This is the best batch of chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made and I attribute its success to two things: an ice-cream scoop and Diana’s cookie sheets. And maybe a 400 degree oven.
We did The Martha Stewart recipe again (still the best recipe I know) and we were nervous because even though the first time was such a success, subsequent batches have been inconsistent. Mostly, the cookies sometimes come out too puffy, or not flat and crispy enough. (We love them flat and crispy but still chewy on the inside, hot out of the oven.)
Here’s why I think this most recent batch came out the best:
– I just bought an ice cream scoop with an ice-cream release button that allows you to scoop out perfect mounds of cookie dough and plop them perfectly on to the sheet. Why is that good? Well for some reason the mounds of dough the ice cream scoop creates are the ideal shape for making flat, crispy, chewy-on the inside cookies. And every cookie comes out the same so consistency is king.
– Diana’s cookie sheets have a name, but she’s asleep and I don’t remember what it is. But they are flat without sides and they conduct heat better than my high-sided sheets. I think her cookie sheets played a serious role in making these cookies truly excellent.
– The last theory concerns the oven temperature. The recipe calls for a 375 oven but after placing my own oven thermometer into the oven I got a reading of 350 when it was set for 375. So I upped the temp to 400 which yielded a reading of 375 on my own thermometer. But here’s the thing: my own thermometer is all busted up. It’s got a layer of rust on it and when it’s not in the oven, it says it’s 300 degrees. How can it be 300 degrees on my kitchen counter? So there’s a very real possibility that I cooked these cookies at 400 degrees, which may account for their glorious crispness and flatness and perfectness.
And those are some secrets from a brilliant batch of cookies.
