Since I started blogging I’ve always wanted to do a post on my chocolate chip cookies. You see.. my chocolate chips are all that and a bag of pretzels. But the problem is, EVERYONE and their grandma think their chocolate chip cookies are the best. So I decided I wouldn’t do a post because it seemed overplayed (putting it mildly). I just didn’t have it in me to enter the “I have the best chocolate chip cookie recipe” rat race.
But months ago I had asked the question on Twitter on why people believed their recipe was really the best. And from that moment on, Ashley Rodriguezand I would engage in the “Chocolate chip cookie Tweet wars”. I asked her to post her recipe and she kindly pointed me to her beautiful site. I made her recipe that same evening and I must say they were incredibly good. I reported back my results to her and said this.. “They were really good, almost as good as mine.” Her next tweet went something like this, “Almost?” – a.k.a “Say what?!?” Because we’re good friends and lovingly joke around a lot with each other, I can tell you that she really does have a fabulous recipe. But I can also tell you with bold confidence, my recipe is pretty fierce – if I do say so myself. The reason why I love this recipe is because it is not overly sweet and primarily uses brown sugar. The brown sugar gives it a more caramel type chewiness and more depth than the traditional Toll House type of recipe. As a result, you get a nice crisp bottom, but the rest of the cookie is soft and chewy.
These are the cookies my sister who lives in Germany asks me to send her because they are all she can think about when she thinks of home. They are the same cookies she shared with her platoon in Iraq and the same cookies I will be sending to her in Afghanistan. I once sent her a batch of a new recipe and trust me, she noticed. I was told not to deceive her again and send my version only.
But last night it happened again. It all started out so innocently. A typical night of tweeting and before I knew it, somehow I had trash tweeted my way into a chocolate chip cookie bake off with my good friends Lorna Yee and Ashley Rodriguez. If I recall correctly, the conversation went something like this.
Me to Ashley: Bring It!
Ashley to Me: Oh I’ll Bring It!
And before I knew it, other people were arranging a bake off. Moral of the story.. do not tweet and trash if you can’t back it up. And for the record, I can back it up. Enough said.
I present to you my favorite and original Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. Enjoy!
| The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe EVER! |
|
- 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 3/4 cups (12 oz) all-purpose flour *If at all possible, please weigh the flour
- 3/4 tsp. smallish-medium coarse sea salt
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 2 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Preheat oven to 360 degrees. Cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar until it is nice and fluffy (approx. 3 minutes on medium-high speed on a K-5). Add both eggs and vanilla and beat for an additional 2 minutes. Add baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour until cookie batter is fully incorporated. Finally add chocolate chips until well distributed. The cookie batter should be somewhat thick. Drop about 2 tablespoons of dough or use a medium cookie scoop and plop the batter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12-14 minutes until the edges are nice and golden brown. Remove from heat and allow the cookies to stay on the cookie sheet for an additional 2 minutes. Pick up the parchment paper with the cookies still on top and transfer to a cool non-porous surface. Allow the cookies to cool on the paper for at least 3 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
*please do not use table salt, the sea salt gives the cookies a nice flavor and hints of texture. If you only have table salt, use 1/2 tsp. *When using sea salt, you will get small crunchy flecks of salt when you bite into the cookie. If you do not like this taste, go with 1/2 teaspoon of table salt.
*I realized grocery stores sell bags of chocolate chips in 12 oz bags but this recipe really needs every last chip. Otherwise you’ll get cookies with only a few chips in each one and this recipe requires lots of chocolate to bulk the cookie up. You’ll need about 1 1/2 bags.
*Troubleshooting*
-If you’re cookies are coming out flat and not like the pictures there are probably 3 reasons for this.
#1) Baking powder and Baking soda is old. If your baking powder and soda is older than 1 year and has not been in a sealed (preferably air tight) container, it has lost some of it rising qualities.
#2) Creaming. It is not enough to just cream the butter and sugars until it has come together. This recipe requires you to beat it with a mixer for 3 minutes until the texture of the butter and sugar turns to light and fluffy-just like the picture.
#3) Flour. Flour should be weighed. This can make or break the recipe because just scooping flour into a measuring cup will never yield ideal or consistent results.
SAVORY SWEET LIFE Book Trailer
|
{ 676 comments… read them below or add one }
← Previous Comments
Next Comments →
you are all idiots.
this is the recipie from the back of the chocolate chip bag,
and it sucks.
Hi Trey,
Sorry you didn’t like the recipe. However, I can assure you this isn’t a recipe from a bag. I know companies have adapted this recipe for bakeries and I once saw this recipe adapted for a major food magazine. It is a recipe I developed over years of wanting to perfect this cookie classic. This is an original recipe. I would love to see the back of the bag which you say this recipe was posted. Perhaps I should be collecting some type of fee from the company using it without my knowledge.
I’m so glad you edited ‘Trey”s comment. Seriously, was the F word necessary and is it ever necessary? Just another troll. You’d think he would have better things to do besides being hateful and vulgar.
I wanted to make some cookies but didn’t want to use some recipe that had a fake picture of cookies that mine would never look like, so when I found this recipe I was interested. When I made them I was affraid that they would be too salty so I used unsalted butter and Kosher salt (I didn’t have sea salt), WOW they were AMAZING!!!!!!! I gave some to a friend and she begged for the recipe. I truely agree these are the BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES EVER! thank you for sharing !
CALM DOWN turbo…… you must not be able to cook because they were great and last time I checked they don’t tell you to use SEA SALT on the back of a bag….Even if they did why the bleep do you care…
OK…so I am completely depressed. Been baking for nearly 40 years….and was really excited to have a new recipe. I think it’s ME and not the recipe. My cookies are the flattest, ugliest things ever. I followed the recipe to a tee except used Ghiradelli chocolate bars and chopped them up myself. Every ingredient was fresh. I even weighed the stinkin flour!! I’d post a pic but I’m embarrassed. I’m thinking of adding some more flour to the other half of batter (didn’t bake it all last night) to it to get them to hold some shape. I wanted bigger soft cookies…not flat crispy ones. sigh. Seriously they spread out so much and so flat it was like a pan cookie. ugh.
Hi Susan,
A few things come to mind. How soft was your butter? If the butter is too soft (like softened in the microwave) this could contribute to the sugar and butter not whipping correctly. Depending on where you live, baking at high altitude is something which could be the culprit. Lastly, you might want to dry scooping the dough on a cookie sheet and place them in the refridegerator for 20 minutes before baking. This should help the cookies retain their shape.
The butter was moderately softened but still had to apply some pressure to break up with the knife before blending it, so I don’t think thats it. I live in Tucson…so altitude is definitely not an issue. I kept them refridgerated all night and they still flattened out this morning.
My husband suggested (after seeing me hang my head all morning, lol) that perhaps I used TOO much chocolate. They weren’t chips….bars that I broke apart by hand. Your recipe said a bag and a half….which would be 18 ounces….that’s what I weighed out, but maybe the inconsistent shapes and sizes caused this? It is truly the only different thing I did and I only did that cuz I saw other posts on here that said they used bars instead of chips.
Hi Susan,
If you’re having no luck with cookies with a bunch of different recipes, you may want to try a different baking sheet. I had one of those silverish, flat, non-stick deals and a more traditional darker sheet with the walled edges. No matter what, my cookies would come out terrible on the silvery one, and they would come out great on the old sheet with the walls. For consistency between batches, I let the sheet completely cool down before loading it up again, since the extra heat will inevitable tweak the cook time by just enough to make them look a little different, darker, taller, etc.
Good luck!
I just tried your cookies and they also turned out really flat. I did weigh the flour also but I did notice that when I measured out the flour with my cup measure and weight it, 2 2/4 cup measured 12 ounces, so I never added the last 1/2 cup of flour. I will try again after the holidays with the 2 3/4 cups and see if the outcome is better.
Trick I learned is that if your baking soda and or baking powder are old/stale, then the cookies won’t rise.
Try getting some brand-new soda/powder and try the recipe again.
Thanks for the response Alice. Do you use light brown sugar or dark brown sugar? I bought some coarse sea salt, since all I have is Maldon, which is really just flaky. What sea salt do you use?
oops, I meant 2 1/4 cups weight 12 ounces
The cookies overall tasted great. My sister and I liked the subtle saltiness and the melt-in-your-mouth consistency. My only disappointment was that my cookies wouldn’t flatten at all! Despite everyone else’s result of “too flat” mine would stay in the rounded shape I dropped them in
I have no idea why, so I just smushed them before they went in the oven. Weird thing to complain about, I know haha. Overall delicious though 
Hi Jacqui – I just had the same problem!! I made these this afternoon, and the cookies are just as thick as the rounded shape they started as! My cookies are thick and tasty, but just not as flat as they ones in the pictures. I agree, they still taste great!!
Girls, I had the exact same problem!
Even after I tried smushing the second tray before they went into the oven, they refused to flatten. However, these cookies taste amazing! 
Thank you Alice for the wonderful recipe!
I’ve found that I have to just add flour by sight. When I weigh, 10 oz = 2.25 cups for me as well, and that makes a flat, thin cookie. I usually add between 2.5-3 cups and just stop adding when the dough is medium thick. If your cookies aren’t spreading, there is too much flour. I am not sure why I have so much variance in the amount of flour required, but it’s probably a combination of humidity and the softness level of the butter. Anyway, this is my go-to chocolate chip cookie now. it’s also fabulous with a whole bag of mint chocolate chips + some Andes mint bits. Yum!
I must admit- this recipe seemed very OCD to me! But- tired of flat and greasy or rounded and cakey- I gave it a try. OK, I’m a believer! The texture is wonderful- flavor is perfect! I’m proud to be putting these cookies in treat bags for friends and neighbors! THANKS for the recipe!
PS: I have been doubling the recipe and baking all day! The cookies have come out uniform (I use a cookie scoop) and beautiful from start to finish. My whole house smells wonderful and homey!
This recipe is perfect for the holidays. Stop by the USPS Facebook page and share your recipe! http://on.fb.me/ujGGtE
I just made these and they are delicious. I DID add my own tweak because we prefer a crunchy cookie. I used 1/2 C butter & 1/2 C butter flavored shortening instead of 1 C butter. The sea salt is exquisite in this recipe! It does add a touch of sparkle when the lights hit it just right, also. It’s a keeper.
ok, I was looking for a cookie recipe and I found this page… I was not sure if I should try a recipe from a web page, but read the story and got convinced that is worth giving it a try. I will bake them tonight, and let you know how it goes!
Hello Alice and Merry Christmas.
I have made your cookies probably five or six times and they taste great. The problem is they never come out the same. Sometimes they are flat sometimes they are nice and rounded and fluffy. I know your not here with me to notice what I am doing different and I am sure this would happen with any recipe not just yours. My question is will the humidity affect cookie making the same as it will some candy like toffee. I find my toffee will not come out right when the humidity is to high. If its above 60% humidity I dont even try it. What do you think Alice just me or the weather?
Not Alice, but I think it’s the weather. I don’t add flour by weight to mine. I start by adding about 2.5 cups and continuing to add until the dough the right consistency. They always turn out, but I never add the same amount of flour!
Hi Angela,
Thanks for your comments. You’rer not the first one to comment about humidity and I think there is something to this.
hey i just tried ur recipe in 1 hour i tastes the best chocolate chip cookies ever , my brothers loved it ,,,, thx alot for sharing it with us ,,, and it wasnt that hard and it was my first time ever baking cookies ,,,,, love u all
Hello… I’ve just made these cookies for the first time… what time better than Christmas
… I can safely affirm that this is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve ever tried my hand at. Coarse sea salt made all the difference. My kitchen is freezing despite the fire in the hearth but still the dough turned out very good. Really, gotta extend my heartfelt compliments to you. Merry Christmas to all of you and Happy Baking 
xxx…
Great cookies…I’m always trying new choc. chip cookies and hoping that they’ll be the one that has bulk and doesn’t turn out flat…well these were it! They look and taste great! I used 1 stick of unsalted butter and 1/3 cup of peanut oil, and added some white chips along with the semi-sweet chips, but otherwise followed the recipe.
Thanks for sharing your recipe with all of us!
The most awesome cc cookies I have ever made! Definitely not the back of the bag cookies! If you got flat cookies, you did not use fresh baking products or your butter was too soft when you creamed it. This will be a keeper for me!
I made the chocolate chip cookies and, they came out ok. They were a little flat. I was hoping they would have some height to them. I used new baking powder, so it wasn’t that.
Alice, I’m back to the web-site because I misplaced the recipe.Wanted to thank you again for sharing. My family will have no other cc cookie! They are the best! Also, Trey is the idiot!
I have these in my oven right now. I am soooooo nervous because my husband requested three weeks ago that I make him some chocolate chip cookies for Christmas. I’ve never made chocolate chip cookies so I really, really hope mine turns out good.
I’ll let you know once they come out of the oven what happens!
so they came out burnt. LOL. My oven’s not really accurate as far as temperature is concerned. Really old thing. I thought about throwing them in the trash and trying again, but as I bit into one, and sat beside the nine burnt cookies, I keep on grabbing the cookie and biting into it because IT IS SOOOO GOOD!!! Thank you so much for the recipe!!! Merry Christmas!
After reading reviews and not being able to find my previous go to cc cookie recipe I am going to try this “i hope is to be the best recipe” right now. I am however using a combo of light and dark brown sugar due to only having a little of each. My question is, has anyone frozen the recipe to use as a later date and does it still taste good? And how do you package cookies to serve a couple hrs later without them hardening or should I just prep the batter and pop in oven as it gets closer to serving?
Vee, I freeze some of my pre-formed balls of dough after I make them. They turn out just fine. IMO, these are the BEST chocolate chip cookies ever! Personally, I prefer to use a combination of Guittard Semisweet and Milk chocolate chips in order to have some creaminess and darkness. It’s so damn good! Merry Christmas to everyone!
PS: Dark brown sugar tastes better. Also, you can double the vanilla or even use a different kind of vanilla, such as Mexican vanilla or Tahitian vanilla.
Hi everryone,
Merry Christmas and happy new year! well alice, my moms making these as we speak and shes saying she bets theyll come out wonderful so thank you! the only thing we are not doing is using sea salt because my father will eat it and he has high blood pressure! ye haw and merry christmas!
This is the best recipe. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe. I’ve tried the recipe from the back of a bag and trust me this recipe blows it away. My daughter begged me for more. She is a picky eater and even went through therapy for texture issues. It’s so adorable to watch her little hands pressed against the over waiting impatiently for the cookies to be done.
How about freezing these? also defrost first or put in oven frozen?? Great cookies. Thanks
I have a girl at work that has been declaring that her cookies are the best cookies. Nay! These are the best, she has not admitted it but she has said everything short of it and when everyone asks what I do to them I say ” it is a secret family recipe from the internet”. I will never make another chocolate chip cookie recipe, ever!
Love your story Danielle!
This is THE best cookie recipe I have ever tried! The only change I made was changing the 2 1/4 cups of semi sweet chocolate to 1 1/4 cup semi-sweet + 1 cup milk chocolate + 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. Thank you!
I usually only eat cookies right out the oven, but these are good days later, if only they last that long. I have to hide some for myself. They are always perfect just like the picture. Thanks for sharing.
I used this recipe at Thanksgiving and Christmas. These cookies disappeared quickly. Thank you for posting this recipe, it is so much better than the recipe on the back of the bag of chocolate chips. In my last batch, I substituted chocolate chunks. I used 1 3/4 bags of them. I always omit the salt from the recipe too.
Any tips for high altitude ?
Awesome cookies. My son and his wife made some and totally messed up the amount of flour (they put way too little) and they were still fabulous, though quite thin, lol. I’m going to make these next myself now! Thanks for the recipe.
It is a running joke in my family about my cookie baking skills….or lack-there-of. I redeemed myself with this recipe, however, and now they want me to make these cookies all the time! This is an excellent cookie recipe!!! Kudos and THANK YOU!
Glad to be able to help, Stephanie!
We too have the flat cookie issue… we thought we just had an “Oven Anomaly,” but clearly we are not the only ones . I have tried several different recepies and always end up with the same ene result. I did discard my baking soda… bought a new box… nope.. not it. I have used the air baking pans… the ones with sides.. and even have one of “Grandma’s” cookie sheets (and she was known for her cookies)…but still… FLAT, bodiless cookies. I used my kitchen Aid mixer to whip the snot out of the dough and make it “fluffy”… still flat. I have baked them at 350, 360 and 375… still flat. I also thought it was because I added some no-stick spray to my cookie sheets… so I did it without… STILL FLAT! …. on the bright side…. they taste good.
I’ve been using Alice’s recipe for well over a year now, and I occasionally have the flat cookie problem (but only on the first batch!). I’ve noticed that if I switch flours, I have to remeasure everything. (#1) Sometimes, I have to add a little extra flour. Sometimes I have to add a little extra baking powder. (#2)
I know you said you whipped the snot out of the dough, but you’re only supposed to make the sugar and butter light and fluffy.
(#3) While I sometimes overwhip the eggs and vanilla into the butter & sugar, I only minimally mix the flour, bs, bp, salt & chips.
One other thing to look out for is large eggs versus medium eggs. (#4) I always use large eggs.
I bake 360F at sea level on my airbake pan. (#5)
Thanks for sharing your experience Cuppy!
Hi Susan!
I just wanted to let you know that this recipe is the best ever! The cookies turned out delicious and my kids LOVE them. This will definitely be the only recipe that I follow from now on and I’m so glad I made them. Thanks for sharing!
I have made 4 batches with great success, the last 2 on my new Silpat baking sheet I bought locally at Sur la Table cooking store. They were especially delicious!
Amanda, I’m having the same issue as you! Always flat cookies. I live in Michigan, so no altitude problem. The first batch I used imperial baking margarine, as I had no salted butter. And, I used regular table salt…no big deal. Well, those were flat. I blamed it on the type of butter and possibly my baking powder being old. That being said, I went out to get the correct butter, new baking powder and sea salt. I followed this recipe to a T. Guess what? Even flatter cookies and greasy! Even burnt around the edges! I cooked them for 12a minutes at 350°, as my oven does not do 360°. To say I am disappointed is an overstatement. How could the second batch actually be worse than the first? The first actually tasted good …these, not so much.
This recipe is AMAZING!!! I ran out of vanilla extract so used almond extract, and didn’t have as many chocolate chips so decided to use a Godiva chocolate bar, crush it up into the mix and the cookies were the best I’ve ever made!!! Thank you for sharing your recipe.
These are delish! I wasn’t sure they’d turn out okay as I don’t have a stand mixer, but after a good ten minutes of hand mixing (yes, hand mixing) the sugar/butter mixture somewhat resembled the picture, and I was too tired to continue. The first batch was flat – this was with 12 oz of flour, as weighed – so I added more flour ’till the consistency seemed heavier. They came out perfect after that. Thank you, Alice, for posting this recipe!
Made a batch and it turned out really well. A little too sweet for my taste but I plan to reduce 1/2 cup of sugars for my next batch. It’s very light and goes fabulously well with a nice cup of espresso or cappuccino. I used Valhorna chocolates and added some fresh grated coconut flesh. Thank you very much for sharing this recipe. Do you have a recipe for a Chocolate Chocolate Chip recipe?
Followed recipe except I browned 1 stick of the butter. Knowing how important getting that fantastic fluffy whip when you cream the butter, sugar and eggs, I waited for my browned butter to cool completely to room temp. Then I can get the brown flavor and not make my cookies all greasy and flat. They turned out fantastic. I used 365 unsalted butter, farm eggs, Bobs Red Mill soda and powder 1 month old, homemade vanilla extract and un processed sugar with vanilla beans stored in it. With all baking QUALITY of the ingredients matter, as well as WEIGHING all ingredients and that crucial butter creaming step. Thanks for the great recipe.
Made these cookies for the family on a snow day…they were the perfect addition to a cold winter day. Turned out great, but like others I had very round cookies so I ended up pressing them down about 8 mins in and this seemed to help. Great recipe, thanks so much!!
I enjoyed the recipe. I read a lot of the reviews prior to trying the cookies. by the third batch I pretty much had a good cookie. I couldn’t weigh the cooking cause I didn’t have a scale. I spooned in the flour but after cooking the first batch I realize that I had to add a little more flour so I added two heaping tablespoons to my mix. The first two batches I cooked for 12 mins. The first batch didn’t burn but the cookie ran alot. The second batch I cooked 12 mins and they burned. I took the third batch out in 9 mins so I underbaked them a little and they were perfect. I have a little cookie scooper. I couldn’t stop eating the cookie because I was really enjoying the salt in the cookie. I enjoyed it and thanks for sharing!
Hi Alice. I was surfing for a good basic cookie recipe, not necessarily chocolate chip, and happened across your site and this recipe. My mission was to use up a bag+ of Trader Joe’s Happy Trekking trail mix. It’s a combo of whole almonds, cashews, pistachios, chocolate chips, cranberries and cherries. I thought the mix would be great in a cookie by making it a bit healthier. So, I used your basic recipe, sans chips, and substituted a bag and a quarter of the trail mix (about 19 ozs.). Wow! What a great cookie! So, I’m convinced that your original recipe MUST be the BEST! Thanks!
Hi Alice. Wanted to let you know that I tried your recipe tonight and it was great. It made more than 48 cookies though. I didn’t have a cookie scoop so I used a regular tablespoon to measure them out. I made about 70 cookies. I realised that if I don’t let them brown too much while in the oven, they turn out better after they’ve cooled. Overall, very very yummy – the best choc chip cookies I’ve ever baked! Thanks so much for the recipe.
I stumbled upon this recipe while I was searching for a good recipe for chocolate chip cookies. Instead of finding a good recipe, I ended up finding the GREATEST recipe. I made a jar for my family and it finished with 1 1/2 days. It was irresistible. I even baked for friends and they had the same comment. Thank you for this wonderful recipe! =)
Bobby flay’s throw down chocolate chip cookie is pretty good and joy the baker has a browned butter, toasted coconut, dark chocolate chip cookie that is divine!
Lately my go-to cookie recipe has been a bust so I came online in search of a new one. I found this and was a little hesitant to try as the recipe seemed a little complicated in a way that a lot could go wrong… However, being pregnant I’ve been desperate for some chocolate chip cookies and decided to give a try. Even if my butter and eggs were cold, my measures were just close enough (I use metric system and had to convert), my baking powder was old and it took me an hour to make the batter because my 16-month-old kept interrupting me, these cookies are the best I’ve ever tasted!! They turned out perfect!! I gave a taste to my daughter and now she stands in the kitchen staring at the cookie plate and screaming “gimme-gimme!!” at the top of her lungs. THANK YOU for sharing this recipe.
Hi Lina, so glad you enjoyed the cookies and your daughter liked them too. As for shipping, I use a food savor and then put them in an enclosed tupperware type container. Sealing them air tight helps them not to break. Hope this helps.
Oh, and meant to ask, since you ship these to your family, how do you package them so they last? Thanks again for the wonderful cookie moments
Ok, I’m writing to report that the flat cookie issue is resolved! It was my error that I used wax paper. And, the last time, I think I may have been a tad short on flour. I went out and bought some parchment paper …cookies are now perfecto! Baked them at 350° for 12 minutes. Yummy! (Five stars!)
Hi Carrie,
Yes, wax paper is not really intended to go into the oven. Glad you figured it out. Thanks for sharing your results.
I’m glad to say I tried this recipe today with good results. I don’t exactly know how I got here, however this recipe makes quite yummy cookies. I think I baked over a hundred actually.. or at least it felt like it, maybe a little less. So, I read some of you baked flat cookies and not the chewy ones you were expecting.. I got both of these -delicious- types (the “flat” ones were not that flat, and some were reaaally chewy
) and I noticed that the difference was that I baked the flat ones on a silpat (silicone base) and the chewy ones on a non-stick “CushionAir” baking sheet with parchment paper on the top (just in case). I’m guessing it has something to do with the heat and stuff.. And also the temperature should have something to do with your results. The hotter the oven is.. the crunchier our cookies turn out. Sooo, pay attention to your oven and to your baking equipment to get the result you want! I got the perfect ones on the third try! (worth it all the way <3)
hope I help!
thanks for sharing your recipe btw!
Hi Lorena,
Thanks for sharing your results and insights about baking sheets! I love your scientific approach.
← Previous Comments
Next Comments →
{ 40 trackbacks }