comparison

Now, in general, I'm a cake kinda girl, but cookies run a close second. In particular, chocolate chip cookies are the staple and my go-to when I need to feed a batch of teenagers Tuesday nights. The recipe I use is a combination of secret recipes, so that makes it super secret. I could tell you, but then I'd have to... well, no. I probably wouldn't do that. What I can tell you is my standard recipe uses Crisco--not butter.

Why am I telling you this? Because the latest issue of Cook's Illustrated has a 'perfect chocolate chip cookie' recipe and I decided to give it a whirl. They improved on the Toll House recipe, though they say the best chocolate chips to use are Ghiradelli... Anyway, for this to be a true taste test, I had to make both recipes and compare them side by side.

Note: the new recipe is always on top in the photos.


Yep, that's a lot of cookies.

So one difference is the 'new' recipe has you mix everything by hand and my 'original' uses a mixer. The other difference is I browned the butter for the new one, which gives it a caramelized flavor and color.

The teens gave mixed reviews of the cookies, so I can't say I'll change to the new recipe exclusively from now on, but the flavor won out for sure with the new ones. The texture of the original ones kept them in the running (even though I didn't add enough flour, which I realized too late...).

From my POV, the original recipe is easier to whip up in a hurry, not to mention they might stay soft longer than the butter based recipe (unfortunately, I can't give you scientific results on this... the final products didn't last too long). But when I need to wow people or chocolate chip cookies are planned...