Was this question submitted by Monica Geller?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1ShzUEKqgc&feature=related

I increase the flour by 1/4 cup, double the vanilla and always start with room temp eggs and butter. Refrigerating the dough is key, too!

A third for refrigerating the dough. The New York Times did a big cookie story a few years ago and discovered that Madame Tollhouse (tm Pheobe Buffet) let her cookie dough cure in the fridge. I can't remember how long... but here's the article if you want to read it and find out:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/dining/09chip.html?ref=dining

You may also need better salt. If you're using iodized table salt, you may want to try kosher, sea salt, or some other fun salt.

Try Alton Brown's Tollhouse derivative, "The Chewy." http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/the-chewy-recipe/index.html

It may not solve your flavor issue, but my problem was always texture. The biggest changes are to replace most of the sugar with brown sugar, and melt the butter first. I usually double the vanilla, too.

And don't underestimate the creaming time. I put the sugars and butter in the mixing bowl, set that KitchenAid to medium, and walk away for at least three minutes.

A fourth four refrigerating the dough...12-36 hours (even 4 hours results in a better cookie), but I find that 24 hours is the best for getting a nice combination of crisp, golden edges and but chewy centers. The refrigeration also helps the cookie to brown more nicely than if you bake right away (paler cookies).

My tollhouse cookies are second to none and I follow the recipe exactly. My three suggestions are: (1) Don't skip the salt...it's ESSENTIAL, (2) Use a light, insulated baking sheet and (3) take them out early and I mean VERY early.

Yes, yes, yes, refrigerate the dough! Even if only for a few hours, it will make a big difference. And having your ingredients at room temp also helps. My big secret to success is to use half butter, half margarine. It's probably the only thing I ever use margarine for. It's the best way I've found to get the perfect amount of "cookie spread" as they bake -- just enough, not too much. No idea why it works; something to do with the difference in melting temps, I guess.

I follow the instructions entirely, sometimes refrigerate and sometimes don't, but I ALWAYS:

1. make sure the butter is softened but never melt it

2. use CHUNKS instead of CHIPS (still nestle tollhouse)

3. take it out when it is just brown on the edges, and super soft in the middle still. You'll have to let it sit on the sheet for a bit, then let it cook on a rack/plate, but they taste GREAT at room temp- chewy rather than crunchy- my friends always complain b/c they have to wait a bit longer than if I waited until the cookies were thoroughly cooked and not falling apart fresh out of the oven, but they eat every.single.one.

It could be the quality/flavor of your ingredients. Different brands of vanilla extract vary widely in flavor, for instance. I always thought brown sugar's flavor was a constant, too, until I bought a brand this year that tasted much more molasses-y than what I was used to.

Years ago I lived across the street from a friend who made the most wonderful soft, chewy chocolate chip cookies which my husband loved. I could only seem to make the crisp kind which her husband loved. So, we would each make a batch of cookies and trade back and forth. Wish we were still neighbors. I second the Alton Brown recipe recommondation.

--I use a cup of brown sugar and a 1/2 cup of regular sugar, and I always add a lot of vanilla (mines's homemade and stored it a bottle of vodka, so it comes out kind of fast, not that I really mind!).

--Definitely refrigerate the dough, and even better, refrigerate for 24-36 hours, bring to a scoopable temperature, and put them back into the fridge in their scooped form, and bake literally straight from the fridge.

I'm sorry, but if you mean you're trying to match the Tollhouse recipe on the chips to taste like the prepackaged refrigerated ones, I just don't think that's gonna happen (sure you can get close, but not with the same recipes) Look at the ingredients on the refrigerated ones- a quick search shows they have things like vanillin (artificial vanilla) sodium benzoate, vitamin A palmitate and a slew of other added stuff. So no, their recipe will never be the same as their premade dough that could probably survive in your fridge for 30 years.

(I like both- the fridge ones and their recipe is ok, but as others have said, you really are just looking for a different recipe of chocolate chip cookie.)

I second refrigerating the dough and also checking out the New York Times' recipe, or this variation: http://orangette.blogspot.com/2008/07/bold-statement.html
I scoop out the dough right away and refrigerate the little dough balls on a sheet for a few minutes, until they get hard enough to put them together in a bowl and refrigerate for 24-48 hours (depending on how long I can wait for cookies). Then just heat up the oven and throw some cookie balls on a sheet and bam! almost instant and really tasty cookies.

I know you said 'no matter the quality of ingredients'.. but I still want to suggest the following:
-King Arthur- -unbleached- all purpose flour.
Butter butter. No substitutes.
And everything everyone else said.

But just in case you're still underwhelmed by your results, please stop worrying about whether your cookies taste as good as a factory made, preservative laden, fake ingredient mess of a cookie, and enjoy the cookies you make for yourself - real food is better for you anyway, and wasn't chemically designed to trigger your brain to release serotonin. Plus, you get to lick the spoon, which should make you happy anyway.

I totally agree with all the comments about refrigerating the dough making better cookies, BUT we almost never got to enjoy that because chocolate chip cookies are such an instant gratification need for us! It has been a big achievement just to learn to wait for the butter soften fully to room temp (another thing that makes the cookies much better than pulverizing just-starting-to-soften-but-still-pretty-cold butter with the mixer...). Sigh. Need to work on our impulse control.

I say, nix the Tollhouse recipe and make better chocolate chip cookies! The NY Times recipe is good, but my go-to chocolate chip cookies are Cook's Illustrated's "Perfect" Chocolate Chip cookie. 2 words: Browned butter, recipe here (not my blog): http://www.crumblycookie.net/2009/04/04/cooks-illustrateds-perfect-chocolate-chip-cookies/

Use chocolate that's better than Nestle, and sprinkle some coarse sea salt on top of cookies before baking, you'll never think "Tollhouse" again!

Brooklynnina... I make a big batch and then form them, make 1/4, and freeze the rest as fully formed little dough balls. They bake up great on a glass sheet in about the same amount of time. (The glass cookie sheet seems to solve the spreading issues you'd otherwise get from starting with frozen dough, rather than room temp).
Instant gratification problem solved. Total time required: oven preheat + 10 minutes.

I recommend the CI tip to tear your ball of cookie dough in half and place rough edges up on top of each other. You will get slightly crisp edges with a gooey center every time. I know that's texture and not flavor, but it took my cookies to a whole new lever and I couldn't help but share.

Even after agreeing with everything above, buy an oven thermometer! My cookies were always runny, even after refrigerating, and it turns out my oven temp was no where near where it should have been. $5 investment, and awesome cookies are yours.

http://www.stopthetraffik.org/news/press/nestle.aspx

Perhaps consider a more socially responsible chocolate company. Nestle chocolate is harvested by child slaves.

I recently made the best batch of Toll House cookies I've ever made, and the only difference was that I mixed the dough in my Cuisinart food processor because I couldn't find one of the beaters for my mixer. They came out perfect, chewy but with crunchy edges. Also, I don't use Nestle chips, I use Guittard.

I use all dark brown sugar, real butter, a little bit of extra flour, and undercook them slightly.

I can't believe how many people are telling this person to 'use better ingredients'. Seriously? You really think the reason their fresh, homemade cookie dough doesn't taste exactly like pre-made, store bought cookie dough is that she's not using the higher quality ingredients the manufacturer is??

Like a couple others have said, Simon: if you like the taste of the pre-made, buy the pre-made. If you look at the ingredients list it will contain things you'd never, ever have in your kitchen. To get it closer I can think of 2 things right off the bat- more salt and add butter flavoring.

With the regular Tollhouse recipe, I'm with the chill-the-dough crowd. The more time, the better.

Recently I tried one of America's Test Kitchen's recipes that included browned butter, less flour and a technique I had never used before....beat the sugar, butter and eggs for 30 seconds then let it rest for 3 minutes for a total of 3 times...I wondered what, if any, affect that technique would have on the standard recipe.

This may not result in store-bought cookie dough cookies, but the people I made these for were extremely happy.

http://www.food.com/recipe/perfect-chocolate-chip-cookies-americas-test-kitchen-387119

Add a package of Jello vanilla pudding mix to the dry ingredients. It gives the cookies so much more flavor! Also, definitely make sure you refrigerate the dough.

I dunno. If you're going to add instant pudding to the recipe, you may as well just make the cookies from a packaged mix.

My newest trick for chocolate chip cookies is to use half milk chocolate chunks and half unsweetened chocolate chunks. For some reason, it tastes so much better than all semi-sweet or other type of chocolate. I like to say they have more dimension...
Also, not at all like the store bought ones, but a little sprinkle of salt on top before baking brings cookies over the top in terms of deliciousness.

I sent the question in, and thank you all for the sugestions. And yes I am trying to match the flavored of the store bought pre-made tollhouse dough. Ok, time for explaining my process.

I do chill the dough, I've tried different times to as soon as right away and not chill it to 12/24/36 hours.

I've used every different brand I could think of from generic sugar to Domino and from generic flour to KAF AP unbleached, I have also used home made chunks from a bar to tollhouse chips and now Guirradelli's chips, always butter and always always at room temp along with the eggs. The only thing I didn't varied a lot was with the vanilla extract, I use watkins (really aggravated me when they switched to plastic bottle) refuse to use any extracts that have corn syrup, and I used another one I found which name I can't recall.

With all those variations it seems I get virtually the same results which kind of surprised me considering the different products I used.

I have mixed them by hand and now with my brand new stand mixer.

The texture of them isn't very appealing to me either, you can feel the sugar crystals in your mouth, but I could probably change that with the use of brown sugar like many of you sugested.

@jmorri26 @jess13

Thank you for the wake up call, I probably should realise that if I want to come close I probably need to change recipe

@bobcatsteph3

The salt came to mind yesterday when I finished my batch but I didn't have the guts to alter the recipe

@Jason Dudley

I am aware of such practices, the thing is, I can't show you the statistics right now but it is my understanding virtually all chocolate uses some form of child slave labour, 82% is the number I keep hearing and seeing in writing when it comes to cocoa harvest simply because so much comes from the same place.

Source:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2011/11/29/142891462/nestle-to-investigate-child-labor-on-its-cocoa-farms

Thanks everyone for the tips, I think it is time to abandon the tollhouse recipe and "Try all things"!

@foreigncow-

Others mentioned it above, but the vanilla pudding trick is a great one that makes your cookies softer and more store bought flavored (which sometimes is a good thing) If you're going for a premade cookie flavor, I'd give that a try. Just dump a box into any cookie recipe you like and go for it.

i know someone mentioned alton browns "the chewy" recipe and this is my go to recipe. i think it makes the best cookies. what might help with your graininess is that he melts the butter and mixes the hot butter with the sugar almost creating a caramel effect, smooth and gorgeous! the other thing i do is to use half white whole wheat flour and ap flour, both from king arthur as well as add about a quarter cup of pecan meal this ups the nuttiness and adds more dimension to the flavor. good luck!

Maybe I'm missing something, but why not just find or create your own homemade recipe? It'll suit your tastes, and you can pass it down to your kids (if you have any).

I agree with the room tempature butter, as well. The importance of the butter and sugar cannot be overemphasized. This applies to more than just chocolate chip cookies, too. If you get into the science of cooking, on a molecular level, the creamed butter and sugar will serve as the frame of whatever you are baking, with the flour filling out the form. Always use room temature butter and never rush the creaming step.

On a related note, I've tried dozens of other recipies, and I still consider the toll house receipe to be the best.

I searched for the "perfect" choc chip cookie recipe for years, literally. i agree with miabica - the america's test kitchen/cooks illustrated recipe is my all time fav - we have a family of 6, so the batch is always wiped out the same afternoon. I also use guittard, or ghiradelli 60%. i've never tried refrigerating the dough... i'd like to give that a try.

Maybe you just prefer the taste of pre-made over homemade. No big deal.

I never chill my dough. I always replace all the white sugar called for with dark brown and I always use butter right out of the fridge. When I was in college I didn't have a mixer and would mix all the ingredients together with a wooden spoon, smashing the butter against the side of the bowl until it was incorporated. Ten years later after I bought a good stand mixer I found that my cookies turned out better hand mixed. I've also tried the half a banana trick (mash half a banana and add to the cookies) to keep them soft, but I wasn't crazy about the flavor it added. You can also add a slice of bread or a couple of large marshmallows to your cookie jar to prevent your cookies from hardening days after they are baked.

use real room temp butter and mexican vanilla.