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Stop the Madness: Soft Cookies

Stop the Madness: Soft Cookies
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  • Post #31 - August 1st, 2011, 9:25 am
    Post #31 - August 1st, 2011, 9:25 am Post #31 - August 1st, 2011, 9:25 am
    David Hammond wrote:PL, I think we (and I include justjoan in this group) may want to make a further distinction between cookies and bars. Bars are not supposed to crunch; it'd be weird if they did; they are clearly a kind of firmer cake.

    But some bars have a shortbread crust, and I'm fine with that being crisp as long as the filling is soft.
    I want to have a good body, but not as much as I want dessert. ~ Jason Love

    There is no pie in Nighthawks, which is why it's such a desolate image. ~ Happy Stomach

    I write stuff.
  • Post #32 - August 1st, 2011, 10:22 am
    Post #32 - August 1st, 2011, 10:22 am Post #32 - August 1st, 2011, 10:22 am
    @ David H. I think this is by far the most entertaining and funny write up dedicated to cookies I have read lately. However, I also am one of the mad ones and dont really like crunchy cookies unless they are biscotti. On the salmonella note, you also never eat homemade mayo? I grew up with homemade olive oil based mayo, grocery store mayos are like eating a popsicle when you want ice cream instead!

    @earthydesire. Do you mind sharing the recipe or perhaps changing jobs? We would all love to have you as a coworker!! :)
  • Post #33 - August 1st, 2011, 10:26 am
    Post #33 - August 1st, 2011, 10:26 am Post #33 - August 1st, 2011, 10:26 am
    theskinnyduck wrote:On the salmonella note, you also never eat homemade mayo? I grew up with homemade olive oil based mayo, grocery store mayos are like eating a popsicle when you want ice cream instead!

    At the risk of breaking the fourth wall of a carefully constructed (and highly entertaining) rant, Hammond digs many, many trenches, only a few of which he actually intends to still be defending in a week's time :-)
    Dominic Armato
    Dining Critic
    The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com
  • Post #34 - August 1st, 2011, 11:36 am
    Post #34 - August 1st, 2011, 11:36 am Post #34 - August 1st, 2011, 11:36 am
    Dmnkly wrote:
    theskinnyduck wrote:On the salmonella note, you also never eat homemade mayo? I grew up with homemade olive oil based mayo, grocery store mayos are like eating a popsicle when you want ice cream instead!

    At the risk of breaking the fourth wall of a carefully constructed (and highly entertaining) rant, Hammond digs many, many trenches, only a few of which he actually intends to still be defending in a week's time :-)


    Correct. The battle should be won long before the week is out (plus, I'm out of the country as of day after tomorrow, so I'm hoping you'll take up the barricades in my absence, should that prove necessary).
    "Don't you ever underestimate the power of a female." Bootsy Collins
  • Post #35 - August 1st, 2011, 11:53 am
    Post #35 - August 1st, 2011, 11:53 am Post #35 - August 1st, 2011, 11:53 am
    it depends on the cookie. I like a spritz cookie that is crisp and tender in the middle. I do love the lemon starbucks type cookies they sell at whole foods. those are soft and cakey. i love macaroons which are kind of crispy and soft at the same time. i also love the molasses crinkles that are crisp and soft at the same time. gingersnaps that are crisp too. right now i am loving walkers shortbread for a storebought. its crisp and buttery. i found that targets market pantry brand of shortbread is crisp and buttery and a good substitute.
    Toria

    "I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it" - As You Like It,
    W. Shakespeare
  • Post #36 - August 1st, 2011, 12:28 pm
    Post #36 - August 1st, 2011, 12:28 pm Post #36 - August 1st, 2011, 12:28 pm
    At the risk of breaking the fourth wall of a carefully constructed (and highly entertaining) rant, Hammond digs many, many trenches, only a few of which he actually intends to still be defending in a week's time


    In other words, he is the Jay Mariotti of LTHForum.
  • Post #37 - August 1st, 2011, 1:30 pm
    Post #37 - August 1st, 2011, 1:30 pm Post #37 - August 1st, 2011, 1:30 pm
    David Hammond wrote:My sister-in-law in Colorado suggested a possible motivation for an inexcusable practice:

    "While children are impatiently waiting for cookies to bake the inevitably stick their finger in the batter to have a taste, this taste is so good that they do it a second time, and then a third time. At some point they are caught and warned that they could get salmonella or worms if they eat raw batter. This knowledge really spoils the whole experience. When they grow up they soft bake their cookies to satisfy their inner child."


    I'm a fan of the soft chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin cookie - both "cookies," in my opinion, of the truest, American sense of the idea. While I get where your SIL is coming from with cookie dough, I may offer up another motive. Perhaps, it's the inner child that knows that the ultimate enjoyment of eating still warm, soft and "chewy" cookies right from the oven or cooling rack greatly outweighs the risk of potentially burning your mouth with piping hot chocolate chips.

    We all know this is the best time to eat the cookies - still warm. That's why we hover around the kitchen while they're being made. That's why we don't "keep count" of those particularly warm, soft and chewy cookies. I eat as many as I can enjoy because I know that within 12 hours, those same beautiful, heavenly, soft cookies will turn to rock hard, crispy little pucks that I'll have to nuke in the microwave for 10 seconds to make them edible again.

    Or maybe there is a higher power involved? Was there such a thing as shelf-stable, soft and chewy, commercially produced cookies before the advent of partially hydrogenated oil? I'm not sure, it predates my eating experiences. Perhaps you should blame the food scientists for this trend?
    "It's not that I'm on commission, it's just I've sifted through a lot of stuff and it's not worth filling up on the bland when the extraordinary is within equidistant tasting distance." - David Lebovitz
  • Post #38 - August 1st, 2011, 4:20 pm
    Post #38 - August 1st, 2011, 4:20 pm Post #38 - August 1st, 2011, 4:20 pm
    tyrus wrote:Or maybe there is a higher power involved? Was there such a thing as shelf-stable, soft and chewy, commercially produced cookies before the advent of partially hydrogenated oil? I'm not sure, it predates my eating experiences. Perhaps you should blame the food scientists for this trend?


    Yet another reason to push for a constitutional amendment outlawing soft cookies: Partially hydrogenated oils will kill you.
    "Don't you ever underestimate the power of a female." Bootsy Collins
  • Post #39 - August 1st, 2011, 6:22 pm
    Post #39 - August 1st, 2011, 6:22 pm Post #39 - August 1st, 2011, 6:22 pm
    Ingredients in Matt's Chocolate Chip Cookies (which have always struck me as being soft and chewy): Chocolate Chip: Unbleached Wheat Flour, Real Chocolate Chips, Baking Oil (Palm, Soybean, Canola), Brown Sugar, Fresh Eggs, Sugar, Baking Soda, Salt, Vanilla.
    Ed Fisher
    my chicago food photos

    RIP LTH.
  • Post #40 - August 1st, 2011, 7:42 pm
    Post #40 - August 1st, 2011, 7:42 pm Post #40 - August 1st, 2011, 7:42 pm
    David Hammond wrote:
    tyrus wrote:Or maybe there is a higher power involved? Was there such a thing as shelf-stable, soft and chewy, commercially produced cookies before the advent of partially hydrogenated oil? I'm not sure, it predates my eating experiences. Perhaps you should blame the food scientists for this trend?


    Yet another reason to push for a constitutional amendment outlawing soft cookies: Partially hydrogenated oils will kill you.


    Hard cookies will kill you faster. (I am, of course, assuming "Christmas cookies" are hard.)
  • Post #41 - August 1st, 2011, 7:53 pm
    Post #41 - August 1st, 2011, 7:53 pm Post #41 - August 1st, 2011, 7:53 pm
    David Hammond wrote:
    tyrus wrote:Or maybe there is a higher power involved? Was there such a thing as shelf-stable, soft and chewy, commercially produced cookies before the advent of partially hydrogenated oil? I'm not sure, it predates my eating experiences. Perhaps you should blame the food scientists for this trend?


    Yet another reason to push for a constitutional amendment outlawing soft cookies: Partially hydrogenated oils will kill you.


    So will saturated fats and lard and yet has that stopped anybody from enjoying pork bellies and butter? Additionally, happy people suffer less from cardiovascular problems than grumpy people, so wether hard or soft cookies, is just better to eat whatever makes you happy!!!
  • Post #42 - August 8th, 2011, 1:22 pm
    Post #42 - August 8th, 2011, 1:22 pm Post #42 - August 8th, 2011, 1:22 pm
    I just had a gingebread snap cookie from a reputable manhattan bakery with absolutely no snap to it. Blech. No crunch = no punch.
    "By the fig, the olive..." Surat Al-Teen, Mecca 95:1"
  • Post #43 - August 8th, 2011, 3:52 pm
    Post #43 - August 8th, 2011, 3:52 pm Post #43 - August 8th, 2011, 3:52 pm
    i agree with david that cookies shouldn't be soft, though i don't understand why soft cookies upset him so much. but i think chewy, rather than crisp, probably applies more accurately to most good cookies. a crisp cookie can be perilously close to an overbaked, dry cookie, though i'm sure there are delicious exceptions, such as biscotti-though even then most are much drier than i like. the only soft cookie i love is the snickerdoodle and it's definitely supposed to be soft. it's true that there are many people who like soft cookies, but i just let them live their misguided life and don't bake or serve them anything that i don't approve of. i disagree with david about the danger of getting food poisoning from a soft center on a cookie. most cookies are going to be safe, even if a little softer than the recipe intends, as long as they aren't actually raw.

    and i'm sorry to disappoint you, david, but i've always believed that brownies and other bars are cookies. i know some people put bars in their own category, but i don't really understand why. as long as the bar is an individual serving size, it's fine with me- the more the merrier. justjoan
  • Post #44 - August 8th, 2011, 4:17 pm
    Post #44 - August 8th, 2011, 4:17 pm Post #44 - August 8th, 2011, 4:17 pm
    justjoan wrote:but i think chewy, rather than crisp, probably applies more accurately to most good cookies.


    I think maybe this is a source of confusion. I figured chewy and soft were the same and he was dissing both.
    How do you feel about chocolate chip—crisp or chewy?


    Brownies are cake
    I want to have a good body, but not as much as I want dessert. ~ Jason Love

    There is no pie in Nighthawks, which is why it's such a desolate image. ~ Happy Stomach

    I write stuff.
  • Post #45 - August 8th, 2011, 6:22 pm
    Post #45 - August 8th, 2011, 6:22 pm Post #45 - August 8th, 2011, 6:22 pm
    i dont think chewy and crisp are the same, not sure what david thinks. a chewy cookie is flexible; a crisp cookie would break rather than bend. i like my chocolate chip cookie thick enough to be chewy, but dont mind a crisp edge. i dont think the kind of cookie one likes should be held to an objective standard-we should all eat what we want. i think my favorite kind of cookie is firm, not too thin, but when you bite into it, it is crumbly and slightly melty. i made a browned butter/brown sugar cookie this week with a coarse sea salt finish that probably is one of the best cookies i've ever had, and it fits this description. maybe next week some other kind of cookie will become my favorite..... jj
  • Post #46 - August 8th, 2011, 7:09 pm
    Post #46 - August 8th, 2011, 7:09 pm Post #46 - August 8th, 2011, 7:09 pm
    justjoan, didn't you express to me, at the entrance to the LTHForum picnic a few years ago, that it really made you angry when people confused bars with cookies?

    I remember that observation, as well as your comment that my World's Greatest Cookie was not, in fact, the world's greatest.

    See, I'm paying attention. :wink:
    "Don't you ever underestimate the power of a female." Bootsy Collins
  • Post #47 - August 8th, 2011, 7:19 pm
    Post #47 - August 8th, 2011, 7:19 pm Post #47 - August 8th, 2011, 7:19 pm
    justjoan wrote: i made a browned butter/brown sugar cookie this week with a coarse sea salt finish that probably is one of the best cookies i've ever had, and it fits this description. maybe next week some other kind of cookie will become my favorite..... jj


    justjoan, did you make it from a stand alone recipe, or is it just something you sort of created? I'd be interested in see a recipe if you have one - sounds great.
  • Post #48 - August 8th, 2011, 7:20 pm
    Post #48 - August 8th, 2011, 7:20 pm Post #48 - August 8th, 2011, 7:20 pm
    David Hammond wrote:justjoan, didn't you express to me, at the entrance to the LTHForum picnic a few years ago, that it really made you angry when people confused bars with cookies?

    I remember that observation, as well as your comment that my World's Greatest Cookie was not, in fact, the world's greatest.

    See, I'm paying attention. :wink:


    your memory is half correct. sadly, i did find your WGC lacking in greatness, but i'm quite sure i never expressed any anger about bars being confused with cookies. it must have been another lth'er. joan
  • Post #49 - August 8th, 2011, 7:35 pm
    Post #49 - August 8th, 2011, 7:35 pm Post #49 - August 8th, 2011, 7:35 pm
    I love soft and chewy cookies. The cakier the better, which is why madeleines, black & whites and heavily frosted (like at Al's Deli) are my favorites. However, I advise ALL cookie lovers to stay away from Trader Joe's Snickerdoodles. Free of the eight most common food allergens (I'm recalling--I disposed of the box quickly), humanity would only be so lucky to be allergic to these "cookies." Soft to the point of being mushy but somehow not really moist, the Snickerdoodles also had what I consider the stink of sorghum flour. Yuck.

    I will tolerate some crispness. The main exceptions are: ginger snaps, speculaas, biscotti and sandwich cookies with good filling (though I prefer sandwich cookies made with chewy cookies).
    Last edited by happy_stomach on August 8th, 2011, 7:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
  • Post #50 - August 8th, 2011, 7:37 pm
    Post #50 - August 8th, 2011, 7:37 pm Post #50 - August 8th, 2011, 7:37 pm
    DClose wrote:
    justjoan wrote: i made a browned butter/brown sugar cookie this week with a coarse sea salt finish that probably is one of the best cookies i've ever had, and it fits this description. maybe next week some other kind of cookie will become my favorite..... jj


    justjoan, did you make it from a stand alone recipe, or is it just something you sort of created? I'd be interested in see a recipe if you have one - sounds great.


    i made a few small changes to a terrific recipe from gourmet magazine. here's the link. http://www.gourmet.com/recipes/2000s/20 ... r-shorties

    i increased the salt to 1/2t. and used coarse sea salt. it's important to chill the browned butter until it's firm, otherwise you'll possibly get oily cookies, like some of the commenters did. it's also important that you add the salt in the last step, with the flour, so you really taste the salt as you finish eating the cookie. i also preferred them 1/3" thick, rather than the 1/4" slices they suggest. i made a 10" log, and cut 30 slices. i sprinkled a little coarse sanding sugar on them, but thought they were too sweet with the logs rolled in sugar, which is an optional suggestion. demerera, or raw brown sugar is fine, but i preferred the whiteness of the sanding sugar on the plain brown cookie. these are dangerously addictive, watch out!
  • Post #51 - March 8th, 2023, 12:01 pm
    Post #51 - March 8th, 2023, 12:01 pm Post #51 - March 8th, 2023, 12:01 pm
    And now, for the eleven-year bump:

    justjoan wrote:the only soft cookie i love is the snickerdoodle and it's definitely supposed to be soft.

    I love GOOD snickerdoodles. Unfortunately, there are a lot of mediocre ones out there - too crispy, too stale, too sweet, too much cinnamon, etc. Today I bought a really great, perfect snickerdoodle, at Kaufman's:
    Image
  • Post #52 - March 15th, 2023, 2:47 pm
    Post #52 - March 15th, 2023, 2:47 pm Post #52 - March 15th, 2023, 2:47 pm
    nsxtasy wrote:And now, for the eleven-year bump:

    justjoan wrote:the only soft cookie i love is the snickerdoodle and it's definitely supposed to be soft.

    I love GOOD snickerdoodles. Unfortunately, there are a lot of mediocre ones out there - too crispy, too stale, too sweet, too much cinnamon, etc. Today I bought a really great, perfect snickerdoodle, at Kaufman's:
    Image


    that DOES look like a classic snickerdoodle. sometimes they are flat, or even worse-concave... it should be rounded on top like this one. i've never tried a snickerdoodle from kaufmans....

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