78/365

78/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Here we go, folks. After days of preparation and hours of intense stuffing studying, I have something to tell you.

Chocolate chip cookies are ALWAYS good. Unless you substitute salt for sugar, I don't really know how you can go wrong.

My head is still spinning and my stomach is still full from the weekend but with every bite I just told myself, "This is for your readers. Do it for your readers!" and it made things easier. Thanks for being the support I need to accomplish such a lofty goal.

But maybe next time you can help me run a marathon? Just for the benefit of my health and stuff.

OKAY! Let's get going here. I'd like to send a special thank you to the testers who came out and made this all possible. They had no knowledge of the recipes - just knew there were 3 different cookies to devour. I had over 10 tasters, 7 of which gave me excellent feedback. Each cookie was rated on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best. We rated the cookies in 3 different categories: appearance, texture, and taste.

The tasters took every bite with precision and I assure you, you can trust their judgement (unless you don't want to trust them and need a reason to experiment these recipes for yourself - by all means DON'T TRUST THEM!). We're already siked up for the next tasting! Feel free to leave some ideas. We came up with meatballs, cheesecake...and some other stuff that I can't remember.

For real now, here we go.



The facts:

I made three different "best ever" chocolate chip recipes. And from the very beginning, I knew we were in for something special. Just look at the different colors and textures in the dough!


Exhibit A: The America's Test Kitchen recipe.

I knew this one would be a contender because it's from a TEST KITCHEN. Meaning, they test recipes over and over until perfection is achieved.

This recipe is unique because it calls for brown butter. You cook the butter in a skillet until it's...brown...and gets all nutty smelling. It's a divine smell. Especially when you mix it with the dark brown sugar.

Another unique factor is the mixing. Mix for 30 seconds, rest for 3 minutes...for a total 4 times. I think this is so the egg can activate. Whatever that means.

So how did it do?

I tell you what this cookie is BEAUTIFUL. The color and the cracks are perfect. So this didn't come as a surprise:

APPEARANCE - 8.3
"Classy"
"...it looked inviting"

But you know what? You can't always judge a cookie by it's crust.

TEXTURE - 7
"Typical, original, cookie-esque"
"Cookie-ey"
"Hard"

TASTE - 6.4
"The middle is great, but what if you stopped on the outside?"

OVERALL AVERAGE - 7.2
"Milk's best friend"
"My least favorite"

I'd like to note that the next day, these were the least tasty. And you must consider how next day cookies will taste.


Exhibit B: The New York Times Recipe

This is the one that started it all for me.

In July of 2008 Davie Leite set out to find the consummate chocolate chip cookie. I'm going to quote Smitten Kitchen's wonderful paraphrasing of Leite's findings:

"Leite spoke to Herve Poussot, a baker and an owner of Almondine in Dumbo, Brooklyn, who warned him it was more than a recipe he was looking for.

He researched the technique of Ruth Graves Wakefield, who owned the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusettes in the 1930s, where she invented the chocolate chip cookie, and who once wrote that she would let the dough rest overnight before using it. He spoke to Shirley Corriher, author of CookWise, a book about science in the kitchen, who agreed that an overnight rest was the best way to get a drier and richer dough that has fully soaked up the egg.

He spoke to Maury Rubin, owner of the rightly fawned-over City Bakery, who said that they must be served warm, that the dough must rest for at least 36 hours and that they must be big enough to allow for three different textures: crisp edges, a soft center and a ring between them which is chewy, with hints of toffee.

He spoke to Jacques Torres of Jacques Torres Chocolates, who said that baking chocolate was best, as were large pieces.

He spoke to Dorie Greenspan who said that he shouldn’t underestimate the value of salt in baked goods.
And then Leite came up with a recipe that was a sum of all of the things that he learned, and it was published in the New York Times."

Pretty much, the cookies at Jacques Torres are some of the best I've ever tasted. So I was pumped to try these babies out.

APPEARANCE - 7.6
"Barry White"
"Love how apparent the chips are"

TEXTURE - 7.3
"Soft, gooey"
"Airy, fluffy"
"Crispy"
(Somehow hit all textures!)

TASTE - 8.5
"Chocolate euphoria"
"Iminlove"
"Soft as a baby's bottom"
"Not as sweet"

OVERALL AVERAGE - 7.8
"At first look seemed like a bench warmer! Bet when it came down to crunch time he was relentless, just pounding away for a touchdown."
"Don't know how I felt about the chocolate being spread out."
"Exotic"

I really wanted this one to be my favorite. And I think it was. Even though this next cookie came awful, awful close.


Exhibit C: The Tollhouse Original Recipe

As mentioned above, this recipe is credited as being the original. The FIRST. So I just had to include it. This recipe is also most likely the most common chocolate chip cookie recipe. My mom thinks we're conditioned to like it. Well...I like it. And I don't care why.

APPEARANCE - 4.7
"Good things come in small packages"

TEXTURE - 8.2
"Love the chewiness"
"Fluffy, soft"
"Melty awesome"
"School cookies"

TASTE - 8.4
*Note, some silly person rated the taste on this one as 0.0000001. I rounded up. To 5.
"The classic is great but it's nothing special"
"Oh man"
"Speechless"

OVERALL - 7.1
"This one was a shocker. The appearance was deceiving; it looked puny and unattractive, but what a sweet surprise in my mouth."

What do you think, Preston?

Preston Debates the Best Cookie from Brittany White on Vimeo.

The overall favorites were either the NYT or the Tollhouse. ATK was a lovely cookie, just too average for us. Why have average when you can have SUPERB?

But then, why take our word for it? I think you know what you need to do.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Recipe from America’s Test Kitchen)

1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 3/4 sticks butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg, plus 1 egg yolk
1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour and baking soda in a bowl. Whisk and set aside.

Melt 1 1/4 sticks butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Keep swirling until butter has a dark golden brown color and a nutty aroma, about 1 to 3 minutes. Transfer it to a bowl and mix in the remaining butter until melted.
Add the sugars, salt, and vanilla to the butter and mix well. Add the egg and the extra yolk; whisk until smooth, about 30 seconds. Let it rest for 3 minutes, then whisk again for about 30 seconds, before letting it rest again. You’ll want to whisk this about 4 times, until you have a thick, glossy, and smooth mixture.

Gently stir in the flour and baking soda just until combined. Stir in the chocolate and nuts.

Form dough balls about 3 tablespoons in size, and place them on a lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-14 minutes (mine took 10 minutes), then put the baking sheet on a cooling rack and let the cookies cool on the sheets.

Leite’s Consummate Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from David Leite via The New York Times

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons
(8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content
Sea salt

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and try to incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. [Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.]

*Note: I refrigerated for 48 hours.

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.


Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 cup chopped nuts

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

*Note: I left the nuts out in every recipe. I just couldn't bring myself to add them.

Eat up!