The Best Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Chewy center; crispy, caramelized edges, not too fat, not too thin, the BEST Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies! Below I share my secrets, tips and hacks for achieving the perfect chocolate chip cookie at altitude or sea level!! They are, after-all — the quintessential iconic American cookie!

The Best Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

NOTE | This post was updated on 06/19/18

The idea to start a food and hospitality blog was born Fall 2017. I am honored you are perusing my site, hope you stay for a minute and download a recipe or two! 

The BEST Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies | Altitude OR Sea Level

My hope for this blog is to encourage others to try something new, remove fears about adapting a recipe to your taste, try a new recipe and most importantly to return to the family table and invite others to join you! This article spoke of the BIG difference between entertaining and hospitality, and I couldn’t agree more! 

“Author Jen Wilkin, offers…*Entertaining is always thinking about the next course. Hospitality burns the rolls because it was listening to a story. * Entertaining obsesses over what went wrong. Hospitality savors what was shared. * Entertaining, exhausted, says, “It was nothing, really!” Hospitality thinks it was nothing. Really! *Entertaining seeks to impress. Hospitality seeks to bless.”

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Baking can be a bit of a challenge especially living at altitude! Since moving to Colorado more than 25 years ago, I’ve made it my goal to achieve the BEST, chewiest, most chocolatey, chocolate chip cookies. TA-DA!

HOW TO BAKE THE BEST, CHEWY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES 

SEA LEVEL | No problem, I’ve provided recipe adjustments for sea level or other non high altitude locations, but please follow instructions below for the best, chewiest chocolate chip cookies!

Cream softened butter for 2-3 minutes, until fluffy, light and silky.

SOFTENING BUTTER HOW TO’S

{ALWAYS use real butter for cookies; no blends, margarines, nothing with oil.
Rule of thumb, if it’s soft coming out of the fridge it’s not pure butter}

Did you forget to take out the butter? In microwave, place butter on dish, starting at 8-9 seconds, increasing to about 12 (total) seconds if needed. Or simply take your butter out of the fridge and cut into chunks while you assemble all of your ingredients and it’ll be soft by the time you are ready to cream it!

Toss in light brown sugar and all natural cane sugar. Cream the sugars and butter together on medium-high, 2-4 minutes; you want it really fluffy and light, scrape down the sides about half way through.

TIPS WHEN USING ALL NATURAL CANE SUGAR

All natural cane sugar is typically more course than refined white sugar, so creaming the mixture longer is key, closer to the 4 minute range so that it breaks the larger crystals down further giving you a light, fluffy base.

Plop eggs into batter, one at a time with mixer on medium-high. Mix each egg for a full minute. Scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.

While eggs are creaming; measure all-purpose flour, soda and sea salt into a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine all ingreds.

Dribble vanilla into batter; have you ever tried making your own Homemade Vanilla, it’s the best! Just two ingredients, a little time and love and a whole lot cheaper. 

Turn mixer to lowest setting, add all-purpose flour a little at a time. Pour in a couple teaspoons of water* with each flour addition. Let it mix for a second, then add more until all flour is incorporated. Scrape down sides, making sure all of your flour is incorporated, careful not to overmix. *Do not add water for sea level.

Trickle the chocolate chips into dough, mix with mixer on low or by hand or on the lowest mixer setting.

Now with the mixer on low, pour in chocolate chunks. If you can’t find chocolate chunks, simply rough chop a bar of your favorite chocolate and stir in, I like this one or use more regular chocolate chips.

Finally, add the mini chocolate chips and mix on low – you might need to grab a wooden spoon at this point. 

You should have a beautiful, doughy, chocolate-y chip thang going on. One final mix to make sure those chips are evenly incorporated. Or just give it a good hand stir. The dough should be soft, fluffy and pretty sticky. 

At this point my family grabs their spoons and digs in, however; because of the scares with raw eggs and salmonella poisoning many people are wary about eating raw cookie dough. I’ve been eating and serving raw cookie dough for decades and nobody has ever gotten sick! In fact, read this article especially since our eggs our pasteurized the risk is very low, but if you still aren’t convinced then please try my edible Cookie Dough.

IS IT SAFE TO EAT RAW COOKIE DOUGH?

It’s not always the eggs that cause the problem, sometimes it’s your flour, my recipe below shows you how to “heat treat” your flour to reduce risk as well, I keep my flour in the fridge or freezer though reducing exposure. 

However; if you aren’t afraid of raw eggs, you might also enjoy my Mini French Silk Pies with Toffee Graham Crust. WOW!

DO I HAVE TO USE COOKIE SCOOP?

Not only does a cookie scoop make life so much easier; scoop, swish, plop…repeat, but it keeps your cookies uniform in size, which means they will bake evenly, resulting in perfect cookies every time! But is it necessary? Nope, the good old fashioned, spoon, roll into ball works great too!

Using a medium scoop (2 Tablespoons, about the size of a large walnut) scoop your dough onto parchment lined cookie sheets, about 2-3 inches apart. I typically put 9 cookies on each sheet. Feel free to make them smaller too, sometimes I use a small scoop, bake less time, fitting 12 on a pan.

WHY CHILLING YOUR DOUGH IS IMPORTANT

Stick entire pan of dough balls in the fridge for 10 minutes, this is a CRITICAL step to the thick and chewy factor! Because this allows the dough to firm up, flavors to mingle, doing some science-y thing that then allows them to spread perfectly and evenly while baking.

DON’T SKIP THIS STEP

Freeze what you won’t be using, so that you will have cookie dough to pop in the oven anytime you need them, resulting in perfectly fresh and warm cookies. Simply remove from freezer, break off the number you are baking, place on lined cookie and allow them to sit on the counter while the oven preheats, bake as directed.

Scoop remaining dough into balls while your first batch is chilling, placing close together onto a wax paper or parchment lined quarter sheet pan, then freeze until firm. As you can see my quarter cookie sheet is well loved.

After cookie dough chilled for at least 10 minutes, take out just enough to bake and bake between *350–375° for 8-10 minutes, repeating the process (scooping, chilling, baking, cooling, salting). *Start at 375°, see how they do, if they brown too quickly, reduce temp to 350°, ovens are inconsistent, I use this oven thermometer to be sure. 

WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT CHILLING COOKIE DOUGH?

Chilling the dough firms up the fat (butter, in this case), also allowing the flour time to absorb the liquids evenly, which reduces the dough’s stickiness, which makes it much easier to work with. 

ACHIEVING PERFECTLY CHEWY COOKIES EVERY TIME

• Cream butter until light & fluffy (1-2 minutes), then cream butter with sugars for 2-4 minutes
• Chill dough balls
• Check oven temps, for accuracy purchase an oven thermometer, if necessary
• Cool for a couple minutes on pan, then transfer with spatula to cooling rack
• Sprinkle with flaky sea salt, if you have never tried sea salt or fleur de sel — please try!
• Cookies firm up as they cool – store in airtight container on counter for 2-3 days or freeze, bringing to room temperature before serving, or pop back in 350° oven for 1-2 minutes. 

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When dough balls are frozen then transfer them to freezer baggies, removing as much air as possible; because air is not your friend in the freezer. 

CREATIVE COOKIE DOUGH WRAPPING FOR GIFTING

Be different and give your friends and neighbors cookie dough so they are ready for fresh cookies anytime! Check out this post on How to Package Cookie Dough for Gifts

BAKING FROZEN COOKIE DOUGH BALLS

When ready to bake your frozen dough, pull desired number out of freezer, then place dough balls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet allowing them come to room-ish temp (about 10 minutes) while the oven preheats, then bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes and cool as described above.

INDIVIDUALLY WRAP COOKIES FOR LUNCH BOX TREATS

I like to keep my freshly baked cookies wrapped in cellophane because it keeps them fresh, chewy and soft, then I’ll place two cookies, flat sides together, wrapping tightly with plastic wrap and freeze. Then they can be easily plopped into a lunch box, thawed by lunchtime.

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WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO TRANSPORT COOKIES?

Making up the entire batch of cookies for a team feed, picnic, school party or potluck? This is a fabulous way to transport cookies so they don’t get smashed or broken, plus you can fit a LOT into the container.

FREEZE the container with cookies overnight; thaw on the counter for an hour and they’ll be perfect!

Another sweet recipe using cookie dough is for these Mini Skillet Cookies or Half-Bakes as we call them, boy are they amazing!!

HACKS for CHEWIEST Chocolate Chip Cookies:

• Always use real butter, NO butter blends or substitutes that how cookies can go wrong.
• Refrigerate your dough for 10 minutes prior to baking for up to 36 hours (covered)
• Remove cookies from oven when edges are golden, when the centers still appear slightly underbaked 
• Cool on pan 2-3 minutes before transferring to wire rack, so the cookies will set.

More Amazing Cookie Recipes!

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Giant Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies with Fleur de Sel

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Yield: 36 cookies

The Best Chewy Chocolatey Chocolate Chip Cookies

Print

An American tradition, the ultimate chewy chocolate chip chewy cookie, crisp on the edges, soft, and chewy centers. Customized for high altitude, but adjustable for all elevations.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Chill Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks), softened butter (the real deal, no substitutes)
• ⅔ cup all natural cane sugar ¾ cup if not high altitude
• ⅔ cup brown sugar, packed [¾ cup if not high altitude]
• 2 large eggs (take out 20-30 minutes to warm slightly)
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 ½ cups all purpose flour 2 cups if not high altitude
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 ¼ tsp kosher salt
• 2 tsp water [omit, if not high altitude]
• 1 cup chocolate chips (use a good quality chocolate chip)
• ½ cup mini chocolate chips
• ⅔ cup chocolate chunks
• Flaky Sea Salt for sprinkling on top of baked cookies (optional) I love Maldon Flaky Sea Salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. In a bowl of a stand mixer, cream softened butter in mixer, 2-3 minutes on medium-high until light and fluffy, scrape down edges of bowl.
2. Add cane sugar and brown sugar, beating on medium-high for 2-4 minutes, scraping down sides about half way between. (Beat 4 minutes if using natural cane sugar). Scrape down sides of bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, cream on medium-high 1 minute for each egg addition, scrape down sides in between. Add vanilla and mix well.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt whisking until combined. With mixer on low/stir, slowly pour in ½ cup of flour mixture at a time, mixing on low until just combined. Add water (high altitude only) in between flour additions, don’t over mix. Add chocolate chips, minis and chunks, stir (with low on mixer or by hand) on low, until just combined.
4. Scoop into dough balls using a 2-tablespoon scoop onto a parchment lined cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Place in fridge 10 minutes prior to baking, bake 8-10 minutes until just set and slightly golden. Cool on pan 2-3 minutes and then remove to cooling rack to cool completely. Enjoy warm or room temp.

FREEZING COOKIE DOUGH

1. If not enjoying all the cookies at once, freeze dough balls until firm, then place in freezer ziplock bag until ready to use.
2. Once ready to bake, take out of freezer and place 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheet. Allow cookies to soften while the oven preheats to 375°F bake as directed. Always fresh cookies!

If your oven runs hot reduce temp by 25° or if run's cool, increase bake time a couple minutes. Purchase an oven thermometer if you are not sure, you will be surprised at how ovens vary.

Notes

TIPS for the Chewiest Cookies

• Always use real butter, not butter blends or substitutes.
• Always refrigerate your dough for at least 10 minutes prior to baking, up to 36 hours (covered); 2-3 months if frozen.
• Remove from oven when edges are golden and appear baked, but centers still appear slightly underbaked.
• Cool on pan 2-3 minutes before transferring to wire rack.

SMALLER OR LARGER COOKIES | If smaller cookies desired, use a small cookie scoop and bake for 6-8 minutes. If larger cookies are desired, use a large cookie scoop and bake 10-12 minutes.

© 2017 | This recipe for Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies was featured first on The Fresh Cooky.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

36

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 168 Total Fat: 9g Saturated Fat: 5g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 3g Cholesterol: 25mg Sodium: 200mg Carbohydrates: 22g Fiber: 1g Sugar: 14g Protein: 2g

The nutritional information is estimated and may not be entirely accurate.

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