Can You Improve on Chocolate Chip Cookies?

Some people like their cookies the size of a small Frisbee. But I like mine to be bite size—two and half bites, is just right. Another of my cookie quirks is eating one straight from the deep freeze. 🙂

A Favorite for More Than 80 Years

Chocolate Chip cookie dough is finger-lickin’ good.

Most cooks have memorized the backside of the Nestles Chocolate Chip package. Back in 1938, Ruth Wakefield came up with the recipe we’ve used for decades. But can we do better? Scientific minds say yes.

In 2008, famed chocolatier Jacque Torres took the cookie to another level in a New York Times version, that included both cake flour and bread flour, bittersweet chocolate (instead of semi-sweet), and a sprinkle of sea salt on top.

My friend, Cyndy, makes an awesome variation: Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Cookies.

Despite the many variations in the classic cookie, I’ve become content with the recipe on the back of Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate. When it comes to cookies, “familiarity breeds contentment.”

Some like ’em hot; some like ’em cold (out of the freezer). Both work for me.

A Contest of Ingredients

Tessa Arias over at Handle the Heat shows the result of her experimentation in search of the perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie. She uses bread flour and all-purpose flour rather than the bread and cake flour suggested by Jacque Torres. Frankly, I can’t tell that much difference in the two, but it’s hard to find a bad chocolate chip cookie.

From the test kitchen of Tessa Arias at Handle the Heat

Tessa also reminds us what each of the ingredients do: baking powder and baking soda give us soft centers; bread flour provides chewiness. Brown sugar makes for a butterscotch flavor, and great texture. Shortening (rather than butter) gives a store-bought texture. Flavor comes from refrigerating the dough before baking.

Her insistence on a long chill in the fridge (24-72 hours regardless of your recipe) is hard to endure, when you’re overcome with a craving for chocolate chip cookies. But it’s worth the ~~weight~~ wait.

Post Note: When my niece, Katy, read this cookie post, she sent me a note: “I just made 6 dozen cookies—oatmeal chocolate chip, walnut chocolate chip, and chocolate chip with mini M&Ms.

“I gave them away to neighbors and friends here in Sanibel. I maintained social distancing and delivered them all by trike. I thought of Mom and the many dozens of cookies she baked for our ‘Cookie Walk.’ Certainly found joy in sharing these delicious treats.”