Chocolate Chip Cookie Test Bake

Time for a test bake where I actually measure all the ingredients in my chocolate chip cookie recipe! (For the detailed recipe, see the Recipe Tab.)

The first step was to chop the pecans. (Don’t you love it when a few fall off the cutting board. I figure those are meant for me to taste.)

It is important to chop the pecans coarsely—not too fine. This ensures that the final cookies have not only the nutty pecan flavor, but they also have an extra crunch when you bite into them.

Mom’s original recipe called for a 1/2 cup of chopped pecans, but I always add extra. The question was how much extra? Unfortunately, in the past, I just added pecans until the final cookie dough had the right “look.” This time I was determined to figure out the accurate measurement, so I chopped plenty of pecans. (Even when you know how many you need for a recipe, it makes sense to chop extra pecans and freeze then in a zip top bag for next time.)

Next, I combined the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt). Remember if you only have salted butter on hand, then cut back on the salt in the dry ingredient mixture. I always measure the dry ingredients carefully and stir them to combine. Mom’s original recipe calls for sifting them, but I have found that stirring them to distribute the dry ingredients works fine.

One secret to this recipe is to use a combination of butter and shortening. (Mom’s original recipe only used shortening, but I have found that the combination of butter and shortening improves both the flavor and texture of these cookies.) I use half butter and half shortening. I have experimented with other combinations in the past, but half and half gives a great texture to the final cookie—it is crisp on the outside and chewy-gooey on the inside.

In the mixer (with the whisk attachment), I add the granulated sugar and brown sugar.

The mixer makes easy work of creaming these ingredients, but don’t forget to bring the butter to room temperature before you start. Otherwise, the butter, shortening, and sugars will not be evenly distributed in the resulting cookie dough.

Add one slightly beaten egg.

A teaspoon of vanilla really enhances the flavor of these cookies. But don’t add more or it will overpower the cookies.

Mix these ingredients to form a smooth dough as shown below. The dough comes together quickly, so do not overmix.

Now for the star ingredient—semisweet chocolate chips!!! I usually use Ghiradelli these days but feel free to use your favorite chips. The original recipe called for 8 oz. In this test bake, I determined that I have been using 8 1/2 to 9 oz. With the extra chips, these cookies turn out gooey with chocolate. (If you haven’t figured it out yet, I love chocolate, so it would be hard to have too much chocolate for me. The cookie dough here really just serves to hold two of my favorite ingredients—chocolate and pecans—together!) If you want a higher ratio of cookie dough to chocolate, then just cut back on the chocolate chips. The cookies will still be great.

I ended up adding 2/3 of a cup of chopped pecans. 1/2 of a cup is not enough for me. The crunch just adds something special. When I am out of pecans, which is not often given that I buy lots during the holidays and freeze them, I have substituted chopped walnuts. But if you don’t like nuts, just leave them out.

Add the chocolate chips and pecans to the cookie dough. Turn the mixer on low speed to just work the chips and nuts into the dough. You can do this step by hand as well, but on low speed with the whisk attachment, the mixer easily handles this step.

A small scoop is perfecting for quickly forming the cookies. If you don’t have a small scoop, then a teaspoon works well. Spoon out a heaping teaspoon of dough and use a second teaspoon to move the dough onto the cookie sheet.

A rounded scoop forms a nice two to three bite cookie. (J probably considers these to be one to two bites max, but who is counting.)

A half sheet baking pan lined with parchment easily holds a dozen cookies.

Now the hard part—actually putting these into the oven and waiting for them to bake instead of just eating the raw cookie dough that looks so inviting 🙂

Depending on your oven, it takes about 9-12 minutes at 350 degrees until these are ready. Err on the side of undercooking these cookies. You want the bottom just browned and the tops still a little pale if you like the centers to still be soft and chewy. When you take the cookies out of the oven, let them sit on the cookie sheet for a few minutes to solidify. Otherwise, they may fall apart when you pick them up (unless you overcooked them).

These cookies will be slightly crisp on the outside but still chewy on the inside. Now that is my idea of the perfect chocolate chip cookie. Hope you like them too!!!