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Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Search - #3

Taste Test # 3 - Toll House Wins Again!!

Contenders (recipes are linked):

Double Tree Cookie Recipe (or best rendition of it) (#7)

Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie (#8)

Jacques Torres' Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe (#9)

Results (13 Reviewers - 4 children, 9 adults)

Double Tree Hotel chocolate chip cookie (best rendition) - 3 votes (all adult)

Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookie - 6 votes (3 children, 3 adults)

Jacques Torres' chocolate chip cookie - 4 votes (1 child, 3 adults)

Review

Double Tree recipe: Chewier than Nestle Toll House cookies, this recipe gets props for staying power. I felt that the cookies tasted fresh, longer. With rolled oatmeal added to the recipe, the texture may not be for everyone. Though I can't be sure if the recipe is the exact one that the Double Tree Hotel actually uses, the cookie hits the spot when you are hanker'in for something sweet. Keep in mind the cookie is served warm at the hotel. During the taste test, all cookies were delivered within 24 hours of baking, but never warm. I'm not sure if that would sway the results. - 3 stars

Nestle Toll House recipe: Still the majority favorite. Though I love the taste, I don't think that the recipe does well staying fresh. In order to keep the integrity of the cookie from faltering, my suggestion is to make the cookie dough ahead, roll into golf-sized balls, place them in a air tight container and keep in the refrigerator. Just pop each ball on a baking sheet and bake them when you want a "fix". You get fresh cookies from a favorite recipe. Pop them in the oven before company comes over and look like a hero....Martha Stewart, move over!

Jacques Torres recipe: A little more complicated than the typical recipe, I personally think it is worth the effort. Cake and bread flour is used in place of all-purpose flour. Pillsbury makes cake flour (in a box down the baking aisle at your local grocery store, but not by the regular flour). The bread flour can be found next to the all-purpose flour. I think the cake flour gives the cookie the consistency that is lacking in Nestle's Toll House recipe. The cookie remains moist, not crunchy and the 60% cacao morsel just put me over the top....YUMMY. Ghirardelli makes a morsel to accommodate the recipe, though you can find the morsels used in the recipe at Whole Foods Markets (the information is included at the end). 3 1/2 stars. I loved it and may combine parts to use with Toll House. Hmmm, I wonder...

Taste Test #4 will add a "spa" and "shopping" experience into the mix. Can you guess what recipes are next?

Taste Test #2 - Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Search

The chocolate chip cookie is said to be the most popular cookie in the United States. Nestle Toll house cookies are the "gold" standard in making chocolate chip cookies. My grandmother baked the recipe, and I decided to use it as the baseline for my search of the best chocolate chip cookie. Follow me in my quest. I will bake each recipe and distribute to my neighbors, family and friends for review. I am baking up the original recipes from the brands we know, seeking out some famous recipe favorites, then combining the results to see if I can find the best. It may end up that we already have it with our baseline, but it will be fun and yummy to find out.

Here are the results from Taste Test #2....

Nestle Toll house Chocolate Chip Cookie Wins!

The cookie recipes used in this taste test:

Crisco chocolate chip cookie recipe

Nestle Toll house chocolate chip cookie recipe (our baseline)

Land O Lakes chocolate chip cookie recipe

The results (14 reviews received)

Crisco chocolate chip cookie: 4 votes (2 adults, 2 children)

Nestle Toll house chocolate chip cookie: 9votes (6 adults, 3 children)

Land O Lakes chewy chocolate chip cookie: 1 vote (adult)

Personal Reviews:

Crisco chocolate chip cookie recipe - I didn't enjoy the texture on this cookie. Though it was chewy, the cookie flattened out as you baked it. Refrigerating the dough may help to keep the cookie looking a little plumper and limit spreading. I also didn't feel I added enough chocolate chips (as per the recipe). This is one of the possible flaw in every batch of dough, but after tasting and knowing the ingredients I added, I didn't think the recipe called for enough chocolate chips. If using this recipe again, I would add an additional cup of morsels. Due to the number of votes, I would rate it a 2 1/2 - 3 star cookie, but for me, it was my least favorite of the three options.

Nestle Toll house chocolate chip cookie - The old standard. They still seem to bake up crunchier than the other cookies, even if I limited baking time. What I love about these is the way they look after baking. Each cookie has a smooth surface on the top and inviting. They look like the Nestle Toll house pictures and I like that. The taste rarely lets me down, but I still think that there may be room for a little competition. You can't imagine what I have in store for the next round of taste testing.

Land O Lakes chocolate chip cookie - This cookie was very dense and "cakey". Though I liked it better than the Crisco cookie, it didn't out shine Toll house. This cookie baked up plump, but cracked on the top, similar to that of the Crisco cookie. What can I say? I don't like the cracks. The cookie's color was a nice buttery color and, visually, looked more pleasingly than the Crisco cookie. Still, only 1 voted for it and must be rated as such - 1 star (if that).

Taste test #3 coming soon....Look for some of the finest rated recipes tested and reviewed.

Taste Test #1 - Ghiradelli Chocolate Chip Cookie

Test Taste #1: Ghirardelli Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

(Contender for the best chocolate chip cookie search)

My first recipe is the Ghirardelli Chocolate chip cookie. I saw the bag of morsels at the grocers and realized that the best chocolate chip cookie may not be in the dough, but in the chocolate morsel. Little did I know that Ghirardelli has 3 different types of chocolate morsels, milk chocolate, semi-sweet, and 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate. So off to the store I went to purchase a bag of each and ensure the results would be comprehensive.

My family, friends and neighbors are having a lot of fun with this. Play with us by asking your family, friends and neighbors to participate. We are in the depths of winter and this is a fun game to take away the blues. All you need are the ingredients from the recipes provided (below), a little presentation for the taste testing process, and a voting ballad (just email me at playalong@pressdough.com to receive .pdf for rules, voting ballads, and even the numbered labels to stick onto each wrapped cookie).

Recipe (Toll house):

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 cups (12 oz pkg) of Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

1 cup chopped nuts (optional...we are leaving out due to allergy concerns)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract in large mixer until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually, beat in flour mixture. Sir in morsels. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased (or parchment paper lined) baking sheet.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes and remove to wire rack to cool completely. (makes about 5 dozen cookies)

Recipe (Ghirardelli Chocolate Chip Cookie):

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 cups Ghirardelli Chocolate Chips (we split the dough in 1/2 and added 1 cup of Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips to one batch and 1 cup of Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips to the other batch)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Stir flour with baking soda and salt; set aside. Beat butter with sugar and brown sugar at medium speed until creamy. Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed until incorporated. Gradually blend dry mixture into creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips (remember...for the taste test, we cut the batch of cookie dough in half, then added 1 cup of each type of chocolate chip-milk or semi-sweet-to each batch. It eliminated the need to bake up two batches of the same dough). Drop by tablespoon onto ungreased (or parchment paper lined) cookie sheets.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.

If you are playing, be sure to keep each batch of cookie baked separate from the others.

Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Search

What recipe is the BEST?

The chocolate chip cookie is noted to be the most popular cookie. The most infamous is Nestle's, Toll-House chocolate chip cookie, which is what I usually bake. It got me thinking though. I've seen different variations of the recipe. Usually the variation highlights a company's product or ingredient to use (i.e. Hershey, Land O Lakes, Crisco etc.) within the recipe. This makes me a little suspect. So, I'm on a mission and need your help!

Please comment with or send me (cccookie@pressdough.com) your chocolate chip cookie recipe that you feel is the best. The only requirement is that the ingredients need to be somewhat mainstream and available at most grocer's markets. I'm up for anything, from healthy to sinful. Stay tuned because, after each recipe, I'll review the cookie using Nestle's Toll House cookie as my baseline. Each recipe will be critiqued using the following:

Texture: crispy or chewy, crunchy or soft
Chocolate factor (from 1 to 5, 1 being the least chocolatey)
Healthy or sinful (based on ingredients)
Yum scale (from 1 to 5, 1 being the least yummy, 5+ being off the charts YUMMY!)
Yuk scale - hopefully not, but I have to consider the possibility
Timeline - February 14th will be the announcement (if I get enough entries)
Neighborhood Review/focus group- Don't take my word for it, I'll be handing them out to my neighbors for their opinion.

On your mark, get set, go.....

Yuk or Yum? Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yum! Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Having a child on the spectrum with autism throws a parent into a sea of research and information. One such area is the gluten-free diet. My son has a very discerning taste and texture sensitivity, so this diet hasn't made its way into our house. Nonetheless, I am still a part of this community that strives to help their children through the use of the gluten-free diet.

Two years ago, I cut out this cookie recipe from Relish Magazine. Even then, I was curious and questioned if they could taste as good as regular toll-house cookies (which is my primary comparison). I have one rule. I will never give my child anything I have not tasted first. With that in mind, I set out to bake and test taste.

Recipe:
Step 1: Make gluten-free baking mix
2 1/3 cups chickpea flour (I used white rice flour, next time, I'll try chickpea flour)
2/3 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
3 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Combine all ingredients and store in an airtight container. You will have a little left over after using in recipe.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe:
1 cup canola oil
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/3 cups gluten-free baking mix (above recipe)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups chocolate chips (I used tropical sun gluten and dairy free)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper (easy cleanup). Combine oil and sugar in a large bowl, and beat on medium-high speed. Add eggs (one at a time) until creamy. Add vanilla. Reduce speed to low and gradually add baking mix, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chips. The mixture will have a play dough-y texture. It is a little more firm than regular cookie dough.
Drop a tablespoon of dough, 2 inches apart. A cookie scooper is great for uniformity. Press each drop to flatten slightly. This will shape the cookie nicely. Bake 10-12 minutes, cool on wire rack. Recipe states it makes 2 dozen, but my batch made about 3.

Information per cookie: 250 calories, 15g fat, 20 mg cholesterol, 3g protein, 29g carbohydrates, 2g fiber, 250mg sodium

Review: Yum... I thought these cookies were pretty good. Comparatively, I like toll house better, but I didn't feel like I was comparing apples to apples. These cookies have a different taste. It is still good, but did taste a little different. I was impressed with the texture. Each cookie rose nicely and was soft and chewy with a crispness around the edges. It worked well. I did notice that I felt some of the cookie sticking in my teeth afterwards. I'm not sure if that was due to the oil or not. It didn't stay for long, but definitely had a little residue.

The REAL Review (two children-4 years of age): I had a play date over for my 4 year old and gave them each a gluten-free chocolate chip cookie for a snack. They gobbled it up. Since then, the whole jar has disappeared. I know I have dipped my hand in more than a couple of times.

Concern: Only 1 - I am not so sure about the xanthum gum stuff. With its use, it produced a good cookie, but I have read some concerns over it being manufactured in China. Everything is processed to some degree, but the xanthum gum makes me wonder what is in it.

Tip: Shopping for some of the ingredients may take a little searching the first time around. Make a bee-line for your grocers health food area before running around the entire store. Whole Foods Markets and Trader Joes are also good choices when shopping for specific diet requirements, organic, or healthy foods.