Baking Chocolate Chip Cookies

[BastilaShan]

I'm interested in learning how to make good chocolate chip cookies.

Saw a nice recipe in Fran's chocolate cookbook but it seems complicated and I have absolutely zero pastry/baking experience.

Anyone interested in showing me how to bake some great chocolate chip cookies at their place? Thanks!

[LaurieA-B]

What sort of CCC do you want? We make them pretty often (Matthew makes them, actually) using the Cook's Illustrated recipe. They're fairly large and quite soft (not crisp at all). Some folks here enjoyed these recently at an Amster potluck. I haven't seen the Fran's recipe. So--if soft and chocolatey sounds good, we could probably hook you up.

[maui420]

i personally like a somewhat crispy cookie on the outside, but somehwhat chey in the middle. ive been trying to find a rescipe similiar to the ones they sell at einsteins bagels and lapperts ice cream but no avail...

[chefpeon]

I have made a LOT of chocolate chip cookies in my day. I've tried zillions of different recipes.

The one I love is Sarah Phillips recipe on Baking911. I'm so happy with it, I haven't even bothered

to try any more recipes. To me, this is THE ONE.

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

Be sure to follow the recipe EXACTLY.

[jgarner53]

My personal favorite is Alton Brown's chewy variation on the basic Toll House recipe.

It's very easy to put together. Just follow the instructions. Make sure your ingredients are all room temperature (about 68ºF). In this recipe, you melt the butter, so you don't have to worry about it being too hard or too soft.

[bergerka]

To be honest, the recipe on the back of the Nestle's chocolate chips package is delicious and very reliable and can take a pounding from inexperienced bakers (like, oh, me). My best friend has improved on it by using bourbon instead of vanilla, and adding Heath Bar chips (you can either buy them or buy a Heath or Skor bar and pounding it into chip-sized bites yourself) along with the chocolate chips. Also, when I use nuts (rarely), I use pecans, as I'm mildly allergic to walnuts.

But the best, by far the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I have found is from this book: Cookwise , by Shirley O. Corriher. She gives a basic recipe, a crispy recipe and a soft chewy recipe side-by-side and discusses what makes each of them work. Use Ghirardelli double chocolate chips, and using one of her recipes your cookies will always turn out perfect. Sam is a crispy kind of guy, I'm a soft & chewy kind of gal, and I can make a batch of each in no time and make both of us happy.

(Note: this is a great book for those of us who are not very experienced at cooking in any event. I understand Corriher will eventually be publishing a companion volume called "Bakewise?" anyone know anything about this?).

K

Edited because I'm tired and I've had a drink and I started repeating myself for no reason whatsoever.

Edited June 12, 2005 by bergerka (log)

[foodie52]

Bakewise is very late in coming; at least one year past its intended publishing date, I believe. Shirley has been under "house arrest" while she finishes this eagerly awaited baking book!

I think it is supposed to be released this October. I may be wrong. Anyone??

[ludja]

To be honest, the recipe on the back of the Nestle's chocolate chips package is delicious and very reliable and can take a pounding from inexperienced bakers (like, oh, me).   My best friend has improved on it by using bourbon instead of vanilla, and adding Heath Bar chips (you can either buy them or buy a Heath or Skor bar and pounding it into chip-sized bites yourself) along with the chocolate chips.  Also, when I use nuts (rarely), I use pecans, as I'm mildly allergic to walnuts.

But the best, by far the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I have found is from this book:  Cookwise ,  by Shirley O. Corriher.  She gives a basic recipe, a crispy recipe and a soft chewy recipe side-by-side and discusses what makes each of them work.  Use Ghirardelli double chocolate chips, and using one of her recipes your cookies will always turn out perfect.  Sam is a crispy kind of guy, I'm a soft & chewy kind of gal, and I can make a batch of each in no time and make both of us happy.

...

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I really like the recipe on the back of the Nestle chocolate chip package as well--crunchy with a little softness in the middle. I always add walnuts or pecans. The Heath Bar chip variation sounds like a good one.

[racheld]

I'm chewing a crisp, crunchy bite as I write; My Hubby just took the last pan out of the oven. Mine's still a bit warm, and just perfectly balanced among crispy cookie, toasted pecans, and ultra dark Ghirardelli chunks.

And he made three dozen lighter ones, with pale brown sugar; those have white chocolate chips, macadamias and dried cherries. They're all SUPPOSED to be for a brunch I'm doing tomorrow, but who can NOT sample a cookie straight out of the oven?

[jgarner53]

who can NOT sample a cookie straight out of the oven?

That's what we professionals call "quality control." It's highly recommended.

[CanadianBakin']

I tried the recipe Chefpeon put a link to and it's GREAT!! They've been sitting on a rack on my kitchen counter for 2 days and they're still perfect. Not stale tasting at all, chewy, mmmmmmm.

[JanMcBaker]

I like the recipe on the Nestle's bag, and I've never had any complaints! Here's some tips that seem to contribute to my success. I don't skimp on creaming the butter and sugar together. Oh, and I always use butter. I make sure it's well beaten before adding the eggs. If I'm using nuts, usually walnuts or pecans, I make sure to toast them first. Toasting really makes a difference-- makes the nuts crunchy of course, and brings out their flavor more. Something that Shirley Corriher recommends when toasting nuts is to mix in a tablespoon or two of butter right after you take the nuts out of the oven. That is good too, but just toasting the nuts is often enough.

I always bake the cookies on baking sheets lined with aluminum foil. It makes for easy clean-up, it makes it a lot easier to just pull the entire sheet off the pan and let it cool on our kitchen table which basically acts as a heat sink. And it also makes it easy to place dough blobs on foil while a pan is in the oven. Oh, and a small ice cream scoop makes it VERY easy to do mass quantities of dough.

I just bake one pan at a time in the oven. I tried doing two at a time, but with all the checking and turning and rotating, etc., it was just a lot easier to do one pan at a time. That gave me time to place more dough on foil, remove cooled cookies from foil, or test finished ones.

I think the most important thing that I do to end up with great cookies is to PAY ATTENTION WHEN THEY'RE BAKING. Don't automatically rely on the times given in the recipe for this, or anything else you bake for that matter. There's all kinds of variables that can affect the time needed to bake something-- moisture in flour, in the air, is your oven being a PITA that day, etc.? When I start baking a batch of CC cookies, I'll go about 8 mintues or so at first for the first 1-2 trays. I check and see if more time is needed. If it looks slightly paler than what you would consider done, take the pan out. It'll still cook a bit more out of the oven. It would be handy if you had a timer that counts minutes AND seconds. Sometimes all a pan may need is 30 seconds more.

Care about what you're baking. That will go a long way to helping you get the results you want. Good luck-- and have fun! After all, even if they don't turn out perfect to you, others will still be impressed and delighted that you BAKED SOMETHING FROM SCRATCH!