Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: These cookies really have that caramelized butterscotch flavor which is due in part to the sugars, including corn syrup, thoroughly dissolving in the melted butter.
Texture: Just like the title says: thin and crispy!
Ease: Super easy, you don’t even have to wait for butter to come to room temperature or use your electric mixer.
Pros: Quick, easy, and satisfies that thin crispy craving.
Cons: None.
Would I make this again? Anytime I crave that crispy texture!
This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
If you’re a fan of Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies, this recipe is for you!
With my immense cookie knowledge (don’t laugh, that’s a real thing), I knew I could create a recipe for thin and crispy cookies.
I know some people who love this texture and I do crave it every once in a while.
If you’ve ever had Tate’s Chocolate Chip Cookies, then this recipe creates results that are almost identical. The only difference? My Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies have that same crunch but also a slight hint of chewiness in the center, which I really enjoy.
They’re positively addictive!
Be sure to read through the pink tip box just below for some crucial tips and tricks to make these cookies thin, crispy and utterly delicious!
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Key Ingredients for Crispy Cookies!
- Melted butter – To achieve thin and crisp cookies, I’ve discovered that melted butter is really crucial. Melted butter helps the cookies to spread out and become flatter with crisp edges.
- Sugar – Another key trick is using more granulated sugar than brown sugar, which will also help produce flat, chewy, crunchy cookies. Learn more about sugar’s role in baking here.
- Corn syrup – A touch of corn syrup in this dough aids in browning and caramelization, giving the cookies great flavor and browned crunchy bottoms.
- Milk – A splash of milk added to the dough also helps to create flatter cookies by adding more moisture to the dough, so it spreads faster in the oven.
- Baking soda – Make sure your baking soda is FRESH for this recipe. It’s critical to the spread and browning of these cookies which gives them their crispy thin texture. Learn more about baking soda and baking powder here.
- Salt – Not a key ingredient for crispiness but since these crispy cookies contain three kinds of sugar for maximum spread, we want to be sure to balance the sweetness with the salt. I prefer fine sea salt but you can also use table salt. Just don’t use kosher salt because it won’t dissolve and mix in as evenly. Learn about the different types of salt here.
Do I Have to Use Corn Syrup?
If you can’t find corn syrup, you can use golden syrup instead. If you can’t find or don’t want to use either, you can technically leave it out of this recipe. You’ll still have a delicious cookie, but the texture won’t quite be as thin and crispy.
The Most Important Part of This Recipe: Measure Your Flour Correctly!
Anytime someone tells me they made this Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe and the cookies didn’t come out thin and crispy, I can all but guarantee it was because the flour wasn’t properly measured. It’s all too easy to accidentally over-measure your flour by compacting too much into the measuring cup. Here are some flour tips:
- If you’re not already measuring your flour with a digital kitchen scale, or at the very least using the spoon & level method, I highly highly recommend you read my post on How to Measure Flour ASAP.
- Also, make sure you’re using the RIGHT kind of flour. For best results in this recipe, don’t use a high-protein flour like King Arthur.
- This recipe was tested successfully with Gold Medal Bleached All Purpose Flour (blue label).
- Just take a look at what a difference measuring your flour correctly can make:
Tips for Baking Crispy Cookies:
- Don’t overmix the cookie dough. We really want to avoid activating webs of gluten in this recipe. That’s why you should avoid a high-protein flour. But you should also avoid over-mixing the dough (which is really more like a thick batter in consistency). Stir in the dry ingredients until JUST combined.
- Use the correct baking pans. If possible, avoid baking these cookies on nonstick or greased cookie sheets. Use unlined light-colored metal baking pans lined with parchment paper. The dark nonstick finish of some pans can enhance browning and even cause cookies to burn on the bottom, especially in this particular recipe. Nonstick cooking spray can increase spreading while cookies bake in the oven, which we don’t want in this particular recipe since the dough will spread enough on its own.
- Make sure your oven temperature is accurate. An oven thermometer is the best way to do this. If you’re unsure, at the very least preheat your oven for an extra 10 minutes before baking anything. If your oven isn’t properly preheated or if it tends to run cold, you won’t get crispy cookies. Learn more about ovens here.
- Bake time: I’ve had success with baking these Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies in my oven for about 12 minutes, rotating the tray halfway through for ultra-crispy cookie edges.
How to Shape Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies
A spring-loaded cookie scoop makes quick and easy work of portioning out the cookie dough – especially because this dough is more wet and sticky than others. Use a 1 1/2 tablespoon or medium-sized cookie scoop. Spray the inside of the scoop with nonstick cooking spray if you find your dough is sticking.
How to Store Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies
These cookies are definitely best served soon after baking, as that’s when they’ll be the crispiest. They will soften slightly the longer they’re stored. That’s why I recommend freezing this dough, so you can have perfectly thin, crispy cookies at a moment’s notice! You can also re-crisp by reheating the baked cookies in a 350°F oven for a few minutes.
How to Freeze Cookie Dough Instructions
I love to scoop out and freeze balls of cookie dough to bake whenever I crave cookies! Check out this post on how to freeze cookie dough and bake from frozen. To ensure that distinct texture, allow the dough to defrost in the fridge overnight before baking as instructed in the recipe below.
More Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes:
Check out ALL of my cookie recipes here!
Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Email This Recipe
Enter your email, and we’ll send it to your inbox.
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cups (169 grams) all purpose flour, measured correctly
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 stick (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup (67 grams) packed light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup or golden syrup
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon milk (any kind)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup (170 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- In a large bowl, vigorously beat the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and corn syrup with a spatula until very well combined. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla and beat vigorously until very well combined. Gradually add the flour mixture and stir until just combined, being careful not to over-mix. Gently stir in the chocolate chips. The dough will be very loose, sticky, and more like batter in consistency.
- Using a medium (1 1/2-tablespoon size) spring-loaded scoop, drop balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing at least 2 1/2 inches apart. Don't worry if the dough isn't perfectly round. Bake for about 12 minutes, or until golden brown and flat, rotating the sheets halfway through baking. Bake one sheet at a time for even cooking. When you remove the baking sheet from the oven, tap it against the counter.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before using a thin spatula to remove to wire racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature. If desired, reheat the cookies in a 350°F oven for 3 to 5 minutes, or until warmed through.
Recipe Notes
This recipe was originally published in 2013 and has been updated with new photos and article improvements. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
Can’t wait to try out this cookie version.
Can’t wait to hear what you think of this recipe, Ella!
– Kiersten @ HTH
hola.. muchas gracias.. estoy buscando recetas de galletas para empezar a vender.. las probare y te escribire.. un abrazo.
Made it Will NEVER make it again. Chewing to an a trend. Not crispy in the least. I followed the directions to a t
Do you have a scale to measure your ingredients? Anytime we hear that the cookies didn’t come out thin and crispy, it’s typically because the flour wasn’t properly measured OR the flour used has too high of protein. We actually talk about this in the pink box above the recipe as well as include other tips from Tessa on achieving a perfectly thin and crispy cookie. You could also try baking at 375°F next time, your oven might run a little cold and the higher temperature will help get them darker and crunchier. We’d love for you to try this again, please let us know if you do!
Fantastic cookie recipe! Years ago I was able to make my cookies thin and crispy from the standard toll house recipe but something changed and I could not figure it out. Anyway, we tried your recipe today and it was Perfect! We did increase our oven bake time by 2 min and we used dark corn syrup. Thanks for sharing!
Can you refrigerate dough for baking the next day?
Hi Jackie! I don’t think we’ve actually tried that, though refrigerating the dough may result in thicker cookies (see this article HERE for more details). I hope that helps!
I already filled gave my comments and asked for a solution to get the perfect crispy cooky. ;AND somehow when I lost the whole page and here I am again. I’m 82 YO and have been trying to make the perfect CHOC chip cooky. You I
would think I ‘d have the steps down pat. I have made your recipe three times and they come out the same – SOFT.
HELP a Grandma please!
Did you use a digital scale to measure your ingredients? Too much flour will result in puffy cookies versus thin! Is your baking soda fresh? Hopefully by reading over our tips in the pink box above the recipe, it will help you figure out what went wrong as there are quite a few reasons as to why these cookies can turn out soft. I’d love for them to turn out perfectly for you, please let me know if I can help more!
I have done so much research about making thin chocolate chip cookies and it seems everyone has a different method! I love this recipe- this was the closest I got. I have made these about 7 times and I am successful around 40% of the time. (3 out of 7 batches came out thin and crispy). I do everything like you say, even bought the blue label flour. Is it the mixing? My oven? The freshness of my baking soda? Do you have an idea how many stirs would be considered over-mixing? I can’t think of anything else that makes them puffy and cake-like. It’s my life’s quest now!
Do you weigh your ingredients with a digital scale? The most common reason why cookies turn out more cake-like is due to too much flour being added. Have you noticed anything else different in the way you’ve made each batch?
Great recipe and I will try it this weekend. But, a question…
You spend some time via a link drawing attention to the importance of properly measuring flour.
But, this recipe doesn’t indicate whether “flour, sifted” OR “sifted flour,”
Which method is recommended for this recipe? i.e. sift flour before or after it’s been weighed?
Thank you!
Hi Chuck! We never sift flour in our recipes unless the recipe uses cake flour as cake flour is very fine and more likely to clump together (or unless the recipe specifically states to). If a recipe states “flour, sifted”, you’ll want to measure the flour, then sift. If a recipe states an amount of “sifted flour”, you’ll want to sift the flour as you measure. With this recipe, you will not need to sift your flour at all. I hope that helps! Please let us know what you think when you give this recipe a try 🙂
I haven’t tried your recipe yet because I just found it but I will try it. So recently I tried another recipe that was a replica for Tates Cookies and they did not come out flat. Was it because I might have added too much flour or is it because I didn’t use an electric mixer? Or is it both?
Hi Aly! Check out the pink tip box above the recipe for reasons why your other cookie recipe may not have turned out flat-too much flour is definitely a possibility. Our recipe does not need an electric mixer-please let us know what you think if you give it a try!
THE BEST cookie ever.
Tessa, I know you don’t like substitutions, so I apologize. However, for people who do not like chocolate, I sometimes substitute toffee chips for chocolate chips, or add coconut and macadamia nuts and/or white chocolate chips. The base is also a very good brown sugar cookie — the flavor reminds me of Pepperidge Farm’s Bordeau cookie (my favorite commercial cookie).
Yummy! That sounds absolutely delicious, I can practically taste that addition! Glad you love this recipe, thanks for sharing 🙂
These are my FAVORITE cookies. Even if I don’t get them as crispy as I want, they’re still delicious as “normal” chocolate chip cookies. I would highly recommend!!
p.s. part of what might make mine not as crispy is that I sub maple syrup for corn syrup because I don’t ever have corn syrup but am a big maple syrup fan! It doesn’t impact the flavor at all in my opinion, but could, as I mentioned, do something to the crispiness. Either way, I am in love.
So happy to hear you love these cookies so much, Sierra! You are correct in that your substitution is affecting the crispiness; however, as long as you love the taste, that’s all that matters 🙂
Just made these last night. They did not get crispy but the flavor is great. I do not mind them chewy and neither do my boys!
So glad you tried this recipe out! Sorry to hear they didn’t turn out very crispy. Try baking at 375°F next time, your oven might run a little cold and the higher temperature will help get them darker and crunchier. Good luck!