. I would recommend them to anyone who is a fan of cupcakes or sweet muffins, but enjoys smaller portions. Also, the cookie dough is not at all like a typical cookie dough. It is extremely sticky and does not allow you to shape the cookies into balls. I used an ice cream scoop to plop down mounds of dough onto the cookie sheet and spaced them out so they would have room to spread.

In the end, I was glad I got to use my new mixer and can't wait to do so again. I hope that the standing feature will allow me to make my cake batters even faster...therefore giving me time to make even more cakes than before!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cakes
Makes about 18-20 cookies

• 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2-3/4 cup chocolate chips (depending on your preference)

1.  Mix the ricotta cheese and butter together until well blended.
2. Add the sugars, egg, and vanilla and mix again until everything is fully incorporated.
3. Add the baking soda, salt, and flour and mix again.
4. Gently fold in the chocolate chips into the cookie dough.
5. Freeze the dough for 20 minutes. Using a large spoon or scoop, plop down mounds of dough onto the cookie sheet about 2-3" apart. The cookies spread quite a bit so don't be afraid to give them room.
6. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15-20 minutes or until the edges are golden.