need help w choc chip cookies

Hi,I am from upstate ny. When I travel to Houston tx and ATTEMPT to make Nestle's choc chip recipe there, it turns out looking like a regular cookie with chips in it. No crevices etc. Do u know if this is due to sea level, the sugar there or what may be causing this.

[momoreg]

It must be one of the ingredients you are using, because Houston is not in the mountains. Welcome to cheftalk, by the way, mellyl!

[kokopuffs]

...could be that the butter in Houston contains more/less fat than what you're using in upstate NY. Flour in the south may be of softer wheat than in the north. There's a whole slew of variables to speculate on.

[kokopuffs]

The problem that I'd had is with cookies spreading flat. The problem stemmed from an improper flour/butter ratio. Too much butter or too little flour.

[thebighat]

Two things I watch for, and I make a LOT of chocolate chip cookies- don't cream the sugar and butter, just mix till smooth, and then turn the mixer up to add the eggs, and make sure the eggs are room temp, and then chill the dough before baking. Warm dough means lots of spread. I made two big batches today with 12 cups of flour which take 5 tsp of soda. Soda encourages spread, so check that too.

[Kimmie]

I cut the butter into chunks and melt in a large saucepan over medium heat.

Then, I remove the pan from the heat and stir in the granulated sugar, brown sugar and salt. Mix in the eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture just until all the ingredients are moistened. Let the mixture and the pan cool. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight (it develops flavour).

Remove the mixture from the refrigerator to soften just a bit. Scoop rounded tablespoons of dough and place them 3-inches apart on cookie sheets. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes (in a 375 degree F preheated oven) or until the cookies are golden brown at the edges and no longer wet on the top. Rotate baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back about halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking.

For KyleW

A cup of carefully sifted all-purpose flour weighs 4 ounces, but if you pack unsifted flour firmly into that cup, it will hold 6 ounces, 50 percent more! With that margin of error, it's no wonder ten people following the same recipe can't make the same cookies.

Always check the How to measure flour in the books or mags your using, the methods may differ greatly from one to another.

A lot of them go like this:

Stir the flour in the sack or canister with a spoon if it is compacted. Spoon the flour lightly into a one-cup dry measure until it is heaped above the rim. Do not shake or tap the cup to settle the flour. Sweep a straight-edged knife or spatula across the rim of the cup to level the flour. Your level cup of unsifted all-purpose flour will weigh about 5 ounces.

That was a quote from Alice Medrich.

Hope that helps.



[ May 09, 2001: Message edited by: Kimmie ]

[bakerchik]

Big Hat, my method for chocolate chip cookies involves creaming the butter and sugar well. Also adding about 1/4 cup molasses to triple batch and using brown sugar gives a better flavor and texture. Because of the liquifying properties of the extra molasses more flour is required, but I have found these cookies to be softer, chewier and have a darker brown color. Using a scoop (like a small ice cream scoop) will ensure cookies of the same size and will help produce a smoother top.

[lynne]

Houston -- it's definitely the humidity! We always laugh because you can always tell the Houstonians come breakfast time in August. No one wants to leave the airconditioned indoors, while the Houston folks want to eat outside on the porch!

Anyhow, the flour here is definitely softer, and humidity does come into play. If you have a bulky (choc chunks, nuts, etc)chocolate chip cookie, use a little bread flour instead of AP(I do about 1/3). I also have found that chilling the dough definitely helps it out (where I never did that on the east coast).

Good luck and happy baking!

[KyleW]

Another variable is humidity. Houston can be a little on the sticky side. If there is more moisture in the air, there is also likely to be more moisture in your flour. I have found that weighing flour, rather than using dry measure, helps account for this. One thing I have not been able to get a definitive answer on is whether a cup of flour weighs 4 Oz. or 5 Oz. Any opinions?
Kyle

[kokopuffs]

Kyle,

Flour weight can vary due to its protein and oil content. Whole wheat flour weighing the most per cup, followed by bread flour, and pastry/cake flour weighing the least. That's the best I can do.

[Pooh]

I agree monpetitchoux, metrics is so simple.
I also prefer weighing everything rather than measuring for precision's sake!

[Kimmie]

Ditto.

[monpetitchoux]

Perhaps we should start a new thread on weights and measures. I am personally advocating that we use metrics. It's more precise and the math is easier. You don't have to divide by 16 to find out how many pounds and ounces for an increased recipe.

With flours, I weigh out 5 ounces per cup regardless of type. For sugar, I weigh out 7 oz. per cup. Powdered sugar and starches are 4 oz. per cup. We had this discussion back in cooking school.

[thebighat]

Where I work they want the cookies to look homemade, I can't scoop them, roll them and cut them or anything else. Each cookie, and I have 600 plus to do in the morning, has to be pinched off all by its ownself. I don't cream them well because I don't like a flat cookie. I use white and brown sugar, and Callebaut/ Barry chocolate chunks. I used to put walnuts, but the guy who is serving as club president this year has a son who is allergic, so out they went for the year.

[KyleW]

Thanks all for the weights and measures advise. I live in NYC and we get the entire spectrum of humidity. I have had reasonable success weighing out 4 oz. of flour /cup. THis seems to work in cookies , bread, etc. etc.h