TWENTY TWENTY Anthology reception + Sue Staats' cookies!

Remember when an evening with Stories on Stage Sacramento meant Sue Staats' incomparable cookies? Well, we aren't back on the live stage yet (fingers crossed we can be soon). In the meantime, she's baked some up for our live (and livestream via Instagram) event tomorrow at Capital Books in downtown Sacramento, 1011 K Street--
(916) 492-6657

We do hope to see you tomorrow at Capital Books (Wednesday, August 11, 1-4). Meet some of the anthology authors, buy books  and enjoy a cookie and a glass of wine.

​If you can't join us to taste one of these cookies, Sue has shared the recipes and some mouth-watering photographs with us. 

Twenty Twenty: 43 Stories From a Year Like No Other—a Stories on Stage Sacramento Anthology 

order from capital books

order from bookshop.org

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Cookie Recipes courtesy of Sue Staats

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Bourbon & Toffee Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
(from  Peggi Wood, Stories on Stage Sacramento Casting Director, 2012 – 2019)
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Not your average chocolate chip cookie, to say the least! Really delicious with a great combination of flavors.

Note: This dough has to be refrigerated overnight, so plan accordingly

Ingredients
1 cup butter
1 ½ cups packed brown sugar
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp bourbon
3 ½ cups flour
½ tsp salt
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 ¼ tsp baking soda
1 ½ cups chocolate chips
1 ½ cups toffee bits (I’ve used Heath Bar bits but the best is brittle without nuts, broken into coarse pieces about the same size as the chocolate chips. You may have to make the brittle!)

Preparation
​Cut the butter into large pieces and place in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the butter melts. Continue until the buter starts to brown and smells nutty. Watch constantly, you don’t want the butter to burn. Pour the browned butter into a small bowl and refrigerate until cool, about 30 minutes.
 
In a large mixer bowl, beat the cooled browned butter, brown sugar and sugar until well combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Add the vanilla and bourbon and stir until incorporated.
 
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour mixture ½ cup at a time. Stir just until the flour is mixed in. Add the chocolate chips and toffee bits and stir on low to combine. (You can do this last part by hand. Just make sure all the bits are well incorporated.)
 
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
 
The next day: take the dough out and let it sit at room temperature for a bit so it’s easier to work. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 
 
Shape the dough into 1 ½” balls and place on the baking sheets (I use a cookie scoop with a volume of 2 tbsp. I think it’s about the same) When baked this is about a 2 ½ - 3” cookie, so leave a couple of inches between the balls of dough. Bake cookies for 11-13 minutes, until golden brown around the edges. Let cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. If you’re in a hurry, which I always am, 2 minutes will leave them cool enough. Just don’t take them off the baking sheet right away: they’ll be too soft.
 
These freeze just fine. 

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​Brown Sugar Ginger Cookies
(from my daughter, Susannah, originally from Cook’s Illustrated. I added the candied ginger)

This rich, crackly brown sugar cookie studded with candied ginger pieces is worth every bit of the time it takes to make them. Actually, they don’t take much time – there are just a few more steps than you’ll find in most cookie recipes.
Two very important things you must do

1. Use DARK brown sugar
2. Rotate the cookie sheets halfway through baking

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Ingredients
14 tbsp unsalted butter
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 cups DARK BROWN sugar, packed
2 cups unbleached flour, plus 2 tablespoons
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 large egg plus one large egg yolk
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup coarsely chopped candied ginger

Preparation

1. Heat 10 tbsp butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue to cook, swirling pan, until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma,, 1 to 3 minutes (can take longer just cook until the butter is a dark golden brown) Remove skillet from heat and transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl. Stir remaining 4 tbsp butter into the hot butter to melt: set aside for 15 minutes.
2. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat to 350 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. In a shallow baking dish or pie place, mix granulated sugar and ¼ cup of brown sugar until well combined, rubbing with fingers to get out any lumps in the brown sugar. Set  aside. Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder together in medium bowl, set aside.
3. Add remaining 1 ¾ cups brown sugar and salt to bowl with cooled butter, mix until no sugar lumps remain. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula, add egg, yolk, and vanilla and mix until fully incorporated, about 30 seconds. Scrape down bowl. Add flour mixture and mis until just combined, about 1 minute. Add chopped ginger and stir with stiff spatula or wooden spoon until well combined. Dough will be fairly stiff and quite buttery.
4. Roll spoonfuls of dough into balls about 1 – 1 ¼ inch in diameter. Working in batches, toss the balls into the sugar mixture to coat then set on the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart. You’ll get about 10-12 balls per sheet.
5. Bake until cookies are browned and still puffy and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft. You should get a nice crackle in them but don’t worry if you don’t. Bake for 12-14 minutes, rotating baking sheets halfway through baking. Do not overbake. (I bake two sheets at a time, rotating them at 7 minutes, for a total of 14 minutes)
6. Cool cookies on baking sheet for a few minutes, then using a wide spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack and cool to room temperature. 

Makes about 3 dozen cookies
I have frozen these successfully when I bake them a few days before I need them.

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​
Triple Chocolate Espresso Cookies
(From the San Francisco Chronicle)
 
Three kinds of chocolate and espresso powder make this an intense, delicious bomb of a cookie. Make them small and use high-quality chocolate.
These freeze well. Makes about 3 dozen 1 ½ - 2” cookies.

Ingredients

• 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon espresso powder
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

 
Instructions 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a double boiler set over low heat, melt the bittersweet and unsweetened chocolate with the butter, stirring occasionally until combined. Set aside to cool slightly.
3. Using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer, whip the eggs with the sugars for 3 to 4 minutes on medium-high speed, until it becomes light and thick. With the mixer still running on low speed, slowly pour in the melted chocolate until fully incorporated, scraping down the sides as necessary.
4. Gently fold in the vanilla, salt, flour and espresso powder, then add the chocolate chips.
5. Shape rounded tablespoons of the dough as evenly as you can onto the cookie sheet, about an inch in diameter and ½ inch high. This dough is a little runny: you might want to chill it for half an hour and it will be easier to work.  I roll them into a ball and flatten them a bit on the cookie sheet. Bake for about 8 minutes, until the tops begin to look crackly and dry.
6. Remove from oven, cool slightly, and transfer to wire racks to finish cooling.

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