Crisp and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Don’t mess with the best! This chewy-crisp chocolate chip cookie is the ONE, the cookie recipe I come back to again and again. These cookies have that perfect balance of crispy edges, chewy insides, and gooey chunks of chocolate in every bite.

This is my go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies, the one that delivers what I think is the perfect ratio of chewy and crisp in one bite.

Yes, it’s possible to mix chocolate chip cookies with “wholesome” ingredients — like sprouted grain flour, maple syrup instead of sugar, coconut oil and mushroom powders — but in the end you’ve still made dessert. So why not just make a great cookie every once in a while and enjoy it?!

Search the internet for “chocolate chip cookie recipe” and you’ll be overwhelmed with results. Sifting through the list of “perfect chocolate chip cookie” or “best ever cookie” recipes begs a question:

How do you make the “best” chocolate chip cookie?

I mean the ultimate, top-of-the-heap great? Well, from what I’ve learned, the answer depends on what you’re looking for in a cookie.

Out of curiosity, I conducted a casual Instagram poll — 87% of the respondents picked chewy chocolate chip cookies as their favorite!

Ever since I was a kid, my benchmark chocolate chip cookie recipe has been the one on the back of the iconic yellow chocolate chip bag.

There’s a reason those cookies are the one and only for so many people. It’s because they have that special texture that combines crisp, buttery edges with chewy middles. And they taste perfectly balanced in sweetness, with just the right amount of chew and crunch.

About the ingredients

There’s are just a few details about the ingredients that elevate these cookies to “the best” label:

• Butter: Unsalted butter is my usual pick, but a European-style salted butter also makes delectable cookies. Use butter that’s not fridge-cold. I make these cookies with butter that sits on the counter for about 30 minutes. “Room temperature” really depends on the temperature in your kitchen on any given day. Tip: Butter is soft enough to use when it’s still cool to the touch and your finger leaves an indentation without squishing. To soften butter more quickly, unwrap the sticks and slice into tablespoon-size pieces.
• Chocolate chips: To paraphrase Ina Garten, store-bought chocolate chips are fine to make these cookies. But I’m gonna be a stickler and suggest that you splurge on a good bar of chocolate instead. The additives and emulsifiers in chocolate chips help maintain their shape, but also prevents the chocolate from melting into gooey goodness. Also, they can often be a tad too sweet. Use a bar of dark or semisweet chocolate and chop them or use chocolate baking chunks. This is one of my favorite baking chocolate brands that I use in all my chocolate dessert recipes.
• Flour: Measure all-purpose flour using the scoop and sweep method, or use a digital scale for the best accuracy.
• Sugar: Brown sugar adds moisture to the dough and keeps the baked cookie chewy, while white granulated sugar helps the edges to get crisp.

Pro tips for the best chocolate chip cookies:

• This recipe is just about identical to the tried-and-true classic. The dough has a bit more brown sugar than the Tollhouse recipe (adding moisture and upping the overall chewy factor).
• It also contains slightly more flour, which binds with the butter and keeps the cookies from spreading out into a puddle.

With those two tweaks, you get a cookie with a perfect ratio of chewy and crunchy. These cookies keep a hefty mound-like shape and don’t flatten too much during baking, something even my childhood favorite cookies do.

Chilling cookie dough:

Isn’t it annoying that when you want to make cookies, the recipe requires that you chill the dough for hours? Everybody knows that when you get the urge to make chocolate chip cookies it’s because you want them now, not sometime in the future.

• For this recipe, you can chill the dough while the oven heats. It’s an easy compromise!

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Crisp and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Karen Tedesco

This is my desert island chocolate chip cookie, a foolproof recipe with the perfect balance of chewy middles and crispy edges.  

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4.91 from 11 community reviews

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Additional Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr

Course Desserts

Cuisine Baking

Servings 24 cookies

Ingredients

• ▢ 2 ¾ cups (375 g) all-purpose flour
• ▢ 1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
• ▢ ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• ▢ 8 ounces (226 g) (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ▢ ⅓ cup (66 g) granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 cup (200 g) packed light brown sugar
• ▢ 2 large eggs
• ▢ 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ▢ 8 ounces (225 g) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into chunks

US Customary – Metric

Instructions 

• Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.
• Cream the butter and both sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium-low speed (or use a hand mixer) using the paddle attachment until light and fluffy, 3 or 4 minutes. Add the eggs one at time, mixing until each one is incorporated. Add the vanilla.
• Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in 2 additions, beating on low speed just until the flour is incorporated. Stir in the chocolate. Put the bowl in the refrigerator while the oven heats, about 20 minutes.
• Heat the oven to 350 (175C) degrees with the rack in the center of the oven. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Scoop 2 tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto the sheets, spacing 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 13 -15 minutes, until the edges turn lightly golden. Cool on the pan for 3 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely,

Karen’s Notes and Tips

• This cookie scoop makes perfectly sized blobs of dough and uniformly-shaped cookies.
• Storage and make ahead: The best way to keep these chocolate chip cookies is to store them in a zippered plastic bag.
• Make the dough through Step 3 and refrigerate up to one day ahead.

Adapted from The Fearless Baker by Erin McDowell.

Nutrition

Calories: 113kcal Carbohydrates: 18g Protein: 1g Fat: 4g Sodium: 162mg Fiber: 1g Sugar: 17g

Nutrition facts are calculated by third-party software. If you have specific dietary needs, please refer to your favorite calculator.

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• Chocolate
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• Desserts

Hey, I’m Karen

Creator of Familystyle Food

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I’m a food obsessed super-taster and professionally trained cook ALL about creating elevated dinners with everyday ingredients. Find simplified recipes made from scratch and enjoy incredibly tasty food! Read more about me here.