Cookie Experiment

If someone asks me what is my favorite cookie is, hands down, I would probably say it's Chocolate Chip Cookie.

I know you are probably thinking, What another chocolate chip cookie post? You are probably sick and tired of reading chocolate cookie posts everywhere, specially after the New York Times quest for the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie article which came out last year. It is an adaptation of Jacques Torres recipe, this version I haven't tried. However, Jacques Torres also has a recipe over at Martha's website which by the way is one of my favorites.

My love affair with chocolate chip cookies started in my early years of baking about 6 years ago. During one of my Food Network marathons, I was watching

Alton Brown's Good Eats episode of Chips for sister Marsha (one of my favorite episode). In this episode, Alton explains that there are 3 different textures of chocolate chips: the puffy/cakey, the crisp/thin and the chewy. I tried both the puffy and the chewy and I liked the puffy more, but then I realized just the other day that maybe I should give the Alton's version of chewy another chance because I only made it once and it seems that it didn't turn out great then and I just gave up which was wrong I know, but now I'm willing to give it another go. But wait! Alton's Chewy CCC whould be put on hold first.

I wanted to try two other chewy ccc recipe which is from King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion and from Cooks Illustrated Magazine. Why this particular recipe? Well...the different approach and ingredients that are suppose to make these chewy are so intriguing that I knew I have to try it. I don't often do two different recipes of a same thing at once but how can you compare same items if not eating them consecutively right? So here they are:

First is the Cook's Illustrated version (picture above), I found it more bothersome to make than the KAF version. These calls for melted butter so the cookie dough is messy and greasy to shaped and have such a dark cookie dough, I thought they wouldn't be good. I like the technique in how to produced that uneven top wherein you get a lump of dough, half it and squished the sides together with the ragged edges exposed on the top. It looks gorgeous however they are also oily! not very appetizing for cookies.Cookie #2 is the King Arthur Flour chocolate chip cookies, I was actually looking forward to these cookies. I often scoop my cookies out and bake them but when I opened the oven I'm disappointed to find out that they didn't spread not even a little and just puffed up. Trying to remedy that problem I did the CI technique of pull apart and squidge them back together well the outcome is an improvement to the hockey puck look of the scooped out version. Which is weird because I often use the scoop method with my ccc recipes and they don't turn out like hockey pucks. What a disappointment this one and the fact that there are vinegar and corn syrup that goes with this recipe that were supposed to make them chewy but I honestly couldn't tell the difference. Based on looks alone I think the Cooks Illustrated version won hands down. Taste? well that's another ballgame. I'm still asking around between my family which version they like better.

Hmmmm...I guess it's time to try the NYT Jacques Torres adaptation version. But I won't give up on the CI version, if I figure out how to make them less oily it would have been great.