The secret to the cookie universe
“I think you’ve unlocked the secret to the cookie universe.”
Not to brag, but I have to agree with my husband – I’m at the height of my cookie-baking game. The chocolate chip cookies I make are soft but don’t fall apart. They’re golden brown on top but taste like cookie dough. They have the right ratio of chocolate chips to dough.
This has been a long time coming.
Growing up my mom regularly made cookies from scratch. When the leaves started changing color, she would bake pumpkin cookies. At Christmas time, we would make plates for our neighbors: an assortment of Merry Christmas cookies, snickerdoodles, peanut butter, and spritz. When I went to college, my mom made a plate of chocolate chip cookies for the road. She still does every time I go on a trip.
When I first started baking cookies, I stuck to classic chocolate chip, following the directions on the back of the Toll House bag. Over the years, I transferred the recipe from the back of the bag to a recipe card, tweaking it slightly: a pinch more salt, a half cup more flour. And more chocolate chips, always.
The recipe is solid.
The parts that eluded me for years were the oven temperature and cooking times.
Every time I moved in my 20s I bounced between places with gas stoves to electric ones and back to gas. The cooking times and temperatures varied with each oven. The first few batches would be baked too long, or I’d take them out of the oven too early and they would turn to goo. After a lot of trial and error, I would eventually find the sweet spot and would live in cookie bliss. Then we’d move again and the cycle of trial and error would start all over.
Now I’m settled in my house with no intention of moving any time soon. My mom got me a new fancy paddle for my mixer after seeing how beat up mine was. The paddle has a rubber scraper attached to make baking even easier. I pulled out my stained and worn recipe card, despite having it memorized, and got to baking. The cookie dough tasted great but the first batch was hard as a rock. The next batch was burnt. The one after that somehow got glued to the cookie sheet and would only come off after continually chipping away, resulting only in cookie crumbs.
How was this happening??
Had I lost my ability to bake cookies when I moved into this house?
Where had all my years of experience baking cookies gone?
I was having a cookie-life crisis. I confided in my mom, desperate for a solution.
“Have you tried the new paddle I got you?”
“Yeah, it’s great! I don’t even have to use a spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl.”
“Try making cookies with your old paddle and see how they turn out. Maybe the new paddle is mixing the ingredients too well.”
I gathered my ingredients and my trusty recipe card and got to baking. I preheated the oven to 325 degrees and started creaming the butter in the mixer and then added the sugar. I’ve done this so many times that I know I can make the dough in the same amount of time it takes to preheat the oven. As I was spooning the cookie dough onto the cookie sheets, I glanced over at the oven. It just finished preheating – perfect timing. I put two trays in the oven and set an 8-minute timer.
I waited but was not optimistic.
The timer went off but the cookies looked a little too doughy so I kept them in for one more minute. When I took them out to let them cool, they weren’t burnt, they didn’t look too hard, and they didn’t stick to the cookie sheet.
I gave one to my husband because I was too scared to take the first bite. I assumed I messed them up in some new way that had yet to be discovered.
He took a bite and smiled, “These are crazy good.”
I grabbed a cookie and took a bite. Delicious – I breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe it was just the rubber scraper paddle and not a cookie-life crisis.
A few weeks later, I baked another batch. I was missing white sugar so I replaced it with brown sugar. The cookies were good, not great, but they did resemble cookies. My confidence started building.
I continued baking cookies but somehow was always missing at least one ingredient… usually brown sugar. I got into a habit of texting my mom and she would offer to run some over.
Last week, I decided to make another batch. I had everything I needed: all my ingredients after stocking up on anything that could possibly run low, a new mixer paddle without a rubber scraper, and my recipe card. The batch came out beautifully – golden brown and doughy with chocolate chips peeking out from the top.
I took a bite and smiled. This. This is why I make cookies.
Actually, that’s not true. I make them for the cookie dough, salmonella be damned, but cookie-life crisis averted.
P.S. If you like cookies, share this with a friend!
Thanks to , , and for mixing in their feedback to make this article turn out just right.
I now need a bite of this cookie universe core
I love your mother's insight! I have enough chemistry to realize different ovens etc etc. I even have specific trays for the Christmas bake. But the paddle? I salute her!