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  • It's harder to achieve the perfect

  • chocolate chip cookie than you might think.

  • So we made over 10 different batches

  • to see how every common cookie mistake

  • affects your bake.

  • This is the perfect cookie,

  • the original Nestle recipe.

  • The batter makes for a pale and fluffy round scoop

  • that when baked at 375 degrees for 11 minutes

  • melts slowly and evenly...

  • before turning light brown in the center

  • with a crisp, dark brown rim.

  • The cookie is soft and breaks apart evenly

  • to reveal a chewy, buttery interior

  • and even distribution of chips.

  • The cookie leaves a sizeable amount of grease in its wake,

  • which may seem gross, but actually

  • helps the cookie stay chewy and soft.

  • It breaks, but it doesn't crumble under pressure.

  • What happens when you follow the exact same recipe

  • but don't preheat the oven?

  • Since the oven starts cold,

  • the batter melts about the same way as the original,

  • but much, much slower,

  • never allowing it to finish baking.

  • So it breaks apart like wet Play-Doh.

  • The cookie comes out of the oven

  • the very same shade it went in.

  • Sometimes you just don't have time to soften the butter

  • and you toss those cold blocks in anyway,

  • making it harder for your mixer to break down the sticks,

  • leaving chunks of butter throughout the dough.

  • The result is a paler cookie on the inside,

  • but darker on the rim.

  • Without even fat distribution, the cookie is denser

  • and doesn't have the satisfying chewiness...

  • leaving only small sections of grease.

  • It could be tempting to add a little extra butter,

  • since the fat is what gives cookies

  • that coveted soft texture.

  • When baked at 375 degrees for 11 minutes,

  • the cookies melt much faster

  • and spread wider than the original,

  • creating a cookie that is much darker in color

  • with crispy edges and an appearance of less chips.

  • The extra fat makes the cookie so soft and flat

  • it begins to fall apart.

  • And it's full of visible air pockets.

  • Messing with the amount of flour

  • will lead to two completely different bakes.

  • Throw in a little extra flour,

  • and good luck getting the chips in there.

  • Without enough moisture, the dough is thick like clay

  • and struggles to hold together.

  • With less flour, the cookies look pretty viable at first,

  • but without enough structure,

  • they spread out in the last three minutes.

  • Whereas the ones with extra flour stay in place

  • and begin browning almost immediately.

  • Out of the oven,

  • the cookies lacking flour are misshapen

  • and a dark brown across the whole cookie,

  • almost to the point of looking but not tasting burnt.

  • And their counterpart are almost burnt

  • in the center of the cookie, with very dark edges.

  • With more flour, the cookies are crumbly,

  • and breaking them apart is akin to a small, dense scone.

  • With less flour, the center of the cookie

  • stays pretty chewy,

  • but the edges are crispy and fragile.

  • And without the chips in there, the cookie is wafer thin,

  • spreading to almost 5 inches in diameter.

  • Undermixing it leads to all kinds of issues.

  • Properly mixing the batter

  • ensures even distribution of ingredients.

  • In the oven, the dough melts slowly and unevenly,

  • creating a pale cookie

  • with uneven browning across the surface.

  • The cookie is chewy and fragile in some parts,

  • crisp in others, and the final shape is oblong

  • due to the fact the cookie wasn't allowed to rise evenly.

  • Throwing everything in the bowl at one time

  • and hitting the on button

  • might sound like the easiest way

  • to get cookies baked and in your mouth,

  • but it actually drastically overmixes the dough,

  • leading to cookies that almost immediately melt

  • and overspread in the oven.

  • The color is gray with large air pockets scattered around.

  • The cookie is superthin,

  • and the texture is sticky to the point of tacky.

  • Overall, it was one of the biggest cookies of the batch.

  • Eggs are not only the binding ingredient,

  • they're also the prime source of moisture in a cookie.

  • So leaving them out means a dry dough

  • that's impossible to stick together

  • well enough to get a round scoop.

  • In the oven, they further crumble and dry out...

  • making for an uneven, grainy mess

  • that's not fully cooked in the center

  • and easily scatters to bits.

  • Baking powder and baking soda might seem

  • like similar ingredients, but they're actually not.

  • In the oven, the cookies puff up to more of a dome shape

  • and create a darker rim around the edges of the cookie.

  • The texture is less chewy and more airy, like a cake,

  • but with a sticky, tacky finish.

  • Baking powder also has a more chemically taste

  • than baking soda, leading to a less sweet cookie.

  • Using no baking soda at all means you're relying on

  • the flour to be the only leavening agent.

  • The cookies become pale on the inside.

  • They lose that chewy texture in the middle,

  • becoming more dense, less buttery, and more fragile.

  • Doubling the amount of chocolate

  • lessens the amount of batter per cookie.

  • So there's less spread in the oven...

  • creating a slightly taller cookie

  • that's also a bit smaller in diameter.

  • Due to the extra fat from the chips,

  • it's also much greasier, making it the gooiest,

  • chewiest cookie of the batch.

  • If you're trying to switch up the classic recipe,

  • there's a lot that can go left.

  • But with a couple of these tweaks,

  • you might just find your ideal cookie.

It's harder to achieve the perfect

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