I’m in a bake-off. Has to be “classic,” as in no unconventional modifications or additions. Tried & true only, please! and thanks in advance.
Wouldn’t the Original Toll House Chocolate Chip cookie be the way to go? Unless you’re allowed to add additional ingredients, i.e., toffee chips, Fleur de Sel on top, or cocoa powder for Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies?
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Not allowed to add additional ingredients, but I could probably get away with a little fancy salt.
This is not at all my area of expertise. I’ve definitely made toll house cookies, but not since I was a kid. So I’m looking for some expert (or at least proficient!) advice.
I like the one from America’s Test Kitchens. I’ll see if I can find one without a paywall.
ETA The article starts like this ..
“The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie
We set out to perfect the back-of-the-bag classic with a cookie that was crisp at the edges, chewy in the middle, and full of rich toffee flavor.
By Charles Kelsey
Published on May 1, 2009
My Goals
Chewy middle with crisp and caramelized edges
Flavor more complex than mere buttery sweetness
A simple enough recipe to make anytime
Since Nestlé first began printing the recipe for Toll House cookies on the back of chocolate chip bags in 1939, generations of cooks have packed them into lunches, taken them to bake sales, and kept them on hand for snacking—arguably more so than any other kind of cookie. I’ve made countless batches myself over the years…”
Can’t tell if this is behind a paywall, but here it is.
“Enjoy this complimentary ATK recipe—no login required—for the next 30 days.”
(This should be a gift link )
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Tagging @Nannybakes, @sallyt, @mig, @CaitlinM and @Stef_bakes from the various Baking threads that can hopefully help you.
But if you’re not allowed to add anything else to oomph up a recipe, I’m thinking there will be a LOT of Toll House CC cookies in this bake-off. (Not that that’s a bad thing! LOL)
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I posted this one on another thread recently. I love what the addition of corn syrup does to the texture (chewier than the Toll House, which I find a bit cakey for my taste).
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Not a recipe, but I have been adding a couple of tablespoons of cocoa nibs to my cc cookies and it adds a nice little extra crunch and flavour.
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Not sure I can use that because of the oatmeal - I will check.
My husband is a chocolate chip cookie obsessive, and his all-time favorite is the Toll House recipe. I add extra vanilla, use dark brown sugar only, and underbake them by about a minute.
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Ive been using the Toll House recipe right off the rhe back of the bag for decades and people still beg me for the recipe.
I use half butter and half Crisco as it does rise better with Crisco. If you’re allowed, refrigerate the dough for 24 hours. It allows the flour to hydrate and makes a better cookie. (I rarely do this tho…)
I have made literally tens of thousands of cookies with this recipe (and converted it to weight when we were in Europe as my French friends asked for the recipe, too)
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I started a cookie delivery business for homebound and infirmed neighborhood residents during the pandemic. I started with a chocolate chip cookie. In my R&D phase I realized that it really matters what type of cookie you want to make. And that refrigerating your dough is very helpful.
These are quite nice
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Christina Tosi’s recipe is a good starting point. I have not baked these exactly as written but have used it as the basis for a bunch of stuff. Main takeaways from here: A) She adds a bit of milk powder, which subtly impacts both texture and flavor. (I like to toast it, but I don’t think she recommends that.) B) She recommends in her book to whip the eggs for several minutes – like 7-8. That’s been a huge game changer. It adds a lot of additional structure and, again, improves texture. (I don’t see it mentioned in the recipe linked below, so I thought I should call it out.)
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This was all the rage last year. There’s so many faddish recipes.
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Seconding the ATK recipe. It’s the one I’ve been using for years, to rave reviews. Of course, the ‘perfect’ CCC is subjective and there are so many ways to define perfect. Chewy? Crispy? Soft? Hard? Nuts? Just chips? Flat? Domed? Round? So many variations, even using the same ingredients.
Mrs. ricepad’s family recipe was supposedly ‘back of the bag’, but it includes a quarter cup of water in the dough, which the current bag recipe does not have. Her mom swears she just copied it from a bag of chips back in the mid-'60s, so I wonder if they dropped the added water somewhere along the way.
Anyway, win or lose, you still have several dozen chocolate chip cookies. They’re good for celebrating a win or wallowing in defeat.
The irony is that I don’t even like cookies that much.
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I had a big CCC research phase when preparing to bake them for a friend’s NYC wedding about 12 years ago. Like many locals at the time, she had found the City Bakery CCC’s to be her platonic ideal, and was looking for something similar. After many trials, I settled on a recipe very similar to the Tollhouse one, but different in technique (melted browned butter, no mixer, and timed dough rests between mixing periods.) I also used choc discs instead of chips for better melting. This recipe has remained my standard since; to me, it is the best improvement on the Tollhouse I grew up with.
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ETA that when i found that blog, she was definitely NOT focusing on GF or other restricted-ingredient recipes!
