ULTIMATE GUIDE TO PERFECT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
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I haven’t met a cookie I didn’t like, guys. Let me also say, I haven’t met a lot of cookies I love either. I’m kinda picky. Okay, I’m a cookie snob. I admit it. I’m picky about the kind of chocolate chips. The texture of the cookie. The sweetness. And pretty much anything else you can think of.
That is exactly why I’m going to do the ultimate guide to perfect chocolate chip cookies. I’m going to use one recipe and show you how changing the quantities of a few ingredients will give you the cookie of your dreams! *Happy dancing to the moon*
Oh, and let me say – NERD ALERT. If you are totally not into the cookie sciencey thingy (that’s a technical term right there) then feel free to skip below to the recipe. I hope you love them as much as I do!
The Chewy Cookie
To achieve the perfect chewy chocolate chip cookie we:
- Use a higher amount of brown sugar than white sugar. The added moisture from the brown sugar helps keep cookies chewy in the center.
- Use more liquids and lower fat content. We achieve this by cutting back on butter and by melting it.
- Chilling the dough for an extended period of time. This allows flavors to develop and prevents spreading.
- Strong flour or gluten development. There are recipes out there that suggest to use bread flour because of its high gluten content (the New York Times Best Cookie Recipe). Other recipes suggest sifting the dry ingredients. This helps incorporate air into the batter. I whisked. It’s easier.
The Crunchy/Crispy Cookie
To achieve the perfect crunchy/crispy chocolate chip cookie we:
- Use a lower proportion of liquid in the dough.
- Use a higher amount of granulated sugar to brown sugar. Increase the fat content. We’ll use an increased amount of cold butter here. This will help reduce the liquid in the dough.
- Bake at a higher temperature. This causes evaporation of the moisture that is in the cookie.
The Soft/ Puffy Cookie
To achieve the perfect soft and puffy chocolate chip cookie we:
- Lower the sugar content of the dough. This is done by replace some of the sugar by honey, molasses, or corn syrup. These sugar are hygroscopic (that’s just a fancy word that means they absorb moisture from the air).
- Use cake flour. The lower protein content helps produce a fine, soft, even crumb. This is because less gluten forms when you mix it into a dough. Also, the corn starch in cake flour helps achieve soft puffiness too.
- Under bake the cookies and bake at a lower temperature.
Other Tips to the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie:
- Refrigerate dough between batches. You want it to be as cold as possible when it hits the oven.
- Do not overcrowd baking sheet. I put just 6 cookies on a sheet.
- Place only one baking tray in the oven at a time. Use a second tray to load up and alternate trays. That way you don’t have to wait for the baking tray to cool.
- Place a few extra chocolate chips on dough balls before baking. This makes for a picture perfect cookie.
How the Cookie Crumbles (Troubleshooting):
* I mention soft in the above table, this is when it isn’t the desired texture.
The pictured recipe is The Ultimate Chewy Chocolate Chip cookies recipe. The recipes for the crunchy and soft cookies can be found as tabs in the recipe below.
The chewy cookie recipe gets semi melted butter. This makes the cookies uber chewy in the center with a perfect crisp around the edge. I also used one egg and one egg yolk. Not pictured: the granulated sugar. Because I forgot. Forgive me.
I used half semi chocolate chips and half bittersweet. We’re BIG dark chocolate fans and don’t like a cookie thats too sweet. Customize the cookie to your liking! Milk chocolate chips and white chocolate chips are great options too!
Mix the dough, cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate dough for 3 – 72 hours. I typically refrigerate for 24 – 48 hours.
Eat chewy cookies by the dozen. Yumma. Nom. Nom.
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[tab title=’CRUNCHY CHOCOLATE CHIP’]
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[tab title=’SOFT & PUFFY CHOCOLATE CHIP’]
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3 Comments on “ULTIMATE GUIDE TO PERFECT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES”
the best recipe of cookies we are happy ? and now I will prepare the key lime pie thanks!!!!!! from Lima /Perú
Great, great chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe!! I can bake a 10 layer cake no problem but chocolate chip cookies have always given me problems. I’m baking at a pretty high altitude and so I added 1/2 tsp baking powder, and only had dark brown sugar on hand so used that instead in same proportions. Made big cookies, so took about 15 minutes to bake but wow. These were really, really excellent. My new go-to recipe!!
So I just wanted to let you know that your chewy cookie recipe is my go to. I love it to bits and everyone I make it for loves it too. I usually cut out 1/4 cup of the brown sugar, but besides that use it as is. The science is super nice to see too. Thanks so much for this!