Before I joined Tuesdays with Dorie, I baked chocolate chip cookies a couple times a month. They were my standard weeknight dessert; I’d eat dinner early and then by the time I was ready to drink my evening tea, I was hungry for a dessert, and a cookie or two was just the right portion. When I saw Dave on the weekend (before we were married and living together), I’d give him whatever cookies I hadn’t eaten. He’d usually eat the rest of the batch in one evening.
That was before I was experimenting with chocolate chip cookie recipes, so I stuck with the Tollhouse recipe back then. I did find, however, that I liked the cookies better if I added an extra quarter cup of flour to the recipe, which made the cookies taller, drier (less greasy), and more cakey.
Dorie’s favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe goes in the opposite direction, reducing the flour from the Tollhouse recipe. I knew that wasn’t my preference, but I stayed true to the recipe anyway – I’m familiar with the results of the recipe with more flour, but I didn’t know precisely what the cookies would be like with Dorie’s exact recipe.
They were what I expected, but even flatter. I had frozen the balls of dough early in the week and then baked them straight from the freezer, which I thought would reduce the spreading and result in taller cookies, but they were nearly paper thin. I did like their texture – crisp at the edges with soft, slightly chewy centers.
Everyone has their own opinion of what the perfect chocolate chip cookie is. This was good, but it wasn’t quite what I look for in a chocolate chip cookie. If your ideal is closer to Dorie’s than mine is, Kait has the recipe posted.
I pretty much felt the same way. Good flavor and texture, but too flat for my liking.
I agree, I definitely like my cookies fluffier and cakier!
I’m with you… I like fluffy, soft cookies. Your pictures are lovely though!
Agreed. These definitely weren’t a favorite here either but my husband gladly ate them. We prefer thicker, more chewy cookies!
Ha, now this is funny, because your cookies look like *my* ideal, but when I did the recipe I turned out with something much thicker. Need to figure out how to get more in your direction with that thin cripsy cookie!
We moved to a high-altitude state about 6 months ago, so I had to adjust my ccc recipe to compensate. Mine looked just like those in your picture (against my will) the first couple times, but I finally figured out that if I substituted about 1 c of quick oats (blended until fine) for 1 c of flour, they wouldn’t get so flat, but they would still be chewy in the middle. I guess they are kind of a middle ground between your recipe and TWD.
I agree with you- thin isn’t my favorite type. Yours look great, though!
I agree, I’m not a fan of the flat cookie. I made these a few months ago and while I liked the flavor, I wanted a thicker, chewier cookie. My new favorite recipe is Alton Brown’s The Chewy.
I’m with you…I like a taller cookie. Yours look great, but thin like mine. 🙂
I haven’t tried Dorie’s recipe for these chocolate chip cookies, but I had Dorie’s cookie last week, when she had the pop up cookie bar in New York. They were good but I did not fall in love with them either!
Oh man, I like my cookies 3-dimensional and the Tollhouse does occasionally do that to me 🙁 Yay for flour!! 🙂
hopefully they were still gobbled up! funny how everyone’s expereinces are a little different. i froze mine, too, and not much spreading…i got a pretty typical-looking cookie. but i wonder if i make them again, if they’ll be different.
They look great even if they weren’t your favorite! I enjoyed them and so did my family!
I’m in your camp – but it is always fun to experiment – you just never know. And you discover things along the way.
I LOVE the Toll House recipe and similar to your idea of adding more flour, I actually cut the butter in half. I makes the chewiesty, puffy cookies with the little crackles in the tops. And I like to distribulte the chocolate more evenly with mini chips instead.
After all my experimentation, even I keep coming back to the TollHouse! I hate flat crunchy cookies!