Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies


I have been making chocolate chip cookies since I was about ... hmm, 13? I love them (who doesn't?) but the toll house recipe on the back of the package has never satisfied me. Either the cookies are too flat, too crispy, or turn into hockey pucks a day later. I like my cookies chewy and not too flat or puffy. It's been a 25 year quest to find the best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever (and if you can do first grade math you now know my age ...) I have a number of food items that I am always wanting to find the "best" recipe for including spaghetti sauce/meatballs (still looking ...) and pancakes (think I just found a winner for this one!) and I know there are others but I just can't think of them off the top of my head. :)

A year or so ago I asked for and received a HUMONGOUS cookbook for Christmas called The New Best Recipe (literally it has like 1000 pages. Wait, 1027 pages - I just checked). Basically, Cook's Illustrated magazine has spent the last umpteen years trying to find the "best" recipes for a zillion basic classics - everything from chicken piccata to grilled steak to eggs benedict to chili to say, chocolate chip cookies. :) It is not a "creative" cookbook filled with recipes for taco lasagna or desserts featuring cool whip. It's just a back to basics classic filled with a compilation of all the "best recipes" that they have tested and re-tested until they felt they had the "perfect" recipe.

[Sidenote: I wish I could say that this cookbook has turned me into the "best" cook ... but alas, it is not so. Maybe if I didn't have an almost one year old clinging to my leg every time I'm making dinner?]

So, the other day I cracked open the book and of course, they had a recipe for "chewy chocolate chip cookies". So far most of the recipes I have tried from the cookbook have been winners ... and this one did not let me down! They make really, really yummy cookies that are chewy, not too flat, not too puffy... The secret? MELTING THE BUTTER, not creaming.

I was going to type out the recipe myself, but it has already taken me 3 days to compose this post. No lie. So here is the link: Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies. It also includes a whole explanation on how they came up with the recipe!

ENJOY! I know you will ... now go make some!

UPDATE: The link above is no longer working because Cook's Illustrated now wants you to sign up for a free trial ... and of course no one wants to do that. SO... go here to find the same recipe. Although this blogger makes it sound like she came up with this herself ... and it is the exact recipe from Cook's Illustrated! Copycat!

3 comments:

Kaylee said...

THANK YOU! I was seriously about to make choc. chip cookies but decided to procrastinate in the blog world first. Great timing! I like good chocolate chip cookies, too, but have never had a good recipe for making them. I'm with you about Nestles. Give me one from Panera though and I'm in heaven! I'm totally trying out this recipe.

nateandkatesmom said...

Homemade chocolate chip cookies are my absolute favorite! As much as I dislike baking, I will make these for sure. Thanks for sharing the recipe. I'll have to check out that cookbook sometime.

patricia said...

My sister-in-law was just sharing this cookbook with me this weekend! How funny is that? She made an amazing peach cobbler and a peach "sauce" for pancakes while we were at her place... I think I may just have to look into getting this book now! :)