Thursday, February 25, 2010

The great chocolate chip cookie quest


J has been on the hunt lately for a recipe for The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie (assuming that there is such a thing). He thinks it would be a cookie like Paradise Bakery's chocolate chip cookie. Apparently the recipe I've been using for almost 10 years (the length of our marriage) is no longer cutting it. J's been gathering recipes from the Internet, from people in our church, from family members. Usually Sweetie and I then make the cookies, but sometimes he does. I found him a few weeks ago at 10:30 pm mixing up a batch from a new recipe he'd found on recipezaar. Here are the recipes we've tried now with our respective rankings. Do you have a recipe you think might top the charts? If so, please share!!! We have yet to find a 5-star recipe!

The 10-Year Recipe (the one I was previously making)
2 1/4 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c butter
1/2 c sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 pkg milk chocolate choc chips
Bake at 375 for 8 min.

J rating: 3 stars
my rating: 4 stars

Mrs. Field's Cookies
Cream together
1 1/2 c sugar
2 c brown sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 1lb butter

Add
6 c flour
2 Tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp soda
2 c. chopped nuts
3 c choc chips

Bake at 350 for 10 min

J's rating: 3 stars
mine: 3 stars

Allison's Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cream together
1 c brown sugar
1 c sugar
1 c shortening
2 eggs
Sift together
3 1/4 c flour
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
Add to creamed mixture, alternating with 1/4 c hot water. Add 1 c choc chips. Bake 350 for 10 min. Take out before they look done.

J's rating: 4 stars
mine: 4 stars

Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies, from recipezaar.com
Vanilla pudding version
J's rating: 4 stars
mine: 4 stars

Chocolate pudding version
J's rating: 2
mine: 2

Lara Hansen's Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup shortening
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. chocolate chips
1 c. chopped nuts

Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes

Put ALL the ingredients in your mixer and then mix them all together. Keep mixing until the batter pulls away from the bowl.

We tried these with nuts and with 1/2 c blended oatmeal instead of the nuts.
J's rating when Lara made them for us and then when we did the oatmeal: 4
mine: 4

My and J's rating when he made them w/nuts: 2 (too many nuts)

J's rating: 2
My rating: 2

Lunt Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
1 c butter
1 c brown sugar
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 C + a little more flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 c oatmeal
1 c chocolate chips
Refrigerate. Bake at 350 for 10 min.

J's rating when Sis. Lunt made them: 4
J's rating when we made them: 3
My rating when we made them: 3.5

6 comments:

Lee said...

http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/03/crispy-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies/ We love this one!! It is so good. Good luck!! Paradise Bakery is awesome I love their coconut chocolate chip cookies!

Hayley said...

When you find the perfect recipe let me know.

Lindy said...

I'm afraid I am going to have to taste them...why don't you make up a few batches and bring them over. I would be happy to vote!

bluestocking mama said...

lol, lindy! i just might. half of the dough for all of the 3 stars gets frozen and is still hanging out in our freezer.

lee, that one looks great!

Company EIGHT said...

That's a lot of cookies, lol! I'm so glad you posted this--it has been my quest as well. What kind of cookies do you like? Chewy or crispy? I keep getting flat cookies, and I prefer more dense ones that don't spread. I'm looking forward to trying some of these!

bluestocking mama said...

kierste, we like the more dense cookies too--chewy but with a little crisp on the outside. we don't like thin cookies. the recipezaar one was the most dense one we've tried--probably b/c of the instant pudding in it