Chocolate Chip Cookie Secrets...
Everyone can make a chocolate chip cookie but what makes yours better than the rest. Please share a tip or recipe with us...
I use half butter half shortening in mine and they turn out nice and soft....
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25 Comments:
I have worked for years on my chocolate chip recipe. One of my secrets is cornstarch. It lends to a perfectly chewy interior and a crisp edge that is devine!
Lilartist at 8:29AM on 11/29/07
I start out with very cold dough and keep it in the fridge during baking. Leaving it out makes the dough very soft and the cookies will turn out very flat. I also double the amount of vanilla for better taste. If you like nuts, pecans taste best with the chocolate; walnuts are too bitter. I also use butter and no shortening.
Lavendergirl at 9:23AM on 11/29/07
I always replalce the white sugar with all brown sugar. I like them soft and chewy. Sometimes we use a recipe that has a box of pudding in it. Those are very soft, also.
Urban Mom at 10:00AM on 11/29/07
All Butter vs shortening included.
Lots of chocolate chunks (not so much "chips").
I make them HUGE.
I underbake them by a little so they remain chewy.
If I include nuts, they're macadamias.
chiff0nade at 10:07AM on 11/29/07
I put instant oats and chocolate chunks in mine. Sometimes I'll go with macadamias too. I always go with the chunks and not the chips though, like chiff0nade said.
StudentStomach at 10:16AM on 11/29/07
I use 20% Hi-Gluten flour to 80% all-purpose in a standard choc chip recipe...the texture and "rise" are great and they don't go flat. I did this when trying to adjust to a convection oven, and it really helped, but you may have to fiddle with the proportions...it doesn't take much hi-glut to make a difference.
Cary at 11:09AM on 11/29/07
My favorite recipe includes Cream of Tartar makes the best, crumbliest chocolate chip cookies ever... It also involves all butter (no margarine or other shortening) and all brown sugar...
samedog at 11:54AM on 11/29/07
pastry flour and I freeze the already formed cookies before I bake. They are best baked from frozen.
JerzeeTomato at 11:56AM on 11/29/07
I add a little chopped apricot to mine.
kjgibson at 2:30PM on 11/29/07
The butterier (hey - I coined a new word!) the better. I don't like them puffy and cakey. I prefer flat, buttery, slightly chewy. I even like them frozen. I add one heaping Tbl. of peanut butter if I'm sure who will be eating them (so many allergic to peanuts), walnuts and ghiardelli semi-sweet chips.
Alton Brown has 3 separate recipes for the different preferences for chocolate chip cookies.
PerkyMac at 3:25PM on 11/29/07
A little bit of almond extract. It never fails that someone says " These are so good! What did you do?"
evilchefmom at 3:42PM on 11/29/07
shortening not butter is the key according to a friend's mother and her cookies have the best texture to me and it's the Tollhouse recipe...she indicated that the original recipe on the package 20-30 years ago indicated shortening and now it indicates butter!!! just my 2 cents
triza at 4:21PM on 11/29/07
This is easy, I use Dorie Greenspan's "My Best Chocolate Chip Cookie" recipe! Perfect everytime!
bobcatsteph3 at 5:01PM on 11/29/07
I love the Baking Illustrated recipe! It calls for all butter, lots of vanilla, an egg and an egg yolk, and brown and white sugar. As long as you dont overbake them, they turn out very dense and chewy, with crisp edges and great flavor! I also am not a huge fan of the Baking Illustrated oatmeal cookie recipe, so I modified their chocolate chip recipe to make my ultimate oatmeal cookie! YUM!
ChristineB at 5:39PM on 11/29/07
I wish I could say that my secret is something unique, but the recipe on the back of the Nestle Toll House bag? That's it! I always use organic butter that has been at room temp for a few hours, organic eggs ( always at room temp), organic sugars, and the good stuff, pure Madagascar vanilla extract, you know, the one that costs $15. Totally worth it. Plus I add an extra 1/2 tsp of the extract, and bake them just until they have a hint of golden brown, then take them out and let them rest on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes. This finishes cooking them through and leaves them SO soft and delish.
foodie1 at 7:25PM on 11/29/07
I wish I could say that my secret is something unique, but the recipe on the back of the Nestle Toll House bag?
Reminds me of that episode of Friends where Monica is trying to reproduce the cookies made by Phoebe's grandmother - who she said got the recipe from an old friend named Nestle Tollhouse (said in a heavy French accent).
therealchiffonade at 9:14PM on 11/29/07
Haha yes I love that Friends episode.
My secret is a little bit of cinnamon, and I like to use both milk and semisweet chocolate chips.
woodenspoon at 9:45PM on 11/29/07
I always use dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar...gives the cookies a more rich flavor,in my opinion!
Ash at 10:10PM on 11/29/07
Always 1/2 tsp-1 tsp of almond extract! along with the tsp or so of vanilla. so good
MicahSacco at 12:12PM on 11/30/07
I use the Tollhouse recipe mixing half butter and half shortening and using an extra cup of chips besides what is called for.
tsegada at 2:20PM on 11/30/07
I use the tollhouse recipe as well. I use half unsalted butter/half butter flavored crisco. I use double the vanilla and and a mix of white sugar and dark brown. I chill the cookies on the cookie sheets before baking for an hour or so and then I bake until they are just barely golden. I also almost always use chopped nuts of some sort...it makes a prettier cookie in my opinion.
elderberry44 at 9:45PM on 11/30/07
I reduce the baking soda by 1/4 to 1/3. This makes the cookies a little chewier and less prone to over-puffing or spreading too thin, but more importantly, the cookies don't end up tasting like something I should be using to scrub my sink. (city bakery cookies, anyone?)
butterface at 9:55PM on 11/30/07
There was a post some time ago by Ed Levine on chocolate chip cookies with a recipe from Allrecipes.com I believe. Also megnut did a post on finding the best recipe where she compiled everyone's suggestions and made it into one recipe.
I have not made enough cookies to have a good idea of what makes something the best, but I do like David Lebovitz's recipe and will try Dorie Greenspan's soon.
PattyCho at 5:34PM on 12/02/07
I am quite partial to Kate Zuckerman's version in her book "The Sweet Life" - I believe she adds an egg white along with the usual whole egg to keep them a bit chewy but not too dense.
emmab at 6:31PM on 12/02/07
All butter, chilled dough. Plus, I add 1/4 tsp water to the egg/vanilla mixture.
lasagne al forno at 4:36PM on 12/07/07