Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Recipe Round Robin: Chocolate Chip Cookies Comparison

cookieschocolatechipcookiechallenge

For this month's Recipe Round Robin hosted by Aleta of Omnomicon, we were making chocolate chip cookies! How could I pass an opportunity to be part of a group that's testing to find the best CCC? The recipes I was given were practically the same, except that recipe K was doubled the size of recipe S so I halved K to make the differences in butter, sugar and baking soda more obvious. I followed the recipes as they were written, but since they had different temperatures, I decided to bake both recipes at 350 and 375 for a better comparison. Wouldn't it be horrible if K was actually better, but because of its oven temperature the dough didn't bake up to its potential and we would never know because it's already been put into the list of 'don't ever make again?' That drives me crazy and reminds of the time when I used to bake my cookies on cheap supermarket pans without parchment paper. Everything was burnt, dry and stuck. It's a good thing I gave CI's thick and chewy another try after getting new pans and using parchment!

I kept the ratio of dough to add-ins consistent to prevent one recipe from being rated better because it had more chocolate or rated worse because it had nuts! It was a really easy win for recipe S. Recipe K kind of looks like a tea biscuit and yes, it sort of tastes like one too. It's amazing how big of a difference ~ 2 tablespoons of butter can make, but then again, the recipes were scaled down. If we were looking at a typically sized CCC recipe, it's really more of a 1/4 cup difference in butter. As for the oven temperatures, the texture of the cookies at 350 and 375 were very similar because they all softened up uniformly a few hours later. Even though recipe S was the winner, my favourite CCC recipe is still an adapted version of CI's thick and chewy because it has more of a real chew to it. If you're into cakey, make recipe K, if you're into soft, make recipe S and if you're into chewy, make CI's recipe!

Recipe K: Family Secret Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/4 C. + 2 tbsp sugar
1/2 C. brown sugar
1/2 C. butter
1/2 T. vanilla extract
1 eggs, slightly beaten
1.5 C. flour
3/8 (1/4 + 1 pinch) t. baking soda
3/8 (1/4 + 1 pinch) t. salt
1.5 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 C. chopped nuts (optional) (I usually omit these, but if you like nuts, go for it!)

Preheat oven to 350.
In a large bowl, combine the white and brown sugar. Add butter and cream with sugar. Add vanilla and eggs. Mix well.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Mix well, the dough will be stiff. Add chocolate chips and nuts if you're using them.
Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Drop dough in rounded teaspoons onto the cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks.

Recipe S: Friendly Choco-Chippers

1/4 c sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
1/3 c soft butter (5 tbsp + 1 tsp)
1/2 egg (~2 tbsp beaten)
1 tsp vanilla extract (higher quality really makes the difference, but regular stuff works too)
3/4 c flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c chocolate chips
1/2 c chopped walnuts (or other nuts of your choice)

Cream together sugars, butter, egg and vanilla. Sift in flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.
Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes.

19 comments:

  1. I'd choose recipe S as the winner too!! :-)

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  2. A CCC round-up!!???! I'd be too busy saying "Mmmmmmmmmmmmm" to pick a winner! I haven't made them in a long time, and I want to try your go-to recipe the next time I do.

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  3. What a great comparison idea. Ill have to try the S version!

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  4. wicked fun! I didn't do this times RRR but next time for sure! totally fun :)

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  5. S sounds like the winner. Can't wait to see the photos.

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  6. Oh, if only blogs could share cookies! I heard a lady on a radio show once say that chocolate chip cookies were best when you let the dough rest in the refrigerator for 24 to 36 hours and then bake the cookies. I tried it, but could tell no discernible difference...except I got to raid the refrigerator for raw cookie dough for 36 hours. That was pretty good.

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  7. Fun! Can't wait to see the pics.

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  8. I think I would make both, just to compare. I love CCC.

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  9. S looks like the one I would go with. Great comparison.

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  10. Haha love how you further modified this challenge. I think I've stopped my search for the perfect chocolate chip cookie!

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  11. Woohoo, nice review! I'll be posting the results tonight if all goes well, and this is slated for a link!

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  12. Can't wait to see the pics! I love CCCs! May I ask where these recipes are from?

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  13. Oh yeah I forgot to add my ratings on my last cupcake post. I just put them up! ;) 5's all the way!

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  14. LOL, I had to read that twice I haven't eaten dinner and I'm starving. Okay I think I have it k for cakey, s for soft, and CI for chewy! What about if I want crunchy edges barely, and soft and chewy in the middle? :)
    ~ingrid

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  15. I really like the way you're experimenting with things, trying different methods and stuff. It's nice to actually find out the reasons for why certain things are done. Usually I just go with "Because Mom told me to" or something :)

    I think I know what you mean by the cakeyness. I've always found that bringing butter down makes stuff cake like. Do you find that too?

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  16. Hi Steph,

    Wow, I would have never thought of trying both recipes at both temperatures to see if either made the recipe shine. I've read about baking at 375 and then dropping down the temperature much lower to impact the texture too.

    Can I ask about how the cookies are laid out in the photo above? Is Recipe S is on the left or right? Is the top cookie baked at 375 or the bottom?

    Thx!

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  17. I love CCC's!! These are great comparisons and no doubt this was a fun experiment. Have you tried the CI's Perfect CCC? The recipe was in the May/June 2009 issue. The recipe is also on my blog if you want to check it out. http://basicallybaked.wordpress.com/2009/03/28/perfect-chocolate-chip-cookies/

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  18. me too still loooking for the best chocolate chip cookies :)
    ps: i linked you :)

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  19. These look fantastic! Last month on my cookie blog, chocolate chip cookies were the topic. Check it out- I believe I have found a winner!

    http://www.bestcookiequest.blogspot.com

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