Cookieology
Cookies have been flowing from my kitchen for the past week. My co-workers and the boyfriend's co-workers are beginning to be dependent upon this bounty. I have been fiddling and adjusting, and just trying to make a damn good cookie. The experiments have not been extremely different, but merely variations on a theme. The Tollhouse theme. It is a time-honored recipe for me having been the only cookie recipe I have ever used since I was tiny.
The first of the experiments was the classic chocolate chip. Following the directions exactly, they produced quite tasty cookies. A bit chewy, full of butter and chocolate. The next batch I added a bit of baking powder. Much the same I have to say. The next was white chocolate chip and macadamia nut. The original recipe is 3/4 c. brown sugar and 3/4 c. white sugar. Since white chocolate is such a delicate flavor, I was concerned about the brown sugar overwhelming the cookie. So I used 1/2 c. brown sugar and 1 c. white sugar. Turned out pretty well. They are really not one of my favorite cookies, and I thought they were way too sweet. Despite this, they were very well received by the co-workers. May not be my favorite kind of cookie, but people seem to love them.
The final batch was a nod to my mother's baking habits. She would always insist on decreasing the butter to cut back on the fat in the cookies, and doing so leads to my favorite cookie. The butter was decreased by 25% and made for a much lighter cake-like cookie. I chilled the dough well before portioning, so they stayed tall and fluffy. Into these I dumped the remaining bits of the white chocolate, macadamia nuts, and semi-sweet chips I had left. A co-worker dubbed them Hodge Podge Cookies. I like it. It works well for me.
Next I will be branching out into the world of Alton Brown and the chewy cookies. I believe he melts the butter first, and has a slightly different recipe. We shall see.