cookie story
The recipe called for 3 and a half ounce mounds of cookie dough. That’s about 75 grams. A decent handful. I decided that was too much, and reduced it to 50 grams. They were still pretty enormous.
This is one 50gm ball, sitting on my iPhone. See how big? Huge.
(It took ages for the cookie dough to soften after being in the fridge – it was as hard as butter, not surprisingly. Eventually I used an icecream scoop and moulded them into balls, but I wonder if it would have been better to bring the batter to room temperature before trying to scoop it out? But then, wouldn’t they spread out even more during cooking? Not sure…)
The chocolate chips melted into the dough.
I think the recipe intended for them to keep their shape; I think perhaps I just used the wrong kind of chocolate.
They spread out a lot, more than I expected them to, especially as I’d put them into the oven as barely-flattened balls. They became quite thin, which is not my preference. I like thick, chunky cookies.
I made a few batches from the same dough, all the same size, but adjusting the cooking time. I can’t understand how you could cook these for 18-20 minutes without cremating them. And the less time I cooked them, the better they looked.
The kids ate them while still very warm.
So, the verdict?
They are delicious. They are too thin for my liking, but the flavour is pretty amazing. I used very good quality chocolate (Lindt, bittersweet, 58% couverture) but I have since found a bag of “bittersweet chocolate chips for cooking” from Costco, which I think will be much better in terms of keeping their shape.
The cookies have a light, crisp shell and are definitely soft and chewy in the middle – but again, too thin. I like my cookies to be much thicker and rounder, and this is what I’ll be hoping to achieve with the 48-hours batch.
The salt on top is absolutely divine. The kids were fairly unimpressed with the salt but I think it really brings out the flavour of the chocolate. My friend Ann agreed with me, so, the Defence rests.
I’ve made about a dozen, and I reckon I’ve got enough dough for two dozen more. I’m going to bake much smaller cookies (30gm) and will cook them for 10-12 minutes. I’ll let you know how they turn out.
I really shouldn’t be reading this post at the start of what was to be a “healthy eating” day! They look yummy!
Yes! Glad you are doing this very important research Trish! The photos are making me drool
I like thicker cookies too so keen to see how the next batch goes!
The lengths you’re willing to go to all in the name of research! Awesome!!