cookie throwdown – Cook’s Illustrated vs. Alton Brown

I’ve met only a handful of people over the years who don’t love a good chocolate chip cookie. And those who don’t… well, I just can’t get my head around that because, really… it’s just not right.

There are, of course, differing opinions on what constitutes the “best” kind of cookie – chewy vs. crispy, big vs. small, flat vs. puffy. For me, it’s a big, chewy, bumpy cookie – crisp on the edges and soft and sinfully gooey in the middle.

Like many, I started making chocolate cookies when I was a kid. Over the course of the years – and even well into adulthood – I mostly used the recipe off the back of whatever bag of chocolate chips I had on hand. No need to go digging around for a recipe when one was so conveniently provided for you, right? Sure. Except that I recently started to think about taking cookies to another level. Surely there’s more to life than the back of the bag recipe.

I decided to take two trusted recipe sources – the folks over at Cook’s Illustrated and Mr. Good Eats himself, Alton Brown – and put their chocolate chip cookie recipes to the test. The differences between the two recipes are actually pretty subtle. Most notably, Alton Brown uses bread flour as opposed to C.I.’s all-purpose flour, more butter, more brown sugar, and a little bit of milk. Both use baking soda as a leavening agent, one egg plus one egg yolk, and melted butter. And, whereas A.B. instructs you to simply scoop your batter onto your baking sheet, Cook’s Illustrated actually has you roll the dough into balls, then break them in half, rotate the halves ninety degrees – so that the jagged edges point up – and put the two halves back together to achieve a happy, bumpy surface.

Interesting…

Let me introduce you to both cookies.

First up was Alton Brown’s Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie:

See that? Crispy edges, gooey middle. Just like I like ‘em.

The cookies were generally pretty uniform. Kinda flat (not be confused with thin). All of them browned nicely.

And next… Cook’s Illustrated Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie:

Again… crispy edges, beautiful center.

Again, nice and uniform. Golden. But… check out the beautiful bumpy texture. I love how the chocolate chips are peeking out all over the place.

“So,” you’re no doubt wondering… “which one’s better?”

From a taste standpoint – I prefer the Alton Brown recipe. From a visual/texture standpoint – Cook’s Illustrated had it. And as for the all-important day-after test? Alton Brown’s recipe definitely remained chewier. What’s that mean? It means that next time (and there will be a next time), I’ll use A.B.’s recipe and C.I.’s technique. And then… then I will have the best of both worlds (and rockin’ cookies!).

The Husband is on his way home and, no doubt, looking forward to giving his input on which he thinks is best. And I’ll be roping a few other folks into taste-testing these over the weekend, too. I’ll update here to let you know which one wins out in my not-so-scientific poll. In the meantime, do you think you have a recipe that tops these? Share it with me! This is my favorite kind of research!

Update…
A.B. 4 votes / C.I. 2 votes / 1 undecided