The Great Cookie Quest!!! Or GCQ as my family calls it.

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#1

Hi folks,

I posted in the introduction form and one of the things I mentioned is my never ending quest to make a choc chip cookie that my Grandmother made for us.

Let me tell you what I can remember about the baking process.

The cookies she made would be thick but would crumble in your mouth very delicately. I don’t think she used butter, I think it was shortening and probably a shortening that included or was exclusively animal based.

The color of the cookies was very light tan, they were not a golden color at all. I don’t think brown sugar played a part in it but it may have. The cookies did not taste of molasses like brown sugar does to me.

I have replaced my electric stove with a gas stove since that is what she used.
I do know she used baking soda, not powder, in the mix.

Can anyone give me directions to a chocolate chip cookie recipe that makes a thick, crumbly-tender, pale tan, and very light cookie?

I am trying today and will get some cake flour and Mrs. Tuckers shortening.

Wish me luck and I thank all of you for taking the time to read and respond.

Best wishes,
Parrott_head

#3

Pshaw~The GCQ may be doomed, unless ya’ can find 1cup of Grandma’s love to add.
Sorry, but I don’t really ever make cookies or sweets.
Good luck though…

#4

Yes, my Grandmother love was a factor in it I’m sure. I’m going to try the animal shortening. I know she did not use lard, I would have remembered that since that would have been the only time I would have seen lard used before.

Maybe she used a bit more soda.

#6

Hi Parrot. Choc chip cookies are a favorite here as in all over the world!

I follow the basic Nestle Toll house choc. chip recipe BUT…I’ve made a few important changes along the way.

I use 1/2 real butter (no substitution) AND 1/2 Crisco shortening

I do use the white sugar and brown sugar as stated BUT only light brown sugar, not dark

I prefer unbleached regular flour, not cake flour

This is the part that has really made a difference:

After mixing all ingredients, refrigerate for 1 or 2 hours, covered.  Then make large (about golf ball size) dough balls.  Break the cookie ball down the center & fit the 2 smooth sides together, leaving the craggy ends on the top.  Bake one sample cookie, if too flat, add more flour & bake another until you have the perfect cookie.  Sure it takes time doing all those samples but is well worth it.  I also make several batches of dough at a time, then separate into manageable portions, wrap in wax paper, then into plastic bags & store in the freezer.

I’ve found it hard to make the perfect ‘small’ cookie, you really need to use a good size dough ball. Bake on parchment paper covered sheets and DO NOT OVER BAKE! There is always that carry over cookie time when they rest on the sheets before removing to a cooling rack. Remove from the oven just when edges are firm to the touch, they’ll finish on the hot baking sheets.
Never bake cookies on hot cookie sheets, they will spread.

Depending on where you live, altitude could play a factor. The recipe might need adjustment to allow for it.

We prefer the chips to be a combo of dark chocolate & milk chocolate rather than the semi-sweet, but that’s just us, it gives an added dimension of flavor. I also use pure vanilla extract, costs a bit more but makes a difference.

Good Luck, hope some of these hints helped.

Good luck!

#7

Nestle’s Toll House Cookies recipe from 1940

“How to make famous Toll House cookies.
From the famous Toll House Inn at
Whitman, Massachusetts, comes this
recipe for cookies that are taking
the country by storm. You never tasted
such a heavenly combination of flavors…
each bite with a delicious morsel of
Nestle’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate and a
nugget of walnut meat in it. And it’s
so easy if you follow this tested recipe.
Try it tomorrow.”

1 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, beaten whole
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon hot water
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped nuts
2 Nestle’s Semi-Sweet Economy Bars (7-oz each)
1 teaspoon vanilla

“Important: Cut the Nestles’s Semi-Sweet in
pieces the size of a pea. Cream butter and
add sugars and beaten egg. Dissolve soda in
the hot water and mix alternately with the
flour sifted with salt. Lastly add the
chopped nuts and the pieces of semi-sweet
chocolate. Flavor with the vanilla and drop
half teaspoons on a greased cookie sheet.
Bake 10 to 12 minutes in a 375-F oven.
Makes 100 cookies.”

Source: Nestle’s ad in the Milwaukee Journal, May 21, 1940

“Chocolate Chips” had not yet been marketed. You had to chop up a
Nestle’s Semi-Sweet 7-oz Chocolate Bar into bits for the cookies.

#8

To be a bit pedantic . Although we think of them as vegetables, botanically zucchini and pumpkins are fruits. If it has seeds it’s a fruit not a vegetable.

#9

I have been tweeking this recipe for a long time…my husband says that it’s perfect now. I don’t know if this is what you are looking for because they don’t crumble when you bite them but I think they fit the rest of your criteria.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

4- ounce stick of salted butter
7- ounces shortening
1- pound brown sugar
4- ounces white sugar
1/4- cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons vanilla
1 whole large egg
2 large egg yolks

1 pound + 2 ounces bread flour
2 teaspoons salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
8 ounces finely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 325°

In a large mixer bowl, on medium speed, cream butter, shortening and sugars until very light and fluffy…about 5 minutes. Add the rest of the liquids one at a time and beat well after each.

In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients and stir well to distribute the ingredients.

A little at a time, mix the dry ingredients into the sugar mixture. When all the dry ingredients have been incorporated, add the nuts and chocolate chips; by this time your mixer bowl may be full so you may have to stir them in by hand.

Using an ice cream scoop make dough balls, 2 ounces each and place 6 balls on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake for 18 minutes.

Cool cookies on a cooling rack by sliding the parchment paper off the cookie sheet onto the rack.

Store in airtight container.
Makes 40 cookies