Chocolate Chip Baking Week 2: Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies

No elements of thin and crispy in this cookie, I assure you! These cookies were chewy heaven and so soft, that the term ‘melt in mouth’ kind of took on a new meaning. Unlike the Mrs Field’s version of yesterday which had a crispy outer layer and chewy inner and didn’t win a placing (though it was delicious nonetheless), this cookie is:

Winner of the ‘Soft and Chewy’ category so far, kicking out the divine but no longer placed White Chocolate Macadamia Cookie
Thick and initially very puffy but without a ‘cakey’ texture so common in thick cookies – this was all chewy, soft puff which did deflate on cooling (an indent for Nutella in my case at one stage :))

Here are some comparisons I have made and significant things I have noticed which may have made this cookie the famed recipe it is today:

These were baked at a higher temperature comparing to the normal 180 or 160 degrees C – this means the edges would have been thinner and slightly crunchier and the middle puffy and just baked
It didn’t call for baking powder yet spread like a charm which I didn’t even flatten
Refrigeration: This recipe missed out this step but I was researching this famous cookie and the initial discoverer (ress?), a goddess to us baking fanatics, Mrs Ruth Wakefield, actually refrigerated the dough before baking the next day – it recommended for 24-36 hours and is a key part of chocolate chip cookies according to the New York Times

Did refrigeration make a real difference though? Yes, and that gave this cookie an edge which, no, did NOT beat my original chocolate chip cookie recipe which is still the favourite. Did it beat my first batch of cookies? Yes.
I believe the fridge really gave the cookies time to meld their various ingredients together – it certainly made for one of the tastiest doughs I have ever had the privilege to devour!

And a little extra thing to consider – in each cookie, I am omitting nuts (which is always an optional in any decent chocolate chip recipe) since I feel it takes away from the true choc-chip cookie flavour and am using dark brown sugar as that is my open option right now. I may, at some point, be using Christmas M&Ms or some coloured chocolate rocks to be a little more festive 😉