If I could have a phone conversation with the New York Times Dining and Wine (as though NYTimes were a casual friend/maybe date), it would go a little something like this:
NYTimes: (after 4 rings) Hello?
Joy: Hey! Oh, I didn’t think you were going to pick up. I was expecting to leave a message. I thought you’d be a work.
NYTimes: You specifically called when you thought I’d be at work?
Joy: (Awkward pause) No….. I just thought I could leave a message.
NYTimes: Well do you want me to hang up so you can call back? You’re being weird…
Joy: No!…. It’s just… NYTimes, we need to talk.
NYTimes: You know what Joy? I’m not really in the mood for this right now. I have to be up early tomorrow and I really don’t want to get into anything right now.
Joy: Well that’s too bad NYTimes, we need to talk right now.. It’s about your cookies. Just listen. Seriously. It’s important…
Joy: (continued) I like that you like food. I can tell that you’re totally into it. That’s cool… It really is. But you know what? Sometimes a cookie is just a cookie. (Pause) Sometimes we should let a cookie just be a cookie.
Don’t get me wrong- I really like that you like to sprinkle sea salt on top of cookie dough. That’s respectable, and has a certain amount of charm. I’m not talking about that… I’m talking about this 36 hour rule for resting cookie dough. You know what? I’m going to say something that I don’t think anyone else will say to your face…
NYTimes: (interrupting) We aren’t face to face. This is over the phone. And this is an imaginary conversation. And I’m the NYTimes, so I don’t have a face.
Joy: Ok.. you know what? That’s not the point, and don’t interrupt me. Your 36 hour rule- I don’t buy it. I’m not in. In fact- I’m out. Why? Well to be honest, I couldn’t taste a difference. The 24 hour and 36 hour batched baked up slightly darker than the 12 hour batch, but I couldn’t decipher a taste difference. In fact, I didn’t find any difference at all between the 24 and 36 hour batches. I mean… come on… for the average person, eating a warm cookie from the oven is treat enough. Why even suggest that they wait 36 hours to bake up the dough? Who has that kind of time NYTimes. Seriously!?
NYTimes: (impatiently) Well what do you want me to do?
Joy: Well I don’t know what you can do. What’s printed is printed, right? I just wanted to call and talk to you so that you know that I know that sometimes you come up with some snotty cooking crap. Sometimes you take something as friendly, straightforward, and approachable as a chocolate chip cookie and you put it on a pedestal and talk about things like depth of flavor and flavor profiles and crumb… and geez! Can’t a cookie just be a cookie?
NYTimes: You’re yelling…
Joy: I’m not yelling! I’m just being passionate. I’m just saying that I’m on to you. I did the experiment myself, and a cookie is a cookie at 12 hours, 24 hours and 36 hours. A damn good, all -American cookie, that’s what is it.
Now, I don’t mean to be harsh. I just had to get that off my chest. Would you please put Mark Bittman on the phone? I like him.
NYTimes: Joy, you’re odd.
Joy: I know. Bittman please.
After much trial and refridgeration. I’ve found these to be my two favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.
The Chewy, with melted butter and bread flour, from Alton Brown.
The Buttery, with creamed butter and salted peanuts or cashews, from Elizabeth Faulkner.
I chill each dough for at least 4 hours before baking. Of course, refrigerate the dough for up to 36 hours if you like. I’ll create an evenly golden cookie, with all the goodness that is the perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie.
Paul
I hadn’t thought to question this particular detail (I’m familiar with the NYTs recipe but haven’t made it yet), but generally speaking, I totally agree with you that there are all sorts of things people say to do in cooking/baking that really aren’t necessary or don’t get results they’re supposed to (they are basically myths/old wives tales, and are often repeated over and over…one such example is that active dry yeast must be “proofed”/hydrated in water before adding it to the other ingredients). I think chilling cookie dough some (an hour or two) is a good thing when making cookies with butter, but 36 hours for enhanced flavor sounds dubious to me (although I agree that experimenting is a good idea so one can see for him/herself).
I loved your imaginary conversation with the New York Times too!
Lesley
I’m so surprised to read this! I baked these cookies and they were soo SO much better than any other chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever baked before that it’s the one and only recipe I use now. No other plain chocolate chip cookie recipe has come close to the rich flavor & texture the NY Times ones have. Most recipes just produce plain, standard, flat, blah homemade cookies that everyone makes & pretends are amazing just because they’re warm and sugary. I almost feel like I’ve commented on this post before.. ha. But I came across it again (perhaps) and I (still) can’t believe people don’ taste an extreme difference. huh.
Veronica A.M.
(I realize this is old, but dont care about that ;D)
Lol! This was wonderfully halrious Joy!! And soooo true! I’ve tried refrigerated and not refrigerated cookie dough. It didn’t affect the flavor at all. But it did make a difference as too how thick they fluffed up when baking. Is that weird, or did I do something wrong?? …hmm either way, the first 2-6 cookies were devoured the minute each batch came out of the oven!
OH! Ps… I love your writing style! Inspirational! Have a good one ;D
Phoebe
I completely agree with you! Cookies shouldn’t be all about science… and the refrigerating thing doesn’t work for me too. Love your posts!
nicola
This is very funny.
ps, the links to your cookie recipes don’t work x
saltandserenity
So true! You made me laugh. Thanks.
Although I don’t have the patience to wait 36 hours for chilling dough, I will admit that my favourite way of eating a chocolate chip cookie is frozen! I don’t understand the warm gooey from the oven love.
Caitlin M
I know this is old, but I have just gone through the exact same experience. Waiting 36 hours was torture, i ate about half the dough raw– and when they were baked they didn’t taste that different. It was more stress then chocolate chip cookies should be about. (also roommate thought they were too salty.. after all that).
Last night I made my favorite tried and true batch from the Joy of Cooking and it took me 30 minutes instead of 36 hours.
I still love the NYtimes, but I’m glad I’m not the only one who felt this way.
teeneizofThen
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Ilene
So I know this is an older discussion but I’m new to your blog. Enjoyed reading through this one. For the record, in my opinion, I don’t care if the cookies are flat and crispy or thick and chewey as long as the chips are melted and gooey throughout the whole cookie. For me, that is the magic of a chocolate chip cookie. I rarely make them though. I make the ones my Mom always made me when I was a kid-banana chocolate chip cookies. They are the smell of summertime for me.
Sam
I know I’m late here, but this was a great blog. I love ‘Good Eats’, and anything that explains every little nuance about cooking and learning how to make things I make a little bit better, but sometimes it goes too far. I will agree that AB’s chewy recipe is great, and refrigerating the dough for a few hours is a good practice, but a fresh cookie is a fresh cookie! Nice work on your ‘report’!
Gourmet Traveller
Cool!!!!
Millie
hahaha! I love it! AB’s cookie recipe (just about AB’s anything recipe, really) is one of my favorites. I enjoyed reading your experiments. Thanks for keeping us informed. I don’t know what we’d do without you! =)
Barbara
I left you a little award on my blog! Have a great week!
Larry
What are the best chocochip cookies ever? That’s easy, the ones my grandmother made with the chocolate chips package recipe. In 47 years I’ve never tasted better.
Sarah
Damn!! I could have sworn there was enough room on that couch for you and your sis. But I think my oldest brother’s hair took up too much room…
I can’t believe you’re going to bake so many cookies for me to sell at my next Comedy Central Charity bake-sale..why thank you!!! ;-)
You are excellent and I bet your cookies are too. Keep on keepin’ on…
Sarah
Sarah
1) Are you freaking kidding me?! If there are more 2 more Jacksons out there..well, I don’t even know! Are you and your sister anywhere in this family photo?
http://sarahcentric.com/2008/04/10/theres-a-middle-way/
I am so excited our blogs have finally found each other and fallen in love! It’s like they always said; you’ll find your blog soulmate when you’re least expecting it.
2) Matt Sloan, Matt Sloan…hmm. Comedy Central’er?
3) Please move to NY and teach me how to bake more than the three things I am comfortable baking in this small apt.
-Sarah
3) Matt Sloan
Sarah
Haha, I had a very powerful conversation with the chocolate chip cookie itself a couple of months back! ;-)
http://sarahcentric.com/2008/03/18/c-cubed/
Great post…that Times article was very big around the office a couple of days ago…
-Sarah
Susan Elliott
Bravo! Good for you! I’m going to do a family taste test with your fave recipe and ours…Maybe we’ll have a new fave.
Jenn Sedor
Here here! What a stupid idea – resting cookie dough for 36 hours. Give me a break. I can barely plan my day as it is without adding in a damn batch of cookies.
Natalie
Joy- I loved your “conversation”!!!
I am happy with your results. I can *manage* to not touch the dough for 4 hours, but 36 is really asking too much of me! And, I’ll be making the Alton Brown recipe tonight!
Gigi
Joy, I put down my trashy summer novel to read all four cookie parts, and …I loved it! I can’t believe you did all this work. The last installment was the best. I loved the phone call between the NY Times and yourself freaking fantastic!
TeacherSu
Got to your site off Tastespotting.
I love it! I was thinking the same things as I read the article. Not to mention that in my house, if I tried to rest the dough for more than 6 hours, my teenagers would eat it before anything was baked! Even if it’s in the fridge a few hours there is always a definite dent in the amount of dough.
My personal favorite is the Alton Brown Chewy recipe. But my husband is a good old Tollhouse fan, so I have to make those very once in a while to appease him.
M.
What a lovely post! I just found your blog and I love it! I was planning to try the 12-24-36 experiment myself and your post has given me just the motivation I needed. Great writing. Great pictures. Great blog. Go ‘head with your bad self.
steph (whisk/spoon)
well, it’s good to know that a 4 hour chill will do just fine! you tell ’em!
Holly
Great set of posts! I didn’t buy the 36 hour rule…I’ve worked in several bakeries where giant batches of cookie dough hang out in the fridge, waiting to be used. The cookies that have chilled for 6 hours taste and look the same as the cookies that have chilled for 40 hours…they have to, it’s a bakery, consistency is required.
Graeme
‘Bittman please’ indeed! You and me both on the side of simplicity.
A great way to end the debate, I think, and a fitting testemony to the humbleness and honesty of a good cookie.
Clumbsy Cookie
I have my dough in the fridge, maybe tomorrow I’ll be the one calling the NYTimes!
Lori
thanks so much for doing the work so i don’t have to! when i read the article i thought “dang, now i’m going to have to test this.” and my kids are all grown and gone, which meant *I* would have to eat all the cookies. not that i’m complaining. still, since you did this, i can instead eat bread and pudding. thanks joy. :)
Aimee
Obviously NY Times doesn’t have children. Try mixing up cookie dough with your two and a half your old (which I do on a weekly basis) and then tell him he can have it, no not tomorrow, the day after. Two sleeps. Forget it! That just won’t fly.
Thanks for all this. I just got caught up and boy am I glad I did.
A cookie is just a cookie.
Miri
Wonderful series, Joy, Thanks. And I’m absolutely in love with your writing!
Cheryl
Excellent! Now thanks to you we can all relax and just chill for a few hours. What a relief! I know I could never wait even 12 hours for those beauties…Thank you!!!
Sweetcharity
If I even tried to wait 36 hours for cookies, there would be no dough left to bake.
Awesome series of posts, loved the dialogue.
Sara
Agreed, that was one of the funniest things I have ever read. Adding to this debate, I would like to say that these days alot of food items go through this same process. Why can’t we just revert to basics and keep things simple? Simple is how we grew to love it. Something as comforting as a chocolate chip cookie, should never veer too far off course from it’s original beginnings.
Tempered Woman
bwahahahahaha! “I’m not yelling! I’m just being passionate.” If I had a nickel every time I tried that line girlfriend…
When I read the NY Times article my thought was ‘there is no way choc chip cookie dough would last 36 hours in my house.’ Let’s be honest here. I’d pick, he’d pick, she’d pick. We’d all sneak and then I’d just end up wishing I had baked the damn things right away in the first place, heh
Maria
Great post!! I am glad you tested the 36 hour rule. I was tempted to try it but I made the dough and couldn’t wait! I wanted my fresh baked cookies NOW!!! They were still heavenly coming out of the oven!!
Deb Schiff
Joy, I’ve been following your CCC debate and I’m so tickled you wrote this piece. Hope Bittman reads it.
Sometimes a cookie is just a cookie.
Thanks also for actually going through the 36 hr bit. You’ve saved so many of us a lot of time and trouble.
Gina
I agree – just let the cookie be the cookie! I love, love, love The Chewy. And I’ll try The Buttery because I love cashews. :)
Julie
Hilarious! Thanks for setting the record straight! I needed that!
Just let the cookies be cookies! :)
Tracey in WA
I LOVE IT!!! I agree, a cookie straight out of the oven is what it is all about!! Who in their right mind would make luscious chocolate chip cookie dough and leave it in the fridge for 36 hours??? Have they never eaten CC Cookie dough straight out of the bowl, mine wouldn’t get to the oven if I had to wait 36 hours. Thanks for a great read!!!
Clumbsy Cookie
This was so much fun! So after all a cookie is just a cookie, hu? Well deep down I guess I knew it, I was just wondering. Thanks for the experiment, I’ll still do it, just for the sience of eating them, lol! Because that’s the best science, you know?
The color difference it’s just oxidation, don’t you think?
Aren’t you cookied out allready? But the little bastards do looks great anyway!
Cyndi
Oh, Joy!!!! That was HILARIOUS! Thank you for making my day and saving me 3 whole days of “experimenting”.
Food Rockz Man
You’re nuts. Hot . . . adorable . . . but nuts!
Edna
Umm… 4, 12, 36 hours….WTF???!!! I’ve been baking chocolate chip cookies for over 20 years now and they go straight to the oven as soon as I finish mixing the chips (and nuts sometimes). The only time I put the dough in the fridge is because I’m preparing obsenne amounts of cookies for a bake sale. My cookies are yummy either way. In my experience, salt is what enhaces the flavors of the cookie. :) By the way this was very funny I also though the NYT was a little snubbish with the cookies.
Tiffany
so happy to have found your blog–this whole thing cracked me up! (also got me thinking about baking some cookies today).
Jaina
Haha, I love that conversation. And I’m glad to hear I don’t have to refrigerate the dough for 36 hours, because believe me, it wouldn’t last that long. I’d have eaten it all long before it even hit the 24 hour mark. Dang. I am SO stopping at the store and buying cookie dough on my way home. (don’t have the time or energy to make it…I know, I lose)
sharon
Yay! I’m delighted to hear that I will NOT have to wait a ridiculous 36 hours for some warm cookies. Thanks for doing the investigatory work for us!
Lemmonex
CASHEWS! In choc hhip cookies…oh, I have died and gone to heaven.
katy
the cookies they pictured looked great, but that article was a little too much for me. any cookie recipe that takes two days to complete is not worth it in my view — negates one of the great things about cookies, which is that you can whip up a batch in half an hour! easy to make on the fly when you’re craving something easy and sweet.
ZAKIA
Hilarious!!! I am putting the AB recipe on my “to make” list.
Mary
Yeah, you tell them. Does chilling the dough for 4 hours make that much of a difference? I think I’d have to leave the house knowing that there’s a batch of cookie dough in my fridge for 4 hours.
Lissi
I can’t wait to try Alton Brown’s recipe! And I agree with others who commented on how funny this diatribe against a 36 hour wait for cookies was. It was pretty darn funny. Thanks for doing the hard work for us. (I’d never be able to wait that long.)
Sara
Yay! I’m so relieved to hear that someone else doesn’t buy the 36 hour rule…and you’ve saved me the time to check it out myself! No waiting 36 hours for cookies (who could???!)
Lisa
Great blog! And thanks for taking one for the team and performing these culinary experiments. :-)
That having been said, I finally made these myself and really enjoyed them, salt and all. I waited the full 36 hours, so I have no idea if they would have been just as good after 12, but I did wind up liking them even more than AB’s “The Chewy”. They were crisp on the outside and chewy inside, sort of the ideal texture.
BTW, if you want to yell at the NY Times, you can do so on this eGullet thread. The article’s author, David Leite, actually participates:
http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=102308&st=120
Kevin Conroy
Haha. Joy, you rock. Thanks so much for your always insightful, entertaining perspective. Thanks also for taking the time to debunk the NY Times. I know my wife appreciates that I won’t not be tempted to build in a one day delay into our cookies now.
Erik
Okay, that was too funny! Great post. I have been waiting for the final results – thanks for taking the time to put their theory to the test since I wouldn’t bother to do that myself. I’m glad to know that Alton’s chewy is still one of the best out there. Keep up the good work. BTW – are we going to see anymore podcasts? The first one was great.
Susan
Haha. I totally agree with you. I think this collection of posts was great, loved it. Thanks.
Pamela
You are hilarious! Thanks for doing the experiment. I don’t think that I could ever purposely wait 36 hours to bake up the cookies. And I agree about “The Chewy” being one of the best recipes there is. Well done!
Stephanie
That was one of the funniest food blog posts I have ever read! And I so love the fact that you did this experiment and shared your results with all of us. Because I was secretly hoping I wouldn’t have to wait 36 hours for some slam dunk cookies!
Evan
A cookie is just a cookie…damn straight!