I've never been very good with baking cookies, especially any kind within the chocolate chip cookie family, including classic chocolate chip, white chocolate with some nut variety, and oatmeal. I think these are called drop cookies, and according to every cookbook I have, these are supposed to be the easiest kind to make and the most forgiving in terms of recipe precision.
But for some reason, I've never been able to find a recipe that comes out the way I expect. Alright, so what I really mean is that I haven't yet found a recipe that's Sarah-proof. My cookies always come out one extreme or the other: too pouffy, which recipes term cake-like, but I prefer to accuse of being "bread-like" and dough-y; or too flat and thin, which ends up looking like a mutant chocolate chip tuile. When a cookie is intended to be a tuile, it's delicately paper-thin and deliciously crisp. When a cookie is intended to be a moist and chewy choco-ooze, and it comes out dry and crispy, well, that's just not right.
Knowing full-well how inept I am at baking, still I try.I mean, we're deep into the Holidays, right? Who doesn't bake during the Holidays, right? Yet again, I spent three or four hours researching cookie recipes and stitched together a bunch of recipes to come up with my own ultimate cranberry white chocolate chunk cookies. They didn't come out too badly, and everyone in my family said they loved them, but the cookies were leaning slightly more toward the thin/crisp end of the drop cookie spectrum. Now see, if I were a real pastry chef, I'd know exactly how much of this and that to add and subtract next time to bring the cookies back toward pouffy.
tags :: food : and drink : cooking : baking : events : imbb : shf
Nick says
Sarah - I made up some White Chocolate Chipotle Cookies that you may want to try out. Admittedly, cookies are not my specialty either but these came out very well. The recipe in question can be found here
sarah says
hmmm...white chocolate and chipotle...that's quite a combination, nick! i don't know if i'm brave enough for that yet ;)
Mona says
wow..chipotle? i guess you can't judge a cookie by its pic then huh? because just by the look of those pictures those cookies look every ounce of perfection. sorry they weren't what you hoped. i wish i had some advice but like you i always seem to think i coulda woulda shoulda when it comes to cookies. they're too buttery or too dry, too chewy or too crisp, too gooey or too cooked :)
Ira says
Sarah- if you haven't already you should start a poll for the hottest guys on Food Network. I vote for Dave Leiberman!
U says
Personally, I think that medicine is more cooking than baking, so maybe you should think about the MCATs. You're right in that you don't want your patients to end up too poufy or too flat, though.
I think your cookie baking problem is that your standards are too high. Have you tried bread? It's wild.
Cate says
ira - Dave's a cutie, but the constant raising himself on his toes when he gets excited drives me nuts! :)
Sarah - how 'bout a recipe? They look delicious!
sarah says
ew.
dave lieberman annoys me ALMOST as much as rachael ray annoys me. LOL!
tyler florence is hot. tony bourdain is hot. i kinda think michael chiarello is cute, too. :)
Xavier says
looks like you were going for chocolate chip cookie base. May I suggest using cake flour and baking powder to lighten the 'load' and give you the softer cookie you're looking for. Also, the 'dreaded' butter-flavored shortening might also help out. Other tips for more consistent results are having all the ingredients at the same temp., using melted butter/shortening, substituting light brown for regular sugar (it's the molasses) and making sure the cookie sheet is completely cool before reusing it. Just a few long-winded thoughts.
hermz says
omg, no way. A few years ago I did exactly this... I combined a few recipes to make, yes, cranberry white chocolate cookies. I soaked the cranberries in Chambord overnight. People raved.