Neslay Toulouse

Do you remember that Friends episode where Monica bakes a billion different batches of cookies trying to find Phobe's grandmother's "secret" recipe? On the show, it turns out the much guarded Neslay Toulouse cookies were indeed Nestle Toll House. What is so funny is that it really is the best cookie recipe. But you do need to use some technique...

We were baking because my hairdresser came in, on her day off, before we went to Key West to make sure there were no nasty grey hairs accompanying me on the trip. I had missed my original appointment due to snow and she came in the next day for just me. She clearly had earned a batch of cookies. 

So you start off just like the recipe on the bag: preheat the oven to 375. Then cream 2 sticks butter, 3/4 cup sugar, 3/4 cup brown sugar and one teaspoon of vanilla. Then add in two eggs.

Next, the dry ingredients: add one teaspoon salt (I use kosher) and 1 teaspoon baking soda. When that is mixed, add the flour. They call for 2 1/4 cups. You want at least 3 cups. Then add the chips. They call for two cups. Add that and then throw in another handful.

One of the most important steps in having uniform cookies is to use a disher, rather than spoons, to portion out your cookies on the sheet. We use a one ounce disher. But the most critical step is to underbake the cookies. Now, oven temperatures vary and even batch to batch in my own oven changes so I can't really give you a time. Suffice to say, if they are dark brown, they've been in there too long. You want to pull them when they are very light brown with some darker spots.

Cost for a batch of cookies:

$1.75 Chocolate Chips

$1.29 Butter

$0.36 Eggs

$0.47 Flour

$1.25 (ish) Sugar, Brown Sugar, Vanilla, and Baking Soda

$5.12 Total You get about 40 cookies so they are $0.13 each. Why would you ever buy Chips Ahoy (at $4.50 a package) again?