Recently I've been on a kind of chocolate chip cookie mission, trying to find and make the best chocolate chip cookies possible. After dismissing the recipe on the back of the chip package, I was looking forward to making Adam Roberts' The Best Cookies Of Your Life. Last night I did, and I'm sad to report that while good, the cookies where not The Best of My Life. A little too thin for my taste. Of course, the other recipe I rejected for being too cakey, so clearly I'm difficult to satisfy.
Do you have a good recipe? I'm determined to find one I really enjoy, so if you've got something you think worthy, post it (or a link to it) in the comments. I'll bake all the ones I receive, and pass judgment when I'm finished. Let the cookie games begin!
34 thoughts on “Best chocolate chip cookie search”
I was on that quest as well. Until I found this cookie. It has been tried and tested over many years and ALL eaters proclaim it the best chocolate chip cookie they’ve ever had. One edit I make: instead of just refrigerating the cookie dough before baking, I actually freeze it in single cookie wads. The colder it is before it hits the oven, the less it will spread, and therefore, remain chewy and gooey and orgasmic. Enjoy. Here’s the link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_13617,00.html
These are 2 stand by recipes. I like Chewy cookies. I don’t know where these recipes came from passed down through the ages…
Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cups chocolate chips
3/4 cup melted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
Bake 325 15 min.
Mix Flour, baking soda and salt.
Beat butter and sugars, then add eggs and vanilla.
Mix flour into butter mixture along with choco chips
Spoon onto cookie sheet and pat down.
Bake.
Really Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup Almond Butter
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup Chocolate Chips
Bake 375 12 min.
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Mix Dry ingredients.
Beat wet ingredients.
Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
Mix the 2 together.
Spoon onto cookie sheet.
Bake until they just begin to brown on the edges.
Try the recipe on the back of the Guittard “Super Cookie Chips” bag. The ratio of chocolate to cookie is perfect, and they’re not overly sweet. Chewy with a nice crunchy bottom and edge.
Try Cook’s Illustrated’s Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe (you’ll have to subscribe to the site). I’ve been on a CCC quest for 20 years, and the Cook’s Illustrated recipe tops everything I’ve tried, including several Alton Brown recipes, Martha’s, and the real and fake Neiman Marcus versions.
Thick & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies from The Cookie Book are my favorites:
1 Cup + 2 Tablespoons Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Stick butter
1 Egg
8 Tablespoons of Brown Sugar
8 Tablespoons of White Sugar
1 1/2 Teaspoons of Vanilla
1 Cup Chocolate Chips
Bake at 375 Degrees for 10-12 minutes.
(Off the top of my head I think that’s right…) It makes a small batch too so that you don’t have 66 cookies in the jar teasing you all week long.
How funny! I too am on this search right now. The Cook’s Illustrated recipe definitely ranks high for me, though they can be a little cakey, IMO. The most consistently good CC cookies I’ve made have been from the Fannie Farmer cookbook, but even those leave me searching.
I think part of my problem is that the dough is really my favorite part. Once baked, somehow something is lost for me.
Here’s my favorite, and it comes from baker extraordinaire Alice Medrich. I always halve it and haven’t had any problems doing so. The cookies are just as advertised – crisp on the outside, chewy in the middle, delicious throughout! I always bake on a nonstick baking sheet, but I bet they’d have even crispier bottoms on a non-nonstick sheet. Extra batter keeps in the fridge, covered, for a week or so.
ALICE MEDRICH’S CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES
Adapted from ‘Cookies and Brownies’ by Alice Medrich
These are classic chocolate chip cookies with crisp edges, chewy centers, and lots of chocolate. They are best baked as specified on an ungreased cookie sheet rather than on parchment or a synthetic baking sheet.
Equipment
* 2 cookie sheets, ungreased
Ingredients
* 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 16 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 3/4 cup granulated sugar
* 3/4 cup (packed) brown sugar, lump free
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2 large eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 cups chocolate chunks – try either Scharffen Berger 62% Cacao Semisweet or 70% Cacao Bittersweet
* 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
Combine the flour and baking soda in a bowl and mix together thoroughly with a whisk or a fork. Set aside.
Cut the butter into chunks and melt it in a large saucepan over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and salt. Mix in the egg and vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture just until all of the dry ingredients are moistened. Let the mixture and the pan cool. Stir in the chocolate chunks and the nuts. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Position the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Remove the dough from the refrigerator to soften. Scoop rounded tablespoons of dough and place them 3 inches apart on the cookie sheet. Bake for about 9 to 11 minutes, or until the cookies are golden brown at the edges and no longer look wet on top. Rotate baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back about halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking. Remove from the oven and let cookies firm up on the pan for 1 to 2 minutes. Use a metal pancake turner to transfer them to rack to cool completely before storing or stacking. May be stored in a tightly sealed container for several days.
Makes about 5 dozen cookies
Dear Meg,
I’m disappointed you didn’t like the best cookies of my life! To be fair, though, Diana and I have never been able to repeat the magic that happened in our oven the night we made those cookies. Sometimes, now, they come out too crisp; other times, too mounded. I bought an ice cream scoop recently and I really think that helps the end product but what I discovered is that these cookies are the best HOT OUT OF THE OVEN cookies, but not necessarily the best NEXT DAY cookies. By next day, they’re completely crisp with no soft center. But hot out of the oven they’re just what I love in a chocolate chip cookie: crisp on the outside, hot and soft in the middle. It may just be a taste issue, then, since you found them too thin. Have you been to the Levain Bakery? Their cookie is cakey and epic and worth trying at least once. You’ll never be able to walk past 74th street again without going back once you’ve been there. It’s addictive.
Adam
Wow! You are going to need some help (especially with the tasting part). Of course, I am always willing to help out. I’m just good that way.
I too have been on the quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie for quite some time. I’m very interested in this!
I do have to admit that model my cookies after the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe on the back of most Butter flavored Crisco packages. I like the fact it calls for using only brown sugar (no plain white granulated sugar). We have been playing with substituting butter for Crisco. Haven’t found the right Crisco to butter mix, but it appears to be promising. : ) You have to play with the amount of flour to get the cake vs. chewy consistency that you like. My favorite tweak though is adding Coco-Krispies or Coco-Pebbles. They add an extra crunch that is the best.
Subbing brown sugar for white (all or in part) will help the cookies stay more moist (I do this in my brownies and they are most beloved). I also add about half a cup of pecan meal to my chocolate chip cookies, which makes them taste great and improves the texture.
Wow, what a load of recipes already. I’ve got my work cut out for me, but these all sound delicious, so I’m looking forward to it. I’m curious about these recipes that call for melting the butter rather than just using softened butter. I’ll have to do some research to see what kind of difference that makes from a baking reaction stand point.
Keep the recipes coming, and I’ll post information as I go along. And thanks!
I posted about my favorite chocolate chip cookies on my site (recipe included through the link) a few months back. However, they require the special ingredient of New Hope Mills Buckwheat Pancake Mix. If you want to try them and can’t find the mix near you, email me and I will send you some (and by you, I mean Meg, and not the entire interwebs).
I really liked Ina Garten’s Chocolate Chunk Cookies (until a few days ago, the recipe was posted on her website) from “Barefoot Contessa Parties.” Her Chocolate-White Chocolate Chunk are quite delicious too.
One of the things that makes her cookies distinct is that she uses 1/2 granulated sugar, 1/2 dark brown sugar in her cookie recipes. I think the molasses from the brown sugar add some depth to often too-sweet cookie.
I’ve never tried it myself, but I believe that America’s Test Kitchen has a recipe for chocolate chip cookies. I would certainly at least read what they say in the discussion if not try out the recipe.
Pete, I think you’re right, the best cookies I’ve ever had (anyone been to specialty’s in SF or the pacific cookie company in santa cruz) must use crisco/lard instead of butter. There’s just something about the texture…
I have been trying to find the best chocolate chip cookies for about six years. This is the one I have memorized, but sometimes I tweak it and it comes out even better. They taste great out of the oven, but are almost better the next day too. The trick I do is to cream the hell out of the butter first then cream the butter and sugar together.
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 sticks of unsalted butter (room temp – must be room temp, not too soft)
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs (room temp, i set them out about an hour before using)
1 tbsp milk
1 12oz package of chocolate chips or take a 12oz bar of your fave chocolate and chop it into chunks
– Preheat oven to 375F.
– Sift together flour, baking soda and salt into small bowl. Set aside.
– In large bowl, beat butter until creamy – add granulated sugar and brown sugar until smooth.
– Mix in vanilla extract.
– Add 1 egg, mix well. Add 2nd egg, mix well.
– Gradually mix in flour mixture (I do it in thirds).
-Mix until all ingredients are incorporated. Add in milk. Mix well (batter should be slightly creamy, but not smooth like cake batter)
-Once batter is thoroughly combined, mix in chocolate chunks
– Using a large ice cream scoop, scoop out the mixture (level off with the back side of a knife) and place onto baking sheet (lined with parchment paper or silpat).
– Scoop dough out until pan is full (about 2-3 inches apart).
– Bake for 11-13 minutes or until golden brown.
– Leave on pan for 2 minutes then transfer to wire rack for cooling. Seriously, they need to set for a few minutes.
Note: When cooking next batch, be sure pan is completely cooled before placing cookie dough.
Here are pictures of the last time I made them.
I don’t have the recipe in front of me, but one of Jeffrey Steingarten’s books has a chocolate chip cookie recipe that’s fantastic.
I tend to follow the recipe on the back of the Chipits chocolate chip bag. The only change I make to the recipe is: rather than use a cup of butter OR a cup of shortening, I use 1/2 cup of both. They’re not too cakey and have just a bit of chew to’em.
While not made at home these women are doing some nice artisanal cookie work in Brooklyn. Check them out and support them if you live nearby http://www.onegirlcookies.com/
Oops! I need to edit my Thick & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe above.
It should include the following ingredients:
1/2 Stick Butter
6 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
6 Tablespoons White Sugar
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla
1 Large Egg
1 Cup plus 2 Tablespoons Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Cup Chocolate Chips
Drop by 1 1/2 inch balls and bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.
…That’s what I get for trying to remember a recipe at work.
you know, i found that substituting dark chocolate chips for the raisins in the “vanishing oatmeal cookies” recipe on the quaker oats box are just awesome. (and yes, i keep the cinnamon in the recipe–i find the cookie part of chocolate chip cookies too plain for my taste.)
i don’t know why, but the oats seem to make them richer.
I’ve been making this one for years, after a bit of tinkering.
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter or butter flavored shortening
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
12 oz chocolate chips
1/2-1 cup nuts (optional)
Mix together the sugars, butter, and eggs. Stir in the vanilla, salt, and baking soda. Add the flour 1 cup at a time (it’s easier to mix that way). The result will be vaguely similar in texture to play-dough. Mix in the chocolate chips and the nuts (if you like nuts in your cookies). At this point, it is easier to just mix with clean hands, and ditch the spoon.
Grab balls of dough that are between a teaspoon and a tablespoon in size. I find that it is really helpful to actually pat the balls down into disks, rather than just leavng them as drops. Evenly space them on an ungreased cookie sheet, generally 9-12 per sheet, depending on size.
Bake at 375 for about 8 minutes, or until the cookies are golden. Remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack. (After a few minutes, the cookies will be cool enough to enjoy with a glass of cold milk.)
Wow – I’ve always liked the ones on the bag…though with a few tiny tweaks. 1) the recipe USED TO call for one teaspoon of water – I still do – it helps the texture. 2) I err on the low side when measuring the flour. 3) instead of half/half on the brown sugar/white sugar, I use 2/3 brown and 1/3 which (I think that’s 1/2 cup and 1/4 cup, but that’s from memory). And use butter and good vanilla.
I like the recipe from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion called “Good-as-Store-Bought Cookies.” The cookie is a little atypical, including a darker cookie from the inclusion of grated chocolate. Even when I bake multiple batches, the cookies all get gobbled up in no time.
The best cookie recipe I’ve ever found is in the Union Square Cafe Second Helpings book. The cookies are delightfully chewy hot out of the oven, and after sitting for a while they get very crispy and crunchy. They have a little bit of oatmeal in them, which gives them a nice subtle earthy nutty flavor that rounds the sweet.
Highly recommended.
Check out http://www.cookiemadness.net. Anna is an avid baker (a baked good everyday) and won the Pillsbury bake-off. She has links to all the CCC recipes she has tried and divides them into helpful categories such as “Big and Chewy” and “Crunchy.”
at http://goodeatsfanpage you can read the transcript of a show Alton Brown did on varying the ingrediants in a Chocolate Chip Recipe to produce the correct combination you would like. Worth a read as it might help you if you find one you like but want it to be say, chewier or thinner.
I personally go for his thin recipe, but the Chewy is great too.
I sincerely hope it’s not too late to add another recipe for you to try. This recipe was posted on the GardenWeb Cooking Forum by Solsthumper (affectionately known as Sol) and has had many rave reviews. Let us know how you like it!
Sol’s Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies
2½ cups AP flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup chopped walnuts, optional
Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. In a mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla. On low speed, add the flour mixture, and mix until barely blended. Add chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by tablespoons onto sheet pan and bake in a 350° F. oven, for 12-15 minutes.
P.S. For those cookies that are best out of the oven but completely un-chewy the next day – wrap them in a paper towel and zap them in the microwave for about 10 seconds. They should be nice and chewy again.
For me, the best recipe is from David Leibovitz.
Great Chocolate Chip Cookies from David Lebovitz’s Great Book of Chocolate
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (120 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) (115 grams) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2-inch (1cm) pieces
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups (175 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups (200 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup(130 grams) walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped
Adjust the oven rack to the top 1/3 of the oven and preheat to 300F (150C). Line three baking sheets with parchment paper.
Beat the sugars and butters together until smooth. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and baking soda. Stir together the flour and salt, then mix them into the batter. Mix in the chocolate chips and nuts.
Scoop the cookie dough into 2-tablespoon (5cm) balls and place 8 balls, spaced 4 inches (10cm) apart, on each of the baking sheets.
Bake for 18 minutes, or until pale golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Make about 20 cookies.
Holy cow! So I didn’t think I’d get so many responses here. Already I fear I have more cookies than I can bake in a year. So for now I’m going to turn off comments and try to bake what I’ve been given. I’ll will have reports as we go, and if nothing posted here turns out to be amazing (somehow I doubt that!), I’ll try again for some more recipes. Thanks to everyone who’s suggested recipes, I can’t wait to get started!
I was on that quest as well. Until I found this cookie. It has been tried and tested over many years and ALL eaters proclaim it the best chocolate chip cookie they’ve ever had. One edit I make: instead of just refrigerating the cookie dough before baking, I actually freeze it in single cookie wads. The colder it is before it hits the oven, the less it will spread, and therefore, remain chewy and gooey and orgasmic. Enjoy. Here’s the link:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_13617,00.html
These are 2 stand by recipes. I like Chewy cookies. I don’t know where these recipes came from passed down through the ages…
Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cups chocolate chips
3/4 cup melted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
Bake 325 15 min.
Mix Flour, baking soda and salt.
Beat butter and sugars, then add eggs and vanilla.
Mix flour into butter mixture along with choco chips
Spoon onto cookie sheet and pat down.
Bake.
Really Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup Almond Butter
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup Chocolate Chips
Bake 375 12 min.
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Mix Dry ingredients.
Beat wet ingredients.
Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
Mix the 2 together.
Spoon onto cookie sheet.
Bake until they just begin to brown on the edges.
Try the recipe on the back of the Guittard “Super Cookie Chips” bag. The ratio of chocolate to cookie is perfect, and they’re not overly sweet. Chewy with a nice crunchy bottom and edge.
Try Cook’s Illustrated’s Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe (you’ll have to subscribe to the site). I’ve been on a CCC quest for 20 years, and the Cook’s Illustrated recipe tops everything I’ve tried, including several Alton Brown recipes, Martha’s, and the real and fake Neiman Marcus versions.
Thick & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies from The Cookie Book are my favorites:
1 Cup + 2 Tablespoons Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Stick butter
1 Egg
8 Tablespoons of Brown Sugar
8 Tablespoons of White Sugar
1 1/2 Teaspoons of Vanilla
1 Cup Chocolate Chips
Bake at 375 Degrees for 10-12 minutes.
(Off the top of my head I think that’s right…) It makes a small batch too so that you don’t have 66 cookies in the jar teasing you all week long.
How funny! I too am on this search right now. The Cook’s Illustrated recipe definitely ranks high for me, though they can be a little cakey, IMO. The most consistently good CC cookies I’ve made have been from the Fannie Farmer cookbook, but even those leave me searching.
I think part of my problem is that the dough is really my favorite part. Once baked, somehow something is lost for me.
Here’s my favorite, and it comes from baker extraordinaire Alice Medrich. I always halve it and haven’t had any problems doing so. The cookies are just as advertised – crisp on the outside, chewy in the middle, delicious throughout! I always bake on a nonstick baking sheet, but I bet they’d have even crispier bottoms on a non-nonstick sheet. Extra batter keeps in the fridge, covered, for a week or so.
ALICE MEDRICH’S CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES
Adapted from ‘Cookies and Brownies’ by Alice Medrich
These are classic chocolate chip cookies with crisp edges, chewy centers, and lots of chocolate. They are best baked as specified on an ungreased cookie sheet rather than on parchment or a synthetic baking sheet.
Equipment
* 2 cookie sheets, ungreased
Ingredients
* 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 16 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 3/4 cup granulated sugar
* 3/4 cup (packed) brown sugar, lump free
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2 large eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 cups chocolate chunks – try either Scharffen Berger 62% Cacao Semisweet or 70% Cacao Bittersweet
* 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
Combine the flour and baking soda in a bowl and mix together thoroughly with a whisk or a fork. Set aside.
Cut the butter into chunks and melt it in a large saucepan over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and salt. Mix in the egg and vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture just until all of the dry ingredients are moistened. Let the mixture and the pan cool. Stir in the chocolate chunks and the nuts. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Position the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Remove the dough from the refrigerator to soften. Scoop rounded tablespoons of dough and place them 3 inches apart on the cookie sheet. Bake for about 9 to 11 minutes, or until the cookies are golden brown at the edges and no longer look wet on top. Rotate baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back about halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking. Remove from the oven and let cookies firm up on the pan for 1 to 2 minutes. Use a metal pancake turner to transfer them to rack to cool completely before storing or stacking. May be stored in a tightly sealed container for several days.
Makes about 5 dozen cookies
Dear Meg,
I’m disappointed you didn’t like the best cookies of my life! To be fair, though, Diana and I have never been able to repeat the magic that happened in our oven the night we made those cookies. Sometimes, now, they come out too crisp; other times, too mounded. I bought an ice cream scoop recently and I really think that helps the end product but what I discovered is that these cookies are the best HOT OUT OF THE OVEN cookies, but not necessarily the best NEXT DAY cookies. By next day, they’re completely crisp with no soft center. But hot out of the oven they’re just what I love in a chocolate chip cookie: crisp on the outside, hot and soft in the middle. It may just be a taste issue, then, since you found them too thin. Have you been to the Levain Bakery? Their cookie is cakey and epic and worth trying at least once. You’ll never be able to walk past 74th street again without going back once you’ve been there. It’s addictive.
Adam
Wow! You are going to need some help (especially with the tasting part). Of course, I am always willing to help out. I’m just good that way.
I too have been on the quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie for quite some time. I’m very interested in this!
I do have to admit that model my cookies after the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe on the back of most Butter flavored Crisco packages. I like the fact it calls for using only brown sugar (no plain white granulated sugar). We have been playing with substituting butter for Crisco. Haven’t found the right Crisco to butter mix, but it appears to be promising. : ) You have to play with the amount of flour to get the cake vs. chewy consistency that you like. My favorite tweak though is adding Coco-Krispies or Coco-Pebbles. They add an extra crunch that is the best.
Subbing brown sugar for white (all or in part) will help the cookies stay more moist (I do this in my brownies and they are most beloved). I also add about half a cup of pecan meal to my chocolate chip cookies, which makes them taste great and improves the texture.
Wow, what a load of recipes already. I’ve got my work cut out for me, but these all sound delicious, so I’m looking forward to it. I’m curious about these recipes that call for melting the butter rather than just using softened butter. I’ll have to do some research to see what kind of difference that makes from a baking reaction stand point.
Keep the recipes coming, and I’ll post information as I go along. And thanks!
I posted about my favorite chocolate chip cookies on my site (recipe included through the link) a few months back. However, they require the special ingredient of New Hope Mills Buckwheat Pancake Mix. If you want to try them and can’t find the mix near you, email me and I will send you some (and by you, I mean Meg, and not the entire interwebs).
I really liked Ina Garten’s Chocolate Chunk Cookies (until a few days ago, the recipe was posted on her website) from “Barefoot Contessa Parties.” Her Chocolate-White Chocolate Chunk are quite delicious too.
One of the things that makes her cookies distinct is that she uses 1/2 granulated sugar, 1/2 dark brown sugar in her cookie recipes. I think the molasses from the brown sugar add some depth to often too-sweet cookie.
I’ve never tried it myself, but I believe that America’s Test Kitchen has a recipe for chocolate chip cookies. I would certainly at least read what they say in the discussion if not try out the recipe.
Alton Brown says that melting the butter makes for more gluten when mixing the dough, although I don’t know how accurate that is. (http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/Season3/Cookie/CookieTranscript.htm)
Pete, I think you’re right, the best cookies I’ve ever had (anyone been to specialty’s in SF or the pacific cookie company in santa cruz) must use crisco/lard instead of butter. There’s just something about the texture…
I have been trying to find the best chocolate chip cookies for about six years. This is the one I have memorized, but sometimes I tweak it and it comes out even better. They taste great out of the oven, but are almost better the next day too. The trick I do is to cream the hell out of the butter first then cream the butter and sugar together.
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 sticks of unsalted butter (room temp – must be room temp, not too soft)
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs (room temp, i set them out about an hour before using)
1 tbsp milk
1 12oz package of chocolate chips or take a 12oz bar of your fave chocolate and chop it into chunks
– Preheat oven to 375F.
– Sift together flour, baking soda and salt into small bowl. Set aside.
– In large bowl, beat butter until creamy – add granulated sugar and brown sugar until smooth.
– Mix in vanilla extract.
– Add 1 egg, mix well. Add 2nd egg, mix well.
– Gradually mix in flour mixture (I do it in thirds).
-Mix until all ingredients are incorporated. Add in milk. Mix well (batter should be slightly creamy, but not smooth like cake batter)
-Once batter is thoroughly combined, mix in chocolate chunks
– Using a large ice cream scoop, scoop out the mixture (level off with the back side of a knife) and place onto baking sheet (lined with parchment paper or silpat).
– Scoop dough out until pan is full (about 2-3 inches apart).
– Bake for 11-13 minutes or until golden brown.
– Leave on pan for 2 minutes then transfer to wire rack for cooling. Seriously, they need to set for a few minutes.
Note: When cooking next batch, be sure pan is completely cooled before placing cookie dough.
Here are pictures of the last time I made them.
I don’t have the recipe in front of me, but one of Jeffrey Steingarten’s books has a chocolate chip cookie recipe that’s fantastic.
I tend to follow the recipe on the back of the Chipits chocolate chip bag. The only change I make to the recipe is: rather than use a cup of butter OR a cup of shortening, I use 1/2 cup of both. They’re not too cakey and have just a bit of chew to’em.
While not made at home these women are doing some nice artisanal cookie work in Brooklyn. Check them out and support them if you live nearby
http://www.onegirlcookies.com/
Oops! I need to edit my Thick & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe above.
It should include the following ingredients:
1/2 Stick Butter
6 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
6 Tablespoons White Sugar
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla
1 Large Egg
1 Cup plus 2 Tablespoons Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Cup Chocolate Chips
Drop by 1 1/2 inch balls and bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.
…That’s what I get for trying to remember a recipe at work.
you know, i found that substituting dark chocolate chips for the raisins in the “vanishing oatmeal cookies” recipe on the quaker oats box are just awesome. (and yes, i keep the cinnamon in the recipe–i find the cookie part of chocolate chip cookies too plain for my taste.)
i don’t know why, but the oats seem to make them richer.
I’ve been making this one for years, after a bit of tinkering.
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter or butter flavored shortening
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
12 oz chocolate chips
1/2-1 cup nuts (optional)
Mix together the sugars, butter, and eggs. Stir in the vanilla, salt, and baking soda. Add the flour 1 cup at a time (it’s easier to mix that way). The result will be vaguely similar in texture to play-dough. Mix in the chocolate chips and the nuts (if you like nuts in your cookies). At this point, it is easier to just mix with clean hands, and ditch the spoon.
Grab balls of dough that are between a teaspoon and a tablespoon in size. I find that it is really helpful to actually pat the balls down into disks, rather than just leavng them as drops. Evenly space them on an ungreased cookie sheet, generally 9-12 per sheet, depending on size.
Bake at 375 for about 8 minutes, or until the cookies are golden. Remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack. (After a few minutes, the cookies will be cool enough to enjoy with a glass of cold milk.)
Wow – I’ve always liked the ones on the bag…though with a few tiny tweaks. 1) the recipe USED TO call for one teaspoon of water – I still do – it helps the texture. 2) I err on the low side when measuring the flour. 3) instead of half/half on the brown sugar/white sugar, I use 2/3 brown and 1/3 which (I think that’s 1/2 cup and 1/4 cup, but that’s from memory). And use butter and good vanilla.
I like the recipe from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion called “Good-as-Store-Bought Cookies.” The cookie is a little atypical, including a darker cookie from the inclusion of grated chocolate. Even when I bake multiple batches, the cookies all get gobbled up in no time.
Oh no, you must must must try Debbie’s Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are by far the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever baked or eaten, better than City Bakery, Jacques Torres and Nestle’s combined. Really truly. Here’s the link:
http://wordstoeatby.blogspot.com/2004/12/best-homemade-chocolate-chip-cookies.html
The best cookie recipe I’ve ever found is in the Union Square Cafe Second Helpings book. The cookies are delightfully chewy hot out of the oven, and after sitting for a while they get very crispy and crunchy. They have a little bit of oatmeal in them, which gives them a nice subtle earthy nutty flavor that rounds the sweet.
Highly recommended.
http://gastronomy.wordpress.com/2007/02/14/wes-famous-chocolate-chip-cookies/
you are going to LOVE them!
Check out http://www.cookiemadness.net. Anna is an avid baker (a baked good everyday) and won the Pillsbury bake-off. She has links to all the CCC recipes she has tried and divides them into helpful categories such as “Big and Chewy” and “Crunchy.”
at http://goodeatsfanpage you can read the transcript of a show Alton Brown did on varying the ingrediants in a Chocolate Chip Recipe to produce the correct combination you would like. Worth a read as it might help you if you find one you like but want it to be say, chewier or thinner.
I personally go for his thin recipe, but the Chewy is great too.
I sincerely hope it’s not too late to add another recipe for you to try. This recipe was posted on the GardenWeb Cooking Forum by Solsthumper (affectionately known as Sol) and has had many rave reviews. Let us know how you like it!
Sol’s Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies
2½ cups AP flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup chopped walnuts, optional
Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. In a mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla. On low speed, add the flour mixture, and mix until barely blended. Add chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by tablespoons onto sheet pan and bake in a 350° F. oven, for 12-15 minutes.
P.S. For those cookies that are best out of the oven but completely un-chewy the next day – wrap them in a paper towel and zap them in the microwave for about 10 seconds. They should be nice and chewy again.
For me, the best recipe is from David Leibovitz.
Great Chocolate Chip Cookies from David Lebovitz’s Great Book of Chocolate
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (120 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) (115 grams) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2-inch (1cm) pieces
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups (175 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups (200 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup(130 grams) walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped
Adjust the oven rack to the top 1/3 of the oven and preheat to 300F (150C). Line three baking sheets with parchment paper.
Beat the sugars and butters together until smooth. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and baking soda. Stir together the flour and salt, then mix them into the batter. Mix in the chocolate chips and nuts.
Scoop the cookie dough into 2-tablespoon (5cm) balls and place 8 balls, spaced 4 inches (10cm) apart, on each of the baking sheets.
Bake for 18 minutes, or until pale golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Make about 20 cookies.
Holy cow! So I didn’t think I’d get so many responses here. Already I fear I have more cookies than I can bake in a year. So for now I’m going to turn off comments and try to bake what I’ve been given. I’ll will have reports as we go, and if nothing posted here turns out to be amazing (somehow I doubt that!), I’ll try again for some more recipes. Thanks to everyone who’s suggested recipes, I can’t wait to get started!