Photos show how common baking mistakes can drastically change your chocolate chip cookies

I thought it was interesting how even slightly changing the amount of flour I used could change my cookies so drastically. And I'm glad that I found my new favorite cookie (achieved by using a little less flour) through this experiment.

Some of these mistakes affected the cookies more than others, but let's be real — if offered, I wouldn't turn down any of them.

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These cookies were most similar to the batch that included too much egg. These just puffed up differently; they had more of a muffin top.

This batch tasted really good, though. I was able to identify the vanilla and enjoyed the classic cookie flavor that comes with it.

It was a puffy cookie that felt really airy in my hand. The look of the bottom was the same as the cookie with too much egg, and looked more like a madeleine than a chocolate chip cookie on the bottom.

This batch of cookies was cakey in the middle, but also really airy throughout with crispy edges; they were yellow and slightly puffy in the middle, and brown and super thin around the perimeter.

Using too much butter obviously made the cookies buttery to the touch, and they were soft enough to crumble in my hands. The cookies melted apart in my mouth really quickly, too, and I could feel the air holes — which were prominent on the surface — on my tongue.

Not using enough sugar resulted in dry and bready cookies. They weren't chewy at all, and puffed upward in the center.

And though the flavor was good, I wasn't able to taste the vanilla as much as I could in the others. Both the texture and mouthfeel reminded me of a not-so-hard scone.

This batch was basically a tray of small cakes. To me, they looked and felt like madeleine cookies, even on the bottom.

There was barely any crust on the edges or even around the cookies; they were just spongy all over.

These cookies were really crumbly and fell apart as I was loading the batter onto the baking sheet.

When I pulled them out of the oven, they had kind of melted out from the middle. Some actually looked quite beautiful and rustic.

They had a bite to them that was a little chewy but also dry. An interesting effect of leaving out eggs was the fact that I could taste the salt really prominently. These were the saltiest cookies by far, but I had included the same amount as I did in the other nine recipes.

It turns out that there's a method to making cookies for a reason.

I tried dumping the flour, sugar, vanilla, salt, baking soda, egg, and butter into one single bowl, and then I mixed them all together. I thought the flavor was still good, but the texture was really weird.

There were air bubbles everywhere, and the cookies just weren't so pretty. They ended up being bumpy instead of cohesive, and it looked like there were tiny clumps of ingredients in them.

The cookies wound up being nearly the size of my entire hand, and though their super-thin, brown appearance initially made me think I had burned them, they didn't taste burnt at all.

The entire cookie was crispy but the chips stayed intact. Biting into them, I found that this cookie didn't even stick to my teeth too much.

Ultimately, this method yielded my ideal cookie. If you're also a fan of a crispy cookie, this variation is for you.

Packing flour — tapping the measuring cup on the counter or pushing the powder down with a spoon — will result in using too much. I added only a little bit more flour than I should have for this batch, and found they took slightly longer to bake.

After leaving them in the oven for around 10-and-a-half to 11 minutes (others cooked in nine minutes), they came out super fluffy, dry inside but not at all dense. They weren't cakey like the batch made with baking powder was.

In terms of taste, these maintained a solid cookie flavor and I was able to taste the vanilla and sugar.

Using baking powder resulted in a chewy cookie — the kind of chewy where my teeth stuck together a little when I chomped down.

When it came to the look of this cookie, there was a dark ring around the outside but most of it was a light tan color.

This batch was cakier than the first ones, and the chocolate had an almost chemical-like taste that gave the cookie a slightly artificial flavor.

The cookies weren't bad, but they weren't as enjoyable as the other batches. So, if you make this mistake, know that it's OK — they won't be the best cookies you've ever made, but they also won't be the worst.

Overmixing — or over-creaming in baking-speak — the batter resulted in a runnier texture. The fluidity made for a cookie that baked quickly and also spread out more widely than a properly-creamed batter usually would.

You could overmix the batter at any point, but over-creaming specifically occurs when you're combining the butter, sugar, and vanilla. I mixed the batter more than I should have both during the creaming stage of the recipe, and after adding the flour.

As a result, the cookies came out light and airy, and I was able to taste the butter more prominently in this batch than in others. They turned a nice, even, brown color.