The Great Cookie Experiment


I laugh in the face of chocolate chip cookie recipes. Those promising to be “the best”, “classic”, “ultimate”—they’re not. I have the best, classic, ultimate recipe. It’s my mom’s. There’s no point in straying, as I recently learned, ever.

Last month BuzzFeed published an article on with four “best” chocolate chip cookies depending on your taste. Because my gal pal Elena was made the classic/ultimate recipe, I clicked through to read. Initially I was intrigued. BuzzFeed’s ultimate recipe is very, very close to my mom’s except for the lack of rolled oats and the choice of melting the butter.

Since I had a gazillion cookies to make for Allan’s bachelor party, I decided to test out my mom’s recipe—with melted instead of softened butter. When the first batch came out of the oven I had Ben do a blind taste test. He was quick to confirm—not better, stick to the originals.

The melted butter cookies tasted the same but when baked spread wide and thin. The new texture didn’t win over me or Ben; they were neither gooey or crispy, but really chewy. Too chewy. They just… lacked something.

Since the melted butter variety didn’t change the flavor, I was curious what melted brown butter in the cookie batter would do. Tonight I tried it. I gotta say, just browning butter on the stove made my house smell so rich just the scent it beat my cookie craving. By the time I let it cool, whipped it with brown sugar and combined it with a flour mixture I was so overwhelmed by the rich smell I was almost uninterested in baking them all together.

But in the name of science, I pressed on.


Like the melted butter cookies, the brown butter cookies spread wide—but that was the least of the differences. These cookies SMELL. My whole house, nay, street, smells like a brown butter bath. They’re so, so rich. They’re caramelly in a distracting, lip-smacking way that makes my beloved buttery sweet standard cookies feel like a ninth cousin six times removed. The brown butter takes over everything—the smell, the taste—honestly I could barely taste there were chocolate chips in there.

With these scientific studies done, I can confirm what we all already knew—my mom’s recipe is hands down, melted butter be damned, the best chocolate chip cookie recipe there is and ever will be. Take that Pinterest and BuzzFeed.

In other important cookie news, I’d like to announce a new world record. My absurdly large batch of chocolate chip cookies baked for Allan’s bachelor party out-lived my absurdly large batch baked for both Ben and Andy’s bachelor party weekends. Ben confirmed the 150 cookies lasted among 18 hungry men until approximately 2pm on Saturday. I’ve yet to win the ultimate battle, but I’ll take this as winning the war.

Sally Blinder’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients
2 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter—softened
1 1/2 cup brown sugar—packed
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
24 ounces chocolate chips—12 ounces semi-sweet, 12 ounces milk chocolate
2 handfuls of rolled oats

Directions
1. Pre-heat oven to 375
2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside
3. Beat butter, brown sugar and vanilla together in a large bowl
4. Add the eggs into the brown sugar mixture, one at a time, beating well after each addition
5. Gradually beat in flour mixture
6. Stir in chocolate chips and oats
7. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto uncreased baking sheets
8. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown

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