Thursday, February 22, 2007

cookies


Last night at book club* my friend Nicole brought Nestle Toll House cookies. Yum! I'm always, always a sucker for them. After trying hers, I said they tasted slightly different from what I am used to. She said she alters the Nestle recipe a bit by adding 1/4 C more flour (so the cookies rise higher) and ommitting the salt.

Last week I stirred up some Nestle cookie batter and froze half. That's what you see up there in the picture. Frozen batter is a little safer around here than cooked cookies. I can only manage about 1 spoonful at a time and can keep my cookie monster cravings somewhat controlled this way. So a few minutes ago I had a bite and I thought, well now, that does taste a little salty. Maybe I should try it without the salt.

So now I'm curious, what do you guys do? Do you have your own version of the Nestle recipe that works for you? Any suggestions you care to share on improving this delightful treat? My only thing is that I sometimes add extra chocolate chips. It's never a mistake!

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*The book this month was The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, which I'm sorry to say I did not read. I meant to, but by mistake I left it home when we were away last week. Instead I brought with me The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards, and I thought it was excellent.

12 comments:

J Auclair said...

A friend of mine came up with this variation--use less flour (I can't remember how much less) and brown sugar instead of white, and bake them for a slightly shorter time than recommended--kind of the opposite of the variation you're describing. They come out chewy and bendy.

Denise said...

Never been adventurous with chocolate chip cookies. Like to add nuts. Once added some orange zest - I like chocolate and orange together, like those Pims cookies.

I hope you get some suggestions for variations - I'm up for any excuse to make some cookies!

diana said...

sometimes I put both peanut butter chips and chocolate chips in... and other times I add some oatmeal in with the dry ingredients. toll house cookies are my all time faves. Good idea to freeze half.

Anonymous said...

we also add another 1/2 cup of flour...my husband's home ec teacher told him to do that...said it makes 'em more chewy...we love it. i have also heard that you shouldn't omit salt from a sweet recipe, that it helps bring out the sweet flavor. "they" say that's true, whomever "they" are... i also like adding a little whole oats and nuts. okay, now i guess i'm going to have to make a batch of cookie dough. yum! blessings!

bethy said...

i add more salt! i love salt and chocolate:) my dad's mom used to use dark brown sugar and flatten them instead of putting them on the sheet in balls. she liked them crunchy.

P in VT said...

ohhh! Both excellent books! :)

Marissa said...

Yum! I will have to try adding extra flour and leaving out the salt - personally, we are lucky if they get baked. The dough is too tempting ;)

Terri said...

I've started substituting mashed banana for one stick of the butter. It sounds nasty but the cookies are wonderful! You don't taste the banana at all.

Betty Jo said...

Yummmm, cookies! I adore your beautiful blog. :0)

Shelby said...

I love to eat 'em but I hardly ever bake cookies. I should tho.

Meg said...

Look at all of these wonderful variations! Denise, I'm with you, any excuse to make cookies. I think I will definitely experiement a little bit with the flour, and maybe the brown sugar, and of course the banana sounds intriguing, too...Thanks everybody!

sugar said...

i use a little kosher salt because i love the little bit of salty with the sweet. but cookie dough is not safe here i like it better than the cookies and it never makes it to the freezer. i like your blog.thanks for letting me stop by.