Recipe: Award Winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
Source: www.allrecipes.com (This recipe is all over the internet with over 5,000 reviews)
Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 (3.4oz.) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350º. Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.
Yield: 6 dozen
Total Taste-Testers: 26
Average Scores: on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the highest score
Taste: 4.5
Texture: 4.6
Amount of chocolate chips: 4.6
Quality of chocolate: 4.6
Overall: 4.7
My review: Well, we have a new leader in the race to finding the “Best” Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe. These are the softest most tender chocolate chip cookies I have ever tasted. The name “Award Winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies,” says it all. While I love the soft almost cake-like texture, there are a couple things I would change to make this the “Best” chocolate chip cookie recipe. First of all, this is the first recipe that I have tested that doesn’t call for salt, which makes the cookie almost too sweet. I would definitely add at least 1/2 teaspoon of salt to balance out the flavor. Also, this recipe calls for 4 cups of chocolate chips, which I felt was too much. While I love chocolate, I wanted a little more cookie. Who knew that adding instant pudding mix to cookie dough could make such a delicious cookie? They were so soft, that it almost tasted like I was eating raw cookie dough… and who doesn’t like eating raw cookie dough? I will definitely make these cookies again, with a few alterations.
Taste-Tester comments:
* “A really nice cookie, but I wanted a bit more crisp. Good for a soft cookie.”
* “Almost too creamy as if it were more cookie dough than a finished cookie, but very delicious.”
* “This tastes great! Not too sweet and very rich, but they are a bit too soft. A little more crispiness would make them perfect.”
* “I loved this cookie! It was nice and soft.”
* “So soft and tasty!!! One of the best cookies I’ve ever had.”
Recipe: Martha Stewart – Lexi’s Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies
Source: Martha Stewart’s Holiday Cookies 2001, Special Issue Magazine
Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter at room teperature
3 cups packed light-brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375º. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, and set aside. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixture fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth. Add the sugars, and beat until combined and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until well blended.
2. Add flour mixture, and beat on low speed until combined. Add the chocolate chips, and beat until combined.
3. Drop 2 to 3 tablespoons of batter at a time onto baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake until golden brown, about 8 minutes, rotating halfway through. Remove the cookies and the parchment paper from the baking sheets and let cool on a rack.
Yield: 30 four-inch cookies
Total Taste-Testers: 25
Average Scores: on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the highest score
Taste: 3.7
Texture: 2.9
Amount of chocolate chips: 3.4
Quality of chocolate: 4.0
Overall: 3.3
My review: This is a Chocolate Chip Cookie you will either love or hate. It is a very specific cookie, with an interesting look and a distinct taste. I personally, did not care for this recipe at all. The cookies spread when baking to a paper thin consistency with all of the chocolate chips staying in the center as the dough spread around them. Because the cookie is super thin, the edges start to burn as the center of the cookie continues to bake, giving the cookie a burnt sugar taste. The cookies are extremely greasy with the four sticks of butter, and they are extremely delicate, making them hard to handle. Also, this recipe says to remove the cookies from the baking sheets on the parchment paper to cool, which is a waste of parchment paper. I did try removing the cookies from the cookie sheets to wire racks to cool, and it was impossible. The cookies did have a very good flavor, but the texture was horrible. I will never make this recipe again.
Taste-Tester comments:
* “This cookie is very greasy and weird looking. It’s very thin and chewy.”
* “Tasty, but don’t like the texture.”
* “OMG… Amazing!”
* “I think this appeals to a very specific set of “likes” in terms of texture and taste. It just happens to fit my preferences. Yum! Crispy, sweet, flat, chewy… not enough chips though.”
* “I actually liked the flavor of this cookie despite the weird texture. Nice and buttery.”
* “Flavor is delicious, but it is really thin.”
* “Too fragile and greasy, not crispy though, which is odd. Nice buttery taste and good chocolate, but crumbly like a lace cookie without the crunch.”
* “Love the toffee-like taste, but a bit too greasy and chewy for the thinness of the cookie. It would be better if it were crispier.”
* “Too chewy, flat, and thin. Doesn’t look good.”
* “The taste was ok, but the texture was really off.”
Recipe: Mrs. Fields Blue Ribbon Chocolate Chip Cookies
Source: Mrs. Fields Cookie Book (100 Recipes from the Kitchen of Mrs. Fields)
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup salted butter, softened
2 large eggs
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 cups (12oz.) semisweet chocolate
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 300º. In a medium bowl combine flour, soda, and salt. Mix well with wire whisk. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer blend sugars at medium speed. Add butter and mix to form a grainy paste, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add eggs and vanilla extract, and mix at medium speed until just blended. Do not over mix.
3. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer cookies immediately to a cool surface with a spatula.
Yield: 2 1/2 dozen
Total Taste-Testers: 25
Average Scores: on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the highest score
Taste: 3.7
Texture: 3.6
Amount of chocolate chips: 4.1
Quality of chocolate chips: 3.8
Overall: 3.6
My review: Overall, I would have to say this is just an average chocolate chip cookie. Not bad, but not great. This recipe produced a chocolate chip cookie that tastes different than the Mrs. Fields cookies you can buy at the mall or on her website. While Mrs. Fields claims that the cookies you buy on-line are “Mrs. Fields very own recipes, using real butter, whole eggs, pure vanilla, and her special blends of flour and chocolate”, what she doesn’t tell you is that the cookies are pumped full of chemicals and artificial flavors, making it a different recipe than the one here from her cookbook. I found this out by looking at the nutritional values of her Chocolate Chip Cookies that can be purchased on her website. The recipe in her cookbook is different than most chocolate chip cookie recipes, in that the cookies are baked at a lower temperature 300º for a longer time 18-22 minutes, instead of at 375º for 8-10 minutes. Also, her recipe calls for salted butter, whereas in most baking, recipes call for unsalted butter. The longer baking process, causes the cookies to come out very dry and airy. They had a nice flavor, but the texture was not as desirable.
Taste-Tester comments:
* “Texture is cakey and breaks down into a strange grainy consistency as you chew. Taste is strange, almost “store-bought” prepackaged aftertaste reminiscent of preservatives”.
* “Just an OK cookie”.
* “Cookie looks good, but too dry & airy with a cake-like texture. Not moist at all.”
* “Chew quality, very good, but a bit of grainy texture”.
* “Too many chips for my taste and yet consistency of a “soft Chips Ahoy!” Not a special cookie, a bit overly sweet”.
* “Too sweet for me. An average cookie, not spectacular”.
* “Too dense… and sort of wet tasting.”
Recipe: Good House Keeping Chocolate Chip Cookies
Source: The Good House Keeping Cookbook
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup backed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 package (6oz.) semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375º. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.
2. In a large bowl with a mixer at medium speed, beat butter, and brown and granulated sugars until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat until well combined. Reduce speed to low and beat in flour mixture until just blended. With a wooden spoon, stir in chocolate chips and walnuts, if using. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons, 2 inches apart, onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake until golden around the edges, about 10 to 12 minutes, rotating cookie sheets between upper and lower oven racks half way through baking. With a wide spatula, transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.
Yield: 3 dozen
Total Taste-Testers: 21
Average Scores: on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the highest score
Taste: 4.5
Texture: 4.5
Amount of chocolate chips: 4.2
Quality of chocolate: 4.2
Overall: 4.3
My review: I loved the cookies that this recipe produced. Overall, this is my favorite recipe so far, and the Taste-Testers agreed based on their scores. Out of the five recipes that have been tested, the Good House Keeping Chocolate Chip Cookie is now in the lead. This cookie is extremely soft, chewy, and tender, with a perfect balance of all the ingredients. While this recipe calls for 1 egg like the Pillsbury recipe, this recipe has 1/2 less tsp. baking soda, creating a better texture. I loved the taste of these cookies, and would definitely make this recipe again.
Taste-Tester comments:
* “I loved this cookie! The texture was nice and fluffy and the chocolate was great. It was sweet and salty at the same time.”
* “I usually like more crisp than moist, but this was a great overall cookie. This cookie with the Ghirardelli Chocolate Chips would be sensational.”
* “I liked the taste of this cookie, but it wasn’t a great looking cookie.”
* “My favorite recipe out of the five so far.”
Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe #4 – Pillsbury
Recipe: Pillsbury Chocolate Chip Cookies
Source: Pillsbury Complete Cookbook – Recipes from America’s Most-Trusted Kitchen
Ingredients:
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 (6oz.) pkg. (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts or shelled sunflower seeds, if desireed
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375º F. In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, sugar, butter, and shortening; beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg; blend well.
2. Add flour, baking soda, and salt; mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake at 375ºF. for 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets.
Yield: 3 dozen cookies
Total Taste-Testers: 21
Average Scores: on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the highest score
Taste: 3.8
Texture: 3.6
Amount of chocolate chips: 3.9
Quality of chocolate: 3.9
Overall: 3.7
My review: It’s very hard to turn your nose up at a chocolate chip cookie, especially if you’re someone like me who loves sweets, but, as I’ve been tasting numerous recipes, I can really taste the difference, and I know what ingredients or lack there of in the recipes cause the cookies to turn out and taste differently. That being said, I did not care for the Pillsbury recipe. First of all, it calls for 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup shortening, which gives the cookie a very buttery taste. Although Crisco shortening has reinvented itself and is not as bad for you as it used to be, I still try not to use it when baking due to the higher fat content. Also, whereas most chocolate chip cookie recipes call for 2 eggs, the Pillsbury calls for 1, which causes the cookies to bake up very crispy and grainy. Eggs play a very important roll in cookie dough by providing structure to the cookie as it bakes, as well as lending to a desirable taste and texture, and they help with the leavening process. Baking soda and baking powder need moisture to do their jobs, and I don’t think the egg to baking soda ratio is right in this recipe. Because the Pillsbury recipe only had 1 egg for the 1 tsp. of baking soda, the cookies had a very odd and grainy texture. I thought the flavor of the cookie was pretty good, and the appearance of the cookie was great. Unfortunately, it looked a lot better than it tasted.
Taste-Tester comments:
* “This cookie has way too much butter in it.”
* “Very buttery.”
* “Too sweet for me, but I liked the appearance.”
* “A fine cookie, but a little too much sugar in the mix for my taste.”
And the Chocolate Chip Winner is…
How did the Nestle Toll House, Ghirardelli, and Hershey’s chocolate chips bake up? The results are in, and based on the first three chocolate chip cookie recipes tested, each using a different brand of chocolate chips, Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chips came out on top as the winner, followed by Ghirardelli in 2nd place, and Hershey’s in 3rd.
On a score of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest possible score, here are the results from the Taste-Testers on the “BEST” quality of chocolate chips:
Nestle Toll House: 4.1
Ghirardelli: 3.8
Hershey’s: 3.6
The Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chips were the favorite among the majority of the Taste-Testers, baking into the cookies with a silky smooth texture and the perfect balance of chocolate and sweetness. While the chips melted into the cookie, they still kept their form, and when bitten into after completely cooling, still had the melted just out of the oven quality.
The Ghirardelli Chocolate Chips in 2nd place, had the purest, richest chocolate taste, but were too chocolaty for some people, with not enough sweetness. In my opinion, this is a better quality of chocolate then the Nestle Toll House, but did not bake into the cookies as well as the Nestle Chocolate Chips.
The Hershey’s Chocolate Chips in 3rd place, were extremely sweet and did not taste much like chocolate at all. One Taste-Tester said “they taste like raisins in the cookie”. The Hershey’s chips baked into the cookie the same as the Nestle Toll House with a smooth, creamy texture.
*For the remainder of the chocolate chip cookie recipes to be tested, I will use Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chips since they were the winner, unless a recipe specifies a certain brand or type of chocolate.*
Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe #3 – Hershey’s
Recipe: Hershey’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
Source: back of Hershey’s semi-sweet chocolate chips
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks butter), softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs 2 cups (12oz.pkg.) Hershey’s Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375º.
2. Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until creamy. Add eggs; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts, if desired. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.
Yield: 5 dozen
Total Taste-Testers: 28
Average Scores: on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the highest score
Taste: 3.8
Texture: 3.9
Amount of chocolate chips: 3.9
Quality of chocolate: 3.6
Overall: 3.7
My Review: This recipe yielded a very soft, moist cookie, with no crispiness at all. The Hershey’s recipe is the exact same recipe as the Nestle Toll House, except it has 1/2 tsp. less salt and uses it’s own brand of chocolate chips. Although some people find the Nestle Toll House cookie too salty (using 1 tsp. of salt), the extra 1/2 tsp. of salt is what gives the cookie the slightly crispy coating. If you like a nice soft cookie, then this recipe will deliver just that. The Hershey’s semi-sweet chocolate chips, in my opinion, are too sweet and don’t have the rich chocolate taste that I prefer. I would like this recipe better with a different brand of chocolate chips, or with Hershey’s Dark Chocolate Chips.
Taste-Testers Comments:
* “This cookie is light, sweet, and salty all at the same time. I didn’t like the Hershey’s Chocolate Chips, they tasted like raisins to me in the cookie.”
* “This is a rich cookie with a good texture, chewy and just a little crispy. I don’t love the chocolate… maybe Nestle chips in this recipe would be better.”
* “Kind of a boring cookie.”
* “Cookie was nice and chewy. Chocolate was good, but there could have been more chocolate chips.”
* “Taste of chocolate seemed “fake”, or inferior. There was no crunch before the moistness in this cookie.”
* “Chocolate chips were classic “Hershey” taste.”
