cookies?

[HouseofWool]

Tomorrow and Saturday are supposed to be much cooler - in the upper 60's around here and I want to bake some cookies.

I am still looking for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipie. Normally I use the Nestle one. I love the flavor, but want a chewy cookie that is nice and thick - not flat like the tollhouse ones.

Any suggestions?

[radwife]

I'm not sure if you watch the Food Network at all, but I love the Throw Down with Bobby Flay. He once did an episode on chocolate chip cookies against the Levain Bakery. The actual website didn't post the recipe, but I found a copycat online...



http://bakingblonde.blogspot.com/200...okie-time.html


Copycat Levain Bakery Throw Down Cookies
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla (next time I would add more)
3 1/4 cups flour (use a tad more if dough seems too sticky)
3/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups good quality semisweet chocolate chips (I used half semisweet and half milk chocolate) (can use up to 2 cups, you be the judge)
1 cup walnuts (I omited)


Heat oven to 350 degrees.


Mix flour, salt, and baking powder and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

Beat the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Mix in eggs, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. The dough will be stiff and thick. Finish mixing by hand if needed until just combined. Gently fold in chips and nuts if using.

Use a 1/4 measuring cup to scoop out dough balls. Place dough onto one of two parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. You can make smaller dough balls but be sure to adjust baking times as needed to prevent browning.





Bake 15-25 minutes (depending on the size of your cookies and your oven) or until cookies are pale brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy. I baked my cookies for 17 minutes exactly.




Cool cookies on cookie sheets for 10 minutes. Transfer to cooling rack until cooled completly. Serve or store in airtight container.

[Vishenka69]

I love Barefoot Contessa cookie recipe. I use it as the base to add whatever. You can easily omit cocoa powder and use any kind of chocolate chips (I'm partial to Ghirardelli semi-sweet ones). I also use tablespoon to measure them out, as I don't have an icecream scoop.

Ingredients
1/2 pound unsalted butte,r at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs at room temperature
2/3 cup good unsweetened cocoa
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 pounds good white chocolate, coarsely chopped
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the vanilla, then the eggs, 1 at a time, and mix well. Add the cocoa and mix again. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the chocolate with the mixer on low speed until just combined. Fold in the chopped white chocolate.

Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, using a 1 3/4-inch ice cream scoop or a rounded tablespoon. Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly. Bake for exactly 15 minutes (the cookies will seem underdone). Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

[Tenacious_D]

The Best Recipes Chocolate Chip Recipe...Mmmmm Great!

2 Cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 salt
12 tablespoons (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter melted and cooled till warm
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-1.5 cups of semisweet chocolate chips

1) Pre-heat oven 325 degrees
2) Whisk flour, salt, baking soda in separate bowl
3) Beat (hand or electric mixer) Butter and sugars until thoroughly blended Beat in egg, yolk and vanilla
3) Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed until combined.
4) Stir chips to taste
5) Roll about 1/4 cup of dough into a ball - pull apart and put back together with jagged edges facing up
6) Place on cookie sheet with about 2.5 inches of space
7)Bake, reversing position of cookie sheets halfway through (from top to bottom and back to front)
8) bake until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy (15 to 18 minutes)

I make these at least once a week for friends and family. They are sooo good and chewy.

[Sheherezade]

It is my sad conclusion that you must add some shortening to chocolate chip cookies if you really want them chewy. I've settled on a half/half mix with butter. I try to use the butter flavor as well. I'd also try the raw sugar in place of white - and use more brown sugar than white. If a recipe had baking powder, eliminate it. It makes the cookies more cake-like -- and that kills the chewy. Any of the more elaborate recipes I've tried have failed to deliver on the "chewy" quality. There is an elaborate article on chocolate chip cookies in Cooks Illustrated from a few months back. It may still be up on their website. I tried the recommendations - but ended up reverting to my own gimish of various recipes. Chopping the chocolate and adding in a few varieties of chocolate -- and toffee bits or a heath bar - can really jazz them up.

Obviously, I've devoted much of my life to chocolate chip cookies. I've got a thirteen year old that prances around begging me for "chewy cookies" so I know what you seek.

[HouseofWool]

Okay - I tried Angies method of subbing half of the butter with Butter Crisco and it came out about perfect. I did have to play with the amount of flour, but the cookies have just the right texture!

Thank you!!!!

Okay - I tried Angies method of subbing half of the butter with Butter Crisco and it came out about perfect. I did have to play with the amount of flour, but the cookies have just the right texture!

Thank you!!!!

I'll second this! 1/2 and 1/2 shortening/butter is how I have made my chocolate chip cookies for a while now. It really results in a great texture!