Chocolate Chip Cookies - the verdict

Cutting the flour by half in the Nestle's recipe gives a very moist, chewy chocolate chip cookie. I otherwise followed the package's recipe to a "T." Next time ( and there will be a next time) I am going to try to bake the cookies at a lower temperature for a longer period of time. The Nestle's recipe recommends 375º for 9 to 11 minutes. My cookies were too brown for my taste. Next time I will try backing them at 325º and see if I can end up with a lighter colored cookie.

In case you were wondering, cooking them at 375º for a shorter time period left them raw in the middle.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie - revisited

Last fall I wrote about my discovery of the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. I now have another nominee for this title, which I tasted at a picnic this past weekend: Nestle's Original Toll House Cookie recipe with the amount of flour cut in half!

The proportions of these two recipes are different enough that I believe they are different recipes.

I'm getting ready to whip-up my first batch of these cookies. I'll let you know if they are as delicious as those I tasted this weekend, and my original October posting. I'm not writing the recipe in this post, it is printed on the back of every Nestle's semi-sweet morsel.

Stay tuned!

At Last, the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

I've been looking for a knock-out chocolate chip cookie recipe for years. Not too sweet, not too fatty tasting, but chewy once cooled. I want my homemade chocolate chip cookies to provide the same satisfaction as Entemann's, only even better.

Well, though I've tried for years to tinker with recipes, replacing some sugar with honey or switching from granulated sugar to brown, nothing has worked. I wish I could take credit for the recipe I'm about to share with you, but I can't. Credit belongs to Cook's Illustrated. Their American Classics issue has the perfect Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. My only change - ignoring their labor intensive suggestion for shaping the cookies. I just dropped spoonfuls of dough from a tablespoon. Enjoy!

Makes 18 large cookies

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

1 1/2 sticks butter, melt in microwave and let cool until just warm.

2 cups + 2 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk to blend. Set aside

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment combine:

1 cup packed brown sugar (light or dark)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Add melted butter, and blend thoroughly on medium speed.

To sugar - butter mixture add:
2 tsps. vanilla extract
1 egg + 1 egg yolk

With mixer running on low, gradually add dry ingredients. When fully incorporated add

1.5 cups chocolate chips & blend.

Using a tablespoon, divide dough into 18 large balls arranged between the two cookie sheets.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until a light golden brown color and slightly hardened around the edges. Remove from oven and allow to cool on cookie sheets.