Chocolate Chip Cookies- What's your favorite?

Let choose your favorite chocolate chip cookie.

Interesting tips:

What makes cookies soft and chewy?

High moisture content does; so the recipe, baking time, and temperature must be adjusted to retain moisture. Binding the water in butter, eggs, and brown sugar (it contains molasses, which is 10 percent water) with flour slows its evaporation. The dough needs a little extra flour, which makes it stiffer. The stiff dough spreads less, less liquid evaporates, and the cookies are thicker. Mass also helps cookies stay moist--big dollops of dough make softer and chewier cookies than tiny spoonfuls of dough. Bake these thick cookies for a shorter time at a high temperature to firm them quickly and minimize spreading. Most important, don't bake them too long--remove from the oven when the cookie rim is brown and at least 1/3 of the center top remains pale. The cooked centers will be soft.


Why are some cookies cakelike instead of chewy?

A little extra liquid in the cookie dough from water, egg, or milk makes the dough more elastic and adds steam as the cookies bake, making them puff more.


What makes a cookie crisp or crunchy?

Reducing the amount of ingredients that hold moisture--flour, egg, and brown sugar--makes it easy for liquid to evaporate, producing crisp cookies. The fat, which goes up proportionately when other ingredients are cut back, gets hotter than the water in the dough and drives out the moisture. Fat also makes the dough softer and melts when hot, making the cookies spread. For crispness, bake cookies longer at a lower temperature to give them more time to spread before they firm. Then bake long enough to dry and brown them evenly to develop the maximum toasty flavor and crisp texture throughout.


What else makes cookies spread as they bake?

Most often the culprit is low-fat butter or margarine spread, which has about 20 percent more water, used in place of regular butter or margarine. It's this extra liquid that's causing the problem. Low-fat products can't be used interchangeably with regular fats for baking without recipe adjustments.

Cookies also spread when you drop high-fat dough onto a hot baking sheet; the heat melts the dough, and cookies spread before they're baked enough to hold their shape.


* Thick, Soft, and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cooking time: About 7 minutes per pan
Makes: About 18 cookies

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1/4 lb.) butter or margarine, at room temperature
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
1 package (6 oz.) or 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Mix flour, baking soda, and salt. Beat butter, sugar, and vanilla with a mixer on medium speed until well blended. Beat in egg, mixing well. Add flour mixture, and beat slowly to incorporate, then beat to blend well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.
Drop batter in 2 tablespoon portions about 2 inches apart on baking sheets.
Bake in a 400° oven until edges of cookies are brown but an area about 1 inch wide in the center is still pale, 6 to 7 minutes. If using 2 pans in 1 oven, switch positions at half-time.
Let cookies cool on pan about 5 minutes, then transfer to racks with a spatula. Serve warm or cool. Store airtight up to 8 hours, or freeze for longer storage.


* Thin, Crisp Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cooking time: About 20 minutes per pan
Makes: About 32 cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1/4 lb.) melted butter or margarine
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 package (6 oz.) or 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Mix flour, baking soda, and salt. With a mixer on medium speed, beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, 3 tablespoons water, and vanilla until blended. Stir flour mixture into butter mixture, then beat until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop batter in 1-tablespoon portions about 2 inches apart on baking sheets.
Bake in a 300° oven until an even golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes. If using 2 pans in 1 oven, switch places at half-time.
Let cookies cool on pan about 3 minutes, then transfer to racks with a spatula. Serve warm or cool. Store airtight up to 1 day, or freeze for longer storage.


* Thin, Crisp, and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Make thin, crisp chocolate chip cookies, preceding, baking until edges of cookies are browned but an area about 1 inch wide in the center is still pale, about 14 minutes.


* Thick, Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Make thin, crisp chocolate chip cookies, preceding, increasing butter to 2/3 cup and omitting water. Dough will be dry and crumbly; pinch into 1-tablespoon-size lumps. Bake cookies until they are an even golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes.


My favorite would be the soft cookies with lots of chocolate and a little of macademia. I cannot wait to have one now.
How's about you?

Thanks Sunset Publishing Corporation and Corbis