The New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookie
These cookies were gigantic. According to the recipe, the dough balls were to be 3.50 oz each prior to baking. The recipe said they would be "generous golfballs." I'll just go with gigantic. The cookies had a thicker consistency than the Cook's Illustrated version, likely due to the bread flour and less liquid in the batter overall. I did feel that the flavors in this cookie were more one note. While the Cook's Illustrated cookie had nutty, deep toffee notes from the browned butter, the New York Times cookie was mostly just very sweet. I had already decreased the amount of chocolate in favor of some walnuts and found that the ratio of chocolate to cookie was still very high. As the recipe is based off of Jacques Torres' recipe, this wasn't too surprising. The New York Times cookie, however, held up much better over time. After the first day, the Cook's Illustrated cookie began to crumble and fall apart, despite being stored in an airtight container. I guess next time I'll just have to eat these faster. (:
My final verdict is that the Cook's Illustrated recipe wins out due to flavor and ease of preparation. Though the mix/rest steps may take extra time when making the dough, I won't have to let the dough rest for 36 hours. I don't plan that well ahead anyway (:
