Recipe Review: McCormick's Vanilla

Welcome to my Recipe Review for McCormick's Vanilla Extract - Vanilla Rich Chocolate Chip Cookies.

In my segment: Recipe Review, I take the recipes off the back of ingredient boxes and put them to the test. After I finish baking them I will give them a full review along with a rating from 0 to 10 stars. Let's get started!

1. Preheat your oven to 375࿁F and prep your pans with cooking spray or parchment paper. I used parchment paper to save time on clean up, but do whatever you find easiest for you. (This step was stated at the end of the original recipe but I moved it up for your convenience) 

2. Mix your dry ingredients (3 1/4 cups of flour, 1 tsp of baking soda, and 3/4 tsp of salt) together in a bowl and set to the side. 

3. This is where the recipe got a little crazy for me. You cream the room temperature butter and the sugars (1 1/4 cup granulated white sugar, 1 cup of lightly packed brown sugar) together until fluffy. What's so crazy about creaming butter and sugar together? Nothing... besides that fact the recipe calls for 1 1/3 cups of butter! So long story short, I would not recommend this recipe if you're trying to cut the fat intake in your diet. (This is what the mixture should look like)⟶⟶⟶⟶⟶⟶⟶⟶⟶

Tip: If your butter is cold/right out of the fridge, warm it by putting in in the microwave at power level 30 for 20-second intervals. 

4. After your butter and sugars are combined thoroughly and looking fluffy. Beat in your 2 eggs and 4 tsp of vanilla. The amount of vanilla was also surprising to me, but then I remembered that this was a recipe off the back of a Vanilla box so I don't know what I was expecting...

5. After your sugar mixture and wet ingredients are combined, slowly add in your dry ingredients that you set to the side earlier on. I added my dry ingredients to the bowl in three parts, mixing on low speed in between each part. After you have incorporated the last of your dry ingredients, scrape down the sides of your bowl and beat it on medium speed for 1 to 2 min.

6. Remove your bowl from your stand mixer and grab a spatula. Add in your one cup of chopped walnuts and one 12oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips. Now instead of using your mixer to stir in your nuts and chips, use your spatula to fold them in. This avoids you breaking up the chips and crumbling the nuts into smaller pieces. one of the problems I found with the recipe was how many chocolate chips the recipe called for. I love chocolate, but I have to say that a whole bag was a little too extreme for me. I normally would have cut the amount, but staying true to the review, I copied the recipe exactly. 

 

7. Take your dough and roll it into 2 Tbls balls and drop them on your prepared baking sheet. Bake in your preheated oven for 8 to 10 min. When your cookies are golden brown take them out and allow them to cool for 5 to 10 min before eating.

So overall I'd rate the cookies a solid 7 out of 10 stars. On the positive side, the cookies were delicious... Just not so nutritious. The recipe made 68 cookies which for a party I can see coming in handy. But for an everyday recipe, I would not recommend unless you were to freeze them. I froze a large percentage of the batch in Ziploc bags to pull out when there's company over or whenever I feel like baking but don't have time. As far as the negatives, I would say the main two were the copious amounts of butter and the chocolate chips. I normally don't mind how much butter is in baked goods as long as it is aiding to the deliciousness in some manner. But in this case, there was so much butter that the cookies left your fingers greasy after you ate them. I'm sure this problem could be solved just by cutting back on the butter in the recipe. As for the chocolate chips, I would have cut back to about half the amount called for. The cookie part of the cookie was absolutely delicious! But I found it being overpowered by the chocolate. Overall I'd say the recipe wasn't the best cookie I've ever had, but it definitely wasn't the worst! 

Comment down below what recipe I should review next!!

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The Adventures of Bruce McGee

My name's Bruce, Bruce McGee to be exact. Also known as Mr. McGillicuddy, Chubbs,  Brucey, Small one, Pittisaurous, Dum Dum, Stinker, and Good Boy. These are the names they call me, but I also answer to the whipped cream can, the sound of a string cheese wrapper, and the sound of the bag of dates opening... My humans find my taste in snacks funny, but I don't see why? I mean, dates are possibly the most delicious little morsels on God's great earth... Besides beef that is... Mhmmm! Beef!

But anyways, this is a story about how I learned a very important lesson... I can't remember what it was... But it was a very important lesson...

It was a cold, blustery night. Earlier that day, we (my human and big brother Duke) had gone to have an adventure day (I love adventures). I was plumb tuckered out after running back and forth, and gracefully prancing through the ferns out the old highway trail. I was curled up in a little ball on the couch and looked down at Duke, who was lying all spread out in an ungraceful heap on the floor. I saw how peacefully he was sleeping and was immediately inclined to get up and sit on his face. Soon after, Duke made a sound that can only be described as a seagull being strangled by a piece of seaweed. This brought my loyal and loving human into the room.
"Bruce Mcgee! Get off your brother's face!"
I swaggered over wagging my tail. She said my name! I love it when she says my name! What she said next sent shivers down my spine... Literally.
"Bruce! Duke! time to go outside!"
I hate going outside in the cold! And it being a blustery fall night this was no exception. I tucked my tail between my legs and ran for the hills (The back bedroom)!
"Oh no!" She grabbed me by the collar. "You are not going to wake me up at 4 o'clock in the morning to pee again!"
Duke was already outside and sniffing the corner of the trailer by the time she got me outside the door. I immediately had to relieve myself and did so on a bush, on the corner of the trailer, on the electric meter, and finally on my human's truck tire. By this time I was freezing cold, I was shivering and my ears had gone numb. I made my way back to the porch when I realized Duke was not behind me. I looked around
"Duke! You imbecile! Where are you? I'm cold! I want to go inside! Duuuuuke!" I was whining, but that inconsiderate dum dum was making me wait out in the cold.
"Bruce!" Duke's urgent whimper made me leave my warm little nook on the corner of the porch.
"This had better be worth it, you little... 'Sniff'... 'Sniiiffff'' I felt my eyes glaze over as an uncontrollable growl rose in my throat.
"Duke? What is that? It... It looks like a cat... But the smell... The smell..."
Duke was equally as intrigued "I don't know Bruce... Do you think it wants to be friends?"
I gave him a stare. "Do you really think a friend would sneak onto my territory in the cover of darkness?"
Duke thought a moment. "I guess not."
I rolled my eyes as I edged my way closer to the cat thingy. "Hey, you! Are you a cat?"
I gave the thing my most menacing look. It looked up at me but didn't say a word. It just turned at started to walk away.
Duke had by this point reached my side. "Where's it going, Bruce?"
"Nowhere! Stop! You! In the black with the white stripes!" I had taken about two bounds when I found myself engulfed in a cloud of what can best be described as... The three-week-old garlic chicken that my human forgot to throw out...
"DUKE! GET HIM!" I coughed and hacked. all the ruckus caused the dogs across the street to go off in a series of barks, howls, and growls.
I heard the back door open and my human screaming for us dogs to "LEAVE THAT SKUNK ALONE!"
A skunk huh? I'd never heard of one... I didn't mind the smell much... I just didn't like the way it burnt my eyes. Looking ahead Duke was returning from the back of the yard. His eyes were bright red and he wasn't looking so hot. At this point, there wasn't anything left for us to do. We had smelled, ran, peed, and chased. So we ran up the steps of the porch and tried to sneak through the door of the house, but the human (ungrateful little stink) blocked the entrance.
"'GASP!' 'WHEEZE!' 'GAG!' YOU... YOU STAY! 'COUGH' YOU STAY OUTSIDE! YOU BAD... 'GASP' YOU BAD BAD DOG!"
I turned to Duke. "What'd you do to get her so riled up? I'm cold and want to go inside."
I made another attempt to sneak through the trailer door only to be met with one of the work boots she had slipped on while the pandemonium had been unfolding earlier.
"YOU STAY OUT!" She gave me a firm shove out the door and closed it behind her. I could hear the muffled sound of her on the phone. What seemed like an eternity later, a car pulled up. Out came two of my most favorite humans in the world, Mom, and Dad. They walked around the other side of the trailer waving their hands in front of their faces.
"Hey! Hey guys!" My cries were ignored as they continued walking until they were out of sight. I heard the sliding glass door open and shut. I could hear talking inside and Mom and Dad were trying to get my human to calm down. I don't know why... She just was having one of her moments I guess. A few moments later, I heard the door unlock. My tail slowly began to wag, the door opened a crack and the Dad's low voice said. "Get back." I don't know why but Duke and my's tails dropped to in between our legs as we slowly backed up. Soon after that, it was pandemonium all over again. My kennel (Normally full of warm blankets and toys) was brought out. I tried to get away, but I was somehow entranced by a handful of dog snacks that I blacked out for a minute. When I came to, I was in the cage being sprayed with the icy cold hose and drizzled with some smelly blue substance (Dawn's dish soap). I flailed but it was no use. I was in a cage after all! After the last of the soap was rinsed off, I thought the torture had come to an end. But boy was I wrong! They poured some liquid (peroxide) that smelled like the vet, on my coat and massaged it all through my fur. They topped it off with some suspicious white powder (baking soda) and then rinsed me with the freezing cold water once again. When they had finally stopped the madness, I was a shivering mass of 65lb. pit bull. My human released me out of my bonds and I made a beeline for the door. Mom was there to greet me and welcomed me inside with a nice fluffy towel. After she had dried me off I jumped up on the couch and resumed my former state... A few seconds after I had settled down I heard footsteps on the porch. The door opened and Duke hobbled in, he pretty much got the same treatment from Mom. She had barely got done drying him off when he collapsed onto the floor. A couple seconds later he was snoring like a bear. I was just drifting off to join him when I heard my human's voice.
"So easily forgotten, after all, that just happened they're asleep just like that."
"After what just happened?" I thought to myself. "Oh well...'ZZZZZZZZHH.'"

              This is Bruce, a two-year-old pit bull mix.↰↰↰↰↰
          And this is Duke, a ten-year-old chocolate lab. ↵↵↵↵↵