Cookies gone wrong

[mizshelli]

Ok, here in my infinite wisdon thinking my children simply could not make cookies, I have determined it is somewhere in the recipe. My son made this recipe and it melted all over the place into one big hard mess in the oven, and were not sweet at all (he's 18 and wants to be a chef). My 9 year old made them again last night and the dough was too soft when I checked it for her, so I added some flour (about 3/4 cup extra). It was also not sweet, so I added another 1/2c sugar. SO, her cookies turned out okay after baking, but still not the best. I am posting the recipe (from a well known cookbook) in hopes that someone can find out the problem from looking at it. Both of my children have been cooking for years, so they know how to bake, I'm just stumped.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 c shortening
1/2 c butter, softened
1 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c granulated sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 12 ounce pkg chocolate chips

1. In a large mixing bowl beat shortening and butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, and baking soda. Beat until mixture is combined, scraping sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs and vanilla till combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour. Stir in chocolate pieces, and if desired, nuts.

2. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are slightly browned. Transfer to wire rack and cool.




Thanks for the help!

[BettyR]

This is the original Tool House Cookie recipe. At a glance they look very close except that this recipe uses 1 teaspoon soda you have 1/2 teaspoon and a little extra flour. I have no idea why they wouldn't turn out, if anything I would think that they would be even firmer than regular chocolate chip cookies.

The original recipe uses all butter; butter is 80% fat and 20% water; so using part shortening should make the cookies firmer I would think. Plus you have more flour in your recipe; so I really don't see what the problem was.

The sugar amount is the same as well; this is a stumper.


The real, original Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks, 1/2 pound) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated [white] sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups (12-ounce package) NESTLE TOLL HOUSE Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 cup chopped nuts


COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in large mixer bowl. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE in preheated 375-degree oven for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is the recipe that I use.

This recipe was inspired by Alton Brown; I took his chewy cookie tips and combined them with the Butter Crisco Ultimate Chocolate Chip cookie recipe. My husband is addicted to these things.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

11 ounces Butter Crisco (1-1/2 cups)
1-pound brown sugar (2 cups packed)
1/2-cup regular white sugar
4 tablespoons heavy cream (you can sub evaporated milk)
2 tablespoons vanilla
1 whole egg
2 egg yolks (you can freeze the whites for later use)

4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (you can leave out the gluten and use bread flour if you have it)
4 teaspoons vital wheat gluten
2 teaspoons salt
4 teaspoons baking powder (this is not a typo)
2 cups chocolate chips
2 cups chopped toasted pecans

Set oven temperature to 325°.

Chop and toast the pecans and set them out on the counter to cool.

In a large mixer bowl, on medium speed, cream Butter Crisco and sugars until very light and fluffy. Add the rest of the liquids and beat well.

In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients and stir well to distribute the ingredients.

A little at a time, mix the dry ingredients into the sugar mixture. When all the dry ingredients have been incorporated, add the cooled nuts and chocolate chips; by this time my mixer bowl is full so you may have to stir them in by hand.

Using a #20 ice cream scoop (it makes a dough ball about the size of a small lemon) place 6 cookies on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake for 18 minutes. When cookies are done, let them cool on the cookie sheet for about 2 minutes to firm up. Then gently lift the parchment paper, with the cookies still on it, off the cookie sheet and onto the table to cool.

Store in an airtight container.
Makes 3 dozen cookies.

[mizshelli]

You're right, it is very close to the Toll House recipe, not quite the same, but it seems to balance out. I don't know what could have gone wrong. I do know I prefer the Toll House recipe myself, and we always use butter or stick margarine in the cookies. I may have to supervise a little more next time they make them just to make sure they are ok.

[GhettoRacingKid]

you need more shortnening. You only have 1/2 cup when it should be a cup.

You need more butter, or shortenting in it.

Try it i promise you it will be 10000x better

[GhettoRacingKid]

never mind i took a betteer glance and saw 1/2 cup shortneing 1/2 cup butter.

I say use a cup of one or the other not 1/2 of each

[greenawalt87]

When creaming your butter,oil with your sugars you need to cream for at lease 5 minutes to light and fluffy. Mix your soda with the flour.then add try it you will be surprise at the outcome

[mizshelli]

I have decided to make a batch of these myself and see how they turn out. I will not use shortening, I'll use butter, I hate the way shortening makes stuff taste. I'm also going to re-proportion the sugars to 3/4 c each. That may help too. I'm more interested in why the cookies were not sweet, and I'm fairly certain the kids didn't forget the sugar, as there was about 1/2 c on the floor and counter.......and the brown sugar was left on the table, open.....I love kids...

Thanks for your help

[BettyR]

Let us know how they turn out.
Betty

[newbiechef]

do you live in an excessively humid place, or have humidifiers running constantly? that may be why the dough was too soft, or even the extra moisture in the brown sugar.... im not a chemist so i cant tell you exactly whats going on... could your kids have melted the butter and shortening possibly instead of softening it and creaming it? would you mind telling what cookbook it was from as well?

[mizshelli]

It was from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, the pink one I HAD to have....lol

I wondered if the little one had used 'tub' margarine, I will ask her when she comes home from school. As far as I can tell, they made them at separate times, my son made them a couple months ago, and my daughter made them last night. We live in Michigan so right now it is freezing cold, but the house is usually dry, we don't use humidifiers in the house at all. Surprisingly when my daughters cookies were done they are really nice and chewy and have a great look to them, it's just the taste that is a bit 'off', I don't know how to explain it.

[Joyfull]

I could be way off but, from what you described about how your sons cookies turned out.. Is it possible he might have forgotten the flour mixture? I know it sounds impossible, but that would explain the melted hard mass he got instead..

Believe me, I've done this type of thing myself. My last and final screw up was forgetting to add the eggs in my cake. Put the pan the oven, went to clean up my mess, and there they were still sitting on the counter!
I now follow the mise en place rule faithfully..

[sucrechef]

My only thought regarding the sweetness is that maybe the kids didn't "pack" the brown sugar which means they would be using a lot less than the recipe intends.

[mizshelli]

Originally Posted by Joyfull

I could be way off but, from what you described about how your sons cookies turned out.. Is it possible he might have forgotten the flour mixture? I know it sounds impossible, but that would explain the melted hard mass he got instead..

Actually, I had helped him at the end too and he did have the flour in there, we never figured out what went wrong with his batch.

[mizshelli]

Originally Posted by sucrechef

My only thought regarding the sweetness is that maybe the kids didn't "pack" the brown sugar which means they would be using a lot less than the recipe intends.

Good point, that may also have been the problem.

[m brown]

something happened in the mixing, something was missing in the formulas.

the baking soda in the original formula in this thread reacts with the acid in the brown sugar to give you a nice amount of leavening.