Why are these cookies so good?
Hi friends! Let’s break this down, without giving away ALL my special secrets, to why my cookies are so delicious. I have learned over the years of baking that certain ingredients make a huge difference in the taste and texture of a cookie. Everyone has a preference and their own description of their favorite flavors and textures. Personally, I want a cookie that is not too sweet, but just sweet enough. I want a cookie that is savory, but too much salt will turn you away. I want a cookie that is meaty, and chewy, with the perfect amount of chocolate chips. Over many trial and error runs, I have figured it out!
Lets start with the basics…butter. Pure, creamy, salty butter is a must! Butter is made from churned cream or milk. This churning process separates the butterfat from the buttermilk. Of course, I choose to use cows milk but many varieties from other animals are available. Butter is made from one ingredient. No chemicals…no extra oils.. maybe a little salt and you have delicious butter. Margarine is a non-dairy product manufactured in a lab and made up of mostly vegetable oil. Butter is made of animal fat, margarine is made of oil. Pure butter is the only way to a beautiful, delicious cookie.
Lets move to my next very important ingredient which is flour. Flour comes in many varieties as you can see on your grocery store shelves. Not all flour is made equal! I have tried them all and I have found the one special flour that makes my cookies perfect. It is made from 100% American-grown hard red wheat. Is it more expensive than your local grocery store brand…heck yea it is! Is it worth it? Absolutely!
Sugar is the next important part of this ingredient list. I use a few different types of sugar to make the perfect mix of sweet and salty. If I told you everything you would not come back and enjoy my cookies over and over again!! :). I will give you one special ingredient that really makes a difference. That is pure vanilla extract. This is made from pure vanilla beans and a small amount of alcohol. Do not be fooled by imitation vanilla, it is full of chemicals and artificial flavors. That is a big NO-NO at Jeni's Southern Homemade. Why is it so much more expensive than imitation? There is only one species of vanilla that grows and flowers once a year. Farmers have only one harvest to obtain the vanilla bean. It is worth the extra cost for the pure vanilla quality for our cookies. Did you know that table salt has additives like anti-clumping agents? Yuck..no thank you! I prefer salt that has a larger grain and fewer additives. It is pure salt, plain and simple. Perfectly measured chocolate chips round out our VIP, the Sweet and Salty Chocolate Chip cookie. We use chips that are 50-58% cacao. These chips are made with dark chocolate and sugar. One of the comments I hear from our cookie fan club is that they are not too sweet but are just right. It's the perfect combination of sweet and salty, and chewy and creamy, that set our cookies apart from the rest. Jeni’s Southern Homemade cookies are made with the highest quality ingredients available. Happy Cookies!!
