When it comes to cooking and baking, there’s rarely an Ina Garten recipe I don’t like.
Her recipes are reliable, and there’s something for everyone to enjoy. So, I decided to bake my way through four of her cookie recipes to see how they compare.
For a mix of classic, chocolate, and fruity flavors, I went with her giant crinkled chocolate chip cookies, raspberry jam thumbprints, white-chocolate chunk cookies, and salty oatmeal chocolate-chunk cookies.
Here’s how they stacked up, from worst to best.
Garten’s giant crinkled chocolate chip cookies are made with vanilla, bittersweet chocolate, and sea salt.
To make 12 of Garten’s giant crinkled chocolate chip cookies, I gathered:
- Two sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 ½ cups of granulated sugar
- ¼ cup of light-brown sugar, lightly packed
- One extra-large egg, at room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups of all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
- 8 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- Sea salt for sprinkling
The dough was simple enough to make.
Making the dough was a pretty straightforward process. I mixed everything in an electric mixer, folded in the chocolate chunks, and let it chill for 30 minutes. Then, I was ready to bake.
The process to make these cookies was a bit tedious.
Although these have the word “giant” in the name of the recipe, I didn’t expect the cookies to be as massive as they were. Each one used a whopping ⅓ cup of dough, and they spread a lot, so I needed to cook them in batches.
After baking for 10 minutes, the instructions said to pull the tray out and bang it on the counter. This was repeated every three minutes until the cookies were done baking to create the crinkle effect. However, this method became a little tedious after baking multiple trays.
For a smoother process, I also recommend baking on parchment paper. I didn’t do this with the first batch, and even with cooking spray, mine stuck to the tray pretty badly since they had thinned out so much.
The giant crinkled cookies were good, but not the best I’ve tasted.
These cookies were good, but I wanted to like them more. They came out thin, buttery, and crispy, but were not the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had.
However, I do prefer a more chewy cookie, so it’s all up to personal preference. They look rather impressive, but these are the kind of treat I would need to fully commit time and dedication to making. For that reason, they landed in fourth place.
Garten’s raspberry jam thumbprints call for vanilla, coconut, and your choice of jam.
To make 32 of Garten’s raspberry jam thumbprint cookies, I grabbed:
- Three sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
- 3 ½ cups of all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon of kosher salt
- One egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water, for egg wash
- 7 ounces of sweetened flaked coconut
- Raspberry or apricot jam
I made the dough with the help of an electric mixer.
I started by making the dough in an electric mixer, using the butter, sugar, vanilla, flour, and salt.
Then, I dumped it out onto a clean surface and kneaded it lightly to incorporate some of the looser bits. The texture reminded me of a shortbread cookie.
More steps were involved in making these.
After wrapping the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerating it for 30 minutes, I began forming the cookies.
I shaped each ball, dipped it in egg wash, and rolled it in shredded coconut. Then, I pressed a thumbprint into the dough, filled it with jam, and baked.
The extra work to make the raspberry jam thumbprints was well worth it.
These cookies came out delicious. The coconut got nice and toasty, and the raspberry jam was the perfect sweet flavor to balance out the buttery, crumbly shortbread.
I used raspberry jam for this batch, but I could see myself making them again and experimenting with different flavors, like apricot, strawberry, and even cherry. Overall, these were a solid third-place choice.
Garten’s chocolate white-chocolate chunk cookies require mostly pantry staples.
To make 40 of Garten’s chocolate white-chocolate chunk cookies, I gathered:
- ½ pound of unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup of light-brown sugar, packed
- 1 cup of granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
- Two extra-large eggs, at room temperature
- ⅔ cup of unsweetened cocoa
- 2 cups of flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
- 1 ½ pounds of white chocolate, chopped
The dough came together quickly.
The dough for these cookies — which was made with butter, both sugars, vanilla, eggs, cocoa, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and white chocolate — came together easily in the mixer in under 10 minutes.
These cookies baked for exactly 15 minutes.
In her recipe, Garten emphasizes the importance of a precise 15-minute bake time. The recipe states that the cookies may seem underdone when they come out, but that’s what helps perfect the chewy texture.
I let them cool for a few minutes to firm up before moving them to a separate plate.
I loved the combination of the chocolate cookie and white-chocolate chunks.
I’m not usually one to reach for a chocolate cookie, but this recipe changed that. These came out soft, rich, and chewy, with a brownie-like fudginess.
The combination of rich chocolate dough and chunks of white chocolate was so good that I would reach for these cookies over and over again. So, they came in second place.
Garten’s salty oatmeal chocolate-chunk cookies are made with cranberries instead of raisins.
To make 30 of Garten’s salty oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies, I grabbed:
- Two sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ¾ cup of light-brown sugar, lightly packed
- ¾ cup of granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
- Two extra-large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 ¾ cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
- 1 ¼ cups of old-fashioned oats
- ¾ pound of bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- ¾ cup of dried cranberries
- Sea salt for sprinkling
I appreciated how easy it was to make these cookies.
The recipe for these cookies was straightforward to follow.
I creamed the butter and sugars and added the dry ingredients. Then, I folded in the dried cranberries and chocolate chunks and baked for 10 minutes.
I appreciated that there were no complicated steps and the dough didn’t need to be refrigerated.
The salty oatmeal chocolate-chunk cookies were chewy inside, but had perfectly crisp edges.
These cookies were insanely delicious, with a simple yet balanced flavor. The oatmeal cookie was buttery, the chocolate chunks were melty, and I ended up favoring the dried cranberries over the traditional oatmeal-raisin combination.
The salt was definitely noticeable, but it worked well. If I made them again, I’d add cinnamon. It feels like the only thing missing here, but otherwise, they’re perfect as is.
Overall, these cookies were chewy, crispy, flavorful, and the kind I could eat all of in one sitting. For that reason, they were easily the best recipe I tried.
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