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Nov
8
Hey, check out the awesome new banner that Ranie O’Dell made me, up there at the top of this website! (You may need to manually reload the page if it’s cached.) How cool is that? I love it so much I may have licked my laptop screen after I got it posted. Mmm, tastes like nematic phase liquid crystals.
I needed an excuse to update just so I could squee about the new header graphic, but I also have a legitimate problem: people, why are really good chocolate chip cookies so hard to make? I seem to be producing the same batch of dry, only-marginally-good-by-virtue-of-being-a-cookie cookies, and I’ve tried several different recipes (mostly variations on the chocolate chip package recipe). I feel like I’m missing some key secret ingredient that’s necessary for creating the chewy, moist cookie I crave. Is it lard? You can tell me if it’s lard, I don’t mind. By god, if that’s what it takes, I will make cookies formed entirely from chunks of clarified pork fat.
Anyway, if you have a recipe that produces amazingly good chocolate chip cookies, please share it with me. My giant expando belly thanks you in advance.
PS. You’ve probably already seen this, but if you haven’t, please take a moment to enjoy this fantastic french beatboxer. I’m not sure why, but watching that video makes me almost deliriously happy.
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113 Responses to “This and that”
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Stuff I Like:
Eureka Enviro Floor Steamer.
Why did I not buy this YEARS ago? WHY? OH MY GOD MY LIFE IS FOREVER CHANGED.
Neutrogena Healthy Skin Clear Skin Cream.
Maaaajor difference in my skin since I started using this. I alternate with Pond's so my face doesn't get too dried out.
Magic Bullet.
I use this almost every single day to make a smoothie. Really a surprisingly awesome little kitchen tool.
Neutrogena Revitalizing Lip Balm.
Amazing lip balm that gives natural color and somehow makes your lips look more full.
Voluspa Candle.
Discovered via Jennie. These candles smell wonderful (at least the Goji/Orange scent does), and I love the pretty tin.
NARS Flamenco Lipstick.
Whoorl was right, this is the perfect red lipstick.
Do the recipes you use have brown sugar in them? I find that brown sugar really ups the gooey moist factor in cookies.
I always this recipe by Alton Brown, except I use all brown sugar, no white, and I skip using parchment paper, because I never have it in the house. When he says to chill the dough, I stick it in the freezer for a good half hour or more–it needs that long, I have found.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_13617,00.html good luck! Let us know how your cookies turn out.
You want the best cookies ever? http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cowboy-Cookies-III/Detail.aspx
I make these and people beg for it. They stay chewy for days in a cookie jar.. Just be sure to use real butter.
My recipe is at home and I am at work but they must include 1/2 brown sugar 1/2 refined. Also 1/2 CRISCO and 1/2 butter. My secret ingredient is almond extract along with the vanilla. Oh and take them out of the oven when they are still gooey, about 9-10 min instead of 12. They may need to sit on the cookie sheet for a couple minutes before you can remove them. But don’t bother storing them, I mean why dirty up something else when they will be scarfed right down.
I use the recipe off the Chip bag for Toll House Cookies. The problem is I always eat the raw dough before I can cook it (always moist). Gotta love the munchies. I liked the french beatboxer, too bad he surrendered before he finished.
I agree about the brown sugar-I remember Jeffery Steingarten writing about this and saying the best chocolate chip cookies have equal amounts brown and white sugar, so I’m sure one with all brown sugar is to die for.
Speaking of to die for, your house and your banner? Your child and your glowing pregnancy? I mean, good lord girl, you are rocking the whole kit and caboodle!
I just made a new recipe of PUMPKIN chocolate chip cookies last night. It’s kind of a cheater recipe:
1 box spice cake mix
1 can pumpkin (the smaller 15-ish oz. size)
About a half bag of chocolate chips
Mix ‘em all up and drop them on a cookie sheet. 12 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Delicious!
My secret is my regular recipe plus 1 tbsp. of Kahlua or crème de cacao. Liqueurs keep your cookies soft.
Try the chocolate cookies on Orangette’s website (http://orangette.blogspot.com/2007/10/d-e-s-s-e-r-t.html). I made them on Monday and already most of the double batch is in my tummy…I had to cook them about 3 minutes longer than she has, but maybe this is my shitty oven.
Love the new banner!
I make plain old Toll House cookies and they turn out awesome. I use parchment paper on the tray instead of nonstick spray. Also, follow the directions on the package (use semisweet chips), but only use 1.5 sticks of butter instead of 2. If you form the cookies as more round and less flattened, they should turn out fatter and softer.
crisco and brown sugar, baby. it’s the only way to go.
Criso (preferably butter flavored), dark brown sugar, and an extra 1/4 to 1/2 cup of flour than the recipe calls for usually makes for a better chocolate chip cookie.
I only have a great brownie recipe. But I’ll happily share it if you’re interested.
OMG i have the best recipe for you. Hold on…running to get it…
Okay back:
These are oatmeal chocolate chip cookies so they have all the goodness/flavor of choc chip cookies and the yummy chewiness of oatmeal cookies. PERFECT BLEND. It’s my mom’s recipe, I can’t take credit.
Wet ingreds:
3/4 cup shortenting (not butter!)
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 t vanilla (my rule is you can never have too much vanilla though)
1 egg
Dry stuff:
1 cup flour
3 cups oats (I find the quick oats work the best)
1 t salt
1/2 t baking soda
Beat together wet ingredients. Mix in the dry ones to the wet. Add in about 2/3rds of a bag of chocolate chips or so.
Bake on 350 for 9 minutes. The #1 most important thing is DO NOT OVERBAKE. As soon as the edges brown just the slightest, take them out and let them finish on the hot baking sheet. They will look about 15% underdone but you will thank me when you eat them later, I promise.
Enjoy! PS love the banner!
Sorry I don’t have a recipe for you, but it looks like that part of your request is covered.
I’m here to say that the beatboxer guy was amazing. And your new banner rocks.
Just like you.
Love the banner. I was curious what’s next in the changes because the old one didn’t “fit”.
Thumbs up.
[...] A scoop of peanut butter and a handful of chocolate chips, and a bag of Cheetos. Edit: After posting the recipe over at Sundry’s, I have to trade the pb in for a few of my mom’s oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. YUM. [...]
Barefoot Contessa recipe is the best (but I bet crisco would help with the fluffy/chewy factor)
I have a recipe for chocolate chip cookies so amazing your knees will go weak. Seriously. I’ll email it to you.
Oh do I have a recipe for you. I’ll make them in the morning ;)
Sorry – mine us metric (from Australia) but is my perfect recipe.
225 g softened butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
340g semi-sweet chocolate chips
You just mix the butter, sugars then add egg. Mix in the dry ingredients next (I do the whole thing in my Kitchenaid). The secret is to bake only for 9 minutes at 350f. They are the best when still warm.
The only way I can think of that your cookies would be turning out dry and not chewy with the choc. chip bag recipe is that your oven is too hot or you’re cooking ‘em a little too long! Take them out when they still look a little soft in the middle, dude. Oh, but shoot, if you’re worried about the raw eggs thing– I think if they’re set around the edges then the whole thing is warm enough to be cooked, but if that’s too risky… there might be a very fine line between death-defying salmonella and dry cookies. Fingers crossed that the crisco/brown sugar is a better solution than my blathering.
On a brighter note: the banner is hip as all hell! As is your freaking gorgeous house. And kid, husband, belleh, etc., like Angie was saying.
Have you tried the one from The New Best Recipe (the Cooks Illustrated cookbook)? It makes the most ginormous cookies ever. Seriously, one is like an entire meal. Am currently too tipsy to type it out, but if you want it (and it looks like you actually have a lot of recipes to try, so maybe you won’t) just email.
Your new banner rocks!
I have a really reliable chewy-cookie recipe. Seriously, even a few days later these are still chewy, and fresh and warm, OH MY so good. Coincidentally, I just blogged about the recipe yesterday, so I have it handy for copying and pasting. It’s from a Pillsbury cookbook I’ve had for years. Bonus: it makes a really ginormous batch, so you get fatter that much faster.
Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 1/4 c. sugar
1 1/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 1/2 c. butter or margarine, softened
2 t. vanilla
3 eggs
4 1/4 c. flour
2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
2 11-oz. packages chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the sugars and the butter until
they’re light and creamy. (This takes a longish time; don’t rush this step.) Add the vanilla and the eggs, and beat well. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Then add the dry ingredients about a cup at a time to the sugar/butter/eggs concoction, mixing well. Add the chocolate chips, and stir them in with a spoon. When the chips are as evenly distributed as possible, drop dough in rounded teaspoons onto cookie sheets. Bake at 375º for 9 ½ minutes or until they’re done to your liking.
(I think the secret is that this is essentially a double batch of an ordinary cookie recipe, but the eggs are not doubled, they’re one-and-a-halved. Observe my super-technical mathematical language.)
I could never make a great chocolate chip cookie until 1. I started using the recipe at Guittard.com and 2. I added a little bit of extra flour (like a half cup) to the recipe. The more flour you use, the chewier your cookies will be (thank you, google) and that is the secret to a really great chewy chocolate chip cookie.
You’re not “All & Sundry” anymore? Oh wait, it still says that in the browser header. New “Sundry Mourning” banner = tres cute. Dog’s even in it!
I think the secret is not baking it. Just eat it raw. mm
It might also be in your technique. One way to raise your odds of the right shape/heft/size of cookies is to form them into short flat cylinders and put them in the fridge…not just drop room-temperature spoonfuls on a baking sheet. When they are pasty, dull, chilled littl ehockey pucks in the fridge, THEN bake them.
Like other people said, tke them out way before they look done. If they are slightly brown around the edges but still look raw and loose and bubbly and liquidy in the centers, then that’s the time take them out.
I love beatboxers. I have no idea how one makes a career of such things, but I think fondly of them when contemplating the nuclear apocalypse, as only they can keep the groove alive when we’re all living in caves or something. Hardcore survivalists: before forming a neighborhood militia and setting out toward your secret bomb shelter in the mountains, do not forget to pick up your local beatboxer. Your Saturday nights will thank me.
http://itsnotaboutthatanyway.blogspot.com/2007/09/and-fun-starts.html
you mean like THESE?! the oooie gooie wonderfully yummy moist and thick and ridiculously wonderful cookies
my grandmother was (recently passed) famous (in a small town) for her unmistakeable cookies because they didn’t flatten out and exactly no one could make them just like her. mom makes them well and i think i could do it now i know exactly what to do after making them with her that day,
kinda one of those things were you have to know all the retarded little things you do to make them perfect
like they ONLY COOK 8 minutes, EVEN if they don’t look done, dont dont dont cook them an extra minute or so
the dough works better if its been refigerated over night.
when you pull it out of the stove you need to immediately take them off the cookie sheet and put them on the inside of a brown paper bag perferably that hasn’t ALREADY had groceries in them and in the process wiggle them a bit with your spatula
anyway, if your interested lmk at above email address, i’d so like give it to you now, but its 3:39 am and my jerkoff 5 year old WILL NOT SLEEP OMG and even if he was sleeping, im not exactly sure what i did with the cookbook memaw made me (i know i should be shot) so i’d have to call mom and get it, and thats like not so nice at 3:40 am.
ugh, not even sure you can see email address, ill try to post it here tomorrow, if i remember and your interested
This is the chocolate chip cookie recipe out of our battered ‘Purity All Purpose Flour Cookbook.’ My mom made these by the quintuple batch when we were little, and they are still super good.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Pam your cookie sheet.
“Sift” (who sifts?) together
1 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Cream together
1/2 c. butter (We ALWAYS use the squares of margarine. I have never had these cookies made with actual butter.)
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/4 c. lightly packed brown sugar
Beat in
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
Beat until light and fluffy. Stir in dry ingredients.
Fold in
1 cup (6 oz) chocolate chips.
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional but good, Mom also used pecans)
Drop batter from teaspon about 2 inches apart onto your cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
Makes “3 dozen” cookies. ( I don’t know how big these supposed 3 dozen are but I usually get 18-20 cookies per batch. Maybe I’m heavy handed with cookie dough or something.)
You might be baking the cookies a little too long. Take them out of the oven sooner.
I love, LOVE the new header on your site. It is awesome.
I would give you another recipe – but it appears you have plenty to go through. If you still can’t find one you like, I’ll toss another into the mix!
Nice new banner!
My secret to good chocolate chip cookies here it is……………..under cook them. My Mother always made really hard cookies and I didn’t like them so when I was old enough to make my own I realized that if I under cooked them they were nice and soft just how I liked them. I also would rather just eat the cookie dough.
My favorite chocolate chip cookies are from thew package of Hershey’s special dark chocolate chips. There are always chewy and moist and mmmm. However, after scrolling through some of your comments I may have to try something new…
delurking….
butter flavor crisco and only use the egg yolk. also don’t overbake. always soft and yummy.
Looks like you have plenty of recipes…but to keep them moist (god I hate that word, it’s just so dirty!) cut up a piece of white bread and store it with your cookies…it will get all dried up and gross looking, but your cookies will be deliciously moist for many days!
I use a recipe that’s like on the package, except with cake flour and adding a package of vanilla instant pudding. They turn out perfect every time.
This recipe is always a hit around here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_22207,00.html. The recipe title is “My Big Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies”. I portion them out with our ice cream scoop, and they stay chewy for a long time if you don’t bake them too long. Mmmm….I may have to make these this weekend.
Although, my husband has claimed the rest of the chocolate chips to make another batch of those Chocolate Pumpkin muffins that you recommended and that he hoovered down at amazing speed.
I like adding a little cinnamon as well. You can’t actually DETECT it, but I swear it adds something!
We always use the Toll House recipe, right on the bag with the chips. It’s got everything, and is consistently just right.
In our house, we ALWAYS double the recipe though – makes for yummy freezer treats (and I occassionally like my cookie very cold/near frozen – YUM!)
If you decide to go the same route, double everything except the butter. If you double the butter you will end up with a greasy cookie, which is good for precisely no one. :)
This is piling on, but have to second the undercoooking, and I also have to ditto adding vanilla pudding mix. It makes cookies that totally rock. Just google vanilla pudding chocolate chip cookies and you’ll come up with a great recipe that never fails me.
Brown sugar, butter AND crisco and a few tablespoons of molasses. Sweartogawd. Don’t forget to add the salt. For some reason it just makes the cookies taste perfect. I don’t know anything about freezing or chilling the cookie dough. That’s beyond my culinary experience… good luck. Love the new banner BTW..
Personally, I follow the standard package recipe — don’t skimp on the butter or salt — and underbake ‘em. If you try that and still don’t get moist cookies, you should buy an oven thermometer in the kitchenware section of Target and use it to make sure your oven’s not running hotter than it’s supposed to (if it is, set the temperature lower to compensate).
I second (or third or whatever) the butter flavored crisco. That stuff rocks!! Love you new masthead, too.
Some else already said the recipe on the back of Tollhouse chips – that is what I use. That and real butter (that I heat up to melt on the stove). Finally, I do not cook them at the suggested temp (9-11 minutes) I usually go with 7-8 minutes so they are slightly undercooked but will be super soft and gooey once they have cooled down (just be careful because when you take them off the cookie sheet they will fall apart.)
OH and good cookie sheet does make a difference. I did not think so until I got some new air bake ones but wow what a difference it has made! GL!
I like the new header A LOT! But it says “Sundry Mourning”! And aren’t you “All & Sundry” now?
Okay, I’m going to walk you through the cookies. Preheat oven to 375. In the mixer, combine 1 cup of Crisco (I use sticks because Crisco is icky to touch and clean), 3/4 cup DARK brown sugar (PACK IT), 3/4 cup sugar. When mixed, add two eggs and a teaspoon of vanilla. Then 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of baking soda and mix mix mix. Then 2-1/4 cups of flour. When mixed, add a bag of chocolate chips. Now about 10 minutes on an ungreased cookie sheet in the oven. How are those? Chewy enough? Or need more chewy? I like oatmeal chocolate-chip for chewiness–just put chocolate chips in the Oatmeal Scotchie recipe. Ranger Cookies (also on my site somewhere) are also nice and chewy. Those are especially good with some chocolate chips AND some butterscotch chips.
I experimented yesterday with butter-flavor Crisco, and I thought it was gross. It smells like pan-spray. It made the dough taste like pan-spray. But the good news is that it somehow made no difference in the taste of the baked cookies.
you need a little milk. just a tbsp or so. and make sure the butter isn’t too soft, and if it is too soft add a little more flour. but really add a little milk
i always bake like 3 cookies first and see how they come out. if they come out flat and dry i add about 1/4 to half cup more flour. also keeping the dough cold between cooking batches works really well and putting in the fridge or freezer before cooking the first batch. but not enough flour = dry limp cookies
Okay, so I just remembered that I have the BEST cookie recipe ever – way better than chocolate chip, but nothing too exotic.
Oatmeal Heath Bar Cookies
2 sticks of butter (BUTTER, please – no margarine)
1/2 c. sugar
1 c. packed brown sugar
- cream these things together, until the mixture is light yellow and fluffy
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
- add these two items to the mix – add one egg at a time, beat until fully combined
1.5 c. flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
- sift these things together (I mix them with a fork, I’m too lazy for a sifter), and add them to the batter slowly (add 1/3 of the mixture, combine fully, add another 1/3, combine fully, etc)
3 cups Quaker Oats (you can use the regular or the quick-cooking – they’re just smaller)
- add the oats to the mixture, and combine fully
one bag heath bar pieces (not just the toffee pieces, the toffee pieces covered in chocolate) (sometimes, if I’m feeling crazy, I’ll use a bag AND A HALF… watch out!)
- add heath bits to mixture, and combine fully
- roll into golf ball-sized balls (or just golf ball-sized scoops with a spoon – you should get about 36 out of the batter) and bake at 350° for about 13-14 minutes (my oven is a pile of crap and leaks heat, so I’d start watching them closely around 9 minutes). As everyone else said, take them out when they still look a little raw in the middle.
People RAVE when I make these – and it’s true, they’re damn good. I could eat a whole batch myself.
Lisa has it right. You have to add a small package of instant pudding. Just the dry powder. Don’t make pudding and pour it in or anything. The cookies come out chewy (and if they are still around in a few days, they stay chewy) and awesome every time. My favorite flavor pudding to add is the vanilla, but try chocolate for some chewy double chocolate chip cookie goodness. Or even butterscotch, if you like that.
Now I have to make some.
Good gracious, it looks like you’re probably covered, but I’ll throw my 2 cents in anyway. . .
I don’t have the recipe on me, but I LOVE the Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe in the King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion All-Purpose Baking Cookbook. I love a lot of recipes in this book, actually–it’s well worth its weight in, oh, pumpkin-chocolate muffins, so go get you one. :-)
ok, here’s the most awesome cookie recipe ever:
2 sticks butter
2 eggs
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups quick oats
1 c (1/2 package) toffee bits
1 c chocolate chips
pinch cayenne pepper
Preheat oven to 375
Mix dry ingredients in small bowl, set aside
Cream butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla
Fold in dry mix
Add chocolate chips and toffee bits
Drop rounded teaspoons onto greased cookie sheet
Bake 8-10 minutes, or until brown.
Maybe it’s the cayenne? Who cares, they are delicious. Enjoy!
PRETTY! I love it.
I always use the recipe on the back of the Nestle chocolate chips – the Toll House one. Never any problems with it. The Better Homes & Gardens cookbook (the one with the picnic tablecloth-y cover) also has a good one. Both of ‘em use brown sugar and butter/shortening.
Love the new header! Oh my HOLY, it’s gorgeous!
Your banner is really cute. If you do find a really fantastic chocolate chip recipe, please share on your blog. I already printed some of the recipes from the comments. I used the recipe on the Crisco shortening package (www.crisco.com/recipes) and I think it is pretty good. I believe that shortening is the key to great cookies. Brown sugar is also very important as well. Let us know how the recipes work out for you.
Well, you have some lovely lovely recipes. Yum. I need a cookie NOW.
But no one asked what you were baking them on. A good cookie sheet (I prefer stoneware or an air bake pan) can really help a cookie keep its moisture in.
And if this is a problem that has only happened since your new oven, I’d venture to say your oven runs hot and you’re over baking.
Good luck!
How funny! I read your post this morning, right after I put up a post with about a bajillion cookie recipes. Check it out. Maybe it will help! http://iknowwhereyoucanfindit.blogspot.com/2007/11/for-fun-friday_09.html
I usually stick to the Toll House recipe, but I make sure the butter is really, really soft. Sometimes I even microwave it for a couple of seconds so a little bit of it is melty. Not melted — then your cookies will fall apart, but ridiculously soft butter. And yes, undercooking by a minute can do the trick too.
I have another chocolate chip recipe where instead of white sugar and brown sugar you use dark brown sugar and light brown sugar, and you throw in a cup of ground up oatmeal and some cinnamon. Those are good too, but the oatmeal makes them a chewier cookie.
I think that banner is so perfect for you! Love it!
I read recently that if you press down the cookies right after they come out of the oven, they stay chewy. Let me find the link…
… http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2007/10/a_chocolate_chi.html
It’s so simple that you’ll kick yourself. Make the regular ol’ Nestle Tollhouse Cookie recipe, but undercook them. Never put them in for as long as the recipe calls for. When you open the oven and say, “They’re still too light, they need a couple more minutes”–that’s the time to take them out. Let them set up for a minute or two on the sheet (which will, with its heat, continue to bake them a tiny bit and at a much lower temp than the oven would). Then move them onto wax paper, which will not absorb any of their moisture. They will be soft and moist and delicious, even after they cool.
Ta-da!
Not that you need ANOTHER recipe suggestion – although I’d love to see you do a bake off, and decide which of your reader suggested cookies recipes is the best, but what a pain in the ass that would be (and how much would your ass grow with ALL those cookies!) – but I use the recipe on the ghiradelli semi-sweet morsels bag. I also add in some reeses peanut butter morsels. With any recipe you use, there are two important things: to use equal parts brown and white sugar and to cream the sugar with the butter, and mix in the egg before you add any dry ingreients. It does make a difference!
Good luck – and I love the new banner!
Chiming in with my two cents. I just use the toll house recipe; however, I use a full cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup white sugar instead of 3/4 cup of each. nom nom nom
love the new banner, btw. about frickin time!
Ok. My cookies rock if I do say so myself (and really, who else would get the chance because I eat them all to my head). As everyone said, undercooking is THE key. Also, I always use a package & a half of chocolate chips. The more chocolate the better, am I right? Plus, chocolate makes up for many other shortfalls.
Try putting some oatmeal in a food processor and grinding to a flour consistency. Add a cup or so of this ground oatmeal to the regular Toll House recipe. It keeps the cookies nice and moist for a long time, and creates a good consistency. The only downside is the dough is not as good to eat raw, and since the dough is my favorite part, I don’t always take the time to do this.
I use butter in the regular old Toll House recipe, but my secret to really moist chewy cookies is to use an ice cream scoop. Yes, a full sized ice cream scoop. Then I bake them until they are just done (usually the amount of time on the package, like 11-14 minutes or something completely odd like that) and let them cool on the cookie sheet. They are huge, and so chewy and delicious. If I do say so myself.
Sundry, given that we’re both moms of little ones and I for the LIFE of me don’t understand how you’d have the time or energy to make cookies from scratch!! For crissakes, you’re pregnant, too! Let me give you my little suggestion: Costco. They have Otis Spunkmeyer frozen cookies or a tub of pre-made Tollhouse cookie dough (unfrozen). That’s probably not what you were really asking for, but that’s all I’ve got. :o)
PS) Christina, I think my heart skipped a beat when I read your recipe. Yum! And, I love the banner…
It’s usually a butter vs. margarine issue with chocolate chip cookies. Try your favorite recipe using one and then the other (or a mixture of the two) and see if you like the results. (File under “Things Martha Taught Me”)
Part of the issue is the creaming/mixing of the sugar and butter (or shortening or whatever you use). It’s amazing how different the same recipe can turn out depending on how you execute that step. I don’t have any suggestions for the “right” way, but try some variations to see if your cookies turn out better.
The Beatbox guy was AMAZING!
As for chocolate chip cookies…….Do you have a 5 quart crock pot? That’s the big oval kind you could wash babies in. I just ran across a recipe for crock pot chocolate chip cookies (really, no lie) that are just yummy and infinitely chewy/gooey.
The recipe:
1 cup unsalter BUTTER, softened
2 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1 TBSP pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chip
1 cup coarsley chopped walnuts (I prefer lightly toasted pecans, instead)
Before you start, plug in your 5 quart crock pot (the removable crock kind) and set on LOW, grease the crock with butter or oil. Put a piece of wax paper cut to size on the bottom inside of the crock, and grease that too.
In a mixer, cream the butter and sugar together REALLY WELL (this is a success key) add the eggs and beat well. Add the flour, baking soda and salt, mix well. Fold in the chocolate and nuts.
Pour the cookie dough into the crock pot. Smooth out the top and cover. Cook on low for about 2 and 1/2 hours. Set the lid ajar for another 30 minutes. A toothpick should come out clean when they are done.
NOTE: My crock pot has a hot spot and and tends to cook faster. It only took mine about 1 hr, 15 to 20 minutes for the lid on cooking phase and 20 minutes for the lid off phase.
After the cookies are done, remove the crock and let the cookies cool in crock for 30 minutes. Then remove the cookies from the crock, let finish cooling and then cut into bars. YUM!
NOTE (PART DUX): YOU CANNOT DOUBLE THIS RECIPE, UNLESS YOU HAVE A 10 QUART CROCK POT!
Alton Brown Chocolate Chip Cookies = YES! I make them all the time and they’re a staple in our house. I’ve always got a bunch on hand in the freezer. They’re amazing. I make The Chewy ones, but he also has a recipe for The Thin and The Puffy, both of which I have never tried. Try the Alton recipe, I promise that they’ll turn out perfectly!
Add a bit of fresh grated orange zest… gives it that “hmmm” factor since you can’t really detect what it is, but it tastes heavenly.
I haven’t read through the comments, so this is probably already up there, but Swistle’s recipe was incredible. I made it and they were baked, but tasted like chewy crispy almost like fried heaven (but not fried) And it is lard, only she calls it Crisco. here’s the link to the post: http://swistle.blogspot.com/2007/10/cookie-tutorial-oatmeal-scotchies-and.html#links
oh so good!!!!
Absolutely put in more brown sugar than refined, always use real butter (and I always put in an extra pat – in addition to whatever the instructions are). Also I trade the full dose of vanilla extract for half vanilla and half lemon extract. For some reason that really lights up the richness.
I’m off to try the kahlua version now! (GREAT IDEA!)
by the way – any of these versions will be delectable sandwiched around a squoochy scoop of your favorite vanilla ice cream!
I love your new banner AND that beatboxer! (and after reading all the other comments, I’m getting really hungry, too!)
3 ways to get chewier cookies:
1. Use colder butter. It calls for room temperature butter for fluffiness.
2. Use margarine- I would recommend nucoa brand. Margarine tends to be a little more oily in a warm state. I know this flies in the face of popular belief, but my granny always makes cookies and cakes that tend to be dry with margarine instead.
3. Use extra butter and brown sugar. Beware of cookie spreading though.
I use the recipe off the back of the tollhouse chocolate chip bag, but add two tablespoons of flour. The trick (I think) is to remove them from the oven just before you think they’re ready. That’s what they said on america’s test kitchen, anyway.
Someone already posted Alton Brown’s Chewy Recipe, which is good, but around here we use the puffy version. Makes delcious cookies everytime. I sometimes play around with the type of chips we use or mix it up with some dark and some milk. I promise they will be gone in record time.
Love the new banner!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_13616,00.html
I too love love love your new banner!!! Dog is in it lookin’ FAB as usual. I need a banner like this for my blog…
Have you ever made no-bake cookies? You totally should because it takes no time + they are peanut buttery + chocolatey. All the things Super Fetus needs most. PLUS since you don’t need an oven for them, you can bake chocolate chip cookies @ the same time. :)
Love the banner, but I suggest replacing the joyful red bird on the right with an image of Cat, crawling stealthily towards the border. You need the whole family in there!
The magic ingredient is Bisquik.
No, seriously, stop looking at me like that. You do, and you’re making fun of my momma, who passed on this recipe to me:
½ cup unsalted butter, softened (i.e. melted)
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
2 cups Bisquick
1 cup (8 oz) semisweet chocolate pieces
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Mix together your dry ingredients (sans chips). Mix the wet ingredients in a separate bowl, then mix into dry ingredients. Stir in chips. There may be too many; eat the extras so they don’t feel left out.
Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet (I like to put the silpat down on mine, though — makes ‘em nice and brown on the bottom). Bake about 10 minutes or until light brown.
crisco sticks!!!
Love the new banner!
Here’s my famous chocolate cookie recipe – enjoy!
http://thatsnotgreat.typepad.com/bethany/2007/11/take-two-of-the.html
The cookie recipe I was using called for 1 egg, but the cookies got dried out and crumbly faster than I wanted. Then I started using 2 eggs, and that was much better. Now however I’m going to have to look into some of these other suggestions.
The new banner is cool.
According to my husband, my sister makes the best cc cookies. She says the trick is cheap ingredients – flower – butter – sugar – chocolate chips.
Ok…use the recipe on the Tollhouse chocolate chip package but instead of doing 3/4 c. of brown sugar and 2/4 c. granulated do 1c brown and 1/4 c. granulated. Make sure butter is at room temp and add a small package of instant vanilla pudding mix. Chewy goodness! *drool*
One trick to helping cookies stay chewy: line your cookie sheets with parchment paper. Then, when you take the cookies out of the oven, just slide the whole piece of parchment, cookies still on it, right onto your counter to cool. Don’t take the cookies off the parchment and put them on a rack to cool– if you do that, all the moisture evaporates out of them and they get crispy. Letting them cool right on the parchment seems to trap all the moisture inside and they stay chewy for… actually, I don’t know how long, because in our house chocolate chip cookies never survive longer than 24 hours. But the parchment trick does work!
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (or substitute milk/dark)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with cooking spray. Place parchment paper on top of cookie sheet. (Spray will help it stick.)
In mixing bowl, whisk together baking soda and flour. Set aside.
Add butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar into mixer. Beat on medium until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to slow and beat in vanilla, salt, eggs.
Add flour mixture to wet mixture. Mix just to combine. Don’t overmix.
Add chocolate chips. Again, don’t overmix.
Chill batter for at least 15 minutes before baking.
After 15 minutes is up, place small spoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Place unused batter in fridge to chill.
Bake 8-10 minutes or until cookies have a light browning on the edges and are lightly gold in the middle. Allow to cool for a few minutes on cookie sheet, then move to cooling rack.
This recipe is a hit wherever I bring them:
Award Winning Chocolate Chip Cookies
The trick is to let them beat for a while in the mixer – it makes them light and fluffy ;)
Make the Nestle Toll House Recipe with 1/2 butter and 1/2 margerine. Bake for the minimum amount of time listed. Try it.
Because I am a nerd, and I think you’d probably appreciate not only the title, but the results as well, I give you:
Wookiee Cookies
(http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/101653)
Eat. Enjoy. May the force be with you.
Oh, and I believe the “1 tsp. cinnamon” to be a typo. (And yes, it’s wrong in the book itself, too.) It should be 1 Tbsp. Really.
Uh, I’m copyin every damn one of these recipes down! Thanks Sundry! You don’t need my recipe, obviously. ;)
I have just spent an hour and a half reading your blog. I think it is great. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I don’t have a great recipe for chocolate chip cookies though I do have a pretty good one for “sugar” cookies.
what do you do if you don’t have a mixer? I want to make cookies, but I have a very pathetic kitchen.
Love the new header! I’m not sure if anyone has suggested it but you should check out CookieMadness.net http://www.cookiemadness.net/ . Anna has won the Pillsbury bake off and bakes everyday. She has tons of great recipes. :-)
It is all about the crisco, baby.
Swistle has a good recipe.
I just made Janet’s oatmeal-chocolate chip recipe and can vouch for them. I added a good teaspoon or more of cinnamon and used butter-flavored crisco for the shortening. Quite tasty. Maybe I’ll spend the rest of this three-day weekend trying to get through the rest of these recipes.
The new banner looks fabulous. As does the kitchen remodel. Congrats on your survival.
I really like the new design – especially the date tags! And the beatboxing dude is awesome. :)
The people who are giving you the 1/2 and 1/2 solution with the shortening are right. I use half butter and half margarine. All butter makes doorstops and all margarine makes paper thin crisps. I’m happy to pass along my oatmeal choc chip recipe if you need it, though it sounds like you’ve got a ton of those already. It’s got Oatmeal, so it’s healthy!
This works wonders on the choc chip cookie recipe on the Toll House bag: refrigerate them a couple of hours or overnight. Then put them on the pan in cold round 1″ balls. They don’t spread all over and are moist and — I think I need to go make some now.
I have no idea if anyone else listed this, but my ex, who was an amazing baker, used the recipe on the back of the Tollhouse bag… and added a package of vanilla pudding. MOIST COOKIES EVERY TIME.
Long Time Reader, First Time Commenter.
Heath Bar. Do I need to say anything more? I don’t even like Heath Bar, and yet heath bar makes these cookies close to a religious experience.
Plus, I can’t bake, and it’s impossible to ruin them.
Yum. Yum. Yum.
It’s a recipe from Giada on Food Network. It’s from her cookbook, and she says they are her favorite.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_29315,00.html
BTW, I love, love, LOVE reading your blog. Thanks!
Do you know, that tip about adding a little extra flour worked with my recipe. I did 2.5 cups instead of 2.25, and they were better.
I tried the vanilla pudding thing, and it was meh. It gave the cookies a processed, fake-vanilla flavor without improving their moistness or yumminess.
The best and most consistent recipe I’ve found is the one on the bag of See’s Chocolate Chips – stays chewy for a few days (if the cookies last that long) and the See’s chips stay sort of melty too.
So you have about a billion recipes here, but I can’t resist throwing my favorite in too. I really and truly suck at baking, but these cookies turn out so well for me every time… so I can only imagine how great they’ll be when someone who actually knows what they’re doing makes them.
http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/detail.aspx?ID=18476
And if you swap half the chocolate chips for M&Ms… well, it’s divine.
I’m scribbling down a ton of notes here, thanks!
My two cents: I use the Tollhouse recipe, butter, twice as much vanilla, and I add a Tablespoon to two Tablespoons of molasses.
I use a baking stone, and take them out of the oven while they’re still undercooked, let them sit on the stone for a minute then transfer.
(I’m totally trying these other suggestions though :)
thanks for sharing with us.
I have made chocolate chip cookies!
they are not so hard to make, you just have to be patient!
n_n
I bet you make really excellent cookies!!
LOVE [KAT]