“I WILL NOT GIVE UP!” I said. “I WILL DEFEAT THE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE!”
I appreciate the comments on my previous post with suggestions on how to fix the cookies. Today, I tried them.
Suggestion 1: “Refrigerate the dough to prevent them from melting in the oven.”
Okay, I can get with that. I hurried home from work last night and mixed up a half-batch of dough.
Then, at the crack of dawn (8:30) this morning, I got up to bake them.
The dough was so cold that it was hard to scoop out. I was pretty confident that this would work.
Half way through, they weren’t melting, but the outside was definitely baking faster than the center. What the hell?
I felt like throwing the pan through the f’ing window! This is insane!
My coworkers did not mind that I was screwing up because I was feeding them. At least they still taste great, right? Wrong.
Suggestion 2: “Your baking soda is dead. Buy new.”
Okay, okay, you may be right. I’ve had the baking soda for a year or so. Why doesn’t baking soda seal up though?
Brand new and ready to go!
This is my “iPhone was sitting on top of the baking soda box” shot.
Half-way point. The ones in the back are looking dead. I rotated and hoped for the best.
NOPE. To prevent the outside from burning, I pulled them out. Very undercooked centers and wrinkly overcooked outsides.
Okay, I give up. Wait, no. Maybe I’ll just make some smaller ones. Maybe they’re too big as-is.
Shit.
So much for that theory.
Suggestion 3: “Lower the temp on the oven.”
I didn’t want to stray too far from the recipe because that defeats the purpose, but I had enough dough left for a couple cookies so why not? I let the oven cool from 375 to 350 and tried one last time.
Rage. Rage against the dessert.
I punched it. Why not? I’ve made about 17,000 of them.
Xander heard the thump and was concerned.
I’m a mess. Physically and emotionally.
I compared Martha with the Nestle Tollhouse recipe:
| Martha | Nestle | |
| Flour | 2 cups | 2 1/4 cups |
| Baking Soda | 1 1/2 tsp | 1 tsp |
| Salt | 1 tsp | 1 tsp |
| Butter | 1 cup (2 sticks) | 1 cup (2 sticks) |
| Granulated Sugar | 1 cup | 3/4 cup |
| Brown Sugar | 3/4 cup | 3/4 cup |
| Vanilla | 2 tsp | 1 tsp |
| Eggs | 2 large | 2 large |
| Chocolate Chips | 2 cups | 2 cups |
Not much different! Can 1/4 cup flour and a little less sugar and baking soda do the trick?
Martha, you’re killing me. I don’t get it. I have a brilliant idea. Does anyone have a connection at the Today Show? Martha does regular segments on there, and if I can get them to notice my blog and fly me out there to be on the show, I could meet the Queen of Housewifery and she can either help me or I can call her out for the whack recipe in the app. Genius, right?
So…KLG, Hoda, Lauer, CALL ME!
Nate Makes Cookies 
Oh no… you’ll get there in the end. I think it might be the recipe… sorry to say!
are you creaming the butter and sugar together with the butter being at room temperature? I may dig out my recipe and if so I’ll be sure to bake and post
Lol oh Nate I feel so sad for you even though I’m laughing at this post. Yay for nor giving up, but man you and CCC are not friends!!
Dammit! I feel like we have failed you 😦 maybe Maggie was right about the temp…. 😦 😦 😦
I’d say it’s the flour from the look of the cookies. The uneven baking is caused by the “melting,” they’re melting because there isn’t enough flour to react with the baking soda to rise. That would be my thought. If that doesn’t work, maybe try mixing for longer or for less time. Sometimes over or under mixing can cause a melting effect. I just can never remember which causes melting and which causes too much rise. My cookbook knows, I forget. 😉
How about your eggs? When I bake I always try to leave them on the counter for at least half an hour or so along with the butter, just a thought…who’da thought a freaking cookie could cause so much strife? Hang in there buddy, your doing a great job…bummer I missed the PB&J tho 😦