Go to the Article: The Ultimate Guide to Chocolate Chip Cookies: Understanding the Process
I absolutely LOVE the science behind the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie! Thank you for "taking one for the Team" with all your test trials of baked and tasted cookies! Chef Grant, you may need to do a sugar detox...after watching your animated (and fun) video! Thank you for sharing!
does convection matter while baking or not?
Simple answer is yes, it helps with heat distribution, as well as speeds up the cook time.
Thanks guys, this article is fascinating. Had a question: Can you truely "cream" butter that has been melted or browned (without re-firming the browned butter)? According to Stella Parks on SeriousEats, butter loses its ability to retain air above 65F, and I know that the process of browning butter removes most of the moisture content which needs to be accounted for in the resulting dough (which I believe is one reason Cook's Illustrated adds an extra yolk to their recipe which calls for browned butter). Did you re-firm the browned butter after browning in the fridge? Can you give more detail on the results of creaming or not creaming butter after melting or browning?
The craving for a good cookie usually comes after dinner. If I have to wait 5 1/2 hours, I'll be in bed!
You might try freezing a batch of portioned cookie dough to bake off a few at a time. Make sure they’re wrapped well, and let them come to room temperature before baking. If you want to go straight from frozen to baking, make smaller cookies so they’ll cook evenly. Word from the kitchen says that the dough is good for a month in the refrigerator, and up to six months in the freezer.
Thanks for watching, Jane! The whole staff at ChefSteps could use a sugar detox—we have eaten so many cookies!
Hi Chris, The browned and melted butter was allowed to cool to room temperature before being added to the batter.
What is missing in your tests is the relationship between cookie size and temperature. For example, how much do you need to increase the oven temperature and adjust the baking time if you want smaller, 50g cookies. While the initial 13g cookie may be tiny and too sensitive, I feel there is room for more size-temperature exploration. I'll do my own tests and compare 100g/177C/14 mins to 50g/210C/12 min initially. Pretty sure that I can get it right within a couple of tests. Pointing this out because I believe it is a useful relationship for bakers to know so they can adjust recipes when they don't have the right size of baking tins or prefer smaller (or larger) treats.
50 gram cookies at 195C for 10 minutes ended up the same as 100g/180C/14 mins
This is so fun! A quick question: what was the difference between the 4 hour rest and the overnight rest? The overnight ones look a little darker on the pictures, but I don't see the specifics mentioned anywhere.
Any thoughts on pan-banging?
Hello Karen, The overnight rest produced a great cookie but our optimum cookie for texture and flavor was at the 4 hour rest. Just enough for the flour to hydrate and the gluten to relax.
My cookies ended up melting and becoming one giant icky cake ?
I asume I can rest them unportioned? My fridge is not big enough to fit the baking tray. The dough should soften again after 1 hour out of fridge.
Matthew, this is such excellent information, thanks! I have to agree with Karen G, however: while your comment is much appreciated I still don't feel like the difference has been fully explained between the 4 hour rest and the overnight. What exactly about the overnight rest is suboptimal? I see there's more browning (likely from enzymatic action overnight breaking down starches into simpler sugars) and there appears to be more spread.
By saying 4 hours is optimal to relax the gluten, are you suggesting the gluten is "over-relaxed" in the overnight rest? I'm just trying to wrap my head around it because everyone who poo-poos instantly baking cookies always goes for the overnight, and rarely something in between like you recommend.
If you have a chamber vac (which ChefSteps most certainly does , instead of a rest, you can run a few vacuum cycles on the dough, then portion, chill for 15 minutes, bake, and get a very similar effect. It's a fast way to hydrate the flour. (Credit where due, I thought of this, tried it, and then remembered that Aki from Ideas In Food had thought of it like 15 years ago.)
