I have been working on a chocolate chip cookie recipe that is perfect
for my family's taste. I came really close last night. The flavor
was spot on but the texture was off. I used 1 cup of butter and a 1/4
cup of shortening. I wanted the flavor of the butter but still a firm
cookie, so I was hoping that the shortening would be enough to do it
but alas, no. My question is, what do you all think of butter
flavored Crisco instead of a butter/shortening combo. Here is the
recipe that I have

3/4 cup dark/light brown sugar mixture plus two tbs dark
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening
2 eggs
2 tbs vanilla
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1 cup chips
1 1/4 cup walnuts
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 1/4 cups flour

"Vince Poroke" > wrote in message
m...
> I have been working on a chocolate chip cookie recipe that is perfect
> for my family's taste. I came really close last night. The flavor
> was spot on but the texture was off. I used 1 cup of butter and a 1/4
> cup of shortening. I wanted the flavor of the butter but still a firm
> cookie, so I was hoping that the shortening would be enough to do it
> but alas, no. My question is, what do you all think of butter
> flavored Crisco instead of a butter/shortening combo. Here is the
> recipe that I have
>
> 3/4 cup dark/light brown sugar mixture plus two tbs dark
> 3/4 cup sugar
> 1 cup butter
> 1/4 cup shortening
> 2 eggs
> 2 tbs vanilla
> 1/4 tsp nutmeg
> 1 tsp salt
> 1 cup chips
> 1 1/4 cup walnuts
> 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
> 2 1/4 cups flour

The recipe looks a bit heavy on fat to me. Never the less, I wouldn't use
all butter flavored Crisco. I like 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening in my CC
cookies. I would try using 3/4 cup butter and 1/2 cup shortening. You can
try the butter flavored Crisco for one batch and regular for another and see
which you like better. Personally, I think that the artificial butter
flavor used in Crisco tastes bad so I would rather have no flavor than bad
flavor.

Here is the recipe that I use. I think it is pretty standard. Remember
that you can influence the final texture of the cookies somewhat by how long
you bake them.

1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups AP flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
12 oz. semi-sweet chips

Sift dry ingredients together and set aside. Place other ingredients in
mixer bowl and mix for 30 seconds. Scrap bowl and mix for 30 seconds.
Gradually add dry ingredients and mix at slow speed for about 2 minutes.
Increase speed and beat for 30 seconds. Mix in chips. Bake at 375F for 10
to 12 minutes.

I scoop these out and freeze the raw dough. I then take them out of the
freezer and bake them off without defrosting at 375 for about 15 minutes.
You can pop a few into your already hot oven and have fresh cookies for
desert.

at Mon, 03 Nov 2003 19:04:26 GMT in <e8b3162a.0311031104.5eaabc8
@posting.google.com>, (Vince Poroke) wrote :

>I have been working on a chocolate chip cookie recipe that is perfect
>for my family's taste. I came really close last night. The flavor
>was spot on but the texture was off. I used 1 cup of butter and a 1/4
>cup of shortening. I wanted the flavor of the butter but still a firm
>cookie, so I was hoping that the shortening would be enough to do it
>but alas, no. My question is, what do you all think of butter
>flavored Crisco instead of a butter/shortening combo. Here is the
>recipe that I have

Using Crisco, will, if anything, make the problem worse, not better.
Shortening has the opposite effect from what you seek - it generally makes
a cookie softer, not firmer. I would certainly use all butter. My suspicion
is that you have too much sugar - with the amount you've got, those cookies
will lean toward the chewy side (I assume this isn't what you want).

If you're going to perfect the recipe, it's best not to experiment with
multiple variables at once because if you do, it's difficult to determine
what change caused what unless you have lots of experience. So, the first
change would be to use all butter. Then if that didn't get them firm
enough, start reducing the sugar. Each time take stock of what each change
in ingredients did in terms of leaning the texture one way or another. That
way you can also decide whether you've got the right ingredient to tinker
with, and it's only a question of amount, or whether you need to try a
different ingredient.

Watch out also for how reductions/additions affect the *overall*
proportions. I like to adjust in such a way that only the ingredient I'm
altering changes as a relative proportion of the other ingredients, at
least if the change is significant.

--
Alex Rast

(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)

"Alex Rast" > wrote in message
...
> at Mon, 03 Nov 2003 19:04:26 GMT in <e8b3162a.0311031104.5eaabc8
> @posting.google.com>, (Vince Poroke) wrote :
>
> Using Crisco, will, if anything, make the problem worse, not better.
> Shortening has the opposite effect from what you seek - it generally makes
> a cookie softer, not firmer. I would certainly use all butter. My
suspicion
> is that you have too much sugar - with the amount you've got, those
cookies
> will lean toward the chewy side (I assume this isn't what you want).
> Alex Rast
>
> (remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)

That's interesting. . .I find that the more Crisco I substitute in the CC
cookie recipe, the taller, crisper, paler my cookies get. I finally settled
on replacing one tablespoon of butter with one tablespoon of Crisco to get a
tall, chewy cookie that will not spread in the oven.
Janet

at Tue, 04 Nov 2003 01:42:54 GMT in >,
(Janet Bostwick) wrote :

>
>"Alex Rast" > wrote in message
.. .
>> at Mon, 03 Nov 2003 19:04:26 GMT in <e8b3162a.0311031104.5eaabc8
>> @posting.google.com>, (Vince Poroke) wrote :
>>
>> Using Crisco, will, if anything, make the problem worse, not better.
>> Shortening has the opposite effect from what you seek - it generally
>> makes a cookie softer, not firmer.

>That's interesting. . .I find that the more Crisco I substitute in the
>CC cookie recipe, the taller, crisper, paler my cookies get.

Taller, paler, definitely. Crisper? That's not the typical experience. All-
butter almost invariably yields a crisper cookie than an otherwise
identically proportioned recipe made with Crisco.

> I finally
>settled on replacing one tablespoon of butter with one tablespoon of
>Crisco to get a tall, chewy cookie that will not spread in the oven.

I note also that a higher egg proportion achieves the same effect, without
requiring the use of Crisco. The technique of using more eggs is much more
sensitive to small differences in proportions, because eggs will make
cookies taller and softer in a hurry, but with appropriate tweaking, you
can easily get any result desired.

--
Alex Rast

(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)