ATOT Bakers: Recommend ingredients and recipie(s) to make cookies

[busydude]

I am going to be baking cookies tomorrow and, since this is my first time doing this, I need recommendations from fellow bakers.

I am planning to make chocolate chip and simple butter cookie. (Any other suggestions are welcome)

My questions:

What are the ingredients required? Are all brands equal? If not, what do you suggest?

TIA.

 

[PottedMeat]

classic: http://www.verybestbaking.com/recip...TOLL-HOUSE-Chocolate-Chip-Cookies/detail.aspx

 

[BoomerD]

Wait...you're going to bake cookies...but don't even know what ingredients you need? Do you have a recipe?

http://allrecipes.com/

The first step after deciding what kind of cookie you would like is to find a recipe that (a) has the flavor you want, (b) has the ingredients you have/have available, (c) is within your skill set or is easy to learn.
Baking isn't terribly difficult, but the more often you do it, the easier it gets...and the better the results will be.

Also, unlike "cooking" baking is mostly edible chemistry. Many ingredients can't be changed or substituted, nor their proportions changed from the basic ratio in the recipe.

As for the chocolate chip recipe, do you prefer milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate in your cookies? Do you prefer large chocolate chips or small?

 

[busydude]

Wait...you're going to bake cookies...but don't even know what ingredients you need? Do you have a recipe?

No, I don't have a recipe.. but I think I'll try what PottedMeat has suggested, it looks simple enough. I am not expecting it to be done perfectly.. this is more of a trial run.

As for the chocolate chip recipe, do you prefer milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate in your cookies? Do you prefer large chocolate chips or small?

Small and semi-sweet.

 

[gorcorps]

girl scout + money = cookie

and you don't even have to leave your house

 

[BoomerD]

Then the Nestle Toll House recipe might be a good one for your first attempt. Personally, I don't care much for that recipe...but it's easy to make and not a bad one for a beginner.

Of course, I married a professional baker, so most of my baking duties consist of being "oven boy" nowadays...

girl scout + money = cookie

and you don't even have to leave your house

But what if he wants GOOD cookies?

 

[MarkXIX]

No matter what you do, remember this. THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR REAL BUTTER!!! I say "REAL BUTTER" because some morons actually believe that margarine and other "butter flavored oil shit" is the same thing. It is not, never accept a substitute, period, end of discussion.

Also, you must treat the butter with respect. Start with very, very cold butter, chopped up into small cubes. Mix the butter into your ingredients, but not so much that the butter melts and turns greasy. The key is to keep it cool from start to finish. Then let your dough cool and reset by rolling it into a log and wrapping in plastic wrap and twisting it tight on both ends. Makes it easy to cut the dough into cookies and bake.

 

[busydude]

No matter what you do, remember this. THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR REAL BUTTER!!! I say "REAL BUTTER" because some morons actually believe that margarine and other "butter flavored oil shit" is the same thing. It is not, never accept a substitute, period, end of discussion.

Ok.. any brands that make good butter?

 

[xSauronx]

heres my recipe, i tweaked it over some time and theyre pretty damn tasty

pamlico river-water chocolate chunk cookies

Dry side:
1C AP flour
1/2C wheat flour
3/4C Bread Flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp salt

Wet Side:
2 sticks butter, melted, slightly cooled
3/4C white sugar
3/4C brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 whole egg + 1 egg white
2 Tbl buttermilk + more *

8oz bittersweet chocolate, rough chopped

preheat oven to 375F
mix together the dry ingredients separately from the wet
add wet ingredients to dry and combine
add chocolate, mix

batter should slowly fall off the mixing utensil (* add xtra buttermilk 1tsp at a time until it does)
dish onto cookie sheets
bake for 10 - 12 minutes
omnom.

 

[nageov3t]

Ok.. any brands that make good butter?

Land O' Lakes Unsalted Butter

but you probably won't taste the difference versus any other brand.

 

[Bignate603]

No matter what you do, remember this. THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR REAL BUTTER!!! I say "REAL BUTTER" because some morons actually believe that margarine and other "butter flavored oil shit" is the same thing. It is not, never accept a substitute, period, end of discussion.

Also, you must treat the butter with respect. Start with very, very cold butter, chopped up into small cubes. Mix the butter into your ingredients, but not so much that the butter melts and turns greasy. The key is to keep it cool from start to finish. Then let your dough cool and reset by rolling it into a log and wrapping in plastic wrap and twisting it tight on both ends. Makes it easy to cut the dough into cookies and bake.

We've already had balsamic vinegar snobs, now we have butter snobs?

 

[MarkXIX]

Land O' Lakes Unsalted Butter

but you probably won't taste the difference versus any other brand.

This. I forgot to mention using unsalted butter.

 

[busydude]

heres my recipe, i tweaked it over some time and theyre pretty damn tasty

How many AVERAGE sized cookies I can make using your recipe?

 

[MarkXIX]

We've already had balsamic vinegar snobs, now we have butter snobs?

No. I'm talking about butter. You cannot believe the number of people that pull out a tub of Country Crock and try to pass it off as butter. It is not butter.

Also, I'm not talking about buying butter that costs $50/lb. from cows that get a massage by the Swedish bikini team or something. I'm talking about technique critical to making delicious, flaky, chewy cookies by using butter.

 

[nageov3t]

cold butter will create an extremely dense cookies. that may or may not be what the OP wants.

 

[BoomerD]

MOST cookie recipes require the butter to be at room temperature:

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Cookie/CookieTips.htm

"Butter: Make sure your butter is at room temperature, otherwise it won't cream properly with the sugar. The terms "room temperature," "softened" and "soft" mean different things. The temperature of the butter an make a difference in the recipe. Most cookie dough recipes depend on the emulsion that occurs when you cream butter and sugar together. This emulsion will not happen if the butter is too hot or too cold.

Room Temperature Butter: It should be pliable enough that your finger can leave a mark in it, without being soft and greasy. Set the butter out at least one (1) hour in advance.

Softened Butter: Will feel a little warmer to the touch, and it will be much easier to leave a deep indentation, but it should still be firm enough to pick up without falling apart.

Soft Butter: Will be too soft to pick up.

Do not try to microwave your butter as it will just end up too soft.

TIP: If you don't have an hour's lead time, increase the surface area by cutting the butter into small pieces or shredding it on the large holes of a grater. It will then come up to temperature in approximately 10 minutes.

Unsalted butter is generally recommended because some salted butters have more sodium than others.

TIP: If you use salted butter, only use 1/2 the amount called for in the recipe. Don't skip the salt, as salt brings out flavors and balances the sweetness in a recipe."

My wife uses the "cold butter cut into small cubes" technique for making puff pastry...fabulously flaky and tender.

BTW, if you like brownies...this recipe makes the best brownies I've ever had...

http://www.nickmalgieri.com/blog/w10_brownies.html

 

[nageov3t]

TIP: If you don't have an hour's lead time, increase the surface area by cutting the butter into small pieces or shredding it on the large holes of a grater. It will then come up to temperature in approximately 10 minutes.

Unsalted butter is generally recommended because some salted butters have more sodium than others.

also, salted butter tends to have more water.

much better to just use unsalted and add the salt yourself.

 

[gorcorps]

Butter snobs, good lord. I hate this fucking planet... These people shouldn't exist. Their existence is the greatest proof that there's no god.

 

[polarmystery]

Butter snobs, good lord. I hate this fucking planet... These people shouldn't exist. Their existence is the greatest proof that there's no god.

Fatty alert.

 

[BoomerD]

Butter snobs, good lord. I hate this fucking planet... These people shouldn't exist. Their existence is the greatest proof that there's no god.

Feel free to leave at any time.

Butter snobbery not found in this thread, merely discussion about the best way to use this delicious ingredient when baking.

 

[busydude]

MOST cookie recipes require the butter to be at room temperature:

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Cookie/CookieTips.htm

"Butter: Make sure your butter is at room temperature, otherwise it won't cream properly with the sugar. The terms "room temperature," "softened" and "soft" mean different things. The temperature of the butter an make a difference in the recipe. Most cookie dough recipes depend on the emulsion that occurs when you cream butter and sugar together. This emulsion will not happen if the butter is too hot or too cold.

Room Temperature Butter: It should be pliable enough that your finger can leave a mark in it, without being soft and greasy. Set the butter out at least one (1) hour in advance.

Softened Butter: Will feel a little warmer to the touch, and it will be much easier to leave a deep indentation, but it should still be firm enough to pick up without falling apart.

Soft Butter: Will be too soft to pick up.

Do not try to microwave your butter as it will just end up too soft.

TIP: If you don't have an hour's lead time, increase the surface area by cutting the butter into small pieces or shredding it on the large holes of a grater. It will then come up to temperature in approximately 10 minutes.

Unsalted butter is generally recommended because some salted butters have more sodium than others.

TIP: If you use salted butter, only use 1/2 the amount called for in the recipe. Don't skip the salt, as salt brings out flavors and balances the sweetness in a recipe."

My wife uses the "cold butter cut into small cubes" technique for making puff pastry...fabulously flaky and tender.

BTW, if you like brownies...this recipe makes the best brownies I've ever had...

http://www.nickmalgieri.com/blog/w10_brownies.html

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.

 

[gorcorps]

Feel free to leave at any time.

Butter snobbery not found in this thread, merely discussion about the best way to use this delicious ingredient when baking.

I didn't mean you

 

[nageov3t]

Butter snobs, good lord. I hate this fucking planet... These people shouldn't exist. Their existence is the greatest proof that there's no god.

saying that butter gives more flavor/texture than margerine and that the temperature of the butter has an impact in the texture of your baked goods isn't snobbery, it's fact.

butter snobbery would be extolling the virtues of high-end, luxury $50/pound butter.

 

[UglyCasanova]

Best sugar cookies ever.

 

[nanette1985]

Whatever recipe you pick out, measure carefully.

Fresh unsalted real butter, and if the recipe doesn't say otherwise, room temperature, cut into largish chunks - because you want it to blend evenly and at the same rate throughout the batter. Unsalted butter can take on flavors from the fridge quicker than salted butter, so use fresh.

Sugar - regular white sugar, store brand's okay. If it's lumpy sift it. Measure accurately. It's popular nowadays to cut down on the sugar in the recipe, but if you don't know the recipe to begin with, use the full amount. It matters in the chemistry. If other sugars are called for, like brown sugar or 10X, get the right kind.

Flour - all-purpose flour unless otherwise called for. Measure carefully. These days you don't need to sift it unless it's packed down really hard, you'll know. You often sift the flour with other dry ingredients (baking powder, soda, salt etc) to mix them evenly. Nothing wrong with that.

Other dry ingredients - baking powder and soda are used to lighten, the older they are, the less well they work. Use whatever the recipe calls for. Salt is used to bring out flavors like sweetness, chocolate, whatever - don't leave out the salt, but it's okay to cut down a bit if you need to.

Eggs - if not specified they mean "large" eggs. Cool or room temperature, but don't heat them.

Vanilla - real, of course. The imitation stuff is a waste of time.

Nuts, chocolate chips, etc etc - for things like this, be sure you like the way they taste. Don't go crazy getting expensive, but don't cheap out on inferior ingredients thinking that something magic will happen in the oven.

It's very important that you use the correct oven temperature (do you have a thermometer?) and bake for the proper time. Cookies keep baking a bit after you take them out of the oven, so you need to get to know your oven and your doneness preference to get this right every time. Means you want to bake many batches of cookies to test. Torture