So here's a question for you: Who among us doesn't love a freshly-baked chocolate chip
cookie?
If you hand anyone a plate of these tempting treats, they're sure to go full-blown Cookie
Monster on you nom-nom-nom, as the kids like to say.
In fact, chocolate chip cookies are such a favorite that it's hard to believe they haven't
been around since the dawn of mankind.
Curiously, these delightful snacks only date back to the 1930s, where they were invented
at a restaurant called the Toll House and yes, that's precisely why they're often referred
to as Toll House cookies.
So now you know.
You probably also know that the original recipe the one you'll find printed on bags of Nestle
chocolate chips is already just about perfect.
Still, there are lots of ways to improve on the classics, usually by switching up one
magic ingredient.
Lucky for you, Handle the Heat blogger Tessa Arias took it upon herself to test the most
popular ingredient tweaks for the classic chocolate chip cookie.
She replaced butter with shortening, substituted cake or bread flour for all-purpose flour,
and added cornstarch or an extra egg yolk.
The verdict?
The secret ingredient that made the very best chocolate chip cookies was the same one endorsed
by celebrity chef Alton Brown: Namely… bread flour.
"Sift together two and a quarter cups of bread flour with a teaspoon each of salt and baking
soda."
It's true: Bread flour makes for the thickest, chewiest cookies on the planet, and Arias
strongly suggests that you substitute at least half the all-purpose flour for bread flour
when making your chocolate chip cookies.
But if you don't use any all-purpose flour, you might need to adjust the proportions a
little bit.
Her recipe calls for using 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of all-purpose bread flour in place of 1 cup
of all-purpose flour.
Alton Brown's famous chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe also calls for using only bread
flour, which is measured in ounces 12 of them, to be exact; approximately 2 and 1/3 cup.
He even helpfully uses a puppet to help explain why this is:
"Since bread flour can absorb much more liquid than all-purpose flour, more moisture will
stay in the cookie."
Thanks for clearing that up!
Meanwhile, Brown assures us that the bread flour will help you attain "extra chewiness"
in your cookie, and everyone will be thrilled with the results.
According to Baker Bettie's Baking 101, bread flour has the highest amount of protein of
any of the most commonly used types of baking flour the others being all-purpose flour,
cake flour, self-rising flour, and whole wheat flour.
In the baking process, extra protein translates to extra gluten and gluten is what creates
that highly desirable "extra chewy factor."
That's why bread flour is a smart swap for regular all-purpose flour.
Bettie also has her own scientifically-formulated recipe for chocolate chip cookies that are
chewy, yet thin.
This recipe calls for using bread flour as the only type of flour in the whole recipe.
Bettie also provided a few other tweaks for added chewiness in a blog post about the science
behind chocolate chip cookies: For example, you can use more brown sugar than white sugar
in the cookie recipe.
Or you can eliminate one egg white and add two tablespoons of milk in its place.
You can also choose to melt the butter instead of creaming it.
Want to know why?
It's because melting the butter releases water which, when combined with the bread flour,
creates yet more gluten.
Chocolate chip cookies are a beautiful thing in their original form but the recipe can
certainly be tweaked if you want to try improving on perfection.
The website Food52 claims:
"Cornmeal adds a slight grit and texture to the batter.
Toffee echoes, and repeats back, the earthy sweetness of brown sugar without adding too
much extra sweetness."
Last but not least, a little sea salt helps tie the whole thing together.
Meanwhile, the craft beer website The Beeroness posted a recipe for chocolate chip cookies
flavored with chai spices, molasses, and, you guessed it: beer.
The Daily Meal also offered up a bunch of over-the-top cookie recipes that include all
sorts of wild ingredients think trail mix, Rice Krispies, cashews, toasted marshmallows,
Nutella, and pistachios.
They don't suggest putting all these add-ins in the same cookie recipe… but there's no
reason you can't give it a try, you wild animal.
Or better yet, why not come up with your own over-the-top spin, whipping up chocolate chip
cookies that are chock full of pecans, bacon, and a bit of bourbon?
The possibilities are truly endless.
“Mom mom mom.”
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