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Alton Brown's Chocolate Chip Cookies


Khadija

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Hi! I, too, have looked for the perfect cookie recipe. And I agree that it seems the more I tweak and make a big deal out of it, the weirder they turn out!

My friend that isn't a baker by any means, makes these chewy, perfect looking cookies (although they taste a bit like commercial ones) and she puts Vanilla Pudding Mix in them. She swears by that. I really don't want to go that route. There is a great recipe in the book, CookSmart by a former CI tester, Pam Anderson. Like CI, she tests every recipe like crazy and when I made her cookies they were very, very good. However, they take a little extra time and I only go to the trouble for special cookie occasions!

I do like the Cooks Illustrated recipe a lot and haven't tried Alton Brown's, yet :biggrin: !

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Does anyone know why the ground oatmeal is good in CC cookies?  Is it adding chewiness or just protien and bulk?  I think it adds a bit of nuttiness and darkness to the cookies... any thoughts?

I think the ground oatmeal is just for chewiness, because the flavor and color of the cookies are pretty typical for CC cookies.

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced" - Vincent Van Gogh
 

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I always use the "dip and sweep" method, but I am not a baker by any means. All this information is so helpful. I only bake occasionally, and it's never anything too elaborate. Sometimes it turns out, sometimes it doesn't. My biggest problem is that I usually don't know what was wrong when it didn't turn out. It's weird that I feel completely comfortable with cooking, but baking is a little scary to me. Anyhow, I digress.

I too have heard about those vanilla pudding chocolate chip cookies. I am guessing the pudding gives them the artificial, "commercial" taste (artifical vanilla as opposed to real vanilla). I am wondering if there is anyway to replicate the effect of the pudding without actually using it. Does anyone know what in the pudding would give the cookies that chewy texture? I'm guessing it's cornstarch or something.

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Does anyone have this recipe in weight measures? I did my first batch last night and they came out very good, but nothing to eGullet about. This could easily be accounted for in the +/- 15% variance in volumetric measures. :wacko: I wrote down all the resulting weights as the ingredients went in as a check.

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Does anyone have this recipe in weight measures? I did my first batch last night and they came out very good, but nothing to eGullet about. This could easily be accounted for in the +/- 15% variance in volumetric measures. :wacko:  I wrote down all the resulting weights as the ingredients went in as a check.

I think that the flour is the only ingredient for which there would be a substantial variability depending on measuring method, but Alton doesnt say which method to use. FWIW, bread flour should weigh about 5.6oz per dip-and-sweep cup.

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced" - Vincent Van Gogh
 

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Has anyone tried the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion recipe for the essential chewy chocolate chip recipe?  It uses vinegar to help with lift in the attempt to get a chewier cookie.

Now you've confused me.

I've got some Ghiardelli double chocolate chips I want to use for some really chewy chocolate chip cookies, and I was about to go for the Big Chewy recipe, and now you bring in this one! Interesting that it uses corn syrup.

Doug

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I have tried AB, but I like a cookie a little more crispy. These are chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside. After a couple days, they get more crispy throughout.

Neilsen Massey CC Cookies

Ingredients

1 c. butter -- softened

1 ¼ c. white sugar

1 ¼ c. brown sugar

1 T. Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure

Vanilla (I use Penzey's)

2 eggs

4 c. all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cream of tartar

1 pkg. semisweet chocolate chips. (2 c.) (I use coarsely chopped cadbury milk chocolate and usually lower the chips and add some toasted nuts as well)

350 degrees preheat.

Mix butter, sugars, vanilla and eggs.

Stir in flour, soda, salt, baking powder and cream of tartar and lastly, chips.

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart. Bake 12 minutes or until golden.

Yield 4 dozen

Edited by JeAnneS (log)

Xander: How exactly do you make cereal?

Buffy: Ah. You put the box near the milk. I saw it on the Food Channel.

-BtVS

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Has anyone tried the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion recipe for the essential chewy chocolate chip recipe?  It uses vinegar to help with lift in the attempt to get a chewier cookie.

Now you've confused me.

I've got some Ghiardelli double chocolate chips I want to use for some really chewy chocolate chip cookies, and I was about to go for the Big Chewy recipe, and now you bring in this one! Interesting that it uses corn syrup.

Doug

I just checked this book out of the library and am going to make a batch tonight. I can report back either tonight or tomorrow if you want to wait a day!

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Has anyone tried the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion recipe for the essential chewy chocolate chip recipe?  It uses vinegar to help with lift in the attempt to get a chewier cookie.

Looks like I need to go preheat the oven, because I'm also definitely going to try this one. I'm curious to see how the vinegar and corn syrup work in a CC cookie.

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced" - Vincent Van Gogh
 

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I'd be curious to see how the corn syrup and vinegar work, too. I'm sure you'll have amazing pictures for us soon, Patrick!

BTW, here is what my AB's cookies look like. I use a #30 disher.

gallery_17645_1269_16393.jpg

"I just hate health food"--Julia Child

Jennifer Garner

buttercream pastries

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Has anyone tried the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion recipe for the essential chewy chocolate chip recipe?  It uses vinegar to help with lift in the attempt to get a chewier cookie.

Looks like I need to go preheat the oven, because I'm also definitely going to try this one. I'm curious to see how the vinegar and corn syrup work in a CC cookie.

Okay, they're out of the oven. Still cooling though. First impressions: dough is wet and sticky, no taste of vinegar (good thing) once baked, nice appearance with no cracking. Yield about 30 cookies, 40grams each. First batch baked 10 minutes at 375, second batch 12 minutes.

Batter:

gallery_23736_355_21525.jpg

Darker cookie:

gallery_23736_355_13345.jpg

Less Dark Cookie:

gallery_23736_355_5501.jpg

EDIT: I used 2C rather than 3C of chips.

Edited by Patrick S (log)

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced" - Vincent Van Gogh
 

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I think that the flour is the only ingredient for which there would be a substantial variability depending on measuring method, but Alton doesnt say which method to use. FWIW, bread flour should weigh about 5.6oz per dip-and-sweep cup.

Thank you! That works out to 358g vs. the 325g I had put in my mine...a 10% difference which does make me want try the "same" recipe again with the right formula.

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OK-- My King Arthur cookies taste very nice and are definitely chewy. I was a little skeptical at how wet the batter seemed but the cookies turned out well. My oven was running a little cold so the first trays in over-flattened. Mine are a little smaller then Patrick's and I think larger would be better. I used the full amount of chips and they are very chocolatey. I could see them also working well with less chocolate.

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Could someone post the CI recipe?  Is it already posted somewhere?

Gentle reminder that any recipe posted should go into RecipeGullet and a link inserted in the topic, and the recipe must conform to the RecipeGullet copyright policy.

Thanks.

P. S. Note also that RecipeGullet has a bunch of Chocolate Chip Cookie recipes.

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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So what were your impressions of the King Arthur Cookie Patrick? I tried the David Lebovitz's recipe last night from his chocolate book. I thought they were too pale-- 18 mins at 300. Not as good as Cook's Illustrated, but good. Still chewy this morning. Nancy Baggett's are good too, but lots more work than CI's and not quite as good though similar. I'll be trying Alton Brown's next time and see how those are. Thanks for all the great info guys. Oh and Jeanne, there is a recipe for thin crisp chocolate chip cookies on the America's test kitchen site that might be worth comparing with your recipe for fun.

Cheers

Edited by chantal (log)
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So what were your impressions of the King Arthur Cookie Patrick?

I would say that KA cookies are good cookies, strong suits are appearance and taste, but still not as chewy as I would like. The cookies with the ground oatmeal were much chewier. The ones that baked for 10 minutes were too soft. 12-13 minutes seems about right.

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced" - Vincent Van Gogh
 

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I would say that KA cookies are good cookies, strong suits are appearance and taste, but still not as chewy as I would like. The cookies with the ground oatmeal were much chewier. The ones that baked for 10 minutes were too soft. 12-13 minutes seems about right.

How are you distinguishing between chewy and soft? Mine are what I think of as very chewy and still very chewy the next day but I could see where they might be thought of as soft because they don't have any hint of crisp to the crust.

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I would say that KA cookies are good cookies, strong suits are appearance and taste, but still not as chewy as I would like. The cookies with the ground oatmeal were much chewier. The ones that baked for 10 minutes were too soft. 12-13 minutes seems about right.

How are you distinguishing between chewy and soft? Mine are what I think of as very chewy and still very chewy the next day but I could see where they might be thought of as soft because they don't have any hint of crisp to the crust.

By 'chewy' I mean resistance to mastication, basically the opposite of 'soft.' It should take more force to bend a chewy cookie than a soft one, and they should bend further without breaking, i.e. be flexible to some extent. I'm not saying the KA cookies are not chewy at all --they are pretty chewy-- just that I want them chewier.

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced" - Vincent Van Gogh
 

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By 'chewy' I mean resistance to mastication, basically the opposite of 'soft.' It should take more force to bend a chewy cookie than a soft one, and they should bend further without breaking, i.e. be flexible to some extent. I'm not saying the KA cookies are not chewy at all --they are pretty chewy-- just that I want them chewier.

Gotcha. I think my cookies are some blend of soft and chewy and I'm also interested in chewier.

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Khadija,

This is my 2 cents. My absolute favorite CC cookie is Emily Luchetti's, from her first book, Stars Desserts. It's got only brown sugar in it, and that helps with the chewiness. It also has a fair bit of salt in it, which is a good thing in my book. AND you have to use Ghirardelli DOUBLE chocolate chips, and add walnuts. Oh, and make sure not to cream the mixture too much, or they will flatten out when baked. Good luck in finding your favorite chocolate chip cookie because ultimately it's all subjective, as this thread proves.

-Renee

dexygus
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