The Best of the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Just Bling · ‎03-10-2010

This recipe appears in America's Test Kitchens book (the new version which I don't have yet covers 2001 - 2022) and if you buy it, buy it from the website store (Amazon is too expensive). Also sign up for e-mails and they have a few days of no min shipping but will let you know via e-mail

Chocolate Chip Cookies

these are thick and chewy

makes about 18 cookies

2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon table salt

12 Tablespoons (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large whole egg

1 large egg yolk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Adjust the oven racks to the upper middle and lower middle positions and heat oven to 325 deg. line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper

whisk flour, baking soda, salt together in a med bowl and set aside

in a stand mixture with paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars at medium speed until smooth

about 1 minute.

add whole egg and yolk with vanilla and beat on med low speed for 30 seconds scraping down bowl and beater as needed. add dry ingredients and mix on low speed until combined about 30 seconds. mix in chocolate chips until incorporated.

divide the dough into 18 equal portions each about 1/4 cup and roll between your hands into balls. Holding one ball with your fingers, pull the dough apart into 2 equal halves and rotate 90 deg then put the 2 jagged sides together into a ball but do not smooth the dough's unequal surface.

space 2-1/2" apart

bake until cookies are light golden brown and the edges start to harden but the centers are still soft and puffy,

15-18 minutes switching and rotating sheets halfway through the baking time. cool cookies on baking sheets.

Tips and what I learned

1. follow directions about the approx time with the mixer

2. make sure your butter is cool before using

3. use regular vanilla and not vanilla paste

4. i used a large cookie scoop and that worked too but you still need to pull apart in 2 pieces and rejoin them with the uneven surface facing up.

5. don't get your dough too warm, less handling is the best

6. I have very large baking sheets but still found even if I baked 9 cookies a piece, some sides still touched, next time I think I'll do maybe 3 sheets of 6 each.

7. do not use a hot or warm cookie sheet for the third batch

8. remember to switch top and bottom sheets halfway through baking

9. remember to rotate sheets too halfway (always forget that step because I'm in a hurry so the oven isn't opened very long but it's important

10. don't use 2 full eggs, toss that extra white of the egg, clearly calls for 1 egg plus 1 yolk and that's needed for the fat of the cookie

11. I make a chocolate chip combo cookie, i use semi sweet mini's, extra large, regular and chunks to make the 1-1/2 cups. If you have milk, that works too.

12. Just use the 1-1/2 cup of chips, using more you lose the integrity of the cookie.

These are really easy to make and bake, once you get going, the stand mixer time is fast, forming and breaking then putting them back together goes fast too.

Hope you enjoy them just as I do and all my friends and neighbors that I gifted them to.

Bakery Quality

grandma petes · ‎03-09-2010

This is my go-to, fool-proof recipe. They turn out great every time. Although I don't break the cookie apart and I've found that 10 tbsp of melted butter seems to result in a cookie that doesn't spread as much. We like a thicker, chewier cookie.

But, all in all, it's the best recipe I've found.😊

SloopJohnB · ‎04-25-2020

🍪🍪🍪😛💝 @Just Bling

I would give everything I own just to have you back again.......David Gates of Bread

deepwaterdotter · ‎03-09-2010

I like this recipe from a King Arthur's Flour cookbook. The edges get crispy, but the centers are chewy:

2/3 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup sugar

8 tbsp softened butter

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp vinegar

1 tsp baking soda

1 egg

2 cups flour

2 cups chocolate chips

Beat sugar, brown sugar, butter, shortening, salt, vanilla, vinegar, and baking soda with electric mixer until creamy. Beat in egg until smooth. Stir in flour. Stir in chips.

Scoop tablespoonfuls 2" apart onto parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees until edges are browned, mine need 10 minutes. Cool on sheet to avoid breakage.

depglass · ‎03-10-2010

What is the point of separating the dough and reattaching it at the uneven sides?

Wait, I have that backwards, don't I?

RespectLife · ‎02-27-2012

Thank you so much @Just Bling for taking the time!

I really appreciate it!

I can't wait to try this recipe, with the breaking apart and using melted butter, it is DEF different!

Thanks again!

Just Bling · ‎03-10-2010

@depglass

No, you form in a "rough ball", rolling excessively in your hand makes the dough warm and also overworks the dough.

I've been just using a cookie scoop and breaking the dough apart and putting together the rough edges.

Here's the reason right out of the recipe

"Finally, we formed the dough into balls, then pulled each half into two pieces and rejoined them with the uneven surface facing up, now our cookies had the rustic, craggy appearance we wanted."

I leave them "high" after I do this, they will spread out that's why I am going to do 6 per sheet so they don't touch each other and are perfectly round.

I sort of look at my "high" dough and you can just tell how they will spread so I sort of fix my "high cookie dough" so when they do bake, they become round. Just eye the dough.