The Chocolate Chip Cookie Challenge

I don't know anyone who doesn't like chocolate chip cookies. Of all baked treats, its as synonymous with American cuisine as the hamburger. I even read somewhere on the web that it represents half of all the cookies baked in American households. Hence there are countless debates about what constitutes the best chocolate chip cookie - chewy or crispy, large or small, milk/bittersweet/dark chocolate, with or without nuts, from scratch or using Tollhouse cookie dough. Last year the New York Times took this debate to another level by claiming that no matter what's in it, chocolate chip cookies taste best when the dough is refrigerated for 36 hours prior to baking. For many, leaving cookie dough in the fridge for that long is a near impossible task. I wanted to do something a little different with my baking and decided I was up for the challenge and put this claim to the test. I also took it one step further and used to chocolate chip cookie recipes that are all the buzz in the blogosphere by two master bakers - Martha Stewart and Dorie Greenspan.

Omitting the nuts from Greenspan's recipe, both recipes were damn near identical. They called for the same amounts of chocolate, salt, eggs, butter and vanilla. And both recipes called for varying amounts of flour, baking soda, granulated sugar and brown sugar. After mixing up the batters I baked a few from each to get a sense of what they tasted like. I then put them remaining batters into two bowls (one for each recipe), covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for 36 hours, as suggested in the article. (I felt like the mad scientist doing this experiment)

THE RESULTS - Pictured Above are Stewart (left) and Greenspan (right) Cookies

First off, HANDS DOWN - cookie dough must be refrigerated before baking. Aside from the fact that it will keep cookies from over spreading and help them keep their shape, the flavor in the cookies I made with refrigerated dough was incredible. The flavors were deeper and more developed; richer but not overpowering. After this, I wouldn't consider making cookies without refrigerating the dough ahead of time.

As for who had the better cookie - that depends on how you like them. Although I'm nuts over nuts, I preferred Stewart's nutless cookies. Hers was a more traditional chocolate chip cookie and although I wouldn't call it chewy, the cookie's center had a bit of give. Greenspan's cookies were more complex in flavor and texture (because of the walnuts) but turned crisp soon after taking them out of the oven. I tested them among several folks in the office (I actually had a little party form around my desk that afternoon). Overwhelmingly, they thought Stewart's cookie was the better of the two. Those who chose Greenspan's did so because they prefer crunchy cookies.

Make these for yourselves and pick your favorite.

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

from: Martha Stewart’s Cookies

Yield: About 3 Dozen

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted but­ter, room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon coarse salt

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 cups semisweet or milk chocolate chips, or a combi­nation (about 12 ounces)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour and baking soda in a bowl. Put butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add salt, vanilla and eggs; mix until well blended, about 1 minute. Mix in flour mix­ture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake cookies, ro­tating sheets halfway through until edges turn golden but centers are still soft, 10-12 minutes (if you refrigerated your dough, increase this by 4-6 minutes). Let cool on sheets on wire racks for 2 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool completely. Cookies can be stored between layers ­of parchment in airtight containers at room temperature up to 1 week.­

My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

from: Baking - My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Yield: About 3 Dozen

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar

2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs

12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or 2 cups store-bought chocolate chips or chunks

1 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats. Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed for about 1 minute, until smooth. Add the sugars and beat for another 2 minutes or so, until well-blended. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each egg goes in. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients in 3 portions, mixing only until each addition is incorporated. On low speed, or by hand with a rubber spatula, mix in the chocolate and nuts. (The dough can be covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days, or frozen. If you'd like, rounded tablespoonfuls of dough, ready for baking. Freeze the mounds on a lined baking sheet, then bag them when they're solid. There's no need to defrost the dough before baking-just add another minute or two to the baking time.) Spoon the dough by slightly rounded tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between spoonfuls. Bake the cookies- one sheet at a time and rotating the sheet at the midway point- for 10-12 minutes, or until they are brown at the edges and golden in the center; they may still be a little soft in the middle, and that's just fine. Pull the sheet from the oven and allow the cookies to rest for 1 minute, then carefully, using a wide metal spatula, transfer them to racks to cool to room temperature. Repeat with the remainder of the dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.