April 15, 2019

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Name: Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, melted; ½ cup (55g) light brown sugar, packed; ¼ cup (48g) granulated sugar; 1 large egg; 2 teaspoons (10ml) pure vanilla extract; 1 ¼ cups (175g) all-purpose flour; ½ teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon baking soda; ¾ cup (135g) chocolate chips; Flaky sea salt

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You’ll love this easy Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe made with melted butter, it only takes 10 minutes to prepare! These cookies is are little dense, crispy on the edges, and soft and chewy in the middle.

The Best Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Everyone has a favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, and it’s usually the one your mom made for you when you were growing up, but no matter what, you can’t seem to ever make them the same. I’ve been there. My mom uses the Toll House recipe, and it never came out the same for me.

I wanted my own chocolate chip cookie that was special to me, one that I will share with my kids when they grow up. One that I am claiming to the best one I’ve ever made!

I couldn’t be more excited to share this recipe with you! I’ve been working on it for weeks, polling friends and readers to find out just want the perfect chocolate chip cookie means. It’s finally time to share!

This cookie is a little bit dense and chewy in the middle because it’s slightly under baked. It’s a little crispy on the edges and yet it’s soft in the middle. It’s noticeably flavored with brown sugar and pure vanilla extract, it’s full of gooey chocolate chips and finished with a touch of flaky sea salt.

If you love chocolate chip cookies, you’ll love my soft & chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and my Double Chocolate Chip Chips. If you want to take these up to the next level, try my Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.

What makes this recipe so good?

Only 10 minutes to minutes to prepare- seriously! You can easily use your handheld or stand mixer
Easy ingredients! The ingredients are simple and are readily available in any baker’s cabinet.
There’s more brown sugar than white sugar. The brown sugar adds to the chewiness in these cookies, and holds more moisture, which helps keep them soft.
The flakey sea salt is the perfect finish.

What’s in these cookies?

Melted Butter: This recipe comes together so quick because of the melted butter. I recommend unsalted butter, but either salted or unsalted will work. If you use salted butter, then reduce the salt in the recipe by 1/4 teaspoon.
Light brown sugar & granulated sugar: This recipe uses more brown sugar than white for added chewiness.
Eggs
Vanilla extract- a high quality, pure vanilla extract is always recommended. My go to is Rodelle (affiliate).
All-purpose flour, salt & baking soda
Chocolate chips: Any type of chocolate chips can be used, but I recommend semi-sweet or unsweetened dark chocolate.
Flaky sea salt (affiliate) : Don’t skip this, it seriously makes these cookies SO much better.

Can I make these cookies with gluten-free flour?

YES! I tested this recipe with an measure for measure all-purpose gluten free flour (I prefer King Arthur affiliate). Make sure the flour also includes xanthan gum.

These cookies still baked up perfectly! I asked a few of my gluten-free friends to give me feedback and they loved them. They mentioned that the cookies were particularly soft, which can be difficult to achieve with gluten-free baking.

As I don’t do a lot of gluten-free baking, I can’t say for certain what would happen if you tried these with alternative flours such as almond or coconut flour.

What types of chocolate chips are best for chocolate chip cookies?

It’s really a personal preference. I think it’s important to use a high-quality chocolate chips for the best results. My husband prefers Ghirardelli semi-sweet and I also like Guittard. But you can definitely use milk or dark chocolate chips, chocolate chunks or chopped chocolate bars.

How to make chewy chocolate chips cookies

Prep: Preheat the oven, line a baking sheet (affiliate) with parchment paper or use a silicone baking sheet (affiliate)
Melt the butter and allow it to cool for a few minutes
Cream the butter and sugars together
Add the liquid ingredients: egg and vanilla extract and continue beating until well incorporated
Combine and add remaining dry ingredients, as the dough is thickening, add the chocolate chips
Scoop the dough using a large cookie scoop (affiliate) and place on baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt
Bake for 9-11 minutes and cool before eating (if you can wait that long!)

Tips for making the best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Press a couple chocolate chips on top of the scoop of cookie dough before they go into the oven, or right when the cookies come out of the oven, so you get those nice, visible chocolate chips on top. You might also want to add another pinch of sea salt after baking.

Right when the cookies come out of the oven, use an offset spatula, knife or spoon and gently press the edges of the cookies in towards the center of the cookie. This makes them a little thicker and rounder, but you have to do this right away before the cookie fully sets.

How do I keep cookies from burning on the bottom?

There are a few factors that can cause your cookies to burn.

Don’t over crowd the pan. You need to allow the cookies to bake evenly.
Be sure to bake your cookies on the middle rack of your oven where the temperature is the most even.
Bake only one tray at a time. I know this is tedious, but it really helps! If you need to bake more than one, switch the baking sheets from one rack to the other halfway through baking.
True oven temperature can also be a factor. I use an oven thermometer (affiliate) to keep an eye on my interior oven temperature. Most ovens are off by at least 25 degrees, which can cause cookies to burn.
A silicone baking mat can also help prevent the bottom of your cookies from burning. If you don’t have one, at least use a piece of parchment paper.

Very dark baking sheets will make the bottom of your cookies darker. My favorite cookie baking sheets are from Calphalon (affiliate).

Behind the scenes recipe testing

If you like to nerd out on the details that go into testing a recipe, you’ll love this section. Otherwise just skip right down to the recipe.

When developing this recipe, I made 8 different variations before finding the perfect one. Then, I continued to test it using different methods of preparation including refrigerating and freezing the dough.

Let’s face it, there are thousands of recipes out there. There’s a difference between a good chocolate chip cookie and one that you just can’t get enough of.

All in all, I made 15 batches of cookies between recipe testing, photoshoots and taste tests. It was really hard to resist eating endless cookies (and cookie dough) every night as I was recipe testing. But someone had to do it!

Cookie requirements:

Easy to make, no refrigeration time required
Thick but not puffy with crispy edges
Soft & chewy, not cakey

Why use melted butter?

What surprised me the most about my recipe is that I ended up using melted butter. I didn’t grow up making chocolate chip cookies with melted butter, so it never occurred to me to try it. I was concerned that they would spread too thin if I did not refrigerate the dough- but that was not the case here.

It really changed the overall texture of the cookie and I think it makes the crumb a lot more delicate. They’re less airy (and more dense) because you’re not creaming together butter and sugar, which normally incorporates air.

Can I freeze this cookie dough?

If you need to prepare the dough ahead of time, my recommendation is to directly freeze the cookie. Be sure to pre-scoop your dough before freezing and freeze in an airtight container or Ziploc bag.

When testing this recipe, I took the cookie dough out of the freezer, and allowed it to sit at room temperature before baking. I recommend allowing at least 1 hour and 15 minutes for the dough to thaw prior to baking. I did numerous tests to find the perfect time.

Do not refrigerate the dough first. I found that once the dough was in the refrigerator, it created a very rough exterior.

Can I refrigerate this cookie dough?

I don’t recommend refrigerating the dough. It really changes the structure and texture of the cookie. It made the exterior of the cookie very rough in texture.

I did time tests removing the cookies from the fridge after varying amounts of time and then allowing them to rest at room temperate for 15 minutes prior to baking. Regardless of the time spent in the refrigerator, I was not happy with the results.

How to freeze baked cookies

Freeze the baked cookies in an airtight container or Ziploc bag. I definitely ate these straight from the freezer because I am that impatient. If you can’t wait for them to come to room temperature, I recommend microwaving a frozen cookie for 10-12 seconds and it takes even less time for me to eat them.

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