Chocolate chip cookies: Double(tree) the pleasure

There's nothing better than a homemade chocolate chip cookie, just baked, still soft and warm and oozing chocolate goodness.  Except for a Doubletree Chocolate Chip Cookie.

Freshly baked chocolate chip cookies are a hallmark of the Doubletree hotel experience. Talk about your warm welcome: Guests checking in are handed their room entry card and a warm chocolate chip cookie. The cookies are so popular they're sold online and shipped all over the world.

I had never had a Doubletree Chocolate Chip Cookie until recently. My friend Scott Severance received a tin of them from the Doubletree Syracuse hotel and shared one with me. It was not warm, but it didn't really matter. The rich, buttery cookie was fully loaded with chips, nuts and oatmeal.

This is the ULTIMATE chocolate chip cookie (sorry, Wegmans), I thought to myself as I inhaled it while walking to my car.

Then I had occasion to meet Kevin Magdon, business travel manager at the Doubletree Syracuse and I told him how much I enjoyed the cookie from Scott. Kevin said he enjoyed the cookies so much when he was new in his job at the Doubletree that he gained 15 pounds. Now, he says, he limits his intake to about one cookie a month.

That's willpower!

Kevin sent me off from our meeting with a warm cookie in a brown paper sleeve. It was gone -- here's a news flash -- before I reached the Thompson Road South turn-off from Carrier Circle. And that got me thinking about trying to duplicate the Doubletree cookie at home.

I usually make chocolate chip cookies using the recipe on the back of whatever brand of chocolate chips I have on hand, adding extra vanilla extract, a smidgen of cinnamon or maybe some finely minced orange zest or finely minced fresh mint for something a little bit different.

The Doubletree recipe is a closely guarded secret, but there are plenty of copycat recipes online, including a so-called Doubletree Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe from Choc-chip-cookie-Recipe.com.

I baked a batch of them for dinner with friends, following the recipe to the letter, including its instructions to refrigerate the batter overnight and use a quarter-cup of batter for each cookie. They were a big hit (pun intended). I also reserved six portions of batter and put them in the freezer for later use.

Last week, I brought a half-dozen of my faux Doubletree cookies to the Syracuse Doubletree, where they were warmed in a microwave oven and served alongside a plate of real-deal Doubletree chocolate chip cookies in a "blind tasting" hosted by Kevin Magdon.

Also in attendance were a group of Central New York cookie lovers: Scott Severance, Jenn Pedde, Mitch Mitchell and Bill Gambino.

The copycat cookies were more crisp and lacked the consistency in color and texture of the real Doubletree cookies. Even so, they were  pronounced "very, very close'' to the original. If they were a more soft and gooey and a little more light in color, it would have been really hard to tell them apart.

Two things I learned in this experiment:

1. All chocolate chips are NOT created equal. The chocolate chips used in the copycat cookies (Price Chopper brand) didn't melt on heating like those in the original Doubletree cookies. Doubletree uses Ghirardelli semisweet chocolate chips in its cookies and they are definitely of superior quality. I'm going to switch to them in my baking projects -- no more cutting corners.

2. Remove cookies from the oven when they are a little bit UNDERBAKED, especially if you like a soft chocolate chip cookie. Leave them in the oven a little longer if your resident cookie taste-tester, like mine, prefers cookies with crispy edges.

But either way, watch them disappear!

 

Comments

[Hypnotherapy London]

OH Yummy!What a great read, thank you

[Margaret @ Eat First]

Thank you for leaving such a nice note, Christmas. My blog is a labor of love!

--Margaret

[Christmas]

I really appreciate the fact that you've created your own blog and have actually posted your thoughts. I admire your work and feel I can relate to what you've done. Many folks can't even imagine having such talent. I hope that you know how lucky you are. :) Good luck to you in ALL your aspirings. :)

[Margaret @ Eat First]

Cheri: Sunshine, blue skies, warm sand and DT chocolate chip cookies... that sounds heavenly! Thanks for stopping by.
Steve: I wondered if other hotels have "borrowed" the DT cookie tradition. They've been at it for 25 years or more... Thanks for the Baldwinsville Theatre Guild tip and thanks for checking out my blog.
Cheers!

--Margaret

[Cheri]

I can't wait to get back to North Reddington Beach in Florida so I can stay at my favorite hotel and eat my favorite cookie! I love that Doubletree Hotel, the cookies, the beach and the people!

[Steve Borek]

I had my first DT CC cookie about 10 years ago on a trip to Austin. Best CC cookie I've ever tasted. Other hotels have tried to copy this wonderful gesture of handing out cookies at check in however they pale in comparison to DT.

If you want to check out dessert items like cheesecake, chocolate cake, and carrot cake, visit Baldwinsville Theatre Guild starting March 11. We serve comp desserts at intermission including coffee and tea.

[Margaret @ Eat First]

Hi, Mitch --

Thanks for being a Doubletree cookie and Doubletree cookie copycat taste-tester and for writing about it on your blog. When I need dessert tasters again, you're at the top of my list.

Cheers,

--Margaret

[Mitch]

It was a fun time, and I'm glad I was able to participate as well. And of course you know I wrote about this. ;-)