oh the many ways to make chocolate chip cookies

I’ve noticed in recent months revised recipes for chocolate chip cookies that will give you crisp edges and soft chewy centers. My personal favorite is a totally crisp chocolate chip cookie similar to Delicious Orchards (Colts Neck, NJ) or Tate's Bake Shop. I have a note in my recipe file on how to adjust the proportion of white sugar and the use of light brown sugar instead of dark brown. White sugar makes your cookie both brown and crispy.  Brown  sugar on the other hand, makes the cookie retain moisture. The acidity in the molasses, (which is added to white sugar to make brown sugar) makes the protein in the cookie cook faster and, therefore, chewier. 
                                                                                                      
I’ve been making the O​riginal Nestlés Toll House recipe, but bake on a convection oven setting of 350 degrees and batch bake them for 14 minutes, but switch and turn the sheets half way through. Once I remove the cookies from the oven, I leave the cookies on the sheet for several minutes for carryover baking time. The cookies are kept in the refrigerator to stay fresher and retain their crunch. ​

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This past summer, the New York Times had a recipe by Julia Moskin called Giant Crinkled Chocolate Chip Cookies. Miss Moskin’s recipe has similar ingredients to Toll House, but with adjusted quantities. Also, to make a crispy edge, soft centered cookie, she recommends you remove the cookie sheet from the oven at least three times during baking and bang it on the counter. This process makes the cookie center fall and makes ridges around the cookies edge which will then crisp up. By the way, the size of her cookie is 1/3 cup of dough.
 
I’m on the mailing list for America’s Test Kitchen and they have a recipe called The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie. After reviewing the changes they made to the original Toll House recipe, I thought I would give the recipe a go. First of all, it’s a bit more time consuming to make the ATK recipe than the Toll House. Again, the recipe has adjusted ingredients, but the process in which to achieve a crisp edge with a moist and chewy center take more effort. In short, you’re browning the butter, then adding the sugar, salt and vanilla to the melted butter and whisking and resting several times. The cookies are also much larger than a Toll House cookie. Each scoop should be roughly three tablespoons of dough. Furthermore, you bake one cookie sheet at a time.
 
My husband’s overall impression was that the cookies tasted sweeter and he wasn’t a fan of the larger cookie. My son-in-law thought it was a lot of work for a chocolate chip cookie and didn’t taste any difference. My daughter detected the toffee notes in the cookie and my one year old granddaughter was just thrilled that someone actually gave her some cookie to eat!
 
After making one tray of the The Perfect Chocolate Chip cookies , I reduced the second sheet to only two tablespoons per cookie. The cookies were smaller, but they were still a bit large for my taste. The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe did have a more developed flavor, but don’t know if I’ll have the time to do added work. I sometimes take my butter out early in the morning and then when it’s soft, quickly put the Toll House recipe together. I’ll chill the dough and bake the cookies when I have the time.
 
I seem to have my crisp chocolate chip cookie process down pat. Occasionally, I may get a batch with a bit of a chewy center, but overall, there’s nothing like the original!