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Dessert

Chocolate Chips

A sweet cookie dough with melted chocolate, baked into thin oblong pieces.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Chocolate and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,020 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Chocolate Chips

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

  1. Cream the butter in a mixing bowl.

  2. Gradually add the sugar while beating the mixture.

  3. Add the unbeaten eggs and beat thoroughly.

  4. Stir in the melted chocolate and vanilla.

  5. Sift the flour and salt together, then gradually add to the mixture while beating.

Bake and cut

  1. Spread the dough on buttered baking sheets in a thin, uniform layer.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 10-12 minutes until firm.

  3. While hot, cut into oblong pieces measuring 1½ by 3 inches.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Vanilla + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter
Creamed with sugar to trap air and give the cookies a tender, rich texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the dough and, when creamed with butter, helps lighten its texture.
Eggs
Bind the dough and add moisture and structure as the cookies set.
Chocolate
Adds rich chocolate flavour and fat to the dough.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cookies together as they bake.

The step that matters

Spread the dough thinly and evenly on the sheets. Dough spread too thick bakes unevenly, staying doughy in the middle while the edges overbake. A thin, uniform layer bakes through at the same rate.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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