Perfecting Recipes...

Totally off topic, but one of my latest obsessions: the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe.

I like to bake, and I like home-baked goodies (and I need to lose some pounds .... connection?). I'm a wee bit snobby about store-bought because when I see all those extra ingredients listed on the label, it does not sound appealing at all. And once you've tasted home-cooked, store bought just doesn't taste the same. Does that mean I'll turn my nose up at an Oreo? Heck no. I'm talking about those hard-plastic-encased "fresh made" stuff from the bakery section. I'll imbibe my extra calories the old-fashioned way, thank you very much.

Anyway, I thought I had a good thing going with my chocolate-chip cookie recipe. I like to add spices to it and increase the vanilla extract and put oatmeal flakes in the dough. I scooped them up with a tablespoon, and poof! we had delicious cookies.

Then a person had generously baked LARGE cookies and brought them to me twice. HUGE. I asked, and this person used a quarter cup measuring cup to put the dough on the cookie sheet. The texture was great, the size was great. Home-made cookies. Delicious.

Now this part is totally NOT sour grapes, but the flavor .... eh! It was a bit too bland and too sweet for me, but did I scarf them all down? Why, yes I did.

So a few weeks ago, I attempted to make these 1/4 cup sized cookies with one of my recipes, but I didn't know what temperature to bake them at or how long to cook them. The flavor came out great, but they were hard as rocks and the texture was too floury. I jokingly wrote a note to the above-mentioned person and nicely asked for her recipe. I figured I could tweak it with my flavorings and happily chomp away.

I was refused. Refused! What kind of person doesn't share a recipe? Maybe this is more common than I know. I'm always willing to share, and I'm happy to share and am flattered that someone wants a recipe. It's not like it's my own creation. It's not like my food will taste any less delicious if someone else is making them. Sheesh. The person was a bit apologetic and said, "I don't even share this recipe with my closest friends". Oy!

Game on girlie. I've since then been testing out recipes, and have finally found one that has the right sweetness level. I also like to add cinnamon and cardamom and cloves and nutmeg and oatmeal. I'm going to experiment with orange rind after a coworker mentioned she did that in a cookie that was delicious. I still don't like the texture of my latest batch, so I have to adjust that.

One interesting note. I'm wondering if everyone's vision of the "perfect" c.c. cookie is akin to everyone's idea of the perfect banana. You know how there's a tiny window when a banana's taste is JUST right? And how everyone has a different idea of when that window is? Well, after testing my cookies out on various people, I think this is the same with c.c. cookies. I've had conflicting suggestions on what would make the perfect texture/flavor/size from a variety of people. Everyone has installed their own window of "acceptability" of a c.c. cookie.

I do think that I have to not test these recipes but once a month or less. Unless I want to totally have to go buy new clothes. But I will create my cookie, and I will share.