More baking is imminent

[carbonel]

Or possibly in process, depending on how you look at it.

I have mixed up a batch of Toll House cookie dough (the classic recipe, minus the optional nuts), and it's sitting in the fridge overnight, waiting to be baked up tomorrow. I'm not sure why an April snowstorm in Minneapolis led to a fit of baking, but I'm pretty sure they were connected somehow in my mind.

I remember once reading an article that claimed to contain a recipe for the world's best chocolate chip cookies. But I think it was in the New York Times food section, which is now behind a paywall, unless the people who decide such things have decided to relent. In any case, I remember nothing about the article except that it strongly recommended leaving the dough to rest overnight.

Since reading that, I've tried to plan things well enough that I have time to do so. It does seem to make a difference. At least, since then I haven't had the failure mode where the dough melts all around the chocolate chips, leaving them to stick up like rocks in a sandy landscape.

Does anyone else have advice or thoughts on the subject of chocolate chip cookies?

Comments

[anne]

Butter gives crunchy cookies, margarine makes chewy cookies. My mother always used half light and half dark brown sugar. I don't know what difference it makes.

[bibliofile]

Crisco makes chewier cookies that hold their shape more; butter ones tend to flatten, which helps with the crispiness.

I've found that letting the flavors blend for a day does help the final product.

Also, I subscribe to the NYT online, if you want me to look up a recipe. (I didn't find anything about the world's best CC cookies; they have an awful lot of CC cookie recipes though. And now I want cookies.)

Nytimes Recipes

[lsanderson]

They now have a paywall in back of the paywall for the recipes. $40 per year. Curse them.

[mrissa]

The dark brown sugar makes it caramellier. Which I like.

[carbonel]

Interesting on the margarine vs. butter texture results. I've cooked with both, but I don't think I've ever done a side-by-side comparison.

I always buy dark brown sugar, because I like the slightly more caramel taste.

My problem with brown sugar is that unless I remember to triple-bag it after I buy it and use it for the first time, the next time I want to use it, I have to rehydrate it from the rock candy state. Discovering that leaving it with a slice of bread will soften at least the area nearest the bread is one of the best life hacks I've ever learned. (I currently have one small bag of brown sugar that's in good shape but almost used up, and about half of a large Costco bag of brown sugar that's a solid rock. I made the mistake of trusting that the sturdy plastic bag with a Zip-type seal would be sufficient. Yeah, no.)

[sartorias]

I've only refrigerated them once, because I got interrupted. I don't recollect if they tasted better--they always taste great.

[carbonel]

It is pretty much a bulletproof recipe. But for me, the ideal chocolate chip cookie is crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, and allegedly the overnight rest helps with that.

[sartorias]

Hmmm I wonder if I can get the self discipline to try that.

[carbonel]

You could bake one tray's worth for immediate gratification, then stick the rest in the fridge for the next day. This would also give you a basis for comparison to see if it makes a difference. I thought about doing that yesterday, but I wanted to get back to my spinning -- I was hoping to finish the current project yesterday evening, but didn't manage it. Tonight, I hope, if the cookies don't take too much time.

[sartorias]

That's a great idea!

[pameladean]

Food bloggers often either get permission to or just go ahead and put out recipes from behind paywalls. The design of this blog is VERY ALARMING and there is a lot of nattering before you get to the recipe, but this one does have a 48-hour chilling time, so maybe it's the right one.

https://www.cookingactress.com/2012/10/the-new-york-times-best-chocolate-chip.html

P.

[carbonel]

Thank you for finding that!

It's not the original article, but rather her reaction and test bake of the original version. But there's a link to the recipe, and from that I found the original discussion.

New post forthcoming.