Chocolate chip cookies come in a variety of different textures. These recipes all use the same basic ingredients, but it's the ratio of these ingredients that determines whether the cookies will be cakey, chewy, or crisp. I happen to like chewy cookies, so back when I first started baking, I tried out many CCC recipes to find the perfect cookie: one with golden, crisp edges and soft, chewy centers. But for some reason, none of those cookies were the least bit chewy. I finally found success when I discovered Cook's Illustrated's Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie.
Another great thing about these cookies is that they are quite adaptable. Semisweet chocolate chips can be substituted with milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chunks, peanut butter chips, butterscotch morsels, M&Ms, mini peanut butter cups, or even coarsely chopped gourmet dark chocolate. I typically like to mix in semisweet chocolate chips in one half of my dough and M&Ms into the other half. This recipe is the ultimate go-to recipe that I still use over and over today.
Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from Cook's Illustrated's The New Best Recipe
2 cups + 2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 sticks (12 tbsp) butter, melted and cooled
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (M&Ms, PB chips, etc.)
Preheat oven to 325ºF. Mix the dry ingredients: the flour, salt and baking soda, together in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mix the butter and two sugars together. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla, and mix. Now add the dry ingredients and mix till an even dough forms. Add in the chocolate chips and mix till evenly distributed.
Now you can divide the dough how you choose, into 1/4 cup portions for 18 large cookies or 2 tbsp portions for 36 smaller cookies. Divide your dough and shape each portion into a ball. Then pull each ball into two equal pieces. Turn both pieces so that the jagged side of each half faces upwards and then squish them together. Place them jagged side up on parchment lined baking sheets.
For the larger cookies, bake for 12-15 minutes, and for the small cookies, bake for 8-12 minutes, or until the edges begin to brown and set and the centers are still soft and puffy. Do not overbake. Take them out of the oven and let them finish baking on the sheets, placing the baking sheets on cooling racks. Enjoy!
Makes 18 large cookies or 36 medium cookies.
These look SOOO good!!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to try this recipe just to see if the tearing apart of the balls then sticking them back together makes a difference. I've never heard of that before!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mags, I've never heard of tearing them apart and putting them back together. Honestly, I wonder how the people in the CI test kitchen come up with this stuff.. but what ever it is, its always good!! I'll be giving these a try soon because they look perfect! :)
ReplyDeleteJennifer: Thank you! Haha, I got hungry editing my photos.
ReplyDeleteMags: The shaping instructions were actually what initially drew me to this recipe. Without doing the tearing apart and sticking back together, my cookies look too flat and even, which I think in a cookie is not too pretty.
Flirting with Flour: I always do wonder how they come up their methods. But yeah, it always ends up working! Now I can make my cookies look like they came from a bakery :).
Your blog rocks. It is SOOOOO beautiful!! Wow. I love it! ANd the pictures are so great too!!
ReplyDeleteBlessings-
Amanda
YESS!! I miss eating your CCC bakings~ :) I still remember biting into the warm ones at one of your sleepovers. I think it was the first time we went to the shed place in your backyard. ahhh, crisp edges and soft, not-too-thick middles.... AHHHHHH...!!! *mix nostalgia and desire*
ReplyDeleteAmanda: Thank you for the sweet compliments :D! I'm glad you enjoy my blog!
ReplyDeleteMel: I always think of you when I here/see "CCC" cuz I think the only reason I call them CCCs is because you introduced me to the term :) + I don't think I know anyone who likes CCCs more than you, hehe. You should definitely try making them!
Mel: Oops, hear... not here.
ReplyDeleteHi! I just came across your blog via Soompi. I tried this recipe today but I had a minor problem. My cookies turned out in a rectangular shape instead. What did I do wrong? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteTammy: Hi! Were your cookies round before you put them in the oven? Cuz if you want round cookies at the end, they should be round before you bake them. Take a look at the top right corner of the 2nd picture of my post; that's what your dough should look like pre-baking.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, sometimes cookies just spread out funny. The first time I made the cookies, I divided up my dough and tried various ways of shaping my dough on different portions of the dough. I kept track of which method made prettier cookies and stuck to that. So if you try again, maybe for the ripping apart step, rip into three pieces and put together in a round shape, or whatever works. The important part is that they taste good though :D.
So, I'm baking on the week I don't have exams for a change...and Sunday night I made chocolate chip cookie bars for a friend. I should have kept some for myself but since I didn't I thought I'd make these. Reading over the recipe I knew it sounded way to familiar .. the folks at CI created a cookie bar with this EXACT same recipe. Same dough just baked in a brownie pan. COOL! It doubles! Just thought I'd let you know if you ever wanted to give it a try. :) Have a look at mine. http://flirtingwithflour.blogspot.com/2010/02/chocolate-chip-cookie-bars-shorter.html
ReplyDeleteMine weren't round enough, I guess. But I'll try making them again this weekend! Thanks for the reply! :)
ReplyDeleteFlirting with Flour: Thanks for the awesome info! I'll definitely be testing this out soon since midterms are right around the corner.
ReplyDeleteTammy: No problem :). I hope they turn out successful this time around!
I finally got a chance to make them again yesterday and they turned out just right. :) Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteTammy: Yay! I'm so happy for you! You're welcome. And thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteQuestion : 1 T is one tablespoon and 1 t is one teaspoon right? :3
ReplyDeleteAnonymous: Haha, yup!
ReplyDeleteCame across your site from the Soompi "What I Baked/Cooked Today" thread ^-^ Love your blog! Will def. try this recipe! Chewy cookies ftw ;x
ReplyDeleteBella: Hi! Thanks. Chewy cookies totally rock :)!
ReplyDeleteHello, this looks delish! I was wondering how many grams (or tablespoons) is 1 1/2 stick butter?
ReplyDeleteCupcake: 1 stick of butter is 113 grams or 8 tablespoons, so 1.5 sticks of butter would be about 170 grams (technically 169.5 grams...) or 12 tablespoons.
ReplyDeleteHey I was wondering how much is 1 T is it tablespoon or teaspoon thanks
ReplyDeleteAnonymous: 1T = 1 tablespoon (remember that the bigger "T" corresponds to the larger measurement and a small "t" corresponds to the smaller measurement, Tablespoon > teaspoon)
ReplyDeletejust made these...the big ones...delicious! turned out perfect the first time, i like the idea of breaking them apart, so they are all monster cookie looking!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous: Yay, congrats! Sounds wonderful :).
ReplyDeletei tried this recipe and it worked!
ReplyDeletemy cookies looked beautiful, thanx for the tip (:
mal: Yay for your success. I'm so glad; they're fabulous cookies aren't they? Hehe.
ReplyDeletecan u convert the ingredients into gram ?
ReplyDeleteeasier and wont confused. ..thx in advance :)
Anonymous: Sorry, cups and tablespoons don't directly convert into grams because cups = volume, while grams = mass. I'd need to go back and weigh everything on a scale, which I can't do right now b/c I don't have a scale with me, nor do I have the time. I do plan on going back and converting my recipes to metric eventually, possibly over the summer?
ReplyDeleteIf you're willing to do some quick math:
1 cup flour = 140 grams
1 teaspoon baking soda = 5 grams
1 cup butter = 226 grams
1 cup sugar = 200 grams
1 cup brown sugar = 218 grams
1 large egg = 57 grams
1 teaspoon vanilla extract = 5 ml
1 cup chocolate chips = 175 grams
^btw, totally found these numbers off Google
ReplyDeletehi. would like to know. is it flour 2cups +2T = T is teaspoon or tbsp?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous: T is tablespoon. Big "T" is the bigger measurement, tablespoon.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recipe. It was awesome. Although I think I used a little too much cookie dough causing some cookies to look like scones instead of cookies. But it tastes fantastic!
ReplyDeleteHi!
ReplyDeleteI just made the cookies last night and they have a perfect texture, but when I tasted them I felt they were missing something. I realized the original recipe calls for a tsp salt. Any reason for the omission?
Great recipe though!
It's actually the result of my not checking my posts carefully enough. I didn't mean to leave it out! You're right though, that missing salt makes a pretty big difference in the taste. Thanks for catching that! I'll be editing my post to add it in.
DeleteHi can I check if I use all purpose flour and if I use hand mixer for tis recipe
ReplyDeleteJust made the cookies today, and they turned out great! I loved the texture, crunchy on the outside and soft/chewy on the inside. But they are just a little too sweet for my taste. I want to try them again next time with less sugar. Would you recommend reducing the brown or white sugar.
ReplyDelete