BALANCE YOUR PLATE TESTS THE 3 MOST POPULAR CHOCOLATE CHIP RECIPES TO SEE WHICH ONE WAS THE BEST.
How many times have you scrolled past those internet-breaking choc chip cookies…
Gooey puddles of chocolate, chewy edges, and perfectly golden brown and crinkly.
You know the ones I’m talking about.
I wanted to compare three popular recipes and see how they fared against one another. I would follow all the recipes exactly; using scales to be accurate and following the video tutorials for technique.
All the cookies were chilled overnight, which allows the flour to rehydrate, leading to less moisture in the dough. Your reward for being patient? Better flavour (more toffee-like), an aesthetically-pleasing golden brown colour and crispier edges.
RECIPE #1 Levain-style “Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies”
So this batch is a little different to the others. It is chonky. A big boy. None of that chewy, spread out business. They are caramelised on the edges, but the inside is slightly underbaked, soft and gooey.
Overall verdict: these cookies definitely have that wow-factor. Who wouldn’t be impressed by a literal mound of chocolate-y, buttery goodness. The ingredients are simple, and the addition of toasted walnuts works great with the dark chocolate.
Levain Bakery describe themselves as having “New York City’s most famous cookies”. They frequently pop up in travel guides for Manhattan and even back in 2014, before Instagram food accounts were a thing, I knew I had to go to Levain for a cookie. And yes, they were freaking amazing.
Top tips: don’t be scared of making each cookie dough ball big; mine were literally the size of tennis balls. And don’t flatten the dough balls – make sure they are tall mounds with a rough surface in order to achieve the golden, lumpy exterior.
RECIPE #2 Buzzfeed Tasty’s “Best Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies”
There are over 16,000 ratings for this recipe!!! And they scored 94%, so I had to see if it lived up to the hype.
Overall verdict: you will love these if you like super chewy cookies… as in so chewy they are almost toffee-like, which works well because there is a distinct caramel flavour.
Simple ingredients, simple process (ie. no need to cream the butter) and they taste like the best version of a classic chocolate chip cookie. Also, the crinkles remind me of the wrinkly dog on the toilet paper commercials, how cute.
Top tips: The video showed 6 on a tray, but mine spread a lot and ended up squished against each other, so I would recommend putting 4 to a tray. These cookies are definitely on the sweet side, and some people commented that they add an extra 1/4 cup of flour. This will help balance the sweetness, and also prevent them spreading so thin.
RECIPE #3 Bon Appetit “Buckwheat Chocolate Chunk Cookies”
This is great if you want to flex on everyone else’s boring old choc chip cookies by using buckwheat flour (which gives it a subtle, nutty flavour). I also chopped up a bar of Lindt 80% chocolate because it is nice and thin, which created the most amazing pools of melted chocolate. Goodbye chocolate chips.
Overall verdict: they are actually also very easy to make despite the fancy sounding name, although in comparison to the first recipe, you need two egg yolks in addition to a large egg. Use the leftover whites to bulk up scrambled eggs, or freeze them for future use (like meringues or chocolate mousse).
These cookies ooze sophistication, from the buckwheat, to the dark chocolate discs and sprinkle of salt on top. Would recommend, especially if you want something a little less sweet. Definitely still a chewy cookie.
Top tips: Bon Appetit magazine have an online forum where editors and recipe creators answer just about every question you could have about baking in general, and also this recipe specifically.
So there we have it! Three AMAZING chocolate chip cookie recipes, each with its own characteristics. If you are going to force me to choose a favourite, I have to say it would be recipe #1, followed closely by #3. But I will be making (and eating) all of these recipes over and over again.
Two things to look out for if you are going to try the recipes.
- If you don’t have self-raising flour (recipe #1), you can make your own at home. The ratio is 1 tsp baking powder to 150g plain flour.
- If you don’t have unsalted butter (it tends to be more expensive), reduce the amount of salt in the recipe. 100g of butter contains around 1.5g of salt. You’ll need to do some math based on the recipe but nobody likes a cookie that tastes like it’s been dunked in seawater. Do dunk it in milk though.
As always, if you make any of these recipes, please tag me on Instagram @balanceyourplate and DM me any questions and suggestions for future posts!