AB's "Puffy" Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’m always on the hunt for the “perfect” chocolate chip cookie recipe. Over the years I must have tried 20, 30, may be 40 different recipes. Recently I ran across Alton Brown’s “Puffy” Chocolate Chip Cookies and decided to give it a try.

Hummm. Mine didn’t come out very “puffy” looking. They tasted good and the edges were crispy and the center soft and gooey, but they definitely didn’t puff to any great degree.

I did make one slight modification and one major addition to Alton's recipe. I didn’t have any butter flavored shortening so I used regular shortening and added 2 teaspoons of butter flavor. I also added 3 ozs of finely grated chocolate. My moto: The more chocolate the better.


Here is the flour going into the mix...


And the chocolate chips being added. I used semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips and semi-sweet chunks.


Here is my niece, Amanda, doing her “I love chocolate” dance. She got her chocolate loving gene from our side of the family. Her Mom doesn't like chocolate. Have you ever heard such a thing!!!!


Here are the cookies hot out of the oven. There is a little "puff", but they flattend as they cooled. Sigh.


A closer look at the crispy edges and gooey center. And look at those lovely flecks of grated chocolate. Yumm.


So in the final analysis, the cookies were very good. They were intensely sweet and chocolaty, and they had crunchy edges and soft, moist centers. But if I had to make a choice, I think I still prefer the Neiman-Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. The Neiman-Marcus cookie has more bulk and dare I say, more puffiness.



The Puffy (Chocolate Chip Cookie) from Alton Brown

1 cup butter-flavored shortening (I used 1 cup regular shortening + 2 teaspoon butter flavor)
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt (I used popcorn salt )
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used a mixture of semisweet and milk chocolate)

1. Sift together the cake flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.
2. Combine the shortening, sugar, and brown sugar in a bowl, and cream until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs one at a time to the creamed mixture.
4. Add the vanilla (and butter flavoring). Increase the speed to medium and mix until thoroughly incorporated.
5. Set the mixer to low and slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir until well combined.
6. Using a spatula, stir in the chocolate chips.
7. Chill the dough while the oven preheats.
8. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
9. Scoop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 per sheet. I used about 2 Tablespoons of dough for each cookie. Alton said to use a #20 disher (5 Tablespoons ??), but a cookie that size is just too big for me.
10. Bake for 9 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and the center is still pale. Alton said to bake for 13 minutes, but that is for his much larger cookie. My smaller cookies were done in 9 minutes.