Cookies: Crunchy or Chewy?

[livius drusus]

I know it depends on the cookie, but even given that preferences range far afield, from the moist and gooey toll house chocolate chip cookie to my mom's so delicious brown at the edges thin saucer-like chocolate chip cookie, from the oatmeal raisin chip to the kind so chewy they bend when you hold them up, from gingersnaps to gingerbread.

Speaking strictly for myself, I'm for the crunch in the chocolate chip, the chew in the oatmeal raisin and the bread over the snap. I'm not all racist about it, mind you, and I'll try anything (that doesn't have massive piles of nuts in it) but generally speaking I've found those to be my favorites.

How about y'all?

P.S. - For the purposes of this discussion the palette icon should be considered and M&M sugar cookie as pescifish once described it.

[Skep]

I prefer most cookies crisp although a soft warm from the oven tollhouse cookie can't be beat.

I make the best gingersnaps on the planet. My favorite way to eat them? Crumbled and sprinkled on vanilla ice cream. Go figure.

[Godless Dave]

It depends on the kind of cookie of course, but in general:

homemade: chewy

storebought: crunchy

Chewy mass-produced storebought cookies just don't have the right texture, almost as if there were some gross chemical added to keep them chewy.

The ideal chocolate chip cookie is slighty crunchy on the bottom but chewy the rest of the way through, with the chips just slightly melted. Unfortunately the only place I can seem to find them is at my mom's house when she feels like making them. I'm thinking of having children just so my mom will make more cookies.

[LadyShea]

Snickerdoodles are my favorite cookie, and they need to be a perfect balance between chewy and crunchy, so I am at a loss on how to respond.

[Dingfod]

GD has a point. I like chewy cookies, but most storebought chewy cookies are just not quite right. The exception to that rule:
http://i2.peapod.com/c/U0/U0JEV.jpg
Archway oatmeal or molasses cookies are scrumptious, soft and chewy. Mmmm.

Uh, nevermind, Archway also make some excellent crunchy cookies, windmills, ginger snaps, etc.

[Dingfod]

Snickerdoodles are my favorite cookie, and they need to be a perfect balance between chewy and crunchy, so I am at a loss on how to respond.I like snickerdoodles best when they are warm and chewy right after baking. Snickerdoodles are almost never bad. When they get old and hard, they are perfect for dunking in milk; so are the hard crunchy oatmeal cookies.

[livius drusus]

Chewy mass-produced storebought cookies just don't have the right texture, almost as if there were some gross chemical added to keep them chewy.

That's so true. I wonder if there is some preservative of some kind used to keep them chewy. It seems likely.

[Johnny Pneumatic]

Chewy, my only exception to this rule is Oreos. I dunk them in milk to make them chewy. :cool:

[beyelzu]

I am all about the moist and chewy goodness.


I dont get the crunchy cookie, it is like a sweet cracker and I dont much like crackers.

I agree with godless dave on the nature of a perfect chocolate chip cookie though.

[livius drusus]

Chewy, my only exception to this rule is Oreos.

You are wise indeed. I will say, however, that the occasional really mushy oreo definitely hits the spot.

[livius drusus]

I dont get the crunchy cookie, it is like a sweet cracker and I dont much like crackers.

But, but... Cinnamon graham crackers fucking rock.

[beyelzu]

I dont get the crunchy cookie, it is like a sweet cracker and I dont much like crackers.

But, but... Cinnamon graham crackers fucking rock.
only in smores and that way they arent as crunchy.


so speaketh the wise

:krishna:

[livius drusus]

No way. You're talking crazy now. Smores are made with classic graham crackers. There is simply no other way to make them.

So speaketh the wiser:
:yoda:

[beyelzu]

No way. You're talking crazy now. Smores are made with classic graham crackers. There is simply no other way to make them.

So speaketh the wiser:
:yoda:
yeah, if you want the light side of the force

:iamdad:

vader knows cinnamon smores goodness.

[livius drusus]

:explode2:

[beyelzu]

:explode2:
I think you sometimes forget smilies are a two edged sword.

a cookie that is both chewy and crunchy if you will
:D

[viscousmemories]

I'm all about the chewy. Ain't nothin' a crunchy cookie got that ain't better chewy.

[pescifish]

I voted the anti-racist one, but as some others have suggested, many cookies need to be both crunchy and chewy to be perfect (snickerdoodles, for example.)

Florentines (http://www.parispastry.com/products/descriptions/florentines/flor2.jpg) really need to be mostly crunchy or they just don't work. One of my best friends in high school was Norwegian and she and her mother taught me how to make krumkake (http://www.cooksrecipes.com/cookie/lemon_krumkake_recipe.html). They are lacey crisp cookies similar to the cone in a waffle ice cream cone (only more heavenly thin and pretty.) They must be crunchy!

These are back breaking cookies to make, as you bake individual cookies over a burner on the stove using a 2-ton iron (trust me, it feels like it after the 36th cookie) that you flip to get 30 seconds or so on each side. You don't notice the shooting pains in your bicep after the 20th cookie, though, because your fingers have 3rd degree burns from pulling each cookie out of the iron immediately after baking and wrapping it around a wooden cone before the cookie cools and hardens into its glorious cone shape.

[beyelzu]

I voted the anti-racist one, but as some others have suggested, many cookies need to be both crunchy and chewy to be perfect (snickerdoodles, for example.)

Florentines (http://www.parispastry.com/products/descriptions/florentines/flor2.jpg) really need to be mostly crunchy or they just don't work. One of my best friends in high school was Norwegian and she and her mother taught me how to make krumkake (http://www.cooksrecipes.com/cookie/lemon_krumkake_recipe.html). They are lacey crisp cookies similar to the cone in a waffle ice cream cone (only more heavenly thin and pretty.) They must be crunchy!

These are back breaking cookies to make, as you bake individual cookies over a burner on the stove using a 2-ton iron (trust me, it feels like it after the 36th cookie) that you flip to get 30 seconds or so on each side. You don't notice the shooting pains in your bicep after the 20th cookie, though, because your fingers have 3rd degree burns from pulling each cookie out of the iron immediately after baking and wrapping it around a wooden cone before the cookie cools and hardens into its glorious cone shape.



are you sure that the people that taught you how to make these cookies really liked you?

damn, that is a serious piece of work to make a cookie.

[seebs]

Krumkake aren't really COOKIES. Although they are delicious.

I suppose I'm using the tautology position; if there's a good reason not to make it chewy, I don't think it's a real cookie.

[Bella]

I have to echo Godless Dave's comments on store-bought chewy cookies. I looked at a few packages yesterday when I was in the grocery, and it seems that a lot of the moistness in chewy cookies comes from partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil (yipe!).

Here are three recipes, courtesy of Alton Brown, that should delight everyone's tastes:

The Chewy
2 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Hardware:
Ice cream scooper (#20 disher, to be exact)
Parchment paper
Baking sheets
Mixer
Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.

Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.
The Thin
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
2 ounces milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Hardware:
Ice cream scooper (#20 disher, to be exact)
Parchment paper
Baking sheets
Mixer
Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda in a mixing bowl. Combine the egg, milk, and vanilla and bring to room temperature in another bowl.

Cream the butter in the mixer's work bowl, starting on low speed to soften the butter. Add the sugars. Increase the speed, and cream the mixture until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed and add the egg mixture slowly. Increase the speed and mix until well combined.

Slowly add the flour mixture, scraping the sides of the bowl until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for more even browning.

Remove the cookies from the pans immediately. Once cooled, store in an airtight container.
The Puffy
1 cup butter-flavored shortening
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Hardware:
Ice cream scooper (#20 disher, to be exact)
Parchment paper
Baking sheets
Mixer
Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine the shortening, sugar, and brown sugar in the mixer's work bowl, and cream until light and fluffy. In the meantime, sift together the cake flour, salt, and baking powder and set aside.

Add the eggs 1 at a time to the creamed mixture. Then add vanilla. Increase the speed until thoroughly incorporated.

With the mixer set to low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the shortening and combine well. Stir in the chocolate chips. Chill the dough. Scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 per sheet. Bake for 13 minutes or until golden brown and puffy, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool and store in an airtight-container.

[Godless Wonder]

Fresh out of the oven still soft cookies are the best possible.

Cookies packaged in plastic but kept artificially soft by who-knows-what-means by Keebler elves creep me out a bit.

Also, ginger snaps are supposed to be crunchy, aren't they?

[Shake]

Chewy, my only exception to this rule is Oreos. I dunk them in milk to make them chewy. :cool:
I like to open the package and if I can hold out a day or two to eat any, they get soft on their own!
Chewy mass-produced storebought cookies just don't have the right texture
What about Soft Batch (http://www.keebler.com/family/cookies/softbatch.jsp)?

My wife makes an excellent chocolate-chip cookie, which she keeps soft by putting a slice of bread in the container.