Perfecting Chocolate Chip Cookies: Tips and Tricks

[windywildwendy]

I need help! Please pretty please! I always do my chocolate chip cookies wrong.
I don't know if the recipe or if I don't understand the recipe properly.
But, I've tried and tried again - and it's never the same as the chocolate chip cookies you buy.
Is it me? Or are home made cookies not meant to be like the ones you buy?
Is it like how a home made burger will never taste like a Big Mac?
Or is there a few tips and tricks that you know that could help this damsel in distress?

 

[Soliloquy]

What do you mean by wrong? It's hard to go wrong with a chocolate chip cookie, in my opinion You have to try really hard to get a bad one... are they too crispy? Too chewy? Too flat? Too thick?

You might benefit from watching Alton Brown's Good Eats episode on chocolate chip cookies. Here it is:

 

[orclev]

What are the cookies that you buy like? Are you talking about pre-packaged grocery store cookies like Chips Ahoy, or do you mean like the kinds of cookies that you get fresh from an actual bakery? What do you look for in a good chocolate chip cookie? Everyone has different preferences -- some people like crunchy cookies better, some people like them to be chewy in the middle, etc. Give us more details and maybe we can help!

 

[windywildwendy]

Thanks Soliloquy. Didn't think I would grasp much from that video. But as I sat and kept watching, it should me a couple of tricks that I implemented and did a good job on my cookies. Normally my cookies are too chewy and somewhat awful in that way, but at least now.

Orclev, my cookies were chewy all around, not just in the middle. But it was that soggy kind of chewy, not nice at all. I'm learning from the video that Soliloquy posted, but I still think I need 3-4 solid weeks of trial and error til I really get good at making cookies.

Thanks for your help guys