Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Big butterscotch flavor without being too sweet. These cookies taste how you imagine a Chocolate Chip Cookie should taste!
Texture: The best part! Big, thick, super chewy yet soft on the inside, and crisp at the edges. Perfection.
Ease: Very easy, though I do use two different flours, and there is a chilling period, so some patience is needed – but I promise, they’re worth the wait!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe: My all-time favorite cookie recipe. I have extra dough stashed in the freezer at all times.
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I’m super excited to share with you my Ultimate Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. They’re my version of the perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie!
If you’re anything like the hundreds of people who have taste-tested and tried this recipe, you’re going to love it! (Just read some of the comments below!)
You may be asking yourself what makes this recipe “ultimate?” Well, these cookies have HUGE butterscotch flavor, which is exactly what I adore in a Chocolate Chip Cookie. Beyond the flavor is the texture, which is nothing short of incredible.
What Makes Cookies Chewy, Crisp, or Cakey?
My free guide reveals the ingredients and tweaks that matter.
These cookies have my version of the ultimate texture combination: thick, super chewy, soft, and a little gooey in the middle, crisp and slightly crunchy at the edges, with gooey chocolate chips throughout. Does anything get better than that? I don’t think so.
I would want these cookies to be a part of my last meal on earth, that’s how much I love them!
This is a perfect recipe to learn some of the basics of the science of baking, because with cookies, it’s so easy to see how different tweaks impact the final result! Learn more about that just below.
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Why This is the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
- This recipe utilizes half bread flour, which lends chewiness to the cookies.
- It also uses a good amount of brown sugar, which lends that butterscotch flavor and a thick, soft texture.
- The extra egg yolk in this recipe also helps keep these cookies soft yet chewy and adds richness in flavor.
- You can think of the 24 – 72 hour chilling period as a “marinating” period. The flavors intensify and the texture will become thicker and chewier. It’s pretty amazing and I promise it’s worth the wait.
Do I Really Need to Use Bread Flour?
You don’t absolutely HAVE to use bread flour, but it adds a ton of chewy texture to these cookies that’s worth the extra trip to the store. If you can’t get bread flour, then use all AP flour in its place.
Do I Really Need to Chill the Dough?
The last key element is the 24 to 72 hour chilling period which is a huge pain in the butt, I know, but it is so completely worth it.
Why? The flavor and texture improve SO much as the dough chills!
If you’re absolutely strapped for time, you can bake off some cookies right away – but I’d definitely encourage you to try chilling and see all the wonders it works on your dough.
How to Chill the Dough
Make the dough and scoop into balls using a cookie scoop. Place in an airtight container and place in the fridge for 24-72 hours. Bake straight from the fridge when ready. Learn more about chilling cookie dough here. The colder the dough, the thicker the cookies!
Can You Freeze Chocolate Chip Cookies?
I love cookies straight from the oven, so I always keep pre-scooped balls of Chocolate Chip Cookie dough in a resealable bag in my freezer so I can bake cookies off and have them warm from the oven in a matter of minutes whenever I want. Here are more tips for freezing cookie dough.
How to Store Cookies & Keep Them Soft
The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temp for up to 3 days. Be sure they are completely cooled before storing.
To keep your baked Chocolate Chip Cookies soft, you can add a tortilla on the top and bottom of the cookies to the container a day or two after baking them, or whenever you find the texture starting to harden. The moisture will migrate to your cookies, making them soft and chewy again.
How to Refresh Stored Cookies
If desired, reheat and refresh the cookies in a 350°F oven for 3-5 minutes. Your toaster oven should work just fine. This improves the texture, and there’s nothing like a warm Chocolate Chip Cookie!
Step-by-Step Video
If you want to watch me demonstrate how to make this recipe LIVE, with all of my scientific explanations, tips, and tricks, check out this live Facebook video I did a while back!
More Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes:
- Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies – my most popular recipe!
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
- Soft Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Giant Reese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Cookies
- See ALL of my cookie recipes + tips on the SCIENCE of cookie baking here!
Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (191 grams) all-purpose flour*
- 1 1/4 cups (159 grams) bread flour*
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 sticks (227 grams) unsalted butter, at cool room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 cups (250 grams) lightly packed brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk, at cool room temperature
- 2 cups (340 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- If baking right away, preheat oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs and yolk, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla. Slowly beat in the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Using a large spring-loaded cookie scoop, divide the dough into 3-tablespoon sized balls.
- If time permits, wrap dough balls in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours but no more than 72 hours. This allows the dough to “marinate” and makes the cookies thicker, chewier, and more flavorful.
- When ready to bake, place dough balls on prepared baking sheets, at least 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
- Although I prefer cookies fresh from the oven, these can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days. See pink tip box above the recipe for storage tips.
Recipe Notes
The Ultimate Cookie Handbook
Learn the sweet SCIENCE of cookie baking in a fun, visual way to customize your own recipes frustration-free. Plus, my best 50+ homemade cookies!
This recipe was originally published in October 2013 and has been updated with more baking tips and new photos. Photos by Constance Higley.
Hi Tessa!
Thank you so much for all of your elaborated recipes! they are wonderful.
I have one question – since I don’t have a ‘scooper’, could you please write down for us how many grams are in a pre-baked chilled dough ‘scoop’ (“3 tablespoon sized ball”)?
the size of the pre-baked cookie has much influence on the baking time…
=)
thanks!
You had me at chocolate chip!
Hi Tessa,
I Finally got around to making the cookies. They taste great and look great!. I have tried so many CCC recipes and many have tasted good but never looked right. These are visually appealing and not too sweet. This will definitely be my go to recipe. Thanks for posting!
Thanks for the recipe. I appreciate the the time and effort you put into it. Just one thing though; your grams are off.
1 1/2 cups AP flour is 187.5 grams not 191
1 1/4 cups bread flours is 171.25 grams not 159 (bread flour is heavier)
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar is 275 grams not 247
So the questions is; should we follow the cups or the grams when making the recipe?
Hi Melissa! Weight measurements will vary slightly depending on the brands of ingredients used and the publication itself. Always follow the weights provided by the author because those were used to test the recipe.
Some brands of bread flour may be SLIGHTLY heavier than AP flour, but in my experience only by 1 or 2 grams. I’ve tested this personally. That’s not enough of a difference to complicate measurements for in my opinion. As for the sugar, it depends on how heavy you pack it into the cup. Again, following the measurements provided by the author will yield the best results from any recipe. Hope that helps!
Amazing!!! perfectly chewy and oozing chocolate goodness!! the waiting killed me but as you said makes all the difference!
So glad you agree, Sandi! 🙂
Hi Tessa, What will be the difference if i will not be using bread flour? will it taste the same?
Hi Tessa ! Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipe !!
I wonder what is the right type of white sugar used in your recipe.
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I’m in Brazil and here basically the most common are the “crystal” and the “refined”,
“Refined” is the most used, is a highly refined multi-purpose sugar and the “Crystal” has a larger grain.
Can you tell ? Here is a picture:
By the way, what is the effect of using superfine (like caster sugar) or a slightly larger grain sugar in a cookie recipe?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Hi Alex! Refined looks like what we call granulated sugar here, which is most commonly used in baking. Superfine / caster sugar might produce a finer more delicate texture. I’m not sure about a larger grain sugar as I’ve never baked with something like that.
These were the best chocolate chip cookies EVER! My family and friends said the same. I added white chocolate chunks and they were delicious. Thanks!
Does bread flour changes the flavor of the cookies??
I started using some kind of bread flour (in my country theres no bread flour, so i just bought some higher protein flour with aditives found in US bread flour, like ascorbic acid and other things). Here most flours dont have that stuff.
And the cookies came out with better texture, but there was something off with the flavor! Like its missing sweet/vanilla flavor.
Im using artificial vanilla, 200g butter instead of 226g (one stick here is 200g so its easier to use that), and im using little extra flour because the flour here is not very good compared to US flours, its weaker.
So what could be the problem? All that combined or its the flour quality?
Because before using that new flour, the flavor was there, it was good.
Thanks.
Immediately after making the dough, can I form into balls BEFORE chilling for 24 hours? I want to make sure this doesn’t dry them out. Thanks!
No, it works best to chill all the dough together. Think of it like marinading. All the flavors need to meld together and we don’t want to dry the dough out like you mentioned.
I made yesterday your brown butter choc chip recipe, but I creamed the butter instead of melting, and baked right away some cookies, they came out perfectly, puffed up, crisp around the edges and with a perfect texture i never achieved before!
Texture was so good, it wasnt greasy, it was literally perfect.
I freezed the dough and tried it today to see if it would be the same, but it wasnt :/, the cookie came thiner and it was more dense, i tried with very cold dough and room temperature dough, on different oven temperatures and it didnt come out like yesterday. What happened?? The leavening power from baking soda stoped working because of the resting period?
And would it happen with this ultimate choc chip cookie recipe?
Please help me out :), I was sooo happy that it was perfect but now i couldnt replicate it with the same dough! Now i dont know what happened and what to do :((
Hello, after refrigerating the this recipe dough overnight or for a few days, does it loses leveaning power?? Or the texture results will be the same always? Comparing to baking right away.