AuthorSarah RacineYield = 12 cookies
When I think of the quintessential chocolate chip cookie, the version that defines the genre, I think of this cookie.
It has got it all- the right notes of butter, brown sugar, and vanilla; the crackly top, chewy edges, and soft centers. It's decadent and impressive enough to be a special occasion treat, but casual enough to whip up on a weeknight if you've got a hankering.
Notice the 3:1 ratio of brown sugar to white sugar, which gives you the right balance of softness and sweetness. Another key are the chemical leaveners; both baking soda and baking powder come to the party. Typically chocolate chip cookies only contain baking soda, and from a PH perspective this makes sense because baking soda is alkaline and brown sugar is acidic. However, baking powder is neutral in PH, so its addition doesn't affect the acidity of the cookie, but aids in the rise in the oven (and subsequent fall) out of the oven into crackly tops. Lastly, the butter is melted, eliminating the cumbersome creaming method and resulting in a much chewier texture, a must for any American style cookie.
If some specific instructions in this recipe confuse you, please feel free to check out my Key Cookie Concepts page, which help explain the "why behind the what" for specific cookie techniques.
375F, or 350F convection, upper middle and lower middle racks
Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper, or grease trays.
In a 5-6 quart bowl, mix in this order.
-white sugar, brown sugar, and butter- whisk until smooth, for 30 seconds
-Egg and extract, whisk until smooth, for 30 seconds .
-Take all dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt) and whisk in a separate bowl for 30 seconds to combine. This might seem superfluous, but this process helps to properly suspend ingredients of different densities.
-Switch to silicone spatula or wooden spoon before mixing dry ingredients!
-Gently stir in dry ingredients and your mix-ins until dough just comes together, 45 seconds , DO NOT OVERMIX! You want to develop as little gluten as possible to prevent a tough and dry texture.
Chill dough, covered, in refrigerator for at least 15 minutes, or up to 24 hours.
Chilling cookie dough helps improve the texture, taking it from cakey to chewy and more cookie-like by enabling the gluten to relax. It also gives the moisture more time to hydrate the cookie. Don't skip this step.
Weigh 2 ounce dough portions, or measure ~2 rounded TBSP per cookie.
Roll each portion into balls. *You can freeze dough portions at this point and bake from frozen at another time for a quick sweet treat!*
Place on trays with 1 1/2 inch buffer between each cookie, ideally placing 5 on each pan, for a total of 10 cookies. They will spread thanks to the addition of baking soda, so two trays might seem silly but is strongly recommended.
Before baking them, flatten them slightly with the palm of your hand, but leave them as tall as possible (about 3/4 inch thick). This reduces spreading and keeps the middle nice and soft during baking.
If you want even thicker, less spread out cookies, simply chill tray with cookie dough balls in freezer for 5 minutes before baking.
Bake in the oven until edges are set and just beginning to brown, 11-15 minutes, rotating the trays both vertically and horizontally after 7 minutes. This is a big range for baking, so just watch them closely toward the end to ensure they're the perfect bake for you.
11 minutes- ooey gooey
13 minutes- slight crisp edges, soft center
15 minutes- ultimate crispy chewy edges, slight give in the middle
After baking is when you can further manipulate the texture of your cookies.
If you like them crisp on the bottom, let cool completely on tray.
If you like them softer, or you fear you’ve overbaked them, remove from hot tray as soon as they’ll hold their shape; 1-2 minutes after they’re out of the oven.
A good in between is to let them cool 5-10 minutes, then move cookies to wire rack or dish to serve.
Once cool, store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Do you want to build your own flavor variation?
You can use up to 1 tsp of any extract you desire. You can mix and match, using 1/2 tsp of two complementary flavors, such as vanilla & almond, coffee & hazelnut, etc.). Another fun variation is to do 1/2 cup white chocolate and 1/2 cup dark chocolate, either chips or chopped chunks. I like to roughly chop some chocolate chips and leave some whole, resulting in the best of both worlds. If you REALLY like chocolate, try replacing up to 1/4 cup of flour with cocoa powder instead. When I was a kid, I'd put whole pretzels on top of the unbaked cookie rounds, and the pretzels would bake beautifully and get nice and crunchy in the oven, resulting in a sweet and salty masterpiece. To the same tune, I like to sprinkle flaky salt on top of the unbaked dough rounds as well, for a cleaner more sophisticated take on the same flavor profile.
Need inspiration? These are a great place to start!
Triple Threat
Mix in 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips, 1/3 cup milk chocolate chips, and 1/3 cup white chocolate chips.
Chocolate Puddles
Only add 2/3 cup of chocolate mix in's, and reserve 12 large pieces (ideally broken from a chocolate bar) to press into the centers of each dough round when flattening the cookies.
Ingredients
Directions
375F, or 350F convection, upper middle and lower middle racks
Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper, or grease trays.
In a 5-6 quart bowl, mix in this order.
-white sugar, brown sugar, and butter- whisk until smooth, for 30 seconds
-Egg and extract, whisk until smooth, for 30 seconds .
-Take all dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt) and whisk in a separate bowl for 30 seconds to combine. This might seem superfluous, but this process helps to properly suspend ingredients of different densities.
-Switch to silicone spatula or wooden spoon before mixing dry ingredients!
-Gently stir in dry ingredients and your mix-ins until dough just comes together, 45 seconds , DO NOT OVERMIX! You want to develop as little gluten as possible to prevent a tough and dry texture.
Chill dough, covered, in refrigerator for at least 15 minutes, or up to 24 hours.
Chilling cookie dough helps improve the texture, taking it from cakey to chewy and more cookie-like by enabling the gluten to relax. It also gives the moisture more time to hydrate the cookie. Don't skip this step.
Weigh 2 ounce dough portions, or measure ~2 rounded TBSP per cookie.
Roll each portion into balls. *You can freeze dough portions at this point and bake from frozen at another time for a quick sweet treat!*
Place on trays with 1 1/2 inch buffer between each cookie, ideally placing 5 on each pan, for a total of 10 cookies. They will spread thanks to the addition of baking soda, so two trays might seem silly but is strongly recommended.
Before baking them, flatten them slightly with the palm of your hand, but leave them as tall as possible (about 3/4 inch thick). This reduces spreading and keeps the middle nice and soft during baking.
If you want even thicker, less spread out cookies, simply chill tray with cookie dough balls in freezer for 5 minutes before baking.
Bake in the oven until edges are set and just beginning to brown, 11-15 minutes, rotating the trays both vertically and horizontally after 7 minutes. This is a big range for baking, so just watch them closely toward the end to ensure they're the perfect bake for you.
11 minutes- ooey gooey
13 minutes- slight crisp edges, soft center
15 minutes- ultimate crispy chewy edges, slight give in the middle
After baking is when you can further manipulate the texture of your cookies.
If you like them crisp on the bottom, let cool completely on tray.
If you like them softer, or you fear you’ve overbaked them, remove from hot tray as soon as they’ll hold their shape; 1-2 minutes after they’re out of the oven.
A good in between is to let them cool 5-10 minutes, then move cookies to wire rack or dish to serve.
Once cool, store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Do you want to build your own flavor variation?
You can use up to 1 tsp of any extract you desire. You can mix and match, using 1/2 tsp of two complementary flavors, such as vanilla & almond, coffee & hazelnut, etc.). Another fun variation is to do 1/2 cup white chocolate and 1/2 cup dark chocolate, either chips or chopped chunks. I like to roughly chop some chocolate chips and leave some whole, resulting in the best of both worlds. If you REALLY like chocolate, try replacing up to 1/4 cup of flour with cocoa powder instead. When I was a kid, I'd put whole pretzels on top of the unbaked cookie rounds, and the pretzels would bake beautifully and get nice and crunchy in the oven, resulting in a sweet and salty masterpiece. To the same tune, I like to sprinkle flaky salt on top of the unbaked dough rounds as well, for a cleaner more sophisticated take on the same flavor profile.
Need inspiration? These are a great place to start!
Triple Threat
Mix in 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips, 1/3 cup milk chocolate chips, and 1/3 cup white chocolate chips.
Chocolate Puddles
Only add 2/3 cup of chocolate mix in's, and reserve 12 large pieces (ideally broken from a chocolate bar) to press into the centers of each dough round when flattening the cookies.
