Thank you to everyone who has recently sent me chocolate chip cookie recipes. Because I'm all about evidence based research, I'm working my way through them and consequently I'm starting to look like a whale. Because making them means you have to eat them too. But Van Gogh suffered for his art and I'm applying the same sort of rigorous commitment to my chocolate chip cookie quest. And yes - an arse the size of China is a small price to pay for finding the perfect chocolate chip cookie.
P at The Way I Sew It sent me a recipe which called for Crisco which isn't easily obtainable here, so I went online and had some sent over from USA Foods In Melbourne. It arrived on Thursday so I set about making her recipe on Saturday. You Americans just love to make shit difficult don't you? The recipe called for all purpose flour and baking powder. Why don't you guys just use self raising flour so you don't have to drag out two containers? That's what I did, because I'm lazy. I also couldn't be bothered doing accurate conversions, so instead of the 3/4 of a cup of butter , I chucked in 200 grams. I'm just not up for stuffing butter into a cup and then digging it out again with a spoon. That's just madness. I did chuck in 1 and 3/4 Aussie cups of flour which is about 50 grams more flour but I figured that would cancel out the extra Crisco. And I put in extra chocolate chips , because you can never have too many right? Then I duly plopped tablespoons onto trays. By the way,you guys can't do maths at all, because the recipe said I would be get three dozen cookies and I only got 18.
The first batch of cookies went into the oven ...and came out looking like this...someone on Facebook commented that they looked like they were trying to escape.
The recipe said they would take 8-9 minutes for chewy cookies and 11-13 minutes for crispy cookies. Mine took about 25 minutes. What's up with that ? Its not like time moves slower Down Under. Although I accept that my baseball sized tablespoon plops were probably to blame. And, no wonder my cookies were trying to escape - they were being burned alive- slowly.
Round Two and Three went a little better...although I got distracted by Pinterest and Cupcake Mania on my iPad so some of my cookies got baked for 15 minutes and some were in there for about an hour, so I had all the colours of doneness by the time I was finished.
I must say,that even though Crisco is not actual food per se, (I checked the history of Crisco and I kid you not they used to make candles out of the original incarnation) the cookies were pretty bloody good, and I reckon I can tweak this recipe ( and take a vow of not being distracted by games on my iPad) and if I measure things a little more carefully, maybe this could be the recipe of my dreams. If I can get over the guilt of using Crisco. But I'm not backing off on the extra chocolate chips because that would just be wrong.
Happy Mother's Day to all of you. I spent a fabulous afternoon in The Jungle with my Mum having lunch. Mum's are just awesome aren't they?
Good for you on finding a recipe for Chocolate Chip cookies that you like. Instead of the shortening, could you use just a tad less butter?
ReplyDeleteOf course extra chocolate chips are a necessity!!
God bless.
You must be fun to live with! At least there's chocolate to chew while rolling my eyes at your every antic.
ReplyDeleteOne question, ever make a Vegemite cookie?
Your cookies look like some giant amoeba trying to split. They also look yummy.
ReplyDeleteHappy Mother's Day to you, too.
Hugs
I suppose it will depend entirely on how you like your chochip cookies! American style is big, flat, chewy, very sweet. I grew up with The Be-ro book in UK, and the print version of my childhood makes crunchy on the outside cakey on the inside yummmy yummy cookies!
ReplyDeleteMy kids would love your escaping biscuits cos they are huge and when I say ..."you can only have one!" they can truthfully just eat one! Mums are the best :)
ReplyDeleteCrisco makes great baked goodies. Sometimes shortening is better than butter! Is there no equivalent in OZ? I do love a chocolate chip packed cookie. The cookies trying to escape was pretty funny
ReplyDeleteI love your style of baking. Not at all science based. I'm glad they were edible at the end, but do you really have to use Crisco? Brandie's question is just plain crazy. Looking forward to pictures of the next batch.
ReplyDeleteAlien cookies! My sons live far away and my mother has been gone since 1999, so Mother's Day is always quiet here......good to hear you enjoyed your day.
ReplyDeleteROTFLMAO, escaping cookies!!! too funny!!
ReplyDeleteLOL love them! I have to admit to cheating, I use the Betty Crocker packet mix and use butter (no margarine in this house!), I can go from a box in the cupboard to eating steaming hot biscuits in 18 minutes :) I sometimes wack a bit of ice cream between 2 warm cookies and call it dessert!
ReplyDeleteMy fave all time chocolate chip cookie recipe has butter crisco in it. Take heart, it can be bought in cubes that you cut off into the proper measurement.:) It's a happy person who has found the very best choc. chip recipe! Happy mom's day to you too!
ReplyDeleteThose cookies do look delicious.
ReplyDeleteyou have to try the recipe I sent you. None of that Crisco rubbish
ReplyDeleteYou always make me laugh! I had to look Crisco up and I have to say I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole, sounds horribly unhealthy!
ReplyDeleteLol! You creack me up! As someone who was behind the door when any cooking abilities were given out they looked damn good from here xx
ReplyDeletelove that you ordered that stuff on line...it does sound revolting - but obviously it gives good results. Good luck in your search for the perfect choc chip cookie. Have fun!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad things were better in round two! I've heard that self-rising flour has a lower protein content than all purpose. Wheat protein is gluten, which I have to avoid now, but it's the stuff that makes baked goods hold together properly and have texture. So adding more SR flour probably was a good idea, but what made them run was probably the extra Crisco. FYI, in case of the zombie apocalypse and all, you can still make a Crisco candle! But don't let that squick you out...you can make an olive oil candle too, and that stuff's supposed to make you live forever!
ReplyDeleteI know I'm late to this but here's my fav Choc Chip recipe... quick and easy too.
ReplyDeleteBest Chocolate Chip Cookies
180g butter
⅓ cup sugar
½ cup condensed milk
1½ cups SR flour
250g chocolate bits
½ cup white choc bits/ chopped macadamias / chopped pecans
Beat butter and sugar till creamy. Beat in condensed milk
Add flour , stir until combined.
Add chocolate bits and nuts and mix well.
Roll teasp of mixture into balls, place on a greased tray and press down gently with a fork. Allow room for spreading.
Bake in a 180C oven for approx 15 minutes till golden.
Cool on trays
Cheers
Just ticking the reply box to see if that does the trick
ReplyDeleteSounds like your chocolate chip cookies have lots of potential. The last time I made CC cookies, I wasn't wearing my glasses and missed the 1 in front of the quarter cup of butter. Drama Teen still refers to those as my hockey puck cookies.
ReplyDeleteMy Grandmother used lard for everything. Believe me that makes Crisco look healthy!
An American lady told me to replace Crisco with butter.
ReplyDeleteI have tried many different Chocolate Chip Biscuit recipes but always go back to my 1980s Choc Chip packet version. No American measurements to worry about as its all Aussie.
Somehow I missed that you were on the quest for the best cc cookie ever ... anyway if you decide it's the one, forward it on. I think we have crisco in sticks so you don't have to measure in a cup. any way, they look yummy.
ReplyDeleteI've used both butter and Crisco, and varied the amounts of both and butter makes a softer cookie; Crisco makes more of a crunch. If the oven temperature is not as hot as it should be, the cookies will "try to escape" and deflate, especially if you're using butter and it's no longer cold.
ReplyDeleteI think we use baking powder here because some of us bake so seldom that the self rising flour doesn't rise after several months or years in the pantry.
I leave you for about a year and a half, and look what happens, you grew your hair, and you got another addiction! Goodness! I too love chocolate chip cookies, but mine are made with oatmeal and butter, none of the artificial stuff. If you ever tire of those other recipes, I'll send you mine.
ReplyDeleteGreat to read up on your blogs. I am over my writers block I think. So see you soon.
ReplyDeleteToo funny! I wouldn't use Crisco for anything - I'm pretty sure it's made of plastic. My recipe is the Nestle Toll House Recipe (google it). Butter all the way. Measuring carefully is the only way to make perfect choc chip cookies.
Be sure to taste the dough often - why else make them?