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Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Top Tips for Chocolate Chip Cookie Excellence

Middle child/oldest daughter makes the best chocolate chip cookies.  Pretty much everyone agrees on this.  I was recently asked by a close family member for tips on how to improve her chocolate-chip-cookie-making experience.  She complained that (and I quote) "... they never come out right.  They are different every time even if I use the same recipe.  They are flat.  They are greasy.  The chips don't melt."  So I promised I'd go to the source and get middle child/oldest daughter's tips and report them here:

Photo from Nestle Toll House recipe.

1.  She uses the classic Original Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe with the following notes and/or adjustments. 

2.  She always uses butter and only butter.  Melt it completely in the microwave before adding to the sugars and vanilla.  Use good quality vanilla extract if possible. Chips -- we generally use Nestle or Trader Joe's.  No experience with anything else, sorry.

3.  She uses an electric mixer to combine the wet ingredients.  Add the dry mixture (flour, soda, salt) by tablespoons, beating completely after each addition.  Fold the chocolate chips in by  hand.  Do not add nuts.

4.  A baking stone works best, so use it if you have one.  She adjusts the baking times since the stone is cool to start out with.  The first batch takes almost 15 minutes but subsequent batches only about 8 minutes.  Put only one stone (or baking sheet) in the oven at a time. 

5.  This is important: she takes the stone (or baking sheet) out of the oven just before the cookies are completely done.  Look for a tiny bit of browning around the edges and then remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool and continue baking on the stone for 2-3 more minutes.  Once the cookies are slightly cool, remove them from the stone with a spatula -- onto either a cooling rack or paper towels placed directly on the counter.

Well, there are middle child/oldest daughter's Top Tips for Chocolate Chip Cookie Excellence (my title, not hers).  Let me know how they work for you!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I use parchment paper on top of the baking stone so there is no sticking, whatsoever. I just use the same parchment piece of paper over and over for the whole batch of cookies. I actually don't melt the butter, but make sure I beat the heck out of it, before putting in the sugars, and then when I put the flour in, I barely beat it at all, mostly stir it by hand, so as not to overdo it. It seems to rise better that way...? X O Laura