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Add Popcorn To Your Cookie Dough For A Crunchier, More Flavorful Dessert

Cookies and popcorn are two iconic treats that have become synonymous with nostalgia, coziness, and life's simple joys. And when they're united into one snack, something extraordinarily close to magic happens. Incorporating popcorn into cookie recipes is a culinary innovation that can elevate your baking game in numerous ways. The combination of popcorn and cookies not only introduces an exciting textural contrast but also opens up a world of possibilities. Plus, certain types of popcorn can pair exceptionally well with specific cookie styles.

Popcorn's inherent crunchiness adds an unexpected, delightful texture to cookies. With the crispy chunks of popcorn scattered throughout the chewy cookie, every single bite is a satisfying surprise. From candy-esque kettle corn to movie theater-style popcorn (extra butter, please!) to gourmet options like caramel, cheese, and even spicy varieties, popcorn's diversity allows you to experiment with plenty of different flavors. Ready to dig into the cookie jar?

Read more: 13 Store-Bought Ice Cream Bars Ranked From Worst To Best

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To add a little extra pizzazz into your popcorn cookies, specific flavors can be matched with one another. Try mixing kettle corn with anything-but-basic sugar cookies for a sweet harmony, or toss cinnamon sugar-seasoned popcorn into a batch of gingerbread for festive holiday cookies. Can't get enough chocolate? Fold a generous scoop of Moose Munch into traditional chocolate chip cookies. Adore peanuts? Add lightly salted popcorn to peanut butter cookies. The ooey gooey richness of caramel corn perfectly complements white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, yielding a luxuriously rich flavor. The cheesy notes of white cheddar popcorn mesh wonderfully with savory doughs like shortbread. If you love a bit of heat, spicy popcorn can amp up the warm notes of chewy molasses cookies, bringing forth a delightful juxtaposition.

Who knew that cookies can be made even better with the inclusion of a no-frills ingredient with such a deep rooted history? Popcorn's pillowy, puffy texture rises beautifully from the cookie's surface. When whipping up popcorn cookies, you have the power to showcase endless amounts of creativity in the kitchen. Adding popcorn to your regular cookie rotation is a dessert adventure worth embarking on again and again.

Read the original article on Mashed.

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BA's Best Sugar Cookies

Our favorite sugar cookie recipe yields a workable dough you can transform into cutouts that hold their shape in the heat of the oven and emerge crisp-yet-tender canvases, ready for decorating. We love this Easy Sugar Cookie Icing (a riff on royal icing, made with powdered sugar and egg whites) tinted with vibrant food coloring powder for gilding the tops of the buttery cookies. If you'd like to pull out all the stops for a decorating party, load up on sanding sugars, sprinkles, and dragées. Or forget all that and turn them into sandwiches filled with chocolate buttercream or cream cheese frosting instead.

To start, you'll cream butter and granulated sugar just to combine, and not until it's "light and fluffy." Unlike many cookie recipes, you don't want to whip too much air into the butter, which could make the cookies spread—not the goal here. And yes, you're using chilled butter, not room temperature, making the whole process go much faster. Add a little peppermint or almond extract to the cookie batter if you'd like to play with the flavors, but no more than ¼ tsp. Of either; they're much more potent than vanilla.

Rolling out your dough between two sheets of parchment (or silicone baking mats) guarantees this easy sugar cookie recipe is as supreme (and easily made) as its name suggests, as thinly rolled cookie dough can stick to even the coldest countertops. To make your work and cleanup easier, line your cookie sheets with more parchment, but don't be tempted to swap in silicone for the baking. While we're all for no waste, super-slippery silicone mats encourage spreading, which, again, is not the goal here.

If decorating with sanding sugar, sprinkle it on the unbaked cookies before they go into the oven. If decorating with icing or glaze, make sure the cookies are completely cool before decorating. You can bake the cookies up to 12 hours ahead and leave them on cooling racks, loosely covered with a kitchen towel. Finally, be sure to add any sprinkles or other adornments before the icing has set.

If you're thinking of assembling a cookie tin, we recommend pairing these with another classic like chocolate chip cookies and a couple of bolder options like chewy molasses cookies or ancho-mole cookies. Store decorated cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

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These Cinnamon Rolls Have An Unexpected Twist In Their Swirls

After making and tasting dozens over the course of my baking career, I had pretty much accepted that cinnamon rolls, like scones and madeleines, are good only when eaten fresh from the oven. A roll that is tender, moist and delicious when warm turns brittle, dry and lifeless just hours later at room temperature.

But with all of the techniques to produce soft, supple dough textures, I was convinced that a cinnamon roll with a longer shelf life was possible.

I set out to develop one that not only maintained much of its moisture and softness after cooling, but one that also has a distinctive, classic-looking swirl and traditional cream cheese icing that wasn't too sweet.

To achieve the pillowy texture I was going for, I turned to an old-fashioned technique that helps enriched doughs (like the kind used to make cinnamon rolls) develop lots of gluten: scalding milk. "Scalding" refers to heating milk to just under a boil and maintaining this temperature until specific proteins denature. Without scalding, these same proteins inhibit the development of gluten, the stretchy strands that give bread its bounce and chew, so the dough is likely to lack structure and elasticity. While it may seem counterintuitive, developing lots of gluten is actually critical here, since gluten traps the gas produced by the yeast, producing a light, airy texture in the finished baked good.

Then, to extend shelf life and increase moisture and softness in the dough, I added a cooked rouxlike mixture of flour and milk, called a tangzhong. Used in many Asian breads, such as Japanese milk bread, to create a pillowy texture, tangzhong increases the dough's ability to hold moisture, making the baked rolls fluffier, springier and less likely to dry out. It also gives them a satisfying pull-apart texture, so they shed thin, silky threads of dough when separated.

You'll need a stand mixer to make the dough, since the high proportion of liquid makes it a bit too sticky to work by hand. But resist the urge to turn up the speed, since a slow mix helps to develop a stronger gluten network. The dough then takes a long, cold rest in the refrigerator, which improves flavor and allows the flour to further absorb the liquid ingredients, making it less sticky and easier to handle during rolling and filling.

While I wanted a substantial cinnamon swirl, I didn't want to achieve it just by adding lots and lots of cinnamon-sugar, which would undoubtedly make the buns too sweet. The answer was to add finely crushed speculoos cookies, as they contribute bulk as well as a lightly spiced, molasses-y flavor without too much added sugar. If you can't find speculoos cookies, crispy, wafer-style gingersnaps or graham crackers also work well.

To prevent moisture loss in the oven, I cover the rolls with aluminum foil for the first half of baking, which traps steam, keeping the buns supple and helping them achieve maximum expansion during baking. If you can, try to bake in a light-colored metal pan, since you'll get more even results than baking in glass. The finishing touch, a vanilla-flavored cream cheese icing, further seals in moisture.

While the rolls will dry out eventually, they can sit uncovered for an entire day and suffer only minimally, thanks to a few important techniques and ingredients. Make them in advance if you like, but I would still encourage you to serve them as soon after baking as possible — if they're still exceptionally good after sitting, just think how good they are warm.

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