An "perfect" recipe vs. my mom's cookie recipe (she uses recipe on a chocolate chip bag). Who will win? Find out below. I compared them based on cookie dough edibility, appearance, texture, sweetness, flavor+texture when fresh, flavor+texture when at room temperature, flavor+texture when a day old, and milk dunkability when a day old. Also, learn how different baking sheets affect the outcome of your cookies!
In the pictures above, my mom's cookies are on the left and "perfect" recipe cookies on the right (in the bottom picture my mom's cookie is on top).
Look below to see the recipes, my review, and see side by side (actually top and bottom) comparisons of each cookie making process ("perfect" recipe picture on top, my mom's recipe picture on bottom).
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)
"Perfect" Recipe:
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt (reduce to ¼ if you want less salty cookies)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
¼ cup + 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or spray with non-stick spray.
In a medium bowl, sift the flour, baking soda and salt together. Make sure your baking soda is not expired.
With an electric mixer or with a stand mixer with paddle attachment beat together the butter and sugars on medium speed for ~2 minutes until smooth.
Add the egg and vanilla and mix on low speed until mixed in.
Gradually add the flour mixture and mix in until just incorporated. Do not keep mixing - do not overmix.
Add chocolate chips and stir with a wooden spoon, again no overmixing.
Chill dough if dough is warm.
Drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, 8 per pan.
Bake the cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until the bottoms and edges are lightly browned and the tops feel firm when lightly touched, bake 10-15 minutes.
Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.
Store in airtight container at room temperature for up to four days.
Makes 16 large cookies.
My Mom's Recipe:
Ingredients:
1 cup + 2 tablespoons of flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 stick butter
6 tbsp. sugar
6 tbsp. packed light brown sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
~1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Directions:
Stir together flour, baking soda, salt.
With spatula paddle attachment on a kitchenaid mixer, beat butter and sugars together until creamy (three minutes on medium speed).
Add in egg and vanilla and mix on low speed until combined.
Preheat oven to 375°F
Gradually add flour mixture and mix well. Stir in chips and nuts. Do not overmix.
Drop onto ungreased sheet in spoonfuls and bake for 8-12 minutes. Let cool.
Makes about 14 large cookies or 18 small cookies.
Review:
Ease of making: Both easy to make with a kitchenaid mixer, especially because they had very similar steps.
Cookie dough flavor: My mom's recipe, hands down had the better tasting cookie dough. I kept wanting to eat it whereas the "perfect" recipe wasn't quite as tasty.
Sweetness: My mom's cookies tasted sweeter than the "perfect" version, I think the higher oven temperature made the sugar stand out more (and made it crunchier) in my mom's version.
Appearance: Due to the higher temperature, my mom's cookies were darker in color than the "perfect" recipe. However, I slightly underbaked the "perfect" recipe as well, so they turned out a bit pale. In addition, the "perfect" recipe cookies were fluffier than my mom's which were a bit flat. When broken in half, the "perfect" recipe is a bit gooier while my mom's recipe is a bit more crisp when broken. Both looked delicious. However, I learned that dark baking sheets really do give darker (more burnt) cookie bottoms even with the same baking time + temperature + rotation of pans, as you'll see in the picture below.
Flavor and texture when fresh: My mom's recipe were overall more crispy and crunchy than the "perfect" recipe. Once again I think due to the higher baking temperature. The "perfect" recipe had a lightly crispy exterior and really gooey interior which I loved. In terms of flavor, the "perfect" recipe ad stronger vanilla, salt, and butter flavor whereas my mom's was more sugary and buttery. In all honesty though, any cookie fresh out of the oven tastes amazing, so it's hard to judge.
Flavor and texture at room temperature: the Flavors and textures were very similar to when fresh out of the oven. The center of my mom's cookies were more "melt in your mouth" but the "perfect" recipe was new to me, and I wanted to take a second bite of those cookies before i wanted to take a second bite of my mom's cookies.
Flavor and texture after a day: "Perfect" recipe cookies tasted lovely. They became chewier and don't taste stale. They are delightful and there are still strong hints of salt and vanilla and they don't taste as sugary as my mom's. My mom's recipe are more chewy and still a little crunchy on the outer edge, and taste a bit more stale, but also a bit more caramel-y than the other cookies. My mom's recipe still tastes sweeter than the "perfect" recipe.
Dunking in milk when a day old: I prefer my mom's when dunked in milk vs. the "perfect" recipe. The milk enhances the flavor of my mom's cookies whereas it doesn't enhance the "perfect" recipe cookie flavor.
Overall verdict: I love them both. When I want to feel sentimental, I'll definitely make my mom's cookies. When I want a soft, less crispy, and less sugary cookie, I'll make the "perfect" recipe.
"Perfect" recipe on top, mom's recipe on bottom (same for all the following pictures)
After creaming the butter and sugars.
After mixing in the egg and vanilla.
After mixing in the flour mixture.
After mixing in the chocolate chips. My mom's dough had a wetter, stickier texture than the "perfect" recipe (and her dough tasted better too!)
Differences in dough texture can be seen a little here. The main difference was that my mom's recipe (bottom picture) had the butter + sugar creamed together for one extra minute.
Cookies when baking.
Cookies after baking. My mom's cookies are darker.
What cookies looked like on the darker baking pan (flatter and more dark).
What the cookies look like on the lighter color baking pan (fluffier and less dark).
Cookies after baking.
Cookies after breaking, the "perfect" recipe is a bit gooier while my mom's recipe is a bit more crisp when broken.
Beautiful. The "perfect" recipe cookies are a bit fluffier.
They both photograph beautifully!
For each batch of cookies, the darker pan (right cookies) produced a darker, more burnt bottom than the lighter pan (left cookies) even with same baking time =temp and pan rotation.
Cookies when they're a day old (my mom's cookie on top and "perfect" recipe on bottom), as you can probably see, they look a bit denser and chewier (and they were!)
The original "perfect" recipe can be found here: http://www.thebakingchocolatess.com/perfect-chocolate-chip-cookies/
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