Chocolate chip cookies are good for any occasion: be it Motherâs Day, Teacherâs Day or any other occasion where you want to surprise a loved one. You can do so by baking a special batch of chocolate chip cookies for them. Chocolate chip cookies are Americaâs favorite cookies, invented by Ruth Wakefield in 1930. Chocolate chip cookies are made out of a combination of thick dough mixed with butter, white and brown sugar and semi-sweet chocolate chip cookies. This can be made more delicious with addition of walnuts and pecans. To know, follow the steps given below.
Complexity Level: Moderate
Time required: 80-85 minutes
Resources required:
- Unsalted butter
- Brown sugar
- Grounded sugar
- Vanilla essence
- Eggs
- All purpose flour
- Salt
- Chocolate chips
- Milk
- Baking soda
- Oven
Instructions:
1. Prepare the oven:
- The first step lies in pre-heating the oven at around 350 F. The temperature set up is the most important. Without accurate pre-heating, you can burn your cookies.
- Avoid operating your oven at any random temperature and so checking your cookies from time to time. This would be sheer waste of time and effort.
2. Mixing flour, salt and baking soda:
In a medium sized bowl, mix flour, salt and baking soda in the quantities mentioned above. Miz them well and do not leave any lumps in the flour. Stir it well.
3. Beating the butter and the sugar:
Now in a large bowl, beat butter, brown sugar and grounded sugar. Once you done beating, add the vanilla essence along with the milk. Once all these ingredients are completely mixed up, add the eggs and again beat the entire mixture till it becomes a little fluffy.
4. Mixing together
Now take the medium bowl and slowly drain its content in to the large bowl. Keep mixing it as you pour down the content one by one. Keep mixing till the flour, salt and baking soda are totally absorbed in the mixture. You would be right if the dough becomes moderately thick.
5. Adding chocolate chips, walnuts etc and spreading on the cookie sheet:
Add chocolate chips and walnuts to the dough as much as you desire and you take out one golf ball size amount of dough with a spoon and spread it on the cookie sheet. You can spread 12 cookies on the cookie sheet and you should leave a space of at least an inch between them.
6. Cooking in the oven and serving:
Put the cookies in to the pre-heated oven for about 10-14 minutes. After that, remove the cookie sheet and let it rest out for about 2-3 minutes. Using a spatula, pick up the cookies and keep them in a tray and let them cool for about 5 minutes. And they are ready to eat.
Frequently Asked Questions:
1. Is it important to preheat the oven ?
Yes, heating the oven prior to baking cookies is very important. There have been instances of cookies getting burnt due to cooking at the wrong temperature. Duration of minutes matter as much as temperature does. But, if the temperature is more, and you don’t check it before hand, you can end up spoiling your cookies. A temperature of 350 F is most suited for making chocolate chip cookies.
2. Can the salted butter be used in making chocolate chip cookies?
Yes, salted butter can be used but you would have to balance the salt added in the preparation. You can reduce the salt to half a spoon only if you are using salted butter.
3. What is the difference between baking powder and baking soda?
There is a significant difference between the both. While baking powder makes a much fluffier and thicker cookie, baking soda will make a flat cookie. Hence, always try to use baking powder as it also contains baking soda as one of its ingredient.
Quick tips:
1. Make sure that dough is not thin, else the cookies will burn in the oven within 5 minutes.
2. Mixing the ingredients perfectly is the art that will deliver perfect cookies.
3. You can top up your cookies as per your choice
4. You can make different shape cookies and get creative.
Things to watch out for:
1. Pre-heating oven is important as much as knowing the exact temperature. i.e. 350 F.
2. Do let the cookies cool off for at least 5 minutes before you consider tasting them.
3. Do let leave any lumps in the dough as that would get reflected in the cookie.
4. Remember to grease the cooking tray with some oil before you spread out cookies on it.
