Also, I watched the video, and I don’t see myself halving the cookie dough, making two smaller cookies. It’s been a long time, but I believe was simply testing it, while the hosts were speaking, by breaking it a bit to make sure the dough wasn’t too hard for demo purposes.

Try again, this time with room-temperature butter (take it out of the fridge at least 2 hours before using), and I think you’ll find a big difference!

My brother-in-law made this cookie recipe and they were absolutely divine, seriously the best ever!! So naturally, I was eager to attempt these myself. As I was shopping for the ingredients, I could not find cake flour and I read the previous comments above, and you had said all-purpose flour would do. As I was making the recipe, I had a hard time with the butter and the sugar. The butter was refrigerated and it was kind of a mess combining the butter and sugar together. Once they cooperated, I continued with the recipe. I refrigerated the dough for the necessary time, and upon taking the cookies out of the oven, they didn’t look anything like my brother-in-laws. Also, the appearance of the cookies out of the oven was flat and crispy and they expanded enormously. Much to my dismay, they tasted okay, but not nearly as good as his!! What am I doing wrong?? Is it because of the bread and cake flour? Or my mishap with the butter and sugar? Please help me, as I am dying to perfect this amazing recipe.

They tasted fantastic though and got lots of compliments, and a few slices of bread in the container with the cookies softened them right up.

I will definitely try them again and keep a close eye on the temp in both the fridge and the oven (unfortunately both are ancient and not terribly reliable).

We could not find bread flour on my country (Brazil).We only have all-purpose flour (7% protein) and whole wheat flour (14% protein). Is there any way to use a combination of these two instead? Thank you so much!

P.S.I made the cake flour (3/4 cup (100 grams) all purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons (20 grams) cornstarch).

Regarding your cookies, I really can’t say without making them. You’re using less and different kinds of flour, adding the wheat germ (which cuts the gluten formation), changing the type of sugar, using less butter, etc. Plus you’re changing the size of the final cookie as well as the baking time. This is the long way of saying this is an entirely different cookie! And it sounds great!, but I can’t give an assessment because baking is such a science. You’d have to try it and see if you like it. Please drop by and let us know how they turn out.

I discovered your web site by trying to find Marian Burros’s plum cake. Wow! Now my family has enjoyed your chocolate chip cookies. It is a pleasure to see how kind your are in your emails. So here is my question:

While we love your cookies, we also love my own recipe, which has a more assertive flavor and texture of the dough. I put in wheat bran, toasted wheat germ, twice as much dark brown sugar as white sugar and a little sour cream. Believe it or not, all that whole wheat, and wheat germ and bran do not make for an unpleasant cookie! I would love to combine the wheat germ and whole wheat flavor and texture and the darker brown sugar flavor into your cookie. Please advise.

Here is my recipe:

1 c. all purpose unbleached flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
1/3 c. unbleached cake flour
1/4 cup toasted wheat germ
1/4 cup wheat bran [NOT the cereal]
1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
Sift the above together and set aside
1 c. packed dark brown sugar
1/2 c. super fine sugar
1 c. unsalted butter, softened
Cream the above for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy
2 eggs
Add 1 egg at a time to the creamed mixture
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons sour cream
Add these to the above sugar-egg-butter mixture
Now gradually stir in the sifted flour mixture until well blended.
Do not overmix.
2 cups chocolate chips or pieces [60% bittersweet]
Stir in gently.

Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Scoop about 2 tablespoons of dough for each cookie onto parchment covered cookie sheets and bake about 10 minutes OR until lightly browned. Cool about 10 minutes and remove from pans. Store in a cookie jar only after the cookies are entirely cool or they will stick together. They are only good for a few days so if they last longer, consider freezing and briefly reheating them in a warm oven.
Thank you!