Good Cookies Gone Bad, Bad Cookies Redeemed

I'm on staycation this week and thought I'd make our favorite cookies:

Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies with Walnuts and Orange

Makes 4 1/2 dozen

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon orange extract
zest of one orange
2 large eggs
2 cups dark chocolate chips (60% cacao or higher)
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 375° F.

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Mix the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, orange zest and orange extract in a larger bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture slowly, mixing well after each addition. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto a parchment-covered baking sheets.

Bake for 11 minutes or until golden brown.

Adapted from the Original NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.

I pull batch one out of the oven and they were completely flat ~ no discernible rise.  I'd realized when mixing up the batter that I accidentally put the salt and baking soda into the butter mixture and thought that was it.  On to the next batch of dough; same problem.

After double-checking my adaption of the recipe with the original, I realized I had done one thing different this time ~ weighed the flour instead of measuring it.  Per the package, 1/4c is 30g so I added 270g of flour.  That was the problem.

I was fortunate to stumble onto a blog entry on just this issue, Nestlé Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies, at the Cooking for Engineers site. Michael Chu's analysis in this article says it all.  The key takeaway was that I needed more flour ~ about 80g more.

Additional flour added, the next batch was a significant improvement.  This really is a fantastic cookie!