The Great Cookie Experiment

Chocolate chip cookies are a staple in a baker's kitchen.  Recipes for them vary as much as people themselves - chewy vs. crunchy, puffy vs. flat, walnuts vs. no walnuts, etc.  The different varieties of chocolate chip cookies can be achieved by making small changes to any one of the ingredients.  In my most recent experiment, I decided to try different vanilla extracts.  Behold....

I purchased this three-pack from William Sonoma.  Your typical grocery store only sells one type of vanilla extract, which is most commonly Madagascar Bourbon vanilla.  Madagascar Bourbon is the most sought after bourbon vanilla bean and is considered the best. Madagascar has aromas of wood, oil, and leather with wide flat pods.

There are others, however, as William Sonoma has made available.  Mexican vanilla is another popular variety.  Its beans are chocolate brown to black in color, and their aroma is clean and delicate.  Tahitian vanilla, aptly named for its country of origin, is another alternative and has an earthy and fruity taste, which is best in cold dishes.

I decided I wanted to taste the difference in these vanillas using the medium of chocolate chip cookies.  Sometimes you just have to sacrifice for science.

I created a basic recipe with smaller proportions so I wouldn't have a ton of cookies, and made it three times, only altering the vanilla.  Here is the recipe:

Ingredients
1 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 bag chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Cream together butter, shortening and sugars
Add egg and beat until combined
Add vanilla and beat until combined
In a separate bowl with a whisk, stir together flour, baking powder and salt.
Pour into creamed mixture and blend well
Add chocolate chip cookies
Drop by spoonfuls onto baking sheet
Bake in oven for 12 minutes or until slightly golden
Remove from oven and let cool

Once you've made a batch with the each of the vanillas and the cookies have cooled...wait, who are we kidding?  You know you tasted the cookie dough!  Each vanilla lends its own unique flavor and it will change and evolve after being in the oven.  

My husband and I had different opinions of which was best.  I preferred the traditional Madagascar Bourbon vanilla, and he liked the Mexican vanilla.  Neither of us cared for the Tahitian vanilla, as the alcohol-taste seemed to overpower the rest of the cookie.  That's not to say the cookies were inedible; we will, of course, eat them.

Experiment and taste-test for yourself.  It's definitely one of the better experiments I've tried...