40 batches to the Final Four

I have had my own bit of March Madness lately as I narrowed the choices for the best chocolate chip cookie to the four top contenders. Let me take you down my own "Road to the Final Four"

This list item started with a cook book I received a while ago called, "The Search for the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie". It was a result of a nationwide contest sponsored by The Orchards, an inn located in Mass. They narrowed down the entries to the best (about 100 recipes) and added interesting baking and historical facts about this unique baked goodie. I enjoyed reading and learning about what makes some cookies crispy, and some chewy. I tried a few different recipes that looked good, or different. But after a short while, I kept going back to the ones I had already tried and knew were good. I didn't expand my palate or what to take a risk. Let's face it. When you are in the mood for homemade cookies, do you really want to leave any margin for error and risk NOT having a good cookie when you are all done.

So, in the name of a project, I decided to make this part of my "list". I was then obligated to try at least 40 different batches. I wanted some way of knowing which ones were the best so I started freezing 1 dozen from each batch to use later in a big taste testing extravaganza. Soon I was baking cookies for everything. Anytime I needed to bring a dish to share, I brought...cookies. Guests came to visit, and they had to chose a recipe to try and we would bake together. It took me almost a full year to bake all 40 batches. I was done last Nov. 1st. So why so long before determining the best of the best? I will tell you.

My first attempt at a taste testing was pitiful. I had a party which was well attended but had way too many cookies and still not enough people to taste test and vote. There was no consensus. Luckily I had only thawed 1/2 a dozen of each kind so I went with plan B. I constructed a single elimination tournament pitting cookie against cookie that John and I alone taste tested. In the end it only really matters what we liked anyway. :)

So every once in a while we would check the match ups, taste cookie vs cookie, declare a winner, save the rest for the next round and eat the loser. By the start of March I noticed we had it narrowed down to a "Sweet 16". That was when my March Madness started as I was on a mission to have the "Final Four" by the time the college tourney was finishing. In a flurry of cookie crumbs and my diet going out the window, we arrived at the final four.

We will try tonight during the championship game to declare a winner but I am not sure that will be possible. Because of the way I bracketed each kind, we sort of have a winner for each "category" depending on your mood. We have the best basic recipe, #6; the best traditional with a twist, Double Peanut Butter; the best healthy variation, Oatmeal and Sour Cream; and the best for special occasions, the Black and White. Like the teams getting to Indy for the Final Four, it really is an honor to just be there in the games. But unlike tonight, where there will be just one winner, we are all winners who get to eat "the simplest, sweetest pleasure ever devised."