i've been madly in love with chocolate chip cookies (ccc) ever since that first bowl of raw dough i stuck my finger in.
growing up, we only ever had the toll house variety-and i continued to make these until a few years ago. i realized all the chocolate chip cookies i really craved from bakeries & restaurants were better than those toll house ones...but i couldn't put my finger on what it was (it wasn't rocket science, i know-but i was new to the baking world then!)...and made it my life's purpose to find the PERFECT recipe.
(ps, now pretty much everything i bake inevitably turns into a taste test. i can't just try one recipe for red velvet cupcakes, i have to try FIVE. it's gotten out of hand.)
sooooooo....after probably 13 different takes on this illusive, yet epically classic cookie, i have narrowed it down to 2. *please note, all technical, dweeb information is small, so if you don't care about the details, just skip it!*
(and yes...if you are a baking nerd like me, you have read the 476 times that people have written about this very same taste test...but again, the truth has to be known, people!)
*alton brown's "the chewy"
this is my go-to, easy & standard-issue amazing cookie. it's the one i make when i just want a good cookie...NOW. it's meaty, but not cake-y (puke) & works every time. (if you've made toll house cookies, remember how sometimes they would be sponge-y & sometimes they would be all thin & crispy...even when you followed the recipe the same way every time?! yea, that doesn't happen here.)
ps, don't be cheap on the chocolate (this sounds bourgeois, but it makes a difference)-and also, don't sub all purpose flour for bread flour...they come out weird if you do!*jacques torres ccc
this is my fancy ccc. the one i make for parties & baby showers & any time i need to present my baking (perfectionist & super overachiever that i am...this one satisfies on all levels)
it is more involved-in terms of ingredients & chilling time (you really REALLY should wait at least the requisite 24 hours before baking them...which can be so tedious & annoying! especially because after you do all the work, you want to eat them...NOW! if you can wait 48 hours they really REALLY are even more delicious, if that could be possible.) they also look absolutely fabulous. they are giant & gorgeous & i've been accused TWICE of buying bakery cookies when bringing these somewhere.would love to hear if you have a favorite cookie recipe or if you have tried either of the ones above (or *gasp* have an even better one!)
thanks for letting me get that out of my system. (i need to go eat some cookies...!)
