The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie
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I have been on the search for the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie for years. After each failure, I thought that the recipe I was using was bad and I would move on to a another one. My friend, Daniella, makes perfect cookies and she showed me what she does. I realized that most of the recipes I had tried were probably good, but I was not getting the fat to flour, and wet to dry ratios correct. I also didn't know how cookies should look when they come out of the oven. On top of all that, my oven thermometer was incorrect and that was also ruining my cookies.

Below are pictures and descriptions for each step, pictures and descriptions of problem cookies, and a printable version of the recipe at the end. Good luck!

Add both sugars and beat 2-3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat until fully incorporated.

Switch to a paddle attachment or mix by hand with a sturdy mixing spoon.  Add the chocolate chips and mix gently.  Adding them at this point evenly distributes them without overmixing the final dough.  Do not over-mix or it will discolor the dough.

Add the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated.  This is the point when you no longer see white spots of flour.  Do not overmix!

Touch test the dough.  It should feel slightly sticky, but not much should stick to your finger.  If it is very sticky add flour 2T (.5 oz) at a time.
If it is firm or dry, you have added too much flour and I don’t know a good way to reverse this. e this.

Using your hands, roll the dough into balls 1.5 inches tall. (For bigger cookies see instructions below).   Work quickly so you don’t overwork and heat the dough. If the dough is sticky and doesn't form a smooth looking ball, you will need more flour. If you have to force it into a ball, it has too much flour.  Place on an ungreased cookie sheet 3 inches apart. 

Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes or until firm.  You can hold the dough up to two days in the refrigerator or up to 6 months in the freezer.  To freeze, place the dough balls on a plate side by side cover and freeze at least an hour.  You can then bag them and they won’t be stuck together when you take them out.

As soon as you put the dough into the refrigerator, position the oven rack to the second highest setting. Preheat the oven to 375.  It takes most ovens much longer to preheat than when the oven tells you it’s ready.  I have an oven thermometer which is very helpful.  When my oven beeps telling me it’s ready, it’s usually 50-100 degrees too low.  It will ruin your cookies to bake them at the incorrect temperature.  My oven is also calibrated incorrectly.  I have to turn it to 415 degrees for it to actually be 375 degrees.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and bake 8-10 minutes.  They are ready to come out of the oven when they are domed and puffy, show few signs of browning and look a bit underdone.  If they cook faster than 8 minutes the oven is too hot or the cookies are too small.  If they take longer than 10 minutes the oven is too cool or the cookies are too big.

Leave the cookies on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes.  They continue to cook from the heat of the sheet. 

Remove them to a cooling rack so they will cool evenly.  They will continue to cook from  the heat of the cookie.

Wait ten minutes, then serve your Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie!

Bigger Cookies

It was interesting to make the cookies bigger. They exterior was cracked like in problem cookie #9 below, but they had a perfect interior. The texture and consistency are just about the same as the smaller ones, but they look quite different.

Roll a large piece of dough into a ball, then gently flatten the top and bottom into a thick disc shape about 1.5 inches tall. Each dough ball was 2.5 oz compared to 1.5 oz in the smaller cookies.
It is very important to flatten the top and bottom or it will not bake evenly. (See problem cookie #7.)

Bake 6 cookies per sheet for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on sheet for 2 minutes.

Remove them to a cooling rack and cool completely.

There are many variables in baking.  Pictured are cookies with various problems using the same dough (with flour adjustments in numbers 3 &4).
1.  This cookie is done just right. It is pictured to compare with the rest.
2.  This dough was not refrigerated.  It is still good but a little flatter than it should be.
3.  This dough contained too much flour and did not spread much at all. It is interesting to note that the dough looked identical to the correct dough, but was much stiffer and drier.
4.  This dough had too little flour.  It spread too much and didn’t bake evenly.
5.  This dough was over-mixed.  It had a poor color, baked flat and had a strange consistency.
6.  This dough was formed too small.  It was overcooked at eight minutes. It is fine to make smaller cookies, just bake them for less time.
7.  This dough was formed too large.  The outsides were done while the middle was too high and underdone.
8.  This dough was baked in an oven 25 degrees too hot.  The outside was overdone and the inside was slightly underdone.
9.  This dough was baked in an oven 25 degrees too cool.  It fell flat and became too crisp without much of an inside.
10.  This dough was frozen when baked.  It took longer to bake and didn’t cook as evenly.

  

The Problem with Measuring Cups

In these cookies I measured the shortening in a measuring cup rather than by a scale or by the package (Crisco sticks). When I later weighed how much shortening my 1/2 c measuring cups holds it was 1 oz too much. I have another 1/2 cup that measures 1 oz too little. As you can see the cookies baked flat and they tasted bad.

This could've been avoided had I used the same measuring cup each time or the more accurate way would've been to use crisco sticks every time instead of measuring cups.

The most accurate method is to weigh your ingredients. You will get consistent results each time.

The Problem with Flour

A lot of flour can be packed into a measuring cup of flour. One cup of flour is typically considered to be 4.5 oz. I ran a little test to weigh the differences in scooping flour.
I used the same measuring cup and the same bucket of flour. I put the measuring cup in, scooped out the flour, then leveled it with a knife. Here are the results:

Scoop #1: 5.4 oz
Scoop #2: 4.6 oz
Scoop #3: 5.5 oz
Scoop #4: 4.7 oz

The differences are in how hard I scooped the flour. I used a heavy hand in #3, and scooped lightly in #2. There was almost a full ounce difference in flour between the two. This will make of break your cookies.

Don't worry if they don't turn out. Write down exactly what you did and decide what you need to change the next time. Try it again soon so it is fresh in your memory.