Well, everyone can go home now–we found the ultimate chocolate chip cookie baking guide. Can we stop arguing about Ferguson and Iraq now? Because that’s why everyone’s fighting, right? Instead, let’s debate if the best chocolate chip cookie is soft and chewy or ooegy-gooey. I mean, it IS a pretty serious subject.
OZY put together a “dream team” for this project: Kendra Nyberg, a bioengineering graduate student who teaches a class called “science and food,” and Tessa Arias, a cookie scientist and blogger. They also referenced Ted Talks and a website called Serious Eats. Notably missing from this team is me, because come on, I am in a serious relationship with chocolate. Also, where the hell was “cookie science” when I needed a science credit for my gen ed requirement?
The recipe they based their findings off of is the Nestlé Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, otherwise known as the Holy Grail. This is what the cookie scientists discovered:
“Ooey-gooey: Add 2 cups more flour.
A nice tan: Set the oven higher than 350 degrees (maybe 360). Caramelization, which gives cookies their nice brown tops, occurs above 356 degrees, says the Ted video.
Crispy with a soft center: Use 1/4 teaspoon baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda.
Chewy: Substitute bread flour for all-purpose flour. Just like store-bought: Trade the butter for shortening. Arias notes that this ups the texture but reduces some flavor; her suggestion is to use half butter and half shortening. Thick (and less crispy): freeze the batter for 30 to 60 minutes before baking. This solidifies the butter, which will spread less while baking.
Cakey: Use more baking soda because, according to Nyberg, it “releases carbon dioxide when heated, which makes cookies puff up.” Butterscotch flavored: Use 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar (instead of the same amount of combined granulated sugar and light brown sugar).
Uniformity: If looks count, add one ounce corn syrup and one ounce granulated sugar.
More. Just, more: Chilling the dough for at least 24 hours before baking deepens all the flavors, Arias found.”
Calm down, everyone. We can now bake perfect chocolate chip cookies every time. Nirvana has been reached and world peace is real. And it’s all in the name of chocolate chip cookies, of course.
[via OZY]
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Hakuna Moscato
Hakuna Moscato (@HakunaMoscato) is a contributing writer for Total Sorority Move. and Post Grad Problems. A born and raised Maryland girl, she's obsessed with the Baltimore Ravens, Old Bay, and anything that has the Maryland flag pattern on it. She's a newly retired student-athlete and sorority girl, but not quite ready to call herself an adult, especially since she still has to be carried out of bars. With a Long Island in hand, she's ready for whatever life is throwing her way. Maybe.
@HakunaMoscato
