Quest for the CCCC

Chocolate chips cookies (a.k.a CCC, 3Cs) have a very special place in my heart.

No, not because I love to eat them.

No, definitely not because they are easy to make; at least not the kind that I want.  In fact, I have conquered recipes to my liking or at least some-what liking, EXCEPT chocolate chips cookies.  Can you feel my frustration between the lines?

My baking fun started with muffins; piece of cake.  So I ushered the 3Cs into my oven.  I have lost count of how many times I have made chocolate chips cookies; kids and friends love it, except me – the baker.  I don’t want just any CCC, it must be CCCC, the 4Cs! – No, not that 4Cs (condominium, cash, car and career) which our follow citizens are chasing after.  It’s Chewy Chocolate Chips Cookies! Chewy, is the magic word.

A fun, out-of-love pastime has eventually turned into a frustrating quest; the search for the right recipe to produce the right 4Cs.  

‘If you are not a cookies fan, why bother? Anyway, it’s good enough to your Darlings. Why make such a big deal over it??’ – You might wonder.

Good question, cos’ I wonder the same too. 

Crispy cookies are easy, for me at least, bite size dough couple with longer baking time.  Whichever degree of crispiness, play with that conditions.  All of the chewy recipes I have tried so far, turned out to be crispy or crispy-potentials but never chewy.  You see what I mean??

Ok, we are talking about chewy cookies here …

What have I tried?  Wow, so many different things.

First and forth most, was read and read about what experienced bakers have to say.  Why re-invent the wheel, right??

Chewiness, according to some, is all about retaining the moisture in the cookies.  So use brown sugar instead of white sugar.

Tried. No magic word.  I guess it takes more than brown sugar alone.

Someone recommended using bread flour because of the higher protein content.

Again, no magic word.  So, it takes more than protein alone.

Many recipes that claimed to produce the 4Cs, instructed “beat butter and sugar till creamy”. That was exactly what I did. Happily beating away and ... YES, very creamy indeed.

Still no magic word.  Ya, then I read somewhere someone said beating would incorporate air into the dough and airy cookies you would have.  I was speechless and fuming.  "WHICH ONE OF YOU IS NOT TELLING THE TRUTH??? BRING ME THE CULPRIT NOW!!!"

There was this discussion about dry ingredients and wet ingredients ratio.  I will save you the details on the relationship between density and volume.  Bottom line is:  use weighing scale rather than measuring cup.

Been there, done that.  No magic word. 

But I still weigh my ingredients, simply because it makes scientific sense. 

Well, something good had to come out from all these mess and effort, right?

Somebody said keep the dough cold; cold egg, cold mixing bowl, cold this and cold that … My heart turned cold and my brain was totally messed up with all these conflicting information.

‘Take every piece of information in the internet with a pitch of salt.’ – We all know that.  But it's more than just salt this time round.  There are butter and sugar too, and a whole lot more …

Then …

Some people actually trialed and tested different methods to yield either crispy cookies or chewy cookies. One of the recommendations, among many others, is to use melted butter. Why? – I don’t know.  They also mentioned use higher temperature shorter baking time. 

I have not tried it because I don’t see any ingredient that is so very different. I have had enough of failure you know.   But mainly, is because of the ‘one egg and one egg yolk.’  Then what am I suppose to do with the unused egg white?  That is simply …. an imperfection of the recipe - having left-over lying on the kitchen top.  I know, perfectionist can be unbelievably unreasonable at times.  My better half would roll his eyes and say to you: "Tell me about it!!"

In any case, I took the advice and used a similar recipe that called for 2 full eggs - good job, nice and clean.  What I got from doing all these? – Soft but not chewy cookies. I could hear my sarcastic self screaming: "Hell-o, anybody home? Didn’t the recipe specifically mention the difference of using one yolk? What were you thinking??!!" - Right, so much for being a perfectionist, way to go …

By this time, I was screaming inside me: “WTH IS YOUR DEFINITION OF CHEWY?????” I am pretty sure you are feeling my frustration now.  I gave up searching for CCCC, and googled Subway CCC.  It was amazing how many hits I've got.  Great, there are so many people out there just as obsessed as I am.  It's comforting to know, really.

Somebody mentioned the use of pudding mix.  What is pudding mix? – Corn starch with different flavors.  So I added corn starch.  They were the worst CCC I have ever made, thick, floury, dry … whatever, I didn’t care.  That was not a keeper.

So I stopped baking CCC, feeling completely defeated ….

Very much gave up and stopped picturing the ecstasy of finally biting into the chewiness I desperately seek.

The quest is over, OVER!!!

It wasn't the end of the world you know, and I managed to move on and find my new love - bread.

Ha ha, that was another frustrating long story … another day ya … but this one has got a happy ending … *smile*

Months and months have gone by ... no CCC, let alone CCCC ...

Over the weekend, we held a simple birthday gathering for Darling Boy.  Only one of Darling Girl’s friends could come, and she specially asked for my chocolate chips cookies. 

How could I possibly disappoint a ten year-old fan, right? 

Yet, it felt like rubbing salt to my CCCC wound. 

Still, I decided to bake some for her. No quest.  'It’s over", remember??

I sat down, went through different recipes … condensation in progress.

Here is the what and the how:

What

ত        180 g all purpose flour

ত        115 g bread flour

ত        227 g unsalted butter

ত        100 g brown sugar

ত        120 g dark sugar

ত        2 large eggs

ত        1 teaspoon baking soda

ত        1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

ত        ½ teaspoon salt

ত        1 pack (270g) semi sweet chocolate chips

How

1. Melt the butter, and stir in the sugars. 
2. Add in the eggs, one at a time, and vanilla extract and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, combine all purpose flour, bread flour and baking soda. Sift into butter mixture.
4. Add in salt and chocolate chips, mix well.
5. Chill the dough in the fridge for 30 mins.
6. Form dough into 1 ½ tablespoon size and drop onto baking sheet.  Flatten with fork.
7. Bake on middle rack for 10 mins at 180C in a pre-heated oven. Cool on baking tray for 5 mins.
8. Enjoy! Store remaining cookies in air tight container.

The cookies turned out chewy, though not quite there yet but looked promising.  In fact, I was rather excited when I saw the gooey butter and sugar mixture.  A good chance of chewy cookies, I thought to myself.

Comments from tasters:

Chewy.  (Yes, yes, that is the magic word I have been searching for high and low.)

Sweetness is just right.

Taste is good, doesn’t stick on my teeth and throat.  Don’t ask me about texture.  I can’t tell.  *faint*

So, I have decided. 

I hereby declare the quest for the CCCC shall continue …

The cookies were chewy, but I want more.

So what’s next:

1. Reduce baking soda to half teaspoon.
2. I think I stirred too much while mixing the butter and sugar; I have to stop that.
3. Use coarse sugar, it’s ok if it is not dissolved completely.
4. If you like your cookies really sweet, add more sugar.  It should make the cookies chewier.
5. Consider throw in the cold ingredients theory. No harm trying again, right?

If you have a recipe that gives Subway kind of chewiness, please save me from my agony and share …  Your name will be mentioned every time I talk about chocolate chips cookies, I can assure you.

Disclaimer: What works in my kitchen might not work in yours, and the reverse might be true.