The quest continues

The perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe is out there somewhere, I'm sure of it.  I may have found it today. I have spent a great deal of time over the last two weeks trying to decide what makes a really good chocolate chip cookie?  I think the answer is different for everyone.  Some people are into thin, crispy ones. I like those, don't get me wrong, I would eat them if they were put in front of me.

But for me, I like a chewy, doughy center and a little bit of a crisp outside.  It has to have lots of chocolate chips, but not too much that it overpowers the dough and it has to have a good salt to sweetness ratio.  Not too salty but I want to know there is a pinch in there.  I think I need to make a spreadsheet so I can accurately rate these recipes before I start getting confused about which was which.

I am registered for a research methods course in the winter session at MSVU this year as part of my Masters degree and I'm hoping I can use this "research" as part of any project I have to do.... kidding, sort of.  Research methods would be so much more interesting if it was totally focused on cookies or other baked goods!  Either way, for scientific purposes or not, I need to keep track so that when I do find that perfect recipe I can make it again and again!  Anyone have any suggestions of what criteria should be included in a perfect cookie rating scale?  Now is the time to weigh in!

I made this recipe today. Big Chocolate Chip Cookies, another recipe from the blog My Baking Addiction (SO GOOD!).  I used these ingredients (except the coffee in the picture.... I did use that to function today, just not in the cookies).

I creamed together the butter (I used margarine, I can only imagine what these would be like with real butter..... oh my) white and brown sugar. Then added the eggs and vanilla. Then the dry ingredients to make the dough.

I rolled the dough into balls.  The recipe calls for 4 oz. balls, I have no idea how big that would be, nor do I have a scale to weigh each ball, so I just made them "cookie sized".

I didn't have any parchment paper, that is a luxury that people on parental leave cannot afford.  So I used some Pam from my giant can of it that I bought at Costco.  Nothing like spray grease in bulk!

 Again, the pan is clean, just ruined!

A little sampling.....

YUM!!!!

Jason's brother was here helping to work on our deck. Judging by the number cookies to two of them ingested in a ten minute time period, I would say they were a hit!  I know I like them!