The Ultimate Guide to Chocolate Chip Cookies Part 2
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Exciting post today! I’m sharing part 2 of my Ultimate Guide to Chocolate Chip Cookie series with you. CLICK HERE FOR PARTS ONE, THREE, and FOUR!!
I used the Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe (at the bottom of this post) as my control and made little changes and variations in techniques and ingredients to show you how they affect the cookie. I halved and adapted the original Tollhouse recipe and that is what you see here. I kept everything the same through each recipe test, changing one key thing to see its effect and photographing the results for you. The first post was such a huge success that I knew I had to write another one with different ingredients and techniques tested. I listened to all of your requests for what you would like to see and tested many of them to share the results with you today. Keep reading to find out how dark nonstick baking pans, cornstarch, egg yolks, cake flour, bread flour, and shortening affect chocolate chip cookies.
Tools and Ingredients Used (when applicable):
-Spring-Loaded Cookie Scoop (Medium or 1 1/2-Tablespoon size)
–Chicago Metallic sheet pans
–Escali Digital Food Scale
–KitchenAid 5-quart Stand Mixer
–Oven thermometer
–Unbleached parchment paper
-Gold Medal All-Purpose Flour
-Fine sea salt
-Light brown sugar
-Large eggs
-Unsalted butter at a cool room temperature
-350°F oven and 10 minute baking time for each test
Control
Note: This is my adapted version of the Nestle Tollhouse cookie recipe, which I used for each of these batches.
Ingredients:
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (142 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick (113 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (75 grams) granulated sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (75 grams) packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
1 cup (170 grams) semi sweet chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with nonstick baking mats or parchment paper.
In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.
In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla, beating well to combine. Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips. Scoop 1 1/2 tablespoon-sized balls and place onto prepared baking sheets.
Bake for 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
Dark Nonstick Baking Sheet:
Instead of using a Chicago Metallic sheet pans with a Silpat baking mat, I baked the control recipe directly on a dark nonstick baking sheet to test the differences between baking sheets. As you can see, the dark nonstick sheet significantly increased the browning on the bottom of the cookies. The cookies browned on the bottom more quickly, causing them to spread a little less. They also had more of a crunch due to the browning. If you have a problem with your cookies burning on the bottom, it may be due to your baking sheet. Luckily these ones didn’t burn and were quite tasty. However, I prefer to use unlined baking sheets to ensure my cookies won’t burn. 
Cornstarch:
Added 2 teaspoons cornstarch to the cookie dough along with the dry ingredients. The cornstarch cookies were more pale in color but had crisp edges and very soft and slightly gooey interiors. I was surprised by the amount of spread these cookies had, I thought they’d be thicker considering cornstarch is a thickener. Sally of Sally’s Baking Addiction has a very popular cornstarch chocolate chip cookie recipe that calls for melted butter and chilling the dough so I wonder if one or both of those steps creates the best effect with the cornstarch. Sally’s cookie recipe also has a higher ratio of flour to butter compared to the Nestle Tollhouse recipe. I’m thinking these differences must produce a thicker cookie. 
Extra Egg Yolk:
In addition to the whole egg called for in the control recipe, I added an extra egg yolk to this test. This produced ultra soft cookies with a little bit of a chew. Egg yolk is full of fat which acts as a tenderizer. This allows you to add softness to your cookies without having to add more butter. I think the extra liquid added to the dough from the yolk increased the cookie’s spread. If you want to add more softness to your cookies with an extra egg yolk, you may want to add a little more flour to create a thicker cookie.
Cake flour:
I swapped out all the all-purpose flour for 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour (127 grams) and the results were interesting. These cookies turned very brown and looked like they would be crispy but were actually very soft. Someone actually called these cookies “mushy.” They spread out fairly flat.
You can learn more about the science of cake flour here.
Bread flour:
I swapped out the all-purpose flour for 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons bread flour (142 grams) and the resulting cookies were thick and ultra chewy. My boyfriend and I both favored these cookies over many of the other trials. If you like thick, chewy cookies I would try substituting at least half of the all-purpose flour in your favorite cookie recipe with bread flour. It totally makes sense now why Alton Brown uses bread flour in his “The Chewy” cookie recipe.
Shortening:
Okay, I had a LOT of requests to test of the differences between butter and shortening. I don’t use shortening in my house, I don’t like it. BUT I went out and got some Crisco just for you guys since you all asked so nicely! Plus I was quite curious about what kind of cookie shortening would produce since so many of you swear by using all shortening or half shortening half butter. For this trial I swapped out all of the butter with an equal amount of vegetable shortening and the resulting cookies were more pale and had a thicker texture that was crisp at the edges and soft in the middle. I thought these cookies would be super greasy but they weren’t. Tasting these shortening cookies made me realize that many bakeries and chain restaurants that serve chocolate chip cookies must use shortening because they had a similar taste and texture to those cookies. I was surprised to find these cookies didn’t taste super artificial or plastic-like, however they didn’t have that crave-worthy butter flavor either. The texture was fantastic but they definitely lacked flavor.
Comparison:
[updated photo 2015]
Author: Tessa Arias
I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)
About Tessa...
I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)
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As a trained chef and cookbook author, I share trusted baking recipes your friends & family will love alongside insights into the science of sweets. I help take the luck out of baking so you *always* have delicious results! Learn more here.
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Love your study of chocolate chip cookies as they are my personal favorite! I worked for years to perfect my own recipe and the things I decided on were using medium eggs, following the directions (!) and always room temp butter. I actually pour off some egg if I have XL or L eggs in the frig.
I really appreciate all the work you did here. Most of the time bakers when a baker has to make a substitution the cookies come out pretty good anyway, but here a baker has more control over the product and can modify the recipe intentionally. Thank you.
have you ever tried using unsweetened apple sauce instead of butter or shortening……. i do that substitution ALL the time in brownies and cakes and it works great and i always get compliments on it, less fattening and no greasy feel
I have accidentally done most of your trials and always wondered, “what went wrong?” Thank you for your trials, now I know! One other tip I have learned and not sure if you mention it but weighing flour makes a huge difference in the cookie texture. Thanks again!!
3 words – Butter Flavor Crisco.
All the texture of crisco, all the flavor of real butter.
May sound weird, but I have been using cooking oil , corn or canola instead of the butter, and sometimes half oil have crisco. My cookies were ok and accepted by my family. We try to avoid butter as possible in our food . Can you test this option please and advise what’s the right ingredients? Thanks
I WILL USE THIS! I loved my mom’s cookies, but my sister can’t even mimic it… sorry to say. I will try out this! Thanks a lot!
😀
My mom always used the full Tollhouse recipe, but with only one egg instead of two. I’ve never thought to do a comparison like this, but very nice job! It’s very informative.
I’d like to see the results of this test at high altitude now! 🙂 I live in Denver and no matter what recipe I use, all cookies go flat as soon as you take them out of the oven. They usually lose their chewiness once they cool off too. I’ve tried adding more flour, a little extra liquid, more baking soda, etc. Just tried the bread flour substitute, same thing happened. Any recommendations? Just curious, but do they touch on high altitude baking in your culinary studies?
I will try the bread flour. I have found the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made have been refridgerated for at least 24 hours. Thanks for the info…what a great testing idea.
How about using dark brown sugar, butter flavored shortening, or putting in a tablespoon of lemon juice. I’m not sure of the science behind the lemon juice but I would think it would bring something to the party. I use the lemon juice in my cookies and I think it ups the chewy and softness.
I am so glad to see these tests that you did. I just glanced over all the the information. But will sit down and digest it at a later date when I have more time.
When you swap out butter for crisco you should use butter flavored crisco not regular. Blaaa no wonder the crisco cookies didn’t have much flavor. I always use butter flavor crisco when my cookies call for butter n they’re gobbled up like they’re going out of style. Lol
Tessa, this is impressive and wonderful – thanks. I lean towards the thicker and chewier end of the spectrum, so your extra-flour and bread-flour recipes interest me. In return, let me share some variations I’ve worked over the years (separately and in combinations with each other):
– replace about half the all-purpose with whole-wheat flour and bump up the leavening a smidge (i.e. an extra 1/8th teaspoon/.625mL or so); this gives a wonderful nutty wheat flavor to the cookies and a bit more crumble to the texture
– instead of chocolate chips, chop up good Mexican drinking chocolate
– replace the vanilla with 1/8th teaspoon almond extract
– replace the brown sugar with maple sugar
Cheers!
Awesome post! Thank you very much. You must have chocolate chips chasing you in your sleep.
LOVE all the variations! It’s interesting how cookie preference scan be so different. Can’t wait to try some of them out.
I love this! So fun to bake and try out all of these I bet. I have used the butter flavored crisco recipe for years. It uses a few tbsp of milk and brown sugar. Rich flavored cookie deliciousness. I personally love a cruchy edge with a soft center, semi sweet chip cookie. I throw in pecans when I am feeling nutty too. I always bake mine on stoneware. They always come out perfectly.
Is dark brown sugar, or partially dark brown sugar an option?
I love all the pictures and comparisions you made between the varying . My request for a part 3 would be to see how you can get a soft, fluffy cookie (that looks kind of like the shortening cookie) using coconut oil/butter. I have been working on this off and on at random for about a year but would love to see what you find. I, too, use a King Arthur Flour (all purpose and just tried Bread Flour last night). My next goal is to make sure I use both kinds of sugar.
I love both these posts….I have been contemplating trying different cookies batches with different flours. For example King Arthur, Gold Medal, Walmart brand and Aldi. I am wondering if there is a good reason to spend money on the higher priced ingredients.
Love all the comparison and the images. If you do a part 3, I’d love to see how replacing some of the all-purpose flour with almond flour would affect the taste!
I use both white, and brown sugars, and I use Crisco in my cookies, and my fans love them, I have a special guy who will not eat anyone else’s choc chips except mind. I don’t like the butter flavor, so it works for me. Thanks for sharing, I always wondered why the cookies came out so different.
These 2 posts about chocolate chip cookies are fantastic! Thanks for taking the time to work through this. I knew about a few of the modifications but what you’ve done is a great resource. I’ve just found your website and have only seen these but I’m intrigued by what other gems reside here!
Loved your part 1 and part 2 – I was just telling my son last night about the different ways I was going to try for making “perfect” chocolate chip cookies but now you have done the work for me! I have done half/half butter/crisco but it wasn’t “perfect” so now I am going to use bread flour and refridgerate the dough a day – from your pics/description I think that’s what I was missing.
This post and Part 1 are AMAZING! I have always wanted to do this exact experiment with cookies. I make my cookies from The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook recipe book and I always get requests to make them and share the recipe. From comparing my recipe to the Toll House, I think the biggest difference is Magnolia’s use more baking soda. I also swear by parchment paper and an electric oven. Thank you for taking the time to do this and share your results. So excited to have discovered this on Pinterest, I am adding you to my daily blog list!
I worked in a middle school with special needs students and when it came to science fair projects I would encourage them to do cooking experiments. I was always puzzled when the teacher thought that cooking was an unusual topic. The kitchen is the first ‘science lab’ children experience and your project is perfect example of that.. I wish I had your site to use as a demo a few years ago.
You make such a great point! It’s too bad most students don’t learn anything about cooking in school.
Great post and thanks for trying all these methods. I use mostly WW flour. Did you ever try that? I will never ever use shortening again due to nasties but it’s interesting. Did you try carob chips? Due to nasties that’s all I use as I want as many chemicals as possible from my life. B flour is more expensive, at least last time I looked, so go with unbleached always and usually at least half WW flour. makes a dessert much healthier. I only use SS pans never aluminum and not parchment sheets as that’s money I don’t have. Non-stick aren’t healthy so I don’t use those either. I bet everyone at your home loved the cookies you made. I haven’t had a reg. Tollhouse cookie for many years and I resist temptation but with real ingedients I think you have me in the notion of making some with healthier ingredients. Thank for doing all the cookies and posting.
I use a combination on bread flour and cake flour and also refrigerate dough for 24-48 hours. My cookies are AMAZING! So soft!!
this is great!! I teach a high school “Bake Shop” class and have been looking for lesson ideas when we didnt have access to the lab … I’m gonna use this to put together a webquest assignment for my students! THANK YOU!!
Thank you for *all* your hard work!! The chilled dough seemed to make a world of difference just in the initial recipe! I see great ideas with the bread flour, and I liked how the half Crisco ended up as well. I have a *very* old recipe from my husbands grandmother that uses liquid oil. Makes a very interesting cookie, quite different in texture but very pleasing.
I have a problem making chocolate chip cookies because they need to be gluten-free, dairy-free and egg-free. I use Bob’s Red Mill All-purpose Flour, Earth Balance Butter and I use 1 tbsp. cornstarch + 3 tbsp. water for each egg in the recipe. The cookies are very flat and remind me of lace cookies. I do use all brown sugar. Any suggestions for a better cookie? Thanks for your help!
Fascinating and helpful! Would love to see you experiment with gluten free flours!
Wow, thank you for this. So helpful! I thought the difference between all-purpose and bread flour was interesting. Thinking I might try a combination of both next time. Awesome post 🙂
This is great – thank you for doing all that work! I’ve been dissatisfied with my last few batches – now I know why! I’m going to try the bread flour one. I just read about how much healthier grinding your own wheat is (my grocery store has bulk wheat and a grinder – as easy as doing coffee) … since that makes a kind of heavier texture, do you think it will be the equivalent of bread flour?
Great post(s)! I would LOVE to see an ultimate guide to brownies — what’s the difference between using different flours, cocoa vs chocolate chips, 2/3/4 eggs, baking time, etc etc. Seems like all the recipes out there say “best brownies ever!” but they are all different!
You rock sista! Taking the time to do all these different recipes on my favorite food in the world makes you a hero in my book.
The comment about the vanilla goes along with what I was thinking in if you changed the quality of the ingredients to all organic I bet they would be fantastic! Using organic butter, chips without high fructose corn syrup, organic vanilla and egss etc. I am going to try it with organic bread flour if I can find it. I am guessing it will be the best cookie I ever baked.
Thanks for the cookie love! Wish I was around to taste them all, I bet that was fun! Happy Baking!
PS Another cool test would be a “healthier version” less fat and calories that still tasted yummy.
Thanks for the great post!
Thanks for doing all of this, I see you answered the question I posed in part one (didn’t know about part 2 at the time). How cool of you to do all this and baking science is fun, isn’t it? Especially the results….keep up the good work!
This as well as your Part 1 has been extremely informative!! I also use the Nestle Toll House recipe and add French Vanilla pudding mix. It gives it great flavor. I make my cookies very large and therefore have to turn down the temp which makes cooking times a lot longer. Two years ago I had made a great cookie with white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts for my youngest son who does not like regular chocolate chips and have not been able to remake it since. My cookies always seem to turn out different each time and I never knew why. This past Christmas I made a bunch as presents for family and they came out awful! Flat, extremely crispy and pretty much burnt. I realize now I used melted butter instead of softened and that made all the difference. I will refer to your blog from now on and pass it along. Thanks so much for all the tips and putting everything in one place!!
Have you tried with KA white whest flour?
Some of my favorite old time cookie recipes (before 1950) use shortening. One of my grandsons is allergic to dairy, so I’ve been using lots more of the butter-flavored Crisco and like the results.
I didn’t read through all of these posts, but I thought I would say that I do use shortening in my cookies, but I use the butter shortening – so that adds a lot of flavor. I really enjoyed reading about the differences in the cookies, both part 1 and part 2. Thanks!
I would love to know your opinion regarding different brands of vanilla. I use the “Maybe Mrs. Fields” recipe, using unsalted butter, Gold Medal unbleached flour and the vanilla from Williams-Sonoma. Whenever I use grocery store or Costco vanilla, it seems that the cookies have much less flavor, but the WS vanilla is so expensive!
When I use the Nestle Tollhouse recipe I use half butter and half shortening. I also add 1/4 to 1/2 cup more flour than the recipe calls for. I get perfect looking and tasting cookies every time. I seem to have trouble with them raising when I use all butter. No matter what consistency the butter is at.
This is fantastic! I wonder what some of hte combinations would be like. Have you tried the bread flour with the extra egg yolk? Or thought about doing this for cakes or other desserts like muffins and cupcakes?
I’m amazed by you. Thanks for doing all of this strenuous research for our benefit 🙂 I’m excited to try the +baking soda and baking powder recipe, and the bread flour recipe.
Thanks so much for these excellent visual baking experiments. You are a kitchen scientist and I really loved reading both parts 1&2. The Tollhouse recipe has always been a quick and easy go to when I need some cookies and I know next time I bake them I will have a lot to think about!!
Just found. Our blog and loved reading about the cookie experiment. I prefer softer chewy cookies. Thank for all your work…and sharing the information.
I’ve been making chocolate chip cookies using butter flavor Crisco for several years and love the texture. This was a great post – I never knew how different the results would be just by changing a few of the recipe components and the cooking utensils.
Love seeing all the variations! I wonder if a comparison of baking surfaces would be worth the time… I only use baking stones for my cookies which always turn out flawlessly on the bottom and never burn. (You have to work quickly though in putting new cookies on and getting them in the oven since the pan stays hot for so long.) I see someone else asked about the airbake pans too. I’d be curious to know if there was an “ideal pan” to use after settling on an “ideal recipe”. Thanks for your hard work in making all the cookies… and your willingness to eat them all…I’m sure that was a huge sacrifice! :o)
Awesome! I really liked part one of the cookie guide, for I had a better idea how changing different ingredients would affect the end result. Now I’ll have a few more elements to play around with. Thanks! 🙂
Thank you so much for all the variations in both Parts 1 & 2. I’ve read them along with all of the comments to both postings. However, in your shortening variation did you use pure vegetable shortening? Did you try the Crisco butter flavor vegetable shortening & if so, what was the result & your opinion, please? Regarding the cookie sheet used, have you made any cookies on the air-layered type? If so, what was your result, opinion, &/or any tips using an air-layer sheet? I tried using an air-layer sheet a few times to make gingerbread cookie pieces for gingerbread houses. It baked much differently than my old cookie sheets (cheap, dark sheets, NOT non-sick coated). It took longer to bake & I had a very hard time telling when the cookie pieces were completely baked.
After many, many years of disappointing, crispy chocolate chip cookies, I started using Alton Brown’s recipe. That is now my go-to recipe. It’s a bit more time consuming, but worth every minute. He may be nerdy and a bit hokey, but the guy knows his stuff! I have discovered, however, that the original Toll House recipe on the Nestle bag does make a great, lacy, toffee cookie, almost like a tuile, but not quite as delicate. Make the dough as directed, add toffee chips (preferably the ones without chocolate) instead of chocolate chips and keep at relatively warm room temp. Bake as the recipe directs, on a sheet lined with parchment (no silpat) and the resulting cookie will be very thin, super crisp and have the most amazing flavor…even better if you drizzle melted chocolate over them.
I am a fan of butter myself but I did start using the butter flavor shortening sticks and replacing 1/2 the butter with it. It makes the perfect cookie!
Love these cookie posts! Bread flour, cornstarch, butter vs shortening, Silpats…all so interetsing! I used to use bread flour in my cookies more but they were getting almost too thick and chewy (if that’s possible) so have gone back to King Arthur AP along with cornstarch and that’s my fave combo. And always, always a Silpat. The NYT recipes uses cake flour and also some Christina Tosi/Momofuku recipes call for cake flour – I am not a fan and agree with Jared re the mushy 🙂
Thanks for doing these posts, Tessa!
The ones with bread flour look perfect!! I’ll have to try that next time..
So…which cookies were your favorite? After both posts, which combo of ingredients/techniques will you use to make your everyday cookie?
Wow, Tessa! This is amazing and must of taken so much time! Thank you so much, it was so fun to read about all the differences. I have no idea which one to try first. Maybe the bread flour or cornstarch, not the crisco though since I don’t like it either!
Love your site. Love this post. Thank you for all the fantastic recipes!!
Bread flour cookies are my favourite, their texture is flawless! I never went back to all-purpose since I tried them 😉
The shortening cookies look amazing too, but I hate that stuff and LOVE the flavour that butter adds. Did those taste buttery or…? I’m curious too!
Thanks for writing these posts, they’re super helpful xxx
That’s a great question! I’m going to edit the post to include more thoughts on the taste of the shortening cookies. To my surprise they did not taste noticeably artificial or plastic. However, they had no buttery flavor which made them fall a little flat. The texture was great, though, so I can definitely see why people use half shortening half butter in cookies!
I prefer bread flour in my cookies and have been making them (mostly) that way since I started making cookie recipes from the Milk Bar cookbook. I adore that texture!