Monday, August 17, 2015

Nestle Toll House Cookies

A friend of mine was asking me today about Toll House cookies and me in my usual, very honest way about cookies admitted that I think it's one of the worst recipes--it comes out sometimes and other times it doesn't come out at all.  I've found this multiple times when I've tried the recipe over the years and I've heard it from others too!  Most of the time everyone seems to think it's them that's the problem--not the recipe.

I think it's the recipe that's the problem.

Recently, though, my daughter Sami was working on a regions report and her project for the Northeast US was to make a regional food.  She picked Tollhouse cookies over a fluffer nutter sandwich...

Thankfully, we found a recipe that actually worked for us!  It's on the blog, Itsalwaysautumn.com.  If you click on the name of the blog, it should take you to the blog post that has a download link for a fun printable version of the recipe for kids.  I compared it to the recipe on the back of the bag and the only difference is the distribution between brown and white sugar.

There are a couple of other things that I think help make a successful cookie.

1) I don't soften butter unless a recipe specifically says so.  All of my cookie recipes, minus one, just call for butter.

2) Cream the butter and sugars together until there NO lumps.

3) I use half size bun pan cookie sheets for my cookie sheets with half of sheet of parchment.  Every few years, I order a box from Webstaurantstore.com.




The quilon parchment paper can withstand temps up to 425, which is fine for every cookie I make and biscuits.  A box usually costs about $35-$40 for 1000 sheets (which can be torn in half to cover 2 bun pans).  I usually divide the box up among a few friends.  It does take me several years to go through a box (3-4 yr), but the cost savings is worth it because 1 roll of Reynolds parchment paper is equivalent to 30 pieces (or 15 full size pieces).  A roll of Reynolds paper cost about $4.50 at Target the last time I checked.  So, 100 sheets from the box cost the same as 15 sheets from the roll.  

4) Use a kitchenaid mixer.  It makes cookie making so much easier!  Kohl's is the best place to get one around Christmas time--combining coupons can make them a much less daunting purchase.



1 comment:

  1. My absolute favorite cc cookie recipe is from The America's test Kitchen cookbook. It is for giant chewy cookies, but I make regular size cookies instead. I only set the oven to 325 and use parchment paper and only bake them for 12-13 minutes. They come out perfect every time. I concur with creaming the butter and sugar until there are no lumps. This recipe calls for melting and then cooling the butter. I usually melt it in a glass bowl in the microwave until it is about 2/3 melted then stir it together using the heat of the bowl to melt the rest of the butter. It cools off much more quickly that way.

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