On A Mission

My mom made wonderful chocolate chip cookies.  Her cookies were a crisp cookie - perfect for dipping in a hot cup of coffee!

 

 

She made it look so easy.  When I would ask how she made her cookies she said, "I just follow the recipe on the back of the bag." 

 

 

Well I've done that too... for 30 years.  Well kinda sorta.  In the past I have bought an off brand of chocolate chips and I didn't use butter,  I used margarine.  So I guess I really didn't do it exactly as the recipe said, but I thought it was close enough to count.

 

 Obviously not.

 

 So now, at age 50, I am still struggling to make a perfect chocolate chip cookie.  This should not be rocket science!!

 

 

We had a block party 2 weeks ago and Summer brought AWESOME chocolate chip cookies.  I asked her what recipe she used....you guessed it.

 

 

I'm not even gonna repeat it. 

 

 

So this weekend I got out a bag of Nestle Tollhouse Morsels (yep.. not buying any other brand anymore) and followed the recipe to a "T".

 

 

The end result?  They were awesome tasting cookies....

 

 

but flat (sad face).

 

 

So I have done MORE research on cookie baking.  And I found some ways to avoid a flat cookie:

 

 

don't use too much baking soda

 

 

make sure the baking soda has not expired

 

 

too much egg  - use medium or large eggs rather than XL

 

 

use half butter, half shortening

 

 

don't over mix as that incorporates air into the batter

 

 

I expected to read not enough flour, but that didn't even come up

 

 

Chill the dough beforehand and between batches

 

 

One person said they used 4 pans so they were always using a cooled pan.

 

 

Mound the dough (yeah yeah yeah)

 

 

And one person said they frozen the dough in individual cookies and baked from frozen.

 

 

Stand on your head before putting each batch in the oven.

 

 

Okay, I made that last one up, but it might as well have been on the list. 

 

 

 

So...I will be making another batch before long.  I seriously have to get this down in the next decade.

 

 

Sometimes I think I am like the guy on City Slickers. If you are too young to remember the movie:  3 middle-aged city slickers go on a cattle drive  and while riding horses and moving the cattle they try to explain to one of their friends how to "tape" a show on his VCR (boy that dates me).  After what must have been a very lengthy discussion in trying to explain it to him, one of his cohorts responds in exasperation - "good grief! - even the cows could tape a show by now!" 

 

 

That's how I feel when it comes to making chocolate chip cookies.  If you are tired of my asking "What recipe do you use?" well I'm just as tired of asking it. 

 

So if you have any other tips on how to avoid a flat cookie please share.  But please do not say, "I just use the recipe on the back of the bag."

 

 

Stay tuned.