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! |
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- 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
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These were delicious! Perfect if you enjoy thick, chewy cookies with melt in your mouth chocolate chips.
Ooooh, Alice. I’m a new reader of your blog (and I should add, I’m absolutely hooked…) and I’ve tried a few of your recipes so far, each one better than the next.
But this one?
Best. Cookies. Ever.
Really. I mean, you just improved my quality of life dramatically by sharing this, because now I can enjoy the most phenomenal cookies whenever I want. Thank you!
Alice,
Thank you for deciding to post your recipe! I googled “Best Chocolate Chip Cookies” because I am always searching for the best recipe and yours came up. Thank goodness – because these are the BEST!!! I liked your tips at the bottom too – very helpful!
Could you please tell me how to send food over seas. I wanted to send some baked goods out to my boyfriend in Iraq*includ. your awesome cookies* and i noticed that you send them to your sister and was wondering how to do it without them going stale before they reach their final destination… Please advise
Thanks for the great recipe. Unfortunately mine turned out flat and no cracling like your photos. I think my mix was too watery for some reason. But they still taste wonderful. I’m gonna try again in a few days
These rock! I think I used too much butter (had to convert to European measurements) but not such a bad thing. And i need better quality vanilla, this syrupy vanilla they sell in a small package here is… wierd.
But overall, Berlin says these are really darn good. Will have to send some home to California. Thanks, Alice
These cookies turned out great! Usually any chocolate chip cookies I make turn out too crunchy (and I love chewy soft cookies), but your recipe is perfect. I’m in college and the people in my dorm loved them. I especially like the hint of the sea salt- it really compliments the cookie.
I am always in search of the perfect chocolate chip cookie and this recipe is fantastic! My husband and I are blown away at how perfect they turned out.
Thanks for posting this recipe, it’s epic!
So you are soooo right!! These cookies are the BEST ever. And if one of us fine ladies is at the store and forgets the recipe … just look on the back of the CHIPITS bag.
Thanks for helping all us girls become our family’s favorite cookie girl.
Hi Kerry,
What is Chipits? Is it a brand of chocolate chips? I’m unfamiliar with them.. but I wonder if they put my recipe on their bag?
Sorry, what are the measurements in grams ? >.< the converter on the internet are confusing..
Hi Alice!
I’m in the middle of baking these cookies now… they are divine! Thank you for the recipe!
I was intrigued by your response in post #281: why do you keep the leavening measurements the same when you’re halving the receipe?
thank you for the recipe. Heavenly. Since I made them on the spur of the moment I combined 9 oz chopped semi sweet, 7 oz mini semi sweet chips and a handful of milk chocolate chips to make the 18 oz. I beat them a long time and even weighed the flour which I never bothered with before. My family will gobble them down in no time. Will definitely try more of your recipes.
OMG…best chocolate chip recipe EVER! I tried this tonight, and everyone loved them! I didn’t weight the flour, so i might have lucked out this time. This recipe makes me want to go buy a food scale tomorrow to ensure yummy chocolate chip cookies every time, lol. I did use 2.5 cups of chocolate chips (more doesn’t hurt right? haha) as opposed to 2 1/4. And like #300, i ended up sub’ng about a 1/2 cup of semi sweet for milk. Did notice the difference a smidge, but the semi sweet over powered. Whatever, it was SOOOOO good anyway! Please never ever take down your blog…i’m determined to try every recipe. LOL! =) THANK YOU FOR THE THIS ONE!!! My new fave cookie!
Oh and AWESOME for having pictures. Totally helped me out! Did i mention this was my first time baking cookies from scratch?
These cookies were delicious! Only thing is….mine came out very thick and chunky lol…don’t get me wrong, they were the best and very soft. They were about an inch thick lol. Not perfect like yours. Maybe I added a little too much baking soda?
These cookies are amazing…my aunt made my fiancee and I some and we thought we had died and went to heaven! He loved them so much that I ( and some wonderful family members) will be making these cookies for the grooms-cake instead of a traditional cake! Thank you for this amazing recipe!
Hi Alice,
Thanks so much for sharing this amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe. I have made these many, many times and they are SO good! I just recently shared the recipe on my own blog, and you can find the post here: http://comfortofcooking.blogspot.com/2010/09/best-chocolate-chip-cookies-ever.html
Thanks again!
Georgia
I followed your directions and voila! I have perfect chocolate chip cookies! PERFECT! The texture, the flavor, the color…absolutely my favorite. THANK YOU!
I have made 100′s of recipes of chocolate chip cookies & I have to say these are probably the best one’s I have ever made.
When I saw that the recipe called for more of brown sugar than white I knew it was going to be good!
I have never had cookies come out looking so “professional” hee hee.
They are cracked perfectly. I cooked one batch in my gas stove oven for 12 minutes & they came out great & soft. Then cooked the next batch for 13 minutes & they are little more the way I like them (more cooked)
Thank you so much for sharing!!!!!!
Cissy
these cookies are great my dad and little sister and I are making the!!!!
To #276, Luz, the difference in your measurements is that you are using 8 fluid oz per cup conversion and trying to use that for a dry measurement. The difference is the fluid (liquid) volume weight to a dry weight. The reason for weighing out (using a scale) for the flour is that it can compress in a cup measurement and actually have more flour than you are supposed to in that cup. Volume and weight are two different things, and weighing in this instance is much more accurate.
I found your blog while searching for “best chocolate chip recipes”. I just finished making these and I have to say they are the best chocolate chip cookies -ever-. They look as good as they taste! Thank you, Alice! You have a new reader and a new fan.
I didn’t really care for the taste that the coarse sea salt gave the cookies. It was the first time I tried using sea salt in a cookie recipe… next time I will try this recipe with the table salt.
I’ve been searching for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe for over a decade, and I think it’s safe to say that I can stop searching. These are hands down the best chocolate chip cookies that I have either made or tasted. Thank you!
Alice,
What about using kosher salt? Would it be the same as the sea salt? I can’t wait to make these tonight!
Thanks
Mary: Kosher Salt works just fine – I use it when I’m out of sea salt.
Anela: I don’t know why they were flat. I hope the cookies turned out delicious despite this.
Sorry, tried it twice, took your suggestions about weighing, mixing and new b. soda/powder, and it fell flat both times. I’m dissappointed in having wasted all those ingredients:(
I feel obligated to leave a comment…these are the BEST cookies ever, just as the title says !! I have been baking Tollhouse for years and years, but am so glad ( as is my husband ) to have found this recipe. I have also passed it along to many of my friends. The only change that I made was the cook time reducing it to 10 1/2 minutes.
Thank you for sharing the recipe, ( not sure how my hips feels about it ) !!!!
Hated the big pieces of salt in my cookie. Only use this salt is you really like salt!!!
Just Made These, I made with table salt, though, Awesome…I have never been able to make choc chip cookies, every other kind of cookie in the world I can bake, but not choc chip I have had difficulty with them being flat, these I followed as directed and came out of the oven beautiful and taste..Awesome..So Happy!! Worth making!!
I used your recipe because I liked the idea of the brown sugar to white sugar ratio you used. In addition I liked your ethos about the chocolate chips. I have always felt that the point of the cookie was to hold together the chocolate. I made some alterations that you might be interested in. Instead of vanilla extract, I used two teaspoons of peppermint extract. I used one bag of Ghirardelli Bittersweet chips. I chopped up two of the large Intense Mint Lindt bars and OMG. These are incredible. I love the texture that the brown sugar gives the cookies and the mint with the dark chocolate is over the top.
I love this recipe! However, it’s too sweet for one of my friends. Do you have any recommendations on how to decrease the sweetness of this recipe? Thanks!!
Hi Rafika: You can decrease both the white and brown sugar by 1/4 cup. Hope this helps.
Hi….these cookies are DELISH! Can I freeze the cookie dough?
Thanks!
Yes, you can freeze them in dough balls. You just need to increase the baking time by 5 minutes, at least that’s how they bake in my oven. Also, keep in mind, they will look slightly different than from baking straight from the mixer.
I made these for guests who were staying with me for Thanksgiving. Everyone loved them. Delicious! I had never used sea salt in a dessert, but I am now a believer.
These cookies are amazing. My family is eating them like crazy! Thanks for the tip on creaming. I think it made all the difference.
I just finished baking these and they are a great cookie! I liked the brown to white sugar ratio and that is what made my decision. I cut back on the chips a bit and added some pecans because my wife is not a big fan of chocolate chip cookies. They are the kids and my favorites and my wife likes them if they have nuts. I tend to experiment with recipes and use them only as a base model but this one works without my messing with it. Great idea on the sea salt too. Easy to follow recipe that produces a great cookie!
WOW! Great cookies, my family and I really enjoyed them! I used table salt and they were great. This recipe made a TON of cookies. I got about 55-60 out of it. I used a small/medium cookie scoop and over-filled it just a little. I would highly recommend these cookies! Thanks!
Very good cookie. This is my new CCC recipe. Impressive. Thank you for sharing. (it’s an attractive cookie too._
Do you think I can used this recipe for a huge cookie for a birthday party.
Hi Valerie: I’ve never tried, so I don’t know. One thing you might consider doing is baking it in a circle cake pan so it doesn’t spread so much.
You are right — these are the Best EVER Chocolate Chip Cookies!! I have been so frustrated lately with my inability to make a good chocolate chip cookie and these turned out great! I used table salt because I did not have sea salt but I am going to try sea salt next time because I am curious. Also, I did not have a full amount of chocolate chips so I used what I had left of semi-sweet, milk chocolate and white chocolate. Yum! Thanks again for these recipe – I’ll direct others to your site so they can enjoy them too. Best wishes for a very Happy Holiday season!
These cookies are “da bomb”. I will be making a batch tonight for my wife who is not feeling well. When she doesn’t feel well, all she can seem to stomach is cereal and Savory Sweet Life Chocolate Chip Cookies.
how come salted butter
These are so good – i could eat them every day!
These are infact the best cookies I’ve ever had.
Absolutely delicious!! I feel lucky to have found your recipe…they are indeed the best I’ve ever made. Thank you for sharing!
Quick question, I am in the middle of baking cookies for work and would love to try your recipe, but all I have is unsalted butter. I know that if the recipe doesn’t call for salt I should use 1/4 tsp. per stick of butter, but yours does call for salt, so should I add more salt or just use the unsalted and follow your recipe and hope for the best?
Very very good. But I still give them about an 8. I’d prefer if they had a stronger butter flavor.
These cookies are the best chocolate chip cookies ever!!! I make these a lot now. I was looking for a recipe that made delicious chocolate chip cookies with the chips all gooey and melty and I found it!!
fantastic cookies!
I just finished making them, they came out great.
I agree, these are the best chocolate chip cookies ever. I made them for some friends a few weeks ago, and now I keep getting requests to make them again. Big hit!
Beautiful looking cookies! Pl tell me since you have weighed the flour whats the weight for the sugars (in ounces or grams)!
Thanks so much
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