A Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Worth Trying

The contest here on instructables have played a huge part in challenging me to think outside the box and try to create different recipes. I have learned so much in the process. It has been this experience that has made me a better cook and it has produced failures along the way. In this case, it started out that way. Many people are making changes in their diets for a lot of different reasons. Modifying favorite recipes can be a good way to transition slowly into the diet of your choice. If I have not made a recipe before I will cut it into half the first time around just in case I don't like it. It has proved to be a good practice. I wanted to try a different chocolate along with the Hershey's and add a few different ingredients to change the flavor. I salted the tops of a few of the cookies with Kosher salt just for the fun of it. We liked it better without the salt but if I had used unsalted butter the Kosher salt might have been pretty tasty. I will make it with unsalted butter next time. 

I purchased Hershey's chocolate chips and modified the recipe on the back of the package because I wanted to try to create a different twist to the recipe using different ingredients. This instructable will share my experience modifying their recipe and some experiences I had  while doing just that.

Let us get started!

Step 1: Ingredients and Utensils

Recipe:

2 1/4 Cups all purpose flour 
1/4 Cup Fine Almond flour
1 teaspoon Kosher salt plus a little extra to sprinkle over the top of the cookies
3/4 cup softened butter ( imported butter is superior for baking because of the flavor and flakier texture.  I could not find any here without driving an hour.) I have heard Trader Joe's sells good butter. Look for imported butter in the frozen food section of a store. 
1/4 Cup Cream cheese 
1/2 Cup Organic pure cane sugar
1 Cup Brown sugar organic would be even better
1 and 1/4 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract ( this makes a big difference in the flavor of the cookie dough.)
2 Large eggs( room temperature ) (farm fresh eggs are superior )
5 Squares of  Ghirardelli Dark
3/4 Package Hersey's Chocolate chips
Pam or parchment paper

Utensils: 

Basic utensils such as measuring cups and spoons, mixing bowls, Mixer, spatula, cookie sheet, and oven.

Notes: these cookies are chewy. If you prefer a crisp cookie omit the brown sugar and use regular sugar. Because this recipe was altered from the original recipe I suggest baking two cookies to see how the dough will work for you. Slowly add more flour to the mixture a couple of tablespoons at a time. You need to add enough flour that the cookie mixture will be more like a bread dough (just not quite as dry as bread dough. I hope I explained that well enough.

Step 2: Measure Ingredients

Measure the ingredients and cut the Chiradelli into small chunks a little larger than the chocolate chips.

Step 3: Cream Together

Cream together . . . 

Butter, cane sugar, brown sugar, cream cheese, and vanilla.
Add eggs and mix until creamy.

Step 4: Mix Dry Ingredients

Thoroughly mix dry ingredients:

All purpose flour, almond flour,baking soda,and salt

Step 5: Add Flour to Sugar Mixture

Either by hand or using a mixer, slowly add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture; mixing well.

Step 6: Add Chocolate Chips and Chirardelli

Add chocolate chips and Chirardelli chunks; gently stirring to mix well.

Step 7: Refrigerate

The longer you refrigerate the cookies the better they are. My daughter could not wait 24 hours so we made them in 12. 

Step 8: Drop Dough Onto Cookie Sheet

Pre-Heat Oven to 375 degrees F:

Oil the cookie sheet and drop the cookie dough onto the sheet at least 2 inches apart.
Bake approximately 10-12 minutes or until the edges begin to brown. Careful not to over bake them as they will 
continue to cook when you remove them from the oven. 

Step 9: Modifications to Recipe

Oh no! They did not turn out what do I do?

My first batch was very runny and a total disaster. They were very flat and over cooked.
When I made the batter I kind of thought it was too much like cake batter, but decided to bake a small batch anyway. 
After seeing the results I decided to make 2 cookies by adding 1 1/2 teaspoons of regular flour to the mixture. I baked the two and they turned out perfect. I then added 1/4 cup of regular flour to the rest of the batter and it was the perfect solution. Using different flours can change the texture of the batter. I suggest when you modify a recipe;  bake a couple of cookies at a time to see how well they bake. I decided to use regular flour to the mixture because that is what the original recipe called for. Almond flour is not a true flour but rather a nut flour which is much courser than regular all purpose flour. That is why I chose to add  1/4th cup to the original recipe reducing the regular flour by 1/4th cup. 

I changed the measurements to the ingredients page and wanted to mention altitude can be a factor in recipes. If your first 2 samples of  using 2 1/4 cups of all purpose flour and 1/4 cup of almond flour does not bake up nicely; then slowly add a couple of tablespoons of regular flour at a time  and baking 2 cookies at a time until you get the desired results. I say this because I had already baked 11 cookies before adding more flour.

Step 10: Sunshiine's Final Thoughts

If by adding flour to this mixture had not worked ; I think I might have added some Crisco  to try and correct the problem because fat can make a big difference as well.

All of us liked this recipe. It was a chewy chocolatey cookie. I enjoyed tweaking an original recipe and the experience of correcting the batter to achieve a great tasting cookie! I hope you like this recipe as much as we did.

I wish to thank Instructables, our sponsors, contributors, and all my visitors for making this a great place to share. Thanks for stopping by and do have a safe and happy day!

sunshiine