I think I’ve finally nailed making chocolate chip cookies. To a first approximation, it’s all about butter temperature. Gotta let it sit out on the counter for a couple hours — there is no shortcut. And beat it good with the sugar. Second, don’t use the wrong vanilla. I thought there was no difference, but I was wrong.
Mmm, delicious.
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cookies
I’ve never noticed a difference with cookies. Note, however, that I typically make cookies with oats in them so the nuance of butter texture might be lost. If you’re in a hurry, I maintain that you can microwave the butter and then let it equilibrate in temperature. This speeds the process. I’m talking about 5-15 seconds, not enough to liquify it. While it equilibrates I typically have the eggs sitting in a bowl of warm water to bring them closer to room temp.
I think I read somewhere that 60°F was the optimal butter temp?
The other day we were out of brown sugar so I resorted to using turbinado sugar (from Trader Joe’s) in chocolate chip cookies (no oatmeal in these, pure choc. chip with nuts). It is a less refined sugar and much more granular and it remains that way through the cooking process. The cookies ended up with a texture that I and Stacy both preferred.
-Ken
cookies
Duh – I guess I should add a name to my anonymous cookie musings. Kate B, if you didn’t guess.
Perfect Choc Chip cookies
You also have to consider the relative humidity – baking on a rainy day just does wierd things to the cookies (although humidity AFTER they’re baked keeps ‘em soft and chewy). And don’t let the butter sit out TOO long, or the cookies will end up super thin. Use only real vanilla extract (the expensive stuff from Williams-Sonoma is the best). And finally, for a nice change up, try adding a cup of coconut to the batter – adds a twist once in a while.