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We were delighted to support the Great American Bake Sale, Atlanta Food Bloggers gathered to support Share Our Strength in their quest to raise money to stamp out childhood hunger in the United States. For the #ATLBakeSale, we whipped up three cookies revolving around chocolate chips. The first cookies into the oven were the Original NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Chocolate Chip Cookies. Such a classic recipe. With a couple of modest tweaks, this is a classic recipe after all, we made several dozen heavenly chocolate chip cookies. Our tweaks: Nestle semi-sweet mini-morsels, bleach and unbleached whole wheat flour, and we chilled the batter before dropping the on parchment paper lined cookies sheets. 

Batch One: Original NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Servings: 60 cookies (5 dozen)

Ingredients

Directions

1. PREHEAT oven to 375° F.
2. COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Chill dough for 30 minutes. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto parchment paper lined baking sheets.
3. BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

This recipe is available on the back of NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels packages and their website.

Next we mixed things up with this quick and easy chocolate chip recipe that is moist and so satisfyingly scrumptious like a muffin top (the best part).

Batch Two: Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Erin Cooks, who posted an adaption of Elinor Klivans’s The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook published by Chronicle Books

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Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (we used Vietnamese Extra Fancy Cinnamon from Penzeys)
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup oatmeal (not quick-cooking)
• 2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (we used a mix of Nestle semi-sweet and dark chocolate morsels)
• 3 bananas, cut into 1/4 to1/3 inch pieces
• sea salt and sugar (optional topping)

Preparation

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350º F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and butter the paper.
2. In a small bowl, stir the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together, set aside.
3. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until smoothly blended, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until blended, about 1 minute. The mixture may look slightly curdled. On low speed, add the flour mixture, mixing just until it is incorporated. Mix in the oatmeal. Mix in the chocolate chips until evenly distributed. On a low speed mix in the banana pieces, mixing just until they are evenly distributed and lightly mashed with some visible pieces, about 10-20 seconds.
4. Use a tablespoon to drop heaping spoonfuls of dough (about 3 level tablespoons each) onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing the cookies 3 inches apart. Sprinkle with optional sea salt and sugar mixture.
5. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the edges are lightly browned and the tops look dry, about 18 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, than use a wide metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

The cookies can be stored in a tightly covered container, layered between sheets of wax paper, at room temperature for up to 3 days. Like banana bread- only better!

Batch Three: Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Our third cookie was Jose’s Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies from epicurious.com. These all-in-one cookies include something for everyone – oatmeal, peanut butter (we prefer chunky) and chocolate chips (a mix of semi-sweet and dark) – thankfully we made plenty for the bake sale and the freezer.

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A heartfelt thanks to Tami Hardeman, food stylist, foodie extraordinaire and curator of www.runwithtweezers.com blog, for organizing the Atlanta food bloggers. Over $3,000 was raised for Share Our Strength at the #ATLBakeSale. We enjoyed baking and meeting other Atlanta bloggers for such a wonderful cause.

Bake A Difference!

Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale is a national effort that everyone can participate in to help stop childhood hunger. Bake sales are being hosted by everyone from 5 year old kids, to high school students, to National organizations, large companies, and everything in between this Saturday (May 14, 2011).

Together we can bake a difference!

Click to find a Bake Sale near you.

All proceeds go toward Share Our Strength, a national non-profit dedicated to fighting hunger. Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Campaign is working to ensure that no child in the United States goes hungry again. One dollar can help connect a child with up to ten healthy meals.

Once again the #ATLBakeSale will be hosted by Atlanta Food Bloggers. We are joining together to bake and share our sweet treats for this important cause. Join us Saturday, May 14, 2011  from 10 am – 2 pm at Phipps Plaza,  in front of Williams-Sonoma, in conjunction with the Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles Luxury Living Show.

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Atlanta Food Blogger Bake Sale
Saturday, May 14, starting at 10 a.m.
Phipps Plaza (in front of Williams-Sonoma)

See you there!

Help end childhood hunger by making virtual toast!

Nearly 17 million children in America – almost one in four – struggle with hunger. The families of these children have a hard time putting food on the table. The non-profit Grain Foods Foundation has teamed up with Food Network host Melissa d’Arabian and Share Our Strength®, a non-profit leading the charge to end childhood hunger in America by 2015, to help give hungry children in our country access to nutritious meals.

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Shocking. And Surprising. Thankfully, there is something you can do to help. You can participate in the Bread Art Project – from the comfort of your computer!  The Bread Art Project was created in 2009 by the Grain Foods Foundation to help increase awareness of the growing hunger problem in our country. Last year, visitors to breadartproject.com created more than 25,000 pieces of Bread Art to raise more than $25,000. This year, goal is to double that amount.

Now through June 30, 2010, you can create a personalized piece of bread art – at no cost – by uploading a favorite drawing or photo, or designing a new one using a digital slice of bread as the canvas. It’s fun. And a great project to do on your own or with a youngster.

For each piece of bread art created, the Grain Foods Foundation will donate $1 to Share Our Strength*. One dollar can help provide three nutritious meals to a hungry child; $25 can help feed one child three healthy meals every day for a month; and $100 can help provide 25 children facing hunger backpacks full of healthy food to feed them and their families over the weekend.

It’s just that simple to lend a helping hand: www.breadartproject.com

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Food Network host Melissa d’Arabian was in Atlanta last week to talk about the program. “Our children deserve healthy meals,” d’Arabian said. “As a mother of four, I understand a parent’s desire to properly nourish their children. It’s heartbreaking to know there are families in our own country struggling for the basics. Staples like bread and grains provide many essential nutrients our bodies need to stay healthy.”

For families looking for help with their own kitchen cutbacks, d’Arabian has developed recipes and tips to help us save time and money in the kitchen:

• My kids like sandwiches without crusts, so I am constantly cutting them off sliced bread. Instead of throwing them away, I save them in resealable freezer bags. I turn them into “dippers” which my kids use for dunking in jam (crusts are apparently completely delicious, just not on a sandwich when you are five), or I use the crusts to make fresh and fluffy bread crumbs.
• Keep different varieties of pasta in your pantry for weeknight meals that are as nutritious as they are quick. Your weeknight strategy: get the pasta started and while it’s cooking, pull out a large sauté pan. Add a little olive oil and then check your crisper drawer, freezer and pantry for aromatics, herbs, veggies or meats to sauté in the olive oil. You can always go simple with just minced garlic, red pepper flakes and some slivers of broccoli, for instance. Once the pasta is cooked, toss it into your sauté pan, adding a little of the pasta water and some Parmesan cheese to make a light sauce.

Mama Says: Thank you for taking a minute to create a work of art while providing nutritious meals to a hungry child. Enjoy playing with your food.

Thank you to Jennifer James of the Mom Bloggers Club for the invitation.