Cookie Quickie

A while ago, when I was making different batches of chocolate chip cookies, I had one question come up that I actually didn't answer.

(If you're not sure what this chocolate chip cookie testing was all about, I'd say start here: Betty Crocker's Chocolate Chip Cookies (circa 1950) and then work your way through the 3 or 4 blog posts that follow it.)

The question that came up was a question of why I grease pans (when I do - not all cookies need it) (though these chocolate chip cookies definitely do) with a "butter paper" instead of with a spray.

Okay. First of all, you all know that I usually use margarine, so "butter paper" is a bit of a misnomer, but I do typically use the margarine stick wrapper paper to grease my pans.

On the one hand, I figure cookie sheets are flat and easy to work with, so why waste?

On the other hand, I hate how sprays tend to get all over the kitchen - even if you're careful.

So I do it the old-fashioned way.

But, during my last chocolate chip cookie baking, I decided to try it out both ways. (No, I'm not doing lots of photos, because the recipe and all that are in the post, above.)

The cookies went into the oven on the same pan - half the pan was sprayed, half was hand-greased. I figured that would give us the best results.

About halfway through the baking, I glanced into the oven and thought "What the heck is going on? Why are those so different?" and then realized - oh, right, testing...

Overall, the cookies turned out the same. It's just that the edges of the "sprayed" cookies melted a bit more when they first got into the oven, so they spread and got crispy. The "hand-greased" ones stayed a little more centralized.

Here's how they looked:

Was one better than the other? Well... I prefer chewier, so I think that the hand-greased batch were tastier. But, with milk, I enjoyed the ones with the crisper edge. (There's a definite chance that I just like chocolate chip cookies, in general.)

What do you think - crispy or chewy?

-----

Have a kitchen question you'd like answered? A recipe that you're looking for - or looking for the courage to make? Let me know and I'll see what I can do for you in a future post!