Cozy Chocolate Chip Cookie Guide

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I LUUUV chocolate chip cookies. If there is one cookie that I can eat over and over and over, it’s hands down, the chocolate chip cookie.

I also believe that chocolate chip cookies are the perfect foray into baking. They are simple in their preparation. They don’t take a million years to make. And the bake time is only 8 to 10 minutes. There’s some very immediate satisfaction!

SO, I’m so excited to share this experiment where I bake chocolate chip cookies, substitute and change certain elements to the cookies themselves and then eat them ALL and give you my final thoughts.

As many of you know, I’m a self-taught baker and cook. I often joke and say I’m Google-taught. Seriously, most things I’ve learned about cooking is just from massive amounts of Googling. When I first started cooking and baking, I’d Google everything. And honestly, I still do.

For this post, I’m teaming up with Google Home. The great thing about Google Home is that I can verbally Google all the time (and more!)…without a computer, while my hands are messy and I’m in the middle of baking and cooking.

There were so many times when I’d have to clean my hands, wipe them dry and then Google measurements, fractional math (not my strong-stuit) but now I get to be just like, “HEY GOOGLE!”

It’s also perfect for random fun, very random facts that have nothing to do with anything and have no real importance like what Kris Humphries has been up to lately. (Google it though but let me warn you it’s not exciting.)

To start this whole lil’ experiment, I asked Google, “hey google, when were chocolate chips invented?!?!”

You may know this, you may not…but the answer is that chocolate chips were created with the invention of the chocolate chip cookie in 1937 by Ruth Graves Wakefield of the Toll House Inn in the town of Whitman, Massachussets. 

I used the most basic and classic of chocolate chip cookie recipes to use as my “control” cookie. And then changed a whole lot of things with different batches.

Think of this as the beginning of designing my favorite chocolate chip cookie (final recipe coming soon!).

And hopefully with these results, it might make you feel confident that you, too, can customize your own. This is how recipe writing starts! IT’S COOL!

Here are my results.

CONTROL COOKIE: Slightly crispy on its edges and soft in the center. A very quintessential chocolate chip cookie experience. This cookie begins with butter, white sugar and brown sugar all beaten together.

ALL WHITE SUGAR: These were crispy and lace-y. Definitely thinner and a lot more chewy. And noticeably blonder. Look at the raw cookie dough shot, that one was kinda fascinating to me.

MELTED BUTTER with WHITE SUGAR + BROWN SUGAR:
A lot of good chocolate chip cookie recipes use melted butter. Why? Well, melted butter usually results in a chewier cookie. A lot of people favor the melted butter route. I personally love melted butter in chocolate chip cookies because I love the texture but the biggest attraction is that I don’t have to have softened butter around and can make cookies on a whim—woohoo!

CREAMED BUTTER WITH 1/4 CUP MORE FLOUR: More flour means a bit thicker cookie. I feel like it almost could’ve even benefited from more flour for a nice chunky cookie. I love all cookies and chubby cookies have a place in my heart, too. Chubby cookies could use some crunch like walnuts or pecans.

MELTED BUTTER WITH 1/4 CUP MORE FLOUR: Melted butter really results in a chewier texture. The flour results in a thicker cookie. I liked this combo a lot.

CREAMED BUTTER WITH HALF BAKING POWDER + HALF BAKING SODA: The control only has baking soda. Baking soda helps give cookies a nice color and a bit of a lift. Why would we put both in a cookie? Well, a lot of cookie recipes include both so that the cookies have more of a lift, while the soda really helps with that light brown color we love our cookies to have.

MELTED BUTTER WITH HALF BAKING POWDER + HALF BAKING SODA: I’m not gonna lie, this was maybe my favorite combo. I love what melted butter does to CC cookies and I love the combo of half baking powder and half baking soda. I think this is where I’m going to begin with my development and go from here.

Perhaps I’ll add a bit more salt. I might change the chips to chocolate chunks. And I might even add more white sugar than brown to help give the cookies a bit of a crunch on the edges. Who knows! But I think this is a good start.

While were talking about melted butter, one thing I thought of but quickly abandoned is browned butter. It feels like a logical step when you’re making CC cookies with melted butter, but have you ever noticed that browned butter cookies look awfully dry?

Well when you brown butter, you’re cooking the water out of the cookies. Even if you add brown sugar–which has quite a bit of moisture–to the cookies, it’s still not enough moisture. Cookies need moisture in order to be chewy and soft, two attributes that I LOVE in chocolate chip cookies.

I’m going to be sharing my final chocolate chip cookie recipe soon and this exercise has really helped in getting me a bit closer to my ideal cookie.

P.S. Another thing that is a major plus with Google Home is that I can ask about my calendar, which is how I run my entire life and blog and business. I need to know what I’m doing everyday and in the morning when I’m getting ready, I always start my day me asking Google Home what my schedule looks like…like the other day, when it told me I needed to start prepping seven batches of chocolate chip cookie dough. Lol.

(This post is sponsored by Google Home. Thanks for supporting the sponsors that keep A Cozy Kitchen cozy.) 

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Hi! I'm Adrianna and this is my cozy space on the internet that is super-charged by butter, flour and copious amounts of pasta. Stay awhile, will you!

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21 Comments

  1. I’ve been suckered into making chocolate chip cookies for an extra credit project in my son’s math class. So, this post is very timely! I’m thinking of adding some strong coffee, too, but am not sure how much. Any thoughts or suggestions?

    1. You could add some instant espresso powder to the butter and sugar mixture. I’d probably advise against adding actual coffee because there’s no liquid in this recipe so there’s no place to subtract and then substitute it with coffee. :/

      1. I had another idea: if you went the melted butter route, you could add a bit of espresso powder to the melted butter and dissolve it that way OR you could steep the melted butter in coffee grounds, strain it and then use the coffee flavored butter in the cookies.

  2. Altho all of these look ridiculously good- and thank you for your service to humanity haha- what I’m really dying to know is the paint name of the wall behind your mixer! It is just what I’ve been looking for! Help a girl out? 🙂

  3. My black lab wants to meet your corgi. She thinks your corgi looks like a fun pal. I, too, will eat chocolate chip cookies any way they come my way. I do like them with walnuts or pecans tho.

  4. Try it with 2 Tbls. cornstarch, 1/4 cup extra sugar, 1 extra tsp. vanilla. Be sure to chill at least an hour or more. Makes a fluffy cookie!

    1. ooooo…interesting. i’ve seen a few chocolate chip cookie recipes with cornstarch. i want to try it! 🙂

  5. What a cool post! Dats a lotta cookies to get through though…I think my favorite is the melted butter or melted butter with baking soda/powder. I do love a good cakey cookie.

  6. I love you! I love your blog and I love that you are self taught. I have been inspired by you so many times, so thanks!! This post couldn’t have been more timely. All week I have been testing different chocolate chip cookie methods and recipes and I have also decided that the melted butter route is the only way to go to get that chewy cookie that most people prefer! I live in Napa and my friends just started a fried chicken plus all the sensuous southern sides pop up take out restaurant and I am making melted butter chocolate chip cookies for them 😉

    1. jeanette! this is so sweet–thank you! and yes, i love that chewy flavor that comes from melting the butter–it’s amazing. your pop-up sounds AMAZING. if i come up there, i wanna come 🙂

  7. Love these types of posts. Its always fun to see how a recipe comes to be. I love love love chocolate chip cookies. Can’t wait to try your new and improved recipe 🙂

  8. My absolute favorite recipe uses browned butter. I LOVE the nutty flavor of the butter against the rich chocolate chips. http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2016/04/salty-browned-butter-chocolate-chip-cookies.html