Three Magic Words: Chocolate Chip Cookies

With cookies being one of my favorite things to bake, and a staple in many households around the holidays, I felt that it was only necessary to write a blog about the main ingredient that nearly everyone I know thinks is the same: butter.

Contrary to popular belief, the different brands of butter are different for a reason.  Every type of butter has water mixed in with the fat, and that water is what will cause your cookies to just splat across the pan.

(No, for real, I’m serious.)

European butter has a higher fat content than American butter—82% versus 80% according to Julia Moskin from The New York Times—which eliminates the dreaded flat cookie.

In pursuit of the perfect butter for my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, I tested out various brands over the years, including store brands from Meijer and Kroger (Michigan companies, in case you’re reading this going, ‘The heck is a My-jur?’).

Honestly, I never even thought that I’d be writing a blog, so I never bothered to document my results, so I’ll just give you a pretty little scale with pictures of the brands, and how well they worked.

Brand:	Store:	Estimated Price per Pound:	Rating: 1 being flatter than the pan 10 being the ideal cookie thickness
	Meijer	$2.79	9: Of these four, Meijer had the lowest water content, enabling some lovely thick cookies. Sadly, the baking time varied with each dozen.
	Aldi	$1.89   (It has been a while, so no price guarantee)	4: Although Aldi butter seemed to have a higher fat content, I was unable to get consistently baked cookies. For the price, it was not worth it.
	I’ve only found this at Meijer	$3.89	10: The high fat content in the European style butter made thick cookies with perfectly golden edges.
	Kroger	$2.69	3: The highest water content of these four brands, based on my experience. These cookies weren’t pan flat, but pretty darn close.

Meijer’s butter is the best bang-for-its-buck for me when it comes to cookies; however, I am obsessed with Plugra for my homemade buttercream frosting. It has such a rich buttery flavor, and it blends so well with powdered sugar, that I will spend the extra money for my clients’ frosting.

Another fact about butter: softened butter does not mean popping it in the microwave, people!

Sorry, I have to get a little aggressive there for a minute, but it is such a huge misunderstanding. If your recipe calls for softened butter, then take it out of the fridge, cut it up into chunks, and let it sit while you get all of your other ingredients ready. Sometimes, all it needs is half an hour to warm up enough to cream properly.

All right. Ready for my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe ever?! It comes from the 2013 Better Homes and Gardens baking recipe and technique book.

Ingredients:
½ cup shortening
½ cup salted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
12-ounce package of mini chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375*.

Beat butter and shortening together in a large bowl on high speed until combined. Add in sugars and baking soda, and beat on medium speed until combined. Don’t forget to scrape the bowl before moving on!

Beat in eggs and extracts until combined. (Make sure to admire the amazingly soothing scent of the almond extract too.) Beat in the flour, about ½ cup or so at a time on low speed, until your mixer won’t mix anymore.

Stir in the rest of the flour, and then pour in the chocolate chips (totally won’t tell if you quality control a couple).

Using a larger flatware table spoon (or a 1” cookie dough scooper), drop dough onto a parchment paper covered cookie sheet (the less clean up, the better) about 2” apart.

Pop your cookie sheet into the oven, and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the edges are a pretty golden brown.

When they’re done, accidentally break one while transferring to the cool rack so you can sure it tastes okay. ;)

Happy Baking, y’all! Let me know how the recipe works for you!