The Great Choc-Chip Cookie Comp: my OWN

We did it. The final recipe before the FINAL taste test.

Rather than reviewing a recipe, I decided to switch it up this time. I took all of the knowledge I’ve acquired over this experiment and created my OWN recipe. That’s right, this time, we’re reviewing my own!

I got a bit technical for this. I did extensive research as to what each cookie ingredient does to affect the taste, texture, etc., compared my favorite recipes to each other, and made judgment calls from there. I could get into the nitty gritty of it, but if you aren’t a food nerd like me, you may not be quite as interested.

So let me just tell you what I put in it and why!

Butter: I decided to use 1.5 sticks of butter. Too much makes it a bit too greasy, but too little is NEVER a good thing. Butter is the FOUNDATION of every cookie and deserves to make its presence known.

Granulated Sugar: This is basically just sweetness, not too much extra flavor. I went for 2/3 cup, a little less than my favorite recipes. 

Brown Sugar: I did 1 cup packed brown sugar; the molasses in the brown sugar adds extra flavor and helps to activate the baking soda to give both rise and spread to the cookie.

Eggs: Ultimately eggs help bind and structure the cookie; I went with 2 eggs, simply because that’s what all my favorite recipes used, too.

Vanilla: solely a flavor thing. Incredible. I did a splash cuz who really measures vanilla.

Lemon Juice: Lemon juice also helps with structure and that activation of the baking soda. When you blend ¼ tsp with the eggs and vanilla, it provides a REALLY fluffy, frosting-like dough.

All-Purpose Flour: I used two cups; I wanted the cookies to be sturdy, but not overly cakey. If I were to do this over, I may have added ¼ cup more to give a little bit more volume; but alas, a good cookie was still produced. 

Leaveners: I used a tsp of baking powder and a tsp of baking soda. It just felt right.

Salt: 1 tsp to enhance flavor!

Cinnamon: Just a pinch and totally optional; it just added an extra zing of flavor.

Chocolate Chips: When it came to chocolate chips, I did about 1 ½ cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips, and 1 ½ cups of SHAVED/chopped semi-sweet chocolate. This just disperses the chocolate better, creating pockets of chocolate throughout the ENTIRE cookie.

Flakey Salt: Sprinkled on top before baking. Solely because I am a huge advocate for salty sweet and believe flakey salt should be on everything. 

PHEW! I combined all of that, let it chill for a few, then popped them in the oven at 350 for 10-12 minutes. I let them cool for 5 then DUG. IN.

The review:

The Look: The shaved chocolate and the leaveners made these cookies beautiful. They were freckled in color and almost looked like crinkle cookies on the top. A little less poofy than they could have been, but still gorgeous nonetheless. 9/10

Crunchy Chew: I gotta say; I feel like I nailed this part. The leaveners gave a truly crisp outlining, but the inner was still soft and gooey. Truly, truly, had a crunchy chew. 10/10

Chip to Dough Ratio: Again, this part was well done. Obviously, I had full control, so I did it based off of how I liked my cookies. The SHAVED chocolate/chunks of chocolate WITH the chocolate chips gave such a good chocolate dispersion, but the cinnamon and vanilla in the dough made the dough still stand out in flavor. 10/10

Overall Taste: I thought these were DELICIOUS. Granted, these cookies are completely catered to what I have taken a liking to after trying all of these recipes. The cinnamon added an “oatmeal essence” to these cookies, making them comforting in a way. The chocolate was perfectly dispersed, the dough was flavorful…all around great. If ANYTHING, I would add a bit less sugar next time. They were truly really sweet. But is that really such a bad thing? 9/10

Wow Factor: I felt the flakey salt, as well as the shaved chocolate, definitely got that wow factor achieved. Could it have been fancier? Sure. But I feel that sometimes, simpler is better in these cases. 9.5/10

FINAL SCORE: 9.5/10

We did it. I’ve tried all the recipes I’ve needed to try. All that’s left is one…final…taste test. Stay tuned.