These are the same Best Big Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe just with new photos and a few additional baking tips included in the blog post.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Ingredients
- All-purpose flour: Gluten and starch are the two main components in flour that help build structure.
- Baking soda: is a leavener that is activated by a liquid and an acid in the dough or batter. Baking soda must be fresh in order to work properly. So be sure to check the expiration date. To test if your baking soda is fresh, place 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda in a small bowl. Pour 1 teaspoon white vinegar on top and if it's fresh, it should bubble quickly. If it doesn't it's time to toss it. Baking soda and baking powder can't be used interchangeably.
- Salt: helps bring out the sweetness in baked goods.
- Unsalted butter, melted: Since there is no standard measurement for how much salt is in each stick of butter, it's best to use unsalted butter. This recipe uses melted butter, but it should be cooled to about 75-80 degrees before using.
- Light brown sugar: helps the sweetness of the recipe, plus impacts the texture and color as well. Unlike granulated sugar, brown sugar is acidic and will react to the baking soda in this recipe.
- Granulated sugar: sweetens, tenderizes, leavens and caramelizes the cookies.
- Vanilla extract: adds flavor to the cookie dough.
- Eggs: Just like flour, eggs help provide structure.
- Egg yolks: contribute to color and flavor. Egg yolks also help prevent staling since they contain an all-natural emulsifier called lecithin.
- Chocolate chips: the star of this recipe! Feel free to substitute peanut butter chips, milk chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, nuts and candy in this recipe.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Equipment
- Baking sheets: I use a full sized aluminum rimmed baking sheet. Heavy duty aluminum reduces warping and is an excellent conductor of heat. Insulated baking sheets will keep your cookies from browning fully on the bottom. And dark nonstick baking sheets tend to burn the bottom of the cookies.
- Parchment paper: I used to use a silicone mat for my cookies, but now I use parchment paper. It makes clean up easy! Silicone mats can create soggy cookie bottoms from the condensation that develops as the cookies cool on the baking sheet. And the cookies tend to spread more on silicone mats.
- Stand mixer: I love my stand mixer but these cookies can also be made with a hand mixer and a large bowl.
- Measuring cups/spring loaded ice cream scoops: These cookies are dropped by 1/4 cup, so I use my 1/4 measuring cup. You can also use a spring loaded ice cream scoop to ensure all your cookies are the exact same size. Typically a small spring loaded ice cream scoop measure 2 teaspoons, medium measures 1 1/2 tablespoons, and large is about 3 tablespoons.
- Cooling racks: allow for the cookies to cool quickly and evenly.
Chocolate Chips
Chocolate chips have a little less cocoa butter in them than bar chocolate. Plus, they have stabilizers and emulsifiers which helps them keep their shape while baking.
Cookie Dough Storage
The cookie dough can be refrigerated up to 24 hours. When you're ready to bake them, let the dough sit at room temperature until it's warm enough to scoop.
Baked Cookie Storage
Baked cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 to 5 days. For that fresh out of the oven experience, heat your oven to 325 degrees and heat cookies in the oven for 3 to 5 minutes.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Tips
Flat cookies?
- The butter was too warm. Try waiting until your butter is around 75 degrees before using.
- Dough was too wet. Try adding more flour by tablespoon.
- The butter and sugar was over mixed. Cream the butter and sugar for about 2 to 3 minutes on medium-high speed.
- Baked with a silicone mat. Try using parchment paper instead.
Thick cookies?
- The dough was too cold. If the dough was too cold the cookies won't spread evenly.
- Was your baking pan too dark? Nonstick pans can keep cookies from spreading.
- Was shortening used instead of butter? Butter has more water content than shortening which helps cookies spread.
Burnt cookies?
- Avoiding using dark nonstick baking sheets for baking cookies.
- Always use the middle rack in the oven for even baking.
- Make sure your oven is the correct temperature by using an oven thermometer.
- Remove the cookies from the baking sheet after two minutes. Any longer and your cookies may over bake due to carry over baking.
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Yield:
About 30 cookies
Prep Time:
15 minutes
Cook Time:
17 minutes
Additional Time:
20 minutes
Total Time:
52 minutes
Big and fluffy chocolate chip cookies with tender middles and crispy edges.
Ingredients
SPECIAL TOOLS
- Half sized baking sheet
- Parchment paper or silicone mat
COOKIES
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, melted and cooled to about 75 degrees
- 2 cups packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.
- In a the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well blended, about 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla egg and egg yolk until light and creamy.
- Mix in the dry ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Cover and chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours.
- Drop cookie dough ¼ cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheet. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the oven or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes before transferring cookies to wire racks to cool completely.
Notes
*Nutrition information is an estimate and will vary.*
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 30 Serving Size: 1 cookieAmount Per Serving: Calories: 249Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 49mgSodium: 130mgCarbohydrates: 35gFiber: 1gSugar: 22gProtein: 3g
Jenniffer says
These look DELISH! Great work Cake Chica!
Karly says
Nothing in the world compares to a warm, golden, chocolate chip cookie. Except maybe the love of a child. Maybe. Anyway, these look absolutely INCREDIBLE!!!
Z says
I followed this recipe to a T and my cookies spread like CRAZY and weren't so much chewy as... gloopy...
Mary says
So sorry this happened. Did you chill the dough before baking? I always do that. You may have missed that part in the content portion of my post. I will revise the recipe version to mention the chilling time as well so this won't happen again. Thanks for letting me know.
Courtney Osterfelt says
The same thing happened to me. Very disappointing.
Courtney Osterfelt says
And I did chill the dough. Maybe I didn’t do it long enough.
Mary says
Sorry they didn't work for you. I would try chilling the dough longer. I've never had any problems with them after chilling the dough until the dough is stiff and easy to handle. Also, if you have 2 cookie sheets you can alternate between batches so the cookie sheets have time to cool.
Janice Bleu says
How would you preserve them overnight after you've baked them? My daughter is taking these to school the next day so how should I keep them fresh for her?
Mary says
You can store them in a Ziploc bag or an air tight storage container on the counter.
Casey says
These look amazing. Definitely trying today. Thank you for a great recipe
Mary says
Thank you Casey! Enjoy!
Casey says
Ok. These were amazing! My husband said they couldn't taste better than prepare cookies. Boy, was he wrong.
Mary says
Awesome!!! Seriously I get compliments on these cookies every time I make them!
TW says
These cookies are AMAZEBALLS!!! Probably the best I’ve had Yet!!
Mary says
Thank you! Glad you liked them!!!
Anthony Allen says
These cookies are wonderful! They look just like they came from one of the cookie shops at the mall. I am impressed. Thanks for your sharing!!
Elizabeth says
What name brand of all purpose flour do you use for this recipe?
Mary says
I typically use Central Milling Company organic flour from Costco.
Elizabeth says
Thank you!
Marta says
Hi, could I leave out the 1 cup granulated sugar or will it make a difference?
Mary says
I wouldn't recommend it. Sugar helps the texture as well as sweetness.
Kristy says
Made these. I used cane sugar and baking powder instead. They are big and chewy!! Mine came out like a Levain cookie.
Abia says
Can I use both baking soda and baking powder? And if so, how much of each should I add to the recipe?
Mary says
Just baking soda is best with these cookies. Baking soda raises the pH of the dough more than baking powder and helps form a nice crackly top. Baking powder might create more of a cakey domed cookie instead. I hope this helps. 🙂
Mandy says
I tried this and they spread too. I’m going to try again with a longer chill time. I’m also wondering if I could cream the butter instead of melting it first? I have never done that for cookies and I wonder if that threw off the cookie texture??
Mary says
Sorry about that. It's possible the melted butter was still to hot. Try cooling the melted butter to about 85 to 90 degrees before using. The melted butter gives the cookies a nice chew but you can certainly go the more traditional route with using softened butter and creaming.
Amanda says
At what altitude are you? Im at about 1500 and I have a hard time with cookies spreading.
Mary says
I am about 500 feet. Be sure your melted butter has cooled before adding it in. You can also try using 2 baking sheets and switch them out between batches so each baking sheet has time to cool before adding the cookie dough on top. I hope this helps.
Dan says
I've made these 5 times, first two times they were incredible - perfect, big fat and chewy - but the last three times they keep spreading and flattening after I pull them out. I checked the recipe and I know it by now. Nothing is changing in how I bake them. Any ideas why this could be happening? Butter was completely cooled to room temp and still melted everytime, and the dough was thoroughly chilled (make them during the day and bake them at night). There has to be a reason!
Mary says
I'm so sorry this happened. The only thing I can think of is maybe there was not enough flour in the dough. The most accurate way to be sure is by weighing the flour. So for this recipe it would be 20 ounces or 568 grams. I hope you'll give these another try.
Kristin says
I’ve made these twice now and they were perfect both times! Best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made. Highly recommend!