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!

These thick chocolate chip cookies are deliciously chunky and chewy, practically perfect in every way!

The Best Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

This was the first recipe on my blog! These thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies are one of my most POPULAR recipes on the blog! Enjoy great cookies like we do? Then try these amazing Cake Batter Chocolate Chip Cookies or these Oatmeal Sandwich cookies are spectacular too!

NOTE | This post was updated on 12/16/19

Baking Cookies at High Altitude

I share more about “why” I started The Fresh Cooky on my About page.

Baking can be a bit of a challenge especially living at high 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!

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!

*Entertaining seeks to impress. Hospitality seeks to bless.”

Jen Wilkin

Chewy Cookies at Sea Level

SEA LEVEL INSTRUCTIONS| 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.

HOW TO SOFTEN BUTTER

{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}

Forget to take out the butter? Place butter on microwave safe 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 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 BAKING WITH ALL NATURAL CANE SUGAR

• All natural cane sugar is typically more coarse than refined white sugar, so creaming the mixture longer is key, typically 1-2 minutes longer than the recipe calls for.
• Creaming the sugar and butter mixture longer; 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.

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 additional 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; I’ve been eating and serving raw cookie dough for decades and nobody has ever gotten sick!

IS IT SAFE TO EAT RAW COOKIE DOUGH?

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 this edible Cookie Dough.

It’s not always the eggs that cause the problem, sometimes it’s the flour, my recipe for edible cookie dough shows you how to “heat treat” the 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!

Uniform or Same Size Cookies

Not only does a cookie scoop make life so much easier; scoop, swish, plop…repeat.

But it keeps the 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 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 CHILL COOKIE DOUGH?

• 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.
• Stick entire pan of dough balls in the fridge for 10 minutes, this is a CRITICAL step to the thick and chewy factor!
• 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.

Take out just enough chilled dough balls 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, making it easier to work with and slows the spread.

So give me the recipe already!
You got it, the recipe is below, but keep reading for tips on packaging, transport, chewy, perfect cookies every time and gifting ideas!

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TIPS for ACHIEVING PERFECTLY, THICK, CHUNKY & CHEWY CHOCOLATE CHIP 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.

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.

HOW TO WRAP COOKIE DOUGH FOR GIFT GIVING

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

HOW TO BAKE COOKIES FROM FROZEN 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 10-20 minutes).

In the meantime, preheat the oven, bake at 350-375° for 8-10 minutes and cool as described above.

FRESH PRO TIP: Start by baking them at 375 for high altitude for less time, for sea level, I suggested 350 and you will have to play with the time for your oven.

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, Chunky 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, the centers still appear slightly underbaked, they will continue cooking and set while cooling.
• Cool on pan 2-3 minutes before transferring to wire rack, so the cookies will set.

PIN to your favorite COOKIE Board!

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