Week 3 of the Great Choc Chip Cookie Research Project, and the game has been upped! A couple of people commented last week that they preferred crunchy to chewy, plus there seemed to be a leaning towards dark chocolate. I decided that this meant deviating from most of the standard choc chip recipes, which produce big, chewy, American style cookies. Instead, I hit on the idea of adding dark chocolate chips to a favourite chocolate cut-out cookie I've made several times, and which is both sturdy and crunchy as well as darkly chocolatey. I found the recipe by googling 'chocolate cut out cookie' when looking for birthday biscuits that Junior Bro could take to school with him one year, and it's the top pick - from all recipes and highly rated.
I actually prefer making cut-out cookies to drop ones. I like the rolling and the cutting, plus it gives me an opportunity to use some of my cookie cutter collection. Just dropping the mixture onto a baking sheet isn't quite the same, so I was pretty happy to go down this route. In fact, I made a batch of these cookies sans chocolate chips for The Scientist to take gaming last weekend (they got pigs and feet - an entirely logical combination, I felt). The recipe makes a pretty big batch so I'd frozen half, and mid-week I took the rest out, thawed it, and added some cut-up chocolate. Of course this made it quite hard to roll out, and in retrospect I should perhaps have rolled and cut first, and studded with chocolate afterwards - but no matter. I also sprinkled the leftover shards of chocolate from cutting up a big bar over the top for some extra chocolate crunch. I left them in the oven a tiny bit longer than I would have ideally liked and so was a little nervous about the reaction, but I needn't have worried. These were by FAR the most popular cookies so far. Comments included 'Hurrah - they're crunchy!', 'Crunchy - like a cookie should be!' and 'Yum - like crunchy'. I think I've found my colleagues' preferred consistency :) They scored a whopping average of 8.75, with two people giving them 10s. The Scientist was also a fan, and rated his 9 fresh from the oven.
The cookies in situ in the staff kitchenSo where to go now? With the crunch and dark chocolate a clear winner, should I abandon my plan to try a lot of different flavours and focus on mining the similar vein? I still have a few alternatives I'd like to try, but I think that I'll stick with the crunch for next week at least. I have a feeling that these double chocs may yet be the winners though...
Cookies in their feet and pig incarnationRating: 8.75/10
Recipe here
2 comments:
I think I would be the odd one out in your workplace - I like soft and chewy rather than crunchy - and I much prefer to drop spoonfuls of mixture than to roll out and cut out - but the idea of using fun cookie cutters does appeal - and the double choc combo sounds worth a try!
I actually agree with you when it's a choc chip or a raisin and oatmeal cookie - even though I prefer to make the roll-out ones! I've ordered the cookie book you recommended so can't wait to see what new ideas that brings!
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