chembake wrote:
> :
>
>>I found this a couple months ago while researching the
>>crispy vs. soft issue...
>>http://allrecipes.com/advice/coll/al...cles/177P1.asp
>
> Some of that is at odds with popular recipes and personal
> experience.
> > For example, granted that Alton Brown is an admittedly novice baker
> at
>
>>best, his three chocolate chip cookie recipes are often posted and many
>>people have used them.
>
>
> I tend to agree of that....basing upon his recipes I can deduce that he
> is an amateur baker who compensates his deficient baking ability with
> good promotional skills .< grin>....no different from many cookbook
> authors.....that many newsgroup posters regards as demi- gods in the
> kitchen....
>
>
> Many of the hobbyist cooks and unfortunately even some professional
> cooks are shallow ....an in extreme ..cases .....stupid...
> They load their limited book shelves with such literary trash
> ...<lol>......
> Collecting cookery books does not make you a better cook or baker if
> you lack common sense......And if a certain cook or chef has practical
> common sense he or she will not prodigiously collect books to enhance
> his/her cooking skills...!
>
> Unless he or she just enjoyed reading books for the sake of its
> entertainment value if not literary content...then that is
> understandable.....
>
>
>
>
>>The above article states that bread flour results in crispier cookies,
>>while the 'chewey' recipe uses bread flour.
>
>
> Technically, higher gluten flours tend to result in tough eating
> cookies which shrinks a lot ,therefore results in cookies that have
> lower diameters, lower cookie spread to height ratio....are more
> chewier..
>
> ..If the fat content is not that high and is mixed also improperly it
> will drastically affect the cookie quality.
>
> One factor that influences crispiness is the amount of crystallline
> and undissolved sugar; in the cookie dough.
> . Higher sugar level with higher gluten flours results in a crispier
> cookie than with lower gluten flours.
>
> Cookies differ from the other baked products such as cakes due to
> their limited moisture so the gluten is not well hydrated and tend to
> exist patly in a flinty state due to coating of unhydrated flour to
> the partially hydrated portions .The texture can be modified by using
> more fat and sugar
> Less tenderizing ingredients in form of fat and sugar results tough
> eating cookies.( too chewy)
>
>
>>It also states, "Butter melts at a much lower temperature than the other
>>solid fats, so cookies made with it will tend to spread out. And oil, since
>>it already is a liquid at room temperature, produces cookies that keep
>>their shape."
>>In my personal experience, this isn't true.
>
>
> Yes.....
> The fact is butter if compared with other plasticized solid fats used
> in cookie baking has a lower melting point;
> Oil does not exhibit the melting characteristics if compared to fats
> containing a mixture of hard fat and vegetable oil found in vegetable
> shortening.
>
> >
>
>>My own experimentation has been with peanut butter cookies. In those,
>
> t>he peanut butter necessarily amounts for a large portion of the fat.
> I
>
>>find that the more 'natural' peanut butter - where the primary fat is
>>peanut oil - produces cookies that are hard and have an oily texture, where
>
> '>stabilized' peanut butters in which much of the peanut oil has been
>
>>replaced with shortening produces soft cookies with a dry texture.
>
>
> It depends on the cookie formulations in terms of the ratios among
> flour , fats and sugar.
>
>>And, fwiw, the peanut oil version bakes up a little bit flatter.
>
>
> Indeed.....oils tend to promote cookie spread and so results in flatter
> cookies.
>

here is a recipe for all to consider. It makes a very thin cookie. I
think it might have originated from Mahtha. Anyway they are very good.

Famous Crispy Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter
3 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Grease two baking sheets with butter, or line
with Silpat baking mats. Martha Stewart bakes these on a cast iron
cookie sheet. Good luck with that! Cream butter until smooth; add
sugars, and beat until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Into a large
bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Slowly beat dry ingredients into
wet mixture. Fold in chocolate chips.

2. Drop dough onto prepared baking sheets--allow for ridiculous amounts
of spreading. That's how they're crispy AND chewy! Bake until golden, 8
to 10 minutes.

--
Del Cecchi
"This post is my own and doesn’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions,
strategies or opinions.”