The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies: A Quest

I am definitely a "foodie." Yes, I'm one of those pretentious people that are perpetually on the hunt for the best restaurants and cuisines, who are giddy at the season's first sight of Meyer lemons at the farmer's market, who have a comment about everything they've ever eaten, and who love food not just for its sustenance, but because we acknowledge how it can be sublime, an art, a representation of culture, a common bond and glue between people, and how tastes can constantly change, mirroring how we change also. It can definitely be a pretentious (and expensive) hobby, but I love it.

My boyfriend loves that I'm a foodie also. Although he has more of a love-hate relationship with it, choosing to find my obsession with food humorous (like I find his shopping obsession hilarious, so hey its a fair trade). He doesn't really view food in the same euphoric, voraciously curious way that I do, but we can both agree on something that we love - chocolate chip cookies.

At the university we go to, there are legends of famous "Sbisa cookies," named after the dining hall they were cooked in. In my first semester of freshman year, these cookies were served every night. When we saw the trays being pulled out, all the students flocked and immediately lined up to get one, two, three, or even six of these fresh out the oven, gooey, warm chocolate chip cookies. They were amazing, so amazing that there's even a facebook group devoted to tracking when Sbisa cookies were served. The next semester, the cookies weren't seen again. I think my soul aches for those delicious, buttery, gooey, warm, perfectly salty-sweet and richly chocolate cookies. So while thinking of things to do over winter break and while simultaneously mourning the loss of Sbisa cookies, my boyfriend and I came up with a great idea - perfecting chocolate chip cookies.

Now even before we came up with this great way to spend time together, I had seen several articles about the science behind chocolate chip cookies. My interest in cooking and baking started in high school and has only intensified since. That passion, combined with my strong background in the sciences and taking a Fundamentals of Baking class (science/chemistry based), makes understanding the processes of cooking so appealing to me. Here are some great, in depth links to articles/videos that I (easily) found:

• This is a great, simple and well explained TED video about the basics of what happens to a cookies during baking. I love the art style and how they describe the chemistry of how a cookie is made. Because as all cooks and bakers know, its not just the ingredients you use that determine how the end product tastes. Its the techniques you use to cook and prepare food that matters above all. 

• This article includes links to the video above and another article that is listed below this link. This specific article is great at concisely summarizing the affects of each ingredient on the final cookie. For more in depth explanation, check out the bottom link.

 Concise Summary of Ingredient Effect in Cookies

• Super in depth analysis of using different sugars, different flours, different ingredient amounts, different baking times and temperatures, resting the dough overnight/several days and influencing the flavor profile of the cookie. I love how wonderfully detailed and obsessive the article is - perfect advice for tweaking any recipe to suit your own tastes.

Super In Depth Analysis of Cookie Science

My boyfriend and I are probably going to attempt our best at our version of perfect chocolate chip cookies next week. We'll see how it goes! I'll be posting results.