British Expatriate Network

I usually make my cookies from scratch, but today, my son who works in a supermarket brought home a bag of refridgerater chocolate chip cookie dough that was nearing the end of it's shelf life.
"Hey Mum, will you cook these for me?" he say's as I'm fanning myself in sweltering heat! eek
So tonight, long after the sun set, I was busy baking.

Now, I baked two packets each of Western Family, (local brand), Nestle Tollhouse and Pillsbury.

All three had identical directions, pre heat oven to 350 degrees, place dough two inches apart on cookie sheet and bake 10-14 minutes.

I did that with each packet.

The results were amazing!

Western family brand came out thin and very chewy.

Nestle Tollhouse were thin and very Brittle.

Pillsbury ones were perfect!

Can anyone tell me why the differences?

All three were cooked on the same shelf of the same oven, and the Pillsbury ones that came out nice were the ones I baked second.

Is this a scientific question question? Or is there a simple answer? ???

Different amounts of the ingredients,flour,
raising agent etc.Will create the difference.
Unlike cooking,baking is scientific and any changes made to a recipe will result in a change in the outcome.Also it is not advised to bake in the U.S. in the heat of the summer,I am looking for a cookie recipes that I can coook on the BBQ.

Captmar

Probably difference in types and amounts of shortening in each brand. Several years ago "Cooks Illustrated" magazine did a study on how different shortenings - butter, crisco, lard, oil, etc. - affected the texture and height of cookies. I wish I remembered more details of the study, but it was amazing how each will give a specific consistency and when you cook from scratch you can alter the results by playing with the percentage of which kind you use.

As to cooking in the heat... one of our local radio stations (Washington DC) is running a daily feature where they try cooking different foods in closed cars, taking advantage of the extreme heat building up by mid-afternoon... so far they've tried cookie dough, popcorn, eggs...

Staranela, that sounds like a good test to teach people how hot it gets inside a car. I can't believe the number of people I see that leave their dogs in the car!

Thanks for the input guys. The cookies are fast disappearing which I knew they would, but there were such differences between similar products that it really had me puzzled.
The Pillsbury ones got the vote here though! razz

Melhug, that would be a good idea for a thread. Taste testing. Someone could do that with another product made by different companies and see what happens.

I would suggest we could vote on it but I don't know how to set the voting thingy up.