Two cookies that look identical but differ in texture and definitely in flavor! I've been following Bon Appetit's and Joshua Weissman's YouTube channels for about 1.5 years and finally tried recipes from them. If you look below you can see which of these cookies I prefer, but honestly you can't to wrong with either! Above Joshua's recipe is on the left/top image, Chris' on the left/bottom image.
If you want to see the other chocolate chip cookie "battles":
Part 1 (Soft and Melty)
Part 2 (Thin and Crispy)
Part 3 (Thick and Cakey)
Part 4 (Chewy)
Part 5 (Top Rated Recipes)
Part 6 (Joshua Weissman vs. Chris Morocco)
Part 7 (Browned Butter)
The recipes are here, and below is my review and pictures of how the cookies were made:
The recipes:
Chris Morocco Recipe (full batch):
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (220 g)
3/4 tsp. table salt (1/2 tsp. for less salty)
3/4 tsp. baking soda (use 1/2 tsp. if cookies spread too much)
12 Tbsp. unsalted butter (170 g), divided
1 cup packed dark brown sugar (210 g)
1/4 cup granulated sugar (50 g)
1 large egg (50-55 g)
2 large egg yolks (25-35 g)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
8 oz. (226 g) bittersweet/dark (60-70%) chocolate, coarsely chopped
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda together and set aside.
Melt 8 Tbsp. butter on low-medium heat in a small saucepan until brown (~4 minutes), scraping the bottom with a heatproof spatula constantly. When it browns it browns quickly.
Then immediately take off the heat and pour into a bowl and mix in the rest of the butter.
Add the sugars to the butter and whisk until no lumps remain.
Add egg and egg yolks and whisk until sugar dissolves and mixture is smooth, about 30 seconds.
Whisk in vanilla.
Using rubber spatula, fold the ingredients into butter mixture just until no dry spots remain, then fold in chocolate.
Scoop 10 ~2 Tbsp. sized dough balls onto each cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake 10-14 minutes and let cool on the sheet pan. Makes 20 large cookies.
Joshua Weissman Recipe (full batch):
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
14 tablespoons salted butter, melted (197 g)
2 eggs (~100-110 g)
1 egg yolk (15-20 g)
1 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed (250 g)
1/2 cup granulated white sugar (100 g)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
9 oz. (255 g) dark chocolate, roughly chopped (or a mix of semi-sweet and dark)
flakey salt for sprinkling on top (optional)
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda together and set aside.
In a large bowl mix together the sugars to combine.
Add the melted butter and whisk until thoroughly incorporated.
While whisking continuously add in your eggs, egg yolk, vanilla extract until thoroughly mixed.
Add half your flour mix at a time and mix well. then mix in the rest.
Fold in your chopped chocolate.
Roll and place 5-8 large cookies (or 12 smaller cookies) on the lined baking tray(s).
Bake for 15-17 minutes for large cookies or 12-15 minutes for smaller cookies.
The cookies should look golden brown. Let them cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet then carefully transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
They should be chewy. Makes 20 large cookies, 32-40 small cookies.
My Review:
Cookie Dough: Joshua's recipe: the dough is too soft, which makes it less appetizing. The flavor isn't too bad but I'm not tempted to eat another spoonful. I think perhaps because it's too buttery. Chris' recipe: Oh my god, at first it tastes like you're eating caramel mixed with cookie dough, absolutely delicious. But then the browned butter and little bit of saltiness comes through which makes it more savory. So delicious overall though and I prefer it over Joshua's.
Fresh out of the oven: Joshua's Recipe: It has nice crispy edges and a gooey middle. The middle is nice and fluffy. Quite buttery and an almost toasted flavor to them. No one flavor overpowers the other but I should have gone with 8 oz. chocolate because the dough:chocolate ratio is too high. Chris' Recipe: Oh yeah. Not as crispy crunchy edge like on Joshua's. But it tastes like delicious caramel and it's nice and rich. The inside is still very hot (obviously) and it's super melt in your mouth. Good balance of flavor. Salt comes through but isn't overpowering.
At room temperature: Joshua's Recipe: The texture is just perfect. Especially on the inside where is't sort of fluffy (but not cakey) and chewy. The outside is even more crunchy. So there's some beautiful textural contrast here. The cookie still has a toasted flavor. Honestly it's delicious, especially when you get a nice chocolate-filled bite. Chris' recipe: Still amazing flavor. The outside edges are more crunchy now. It still has a deep caramel flavor. Salt comes through a bit more but still not overpowering. So it becomes like a salted caramel.
The next day(s): Chris' still tops Joshua's recipe. Joshua's doesn't taste stale and still has chewiness. In contrast, Chris' still has a caramel flavor. It's getting weaker but still there. Still quite soft, not very chewy. However, on 2 days after baking I'm surprisingly digging Joshua's more than Chris'. Not hard to finish a giant cookie with Joshua's recipe and they don't even taste stale. Chris' still good too but starting to taste stale.
Overall Verdict: I love both but honestly Chris' recipe wins for it's caramel flavor! But Joshua's is delicious too!! Chris' just has an extra dimension of flavor that makes it really special. However, Joshua's kept better than Chris' in terms of flavor over the next few days. Honestly I really recommend you try both!
Now to see how they're made! I made a half-batch of each recipe. Chris' recipe had a few extra steps but otherwise process is almost identical.
Joshua Weissman (top), Chris Morocco (bottom):
First we start with butter melting. In Joshua's recipe (top) the butter is just melted) But in Chris' recipe (bottom) the butter is browned.
This pertains only to Chris's recipe. You pour the browned butter into a bowl to cool a little (top left image) - it might look burnt but it's not!. Then you add more butter (top right image), and mix together (bottom image) before adding to the sugar.
Before mixing the butter into the sugars.
After mixing the butter into the sugars.
After mixing the eggs and vanilla in. You can see little flecks of browned butter in Chris' recipe (bottom image).
After mixing in the mixture of flour, salt, and baking soda.
After mixing in the chocolate. Now it's ready to scoop!
After scooping! Look pretty similar but Joshua's dough is softer.
Before baking.
After baking. Pretty cracked surfaces!
After baking! Look pretty darn similar!
After baking! Beautiful and golden! And delicious of course!
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