Chubby Tates and a chat with Kathleen King of Tate’s Bakeshop

Last week when I received an email asking if I would like to chat Kathleen King of Tate’s Bake Shop I nearly fell out of my chair. Really me?!?! Really, Kathleen King?!?! Well, it was not a joke as I chatted with Kathleen last week as she was on her way up to some book signings for her most recent book, Tate’s Bake Shop: Baking For Friends.

Kathleen King started baking and selling cookies on her father’s farm at the age of 11. This all started as she needed extra money for the clothes that she wanted. From an early age Kathleen has been a go-getter, a problem solver. Well her simple selling cookies = clothes money has evolved to a bakeshop when she was 21 and then to a mail order company. In addition to all that she has just whipped out 3 cookbooks.

What I loved most about taking to Kathleen was her attitude. She is a very smart, deliberate woman but most importantly one that has an effervescence about her. The 20 minutes flew by as we talked about recipes, life attitudes, and ‘kids these days’. Kathleen realizes that most things have already been created at this point but it is her goal to develop the best. Also, things shouldn’t be too complex or a headache for it to be good, like a fresh blueberry muffin. Work at creating the best and don’t stress out about the proess, you just learn from it. Sometimes you will have succcesses and other times you will have huge failures but keep on going. Thankfully, Kathleen had great success in her gluten-free chocolate chip cookie when she was developing that and it right away became a best seller.

Kathleen and I discussed the upcoming holidays and she was saying that she hosts and the most important thing about pulling off a successful meal is to enjoy it. She can create a game plan for having friends over to hosting Thanksgiving to writing a cookbook, it’s important to manage, prioritize, and delegate as needed. And don’t sweat it if you have a kitchen disaster… “don’t stress, it’s just cookies”… or turkey or anything… just roll with the flow, and remember there always is take out!

I made Tate’s Bakeshop classic cookie called the Chubby Tate in honor of my conversation with Kathleen King. I had to see what all the fuss was about. Well, I got it since I ate… well I’m not telling how many!!! My coworkers also enjoyed the cookies. We have long work tables in our large corridor in front of our workstations so everyone knows that any baked goods left out are from me. So people would grab a cookie on their way into the kitchen or printer and while on their way back I’d hear ‘Nic’ and get a thumbs up or a comment about how good they were. They are best our of the oven but they last up to 3 days, if you don’t eat them all before hand.

Next week I”m back with some more yummy Tate’s Bake Shop goodness with another recipe from Kathleen’s new book. Just wait 🙂

Chubby Tates

Makes approximate 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1 1/2 sticks of salted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups (12oz) semisweet chocolate chips

Process

1. Position the oven racks in the top third and center of the oven and preheat your oven to 325. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment or silicone baking mats.
2. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
3. Beat together the brown sugar, butter, granulated sugar, and corn syrup with an electric mixer or in a stand mixer on high until combined, about 1 minute. Add in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract to combine. In batches, add the flour mixture on low until just combined. Add in the chocolate chips.
4. Portion out 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie on the lined baking sheets. Cookies are to be arranged 3″apart.
5. Bake, rotating the sheets top to bottom and front to back half way through baking. Bake for about 18 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned. Let cool on the baking sheets 5 minutes prior to cooling completely on wire racks.

Note: Cookies can be prepared and frozen in advance of baking. Freeze individually on a lined baking sheet before transferring to a storage container or zip lock bag. Cookies can be frozen for up to 1 month. Do not thaw prior to baking, increase baking time to 20 minutes.