posted by sherryi 01-11-100 7:45 AM
Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies
3/4 cup butter flavor CriscoŽ
11/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 egg
13/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans (optional) If nuts are omitted, add an additional 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Combine Crisco, light brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Beat egg into creamed mixture. Combine flour, salt and baking soda. Mix into creamed mixture just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and pecan pieces.
Drop rounded tablespoonfuls of dough onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake 11 to 13 minutes. Cool two minutes on cookie sheet, then remove to wire rack to cool completely.
Tips
Melted butter, does a much better job of dissolving sugar and improves the consistency of the dough as you work with it. You don't need to refrigerate the cookie if you use the butter. He uses half butter and half butter flavored Crisco.
If your brown sugar clumps (it will clump in the cookies too), melt it in the melted butter, just make sure it cools a bit before adding eggs.
Add a little milk, maybe a tablespoon or two when mixing the dough. The cookies will be less stiff and cookies and less crunchy when cooled. Make sure though.. the dough is cold and cookie sheet is at room temp before putting it in the oven.
Leave out a tablespoon or even two (no more) of the sugar. (white or brown)
You can use a tablespoon of sour cream to make them chewier also. It assimilates into the other ingredients and you can't taste it.
By the way...don't melt butter in the micro. It can burn there and it does have a different taste when melted slowly over a double broiler or melted on low on the stove.
Also he told us that flour today does't need to be sifted. Just spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level off with a knife. Don't scoop out flour or tap cup down. You can get up to 1/2 cup more flour by doing this and you want correct measurements. He said the ideal way is to weigh it, but to measure flour correctly, spoon it into the cup.