USA · Dessert · Easy
Chocolate Chip Cookies
The 1938 original that started it all. Crisp edges, chewy centers, pools of semisweet chocolate.
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Video by Beachfront B-Roll, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The whole recipe in 60 seconds
Chocolate Chip Cookies, in 5 ideas
- Slightly underbaked is the goal. Centers that look soft finish on the hot pan. That is the chew.
- Chill the dough if you have the patience. 30 minutes deepens the flavor and stops overspreading.
- Brown sugar is the chew, white sugar is the crisp. The ratio is the texture.
- Chop a bar instead of chips. You get pools and shards of chocolate instead of uniform dots.
- Salt matters. It makes the chocolate taste more like chocolate. Do not skip it.
What you need
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate)
- 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
How to make it
Directions
- Heat the oven to 375F. Line baking sheets with parchment.
- Beat the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla.
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix into the butter just until no dry streaks remain. Do not overmix.
- Fold in the chocolate and nuts if using. Chill 30 minutes if you can.
- Scoop tablespoon sized balls onto the sheets, well spaced.
- Bake 9 to 11 minutes, until the edges are golden but the centers still look slightly soft.
- Cool on the pan 5 minutes, then move to a rack. Try to wait until they are merely warm.
Bang the pan once, halfway. Lifting the sheet a few inches and dropping it deflates the centers for that rippled, crackly top bakery look.