Everyone, it seems, is always trying to find the absolute “best” chocolate chip cookie recipe. There are of possibilities out there. Some people insist that the balance of brown to white sugar needs to be just so. Others swear by recipes that use vegetable oil instead of butter as a way to keep cookies soft.
I will admit that over the years, I have tried lots of these “new and improved” recipes, but in the end, I always come back to the original old standard that is printed right on the back of the Nestle bag. Why? Because while other recipes may guarantee a cookie that will stay soft in the cookie jar for a longer period of time, none of the others that I’ve tried compare when it comes to taste. Fresh out of the oven, the Nestle recipe still has the best flavor. And if mixed properly they turn out to be as soft and chewy as you could want.
How do you mix a perfect Toll House cookie? First, take the time to bring all of your ingredients to room temperature. Use real butter. Yes, you can taste the difference and it makes all the difference in the world. When you do start the mixing, this recipe says to beat the butter and sugar until “creamy.” That means you need to beat it a good, long time until it’s fluffy in appearance and when you rub a bit between your fingers, most of the gritty feeling of the sugar should be gone. Then, when adding your flour mixture, blend it in just until the flour is well distributed and then stop mixing. Don’t overbeat the batter once you’ve added the flour. And don’t overbake the cookies either. Pull them out of the oven while they are still soft in the center. I’m sure there are scientific explanations as to why this will all lead to a nice tall, chewy and soft cookie. I only know that these methods work.
A final tip:Refrigerate your dough overnight or longer. Because there are only two of us, I often mix up a batch of dough and bake just a dozen cookies at a time to fill our cookie jar, refrigerating the remaining dough for another day. When I go back and bake that leftover dough, straight from the fridge, the resulting cookies are always thicker and chewier than the first batch.
The Original Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
- 1 cup chopped nuts
Preheat oven to 375° F.
Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
FOR HIGH ALTITUDE BAKING (5,200 feet): Increase flour to 2 1/2 cups. Add 2 teaspoons water with flour and reduce both granulated sugar and brown sugar to 2/3 cup each. Bake drop cookies for 8 to 10 minutes and pan cookie for 17 to 19 minutes.
From Nestle’s verybestbaking.com website
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