The Best Old Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe - Fork & Wander (2024)

FAQs

Does the fork trick work for cookies? ›

My trusted method for getting ripply, jagged-topped cookies has been simple–scoop the cookie dough with two forks, or as I like to call it, forking your dough. Take two forks and rough up the dough a little bit. Use the tines of both forks to gather up as much dough as you want in a bundle.

Flour adds fluff and texture to the cookies. Adding too little flour can cause cookies to be flat, greasy, and crispy. Most recipes assume you'll use all-purpose, but if you want a lighter, crumblier cookie texture, choose one with a lower protein content such as cake-and-pastry flour.

The caramelized butter, sugar, vanilla, chocolate, and subtle notes of salt offer a balanced flavor profile. The saltiness highlights and enhances the preexisting flavors. But what makes for the perfect chocolate chip cookie? You get what you pay for, and high-quality ingredients equate to a high-quality product.

The cookies are not supposed to flatten out completely during baking, but remain slightly mounded. This gives the cookies their soft centres. In the method it says to put mounds of the cookie dough on the baking sheet and not to flatten the mounds (step 5).

Baking soda is typically used for chewy cookies, while baking powder is generally used for light and airy cookies. Since baking powder is comprised of a number of ingredients (baking soda, cream of tartar, cornstarch, etc.), using it instead of pure baking soda will affect the taste of your cookies.

A low proportion of sugar relative to flour reduces spread, keeping the cookies thick. A high proportion of mix-ins helps thicken the dough. Blending chocolate chip styles creates a more dynamic flavor. Overnight refrigeration hydrates the flour, again helping the cookies stay thick.

Yes, baking powder and baking soda can expire! Once they've been opened, it's best to use them within six months, so make sure to check expiration dates before you start baking. Expired leavening agents lose their effectiveness, leading to flat cookies.

Chocolate and milk both contain emulsifiers that let ingredients that usually wouldn't combine well, like cocoa butter and cocoa powder, mix together. The chemical reaction between the chocolate and the milk actually enhances both flavors. The milk also mellows out the cookie's sweetness.

Why do my chocolate chip cookies always get hard? ›

Hard cookies: you are over mixing, baking too long, baking at too high a temperature, or some combination of these. Cakey cookies: not enough brown sugar, too much or too little egg, too much flour, maybe you used baking powder instead of baking soda?

Traditional chocolate cookies and chocolate chip cookies are not considered to be healthy on their own due to the large amount of sugar and butter used to make them. However, you can still enjoy these cookies in moderation and as part of a healthy diet.

Brown Sugar

Adding moisture to your cookie dough can help make it softer and chewier, and stay soft for longer. That's why I use much more brown sugar than granulated sugar in this recipe.

Some people like thin and crispy, while others go for super soft and half-baked (me!). If you're looking for chewiness and bend, bread flour could be a handy addition to your cookie recipes. Fun fact: Alton Brown even named his signature bread flour Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe “The Chewy."

Cookie temperatures fluctuate, with some recipes as low as 300 degrees Fahrenheit, and a few as high as 425 degrees Fahrenheit, but most recipes land on 375 or 350 to evenly bake the entirety of the cookie.

Using the long tines of a fork and pressing down on the dough ball twice , one vertically and one horizontally, flattens the dough evenly and leaves attractive marks. Win-win!

The baking company shared that the reason has to do with the consistency of the dough. Because peanut butter cookie dough is dense, using a fork helps flatten it into the ideal shape and thickness, allowing it to bake evenly.

The reason is that peanut butter cookie dough is dense, and unpressed, each cookie will not cook evenly. Using a fork to press the dough is a convenience of tool; bakers can also use a cookie shovel (spatula).

You can use a fork or a dough docker to prick small holes all over the surface of the dough. By venting the steam, docking keeps the dough from billowing or heaving as it bakes. It's an important step for crisp cookies or that are baked all in a single sheet and not cut up until they come out of the oven.