The Art of Cookies
How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies
By
Lisa Christian
LTEC 4160
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History of the Cookie
The first cookies were created by accident. Cooks used a small amount
of cake batter to test their oven temperature before baking a large cake.
Originally called "little cakes," cookies are made with sweet dough or
batter, baked in single-sized servings and eaten out-of-hand. Perfect for
snacking or as dessert, cookies are consumed in 95.2 percent of U.S.
households. Americans alone consume over 2 billion cookies a year, or
300 cookies for each person annually.
Sometime in the 1930s, so the story goes, a Massachusetts innkeeper,
Ruth Wakefield, ran out of nuts while making cookies. Therefore, she
substituted a bar of baking chocolate, breaking it into pieces and
adding the chunks of chocolate to the flour, butter and brown sugar
dough. The Toll House Cookie, so named after the inn in which it was
served, was a hit.
Why Cookies?
Cookies are easy to make even for an
inexperienced baker or children.
Most ingredients you keep on hand in your
pantry at all times.
Quick to prepare.
Delicious!
Basic Cookie Information
The types of sugars, oils or fats will substantially effect the
texture, softness, and taste of the over all cookie product.
Cookies are most often classified by method of preparation
- drop, molded, pressed, refrigerated, bar and rolled.
Their dominant ingredient, such as nut cookies, fruit
cookies or chocolate cookies, can also classify them.
Cookies can also be found as low-fat, sugar-free, and
gluten-free as America’s need for new and different types
of cookies expand.
Cookie Types
Drop Cookies – cookies that are formed by dropping
chucks of dough onto a cookie sheet.
Filled Cookies – cookies that are baked with something
added to the center, typically a jam or jelly.
Bar Cookies – Cookie dough that is all baked in a pan at
the same time, cooled and typically cut into bar shapes.
Rolled Cookies – cookies that are rolled out on a flat
surface and shapes are cut out of the dough.
These are just a few of the more popular types of cookies.
There are many different types of cookies available today.
Cookie Add ins
Add in ingredients change the basic cookie into
many different flavors and textures.
Some common add in ingredients include:
Nuts – cashews, pecans, peanuts, macadamia nuts.
Candy – M&Ms, Reese’s chips or pieces, chocolate
chips, butterscotch chips, or toffee bits.
Fruits – Raisins, cherries, orange or lemon juices, or
cranberries.
Cookie Suggestions
***Consider mixing up batches
of cookies in advance. ***
Form the cookies on a cookie sheet and freeze
until solid. Store froze cookies in a plastic
bag. Keep them frozen until you are ready
to use them. No thawing is required.
Cookie Suggestions (cont.)
***Consider mixing a double batch.***
If you are taking the time to make a batch of cookies,
double the recipe and save the extra cookie dough.
If you do not have time to form into individual
dough and freeze as noted above, form the extra
dough into multiple logs and roll up with wax
paper. Store the logs together in a plastic bag.
Write the cooking instructions on the outside of the
plastic bag with a permanent marker. When ready
to bake, take out one log and slice into equal
chunks and place on cookie sheet. No thawing
required.
Cookie Suggestions (cont.)
***Consider a bar cookie***
There is no forming, rolling or cutting and the dough
is baked all at once.
Bar cookies can be baked in an aluminum foil pan,
cooled and then frozen pan and all.
If you don’t have an aluminum foil pan, line a baking
pan with enough aluminum foil to come up and
over the edges. Fill and bake. When cooled, lift
out of baking pan, wrap and freeze.
When ready to eat, thaw and enjoy.
Equipment
Measuring Cups and
Measuring Spoons
Mixing Bowls
Whisk, Spoons or Cookie
Scoop, and Spatula
Cookie Sheets or Baking
Pans
Parchment Paper
Cooling Rack or Wax
Paper
Ingredients - Tips
Read over recipe well and make sure that you
understand what you need before beginning.
Buy the best ingredients you can find. It will
make a difference in the taste of your final
product.
Only real butter gives a true buttery flavor to your
baking. Margarine will work but will not taste as
good. Never substitute shortening for butter! If
using salted butter in a recipe, omit the salt or do
not add as much as called for.
Ingredients – Tips (continued)
Most recipes assume you are using large
eggs and are generally tested with large.
Use only real vanilla extract if available.
Imitation vanilla flavoring will work, but
again, will not taste as good.
Chocolate Chips
Quality is essential to your cookies taste.
Choose a brand that taste good straight out of the
bag.
Make sure you know what type of chocolate you
need for your cookies. Unsweetened and
bittersweet chocolate add an intense richness but
are what their names imply. Semisweet chocolate
on the other hand is a mellow and sweet flavor.
Beware of inexpensive chocolate, as a low price
can be an indication of poor quality.
NEVER use imitation chocolate!
Getting Started…
Blue-Ribbon Chocolate Chip Cookies - Ingredients
2 ½ c. all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. Salt
1 c. (packed) dark brown sugar
½ c. granulated white sugar
2 sticks (or 1 cup) salted butter, softened
2 large eggs
2 tsp. Vanilla extract
12 oz. (or about 2 cups) Semisweet chocolate chips
Oven
Wash your hands.
o
Preheat the oven to 300 F.
Make sure to preheat the oven for at least 15 minutes prior
to cooking your first batch of cookies to assure correct and
even temperature has been reached within the oven.
Make sure there is nothing in the oven prior to turning it
on.
If in doubt of your oven temperature, a oven thermometer
should be used to verify if the oven is true.
For even baking, your oven should be level in all
directions.
Mixing the Dry Ingredients
Select a medium size
bowl.
Add to the bowl:
2 ½ c. of all-purpose
flour
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
Mix well with wire
whisk. Set aside.
The Next Step
Select a large bowl.
Add to bowl:
1 c. (packed) dark
brown sugar
½ c. granulated white
sugar
Blend sugars with an
electric mixer at
medium speed.
Cream That BUTTER!!!
Add 2 sticks or 1 c. of
softened salted
butter.
Blend with sugar until
a grainy paste is
formed. Scrap down
the sides of the bowl
with a spatula.
Wet Ingredients
Into the creamed
butter/sugar mixture add:
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Mix at medium speed until
just blended. Do not
overmix as you do not
want to add extra air to the
mix at this point.
Where Did I Put The Dry
Ingredients??
Find the dry ingredients
you set aside earlier.
Add the flour mixture and
12 oz. Chocolate Chips to
the bowl of wet
ingredients.
Blend at low speed until
just barely mixed. Do not
overmix! This can cause
your cookies to become
chewy or hard.
Cookie Sheets
Using two cookie sheets is preferred so that as one
sheet of cookies are baking you can spoon more
onto the other cookie sheet to maximize
production.
Cookies do not require a greased cookie sheet as
the amount of fats (typically butter) helps them not
to stick. However, I would highly recommend the
use of parchment paper. This will assure that the
cookies do not stick and make clean up a snap!
Lets Get Cookin’
Take two tablespoon or a
cookie scoop and use them
to drop the dough by
rounded tablespoons, 2
inches apart, onto an
cookie sheet covered with
parchment paper. This
spacing is essential as the
cookies will spread as they
bake.
I Can Smell Them Now!
Bake cookies 18 to 22
minutes or until
golden brown.
Transfer cookies
immediately to a cool
surface with a spatula.
A wire cooling rack or
a counter covered in
wax paper works well.
Cooling Cookies
Cookies should be
completely cooled
before eating so as not
to completely burn the
roof of your mouth
with a hot chocolate
chip, however,
cookies are extremely
tasty hot and therefore
are generally worth
the risk.
Cookies’ Best Friend
Milk is the best
accompaniment to
cookies!
Beware of milk
mustache!
Storing
Once completely cooled, cookies should be
kept in an airtight container. They will stay
chewier and won’t absorb unwanted aromas
or flavors.
Cookies, brownies and bars will be good for
up to six months in the freezer, as long as
they are sealed in plastic bags.
Shipping
Cookies are one of the best baked good to ship. They are
compact, easy to pack, and do not require a lot of extra
packing materials to make sure they arrive at their
destination as cookies and not crumbs.
Keep in mind that cookies with frosting or excess
decorations are generally ones that you would avoid when
deciding which cookies to make to ship.
Take two completely cooled cookies and place them
bottom-to-bottom. Wrap in plastic wrap. Repeat this until
all cookies are done. Stack securely in a tin or plastic
container to help with shipping. Place in box with packing
to insure the cookie container has as little movement as
possible.
I Just Can’t Stop Making
Cookies!!
If you have found your calling in cookies
and have more cookie dough than your
freezer can handle, consider having a fund
raising bake sale for your favorite charity.
Everyone loves cookies and you will be
helping your community at the same time!
References
1
2
History excepts from:
http://www.kitchenproject.com/history/cookies.htm
Recipe from:
Mrs. Fields Best Ever Cookie Book, by Debbi Fields and
the Editors of Time-Life Books, 1998
3
All pictures in this presentation were taken by Lisa
Christian, March 2010, used with permission