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.
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
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- See ALL of my cookie recipes + tips on the SCIENCE of cookie baking here!
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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.
Notes
This recipe was originally published in October 2013 and has been updated with more baking tips and new photos. Photos by Constance Higley.
THESE! Oh my. Fantastic cookie recipe! I subscribed to Tessa’s Magic of Baking lessons and have implemented a number of her tips for this recipe, such weighing the dry ingredients with a digital scale, the chilling time and using parchment rather than silicone baking mats. These cookies turned out better than most of the CC cookie recipes I’ve tried. I sprinkled a bit of flaky sea salt on them when they came out of the oven and they are pure heaven! Thank you Tessa for sharing your recipes and tips!
Ah thank you so much for the kind words, Samantha! SO happy to hear this – sounds like you’re becoming a baking pro! So glad you enjoyed this recipe.
Do you recommend weighing all dry ingredients?
Can i reduce the butter to 3/4 cup instead of 2 cups of butter. Lately i have been having greasy cookies when i bake. I chill the dough and still have greasy cookies, why?
By far, the best best best cookies I’ve ever made. I made it twice in two days because it was so easy and I loved the fact that she also gives you advice on how to freeze the batter to get some QUICK cookie fixes later on.
I would say you need to follow the recipe to the book though because I did all the flour as all-purpose flour and it was just as good but the bread flour does really make a difference.
Highly recommend.
This has been our family’s go-to recipe for 6 years! I have children younger than this recipe who have never known homemade chocolate chip cookies made any other way. Although I will confess it’s seldom it makes it to 24 hours chilling before they get baked, and they are still AMAZING!
Then I discovered I’ve recently become intolerant to wheat. You can imagine how sad I was when I realized I would not be able to to have these cookies anymore…..or so I thought.
This week we tried making a gluten-free version of this recipe. I cut the recipe in half (I didn’t want to be stuck with dozens of cookies we didn’t like), and refrigerated the dough for a couple hours (this is pretty normal for us, see above.)
And they turned out amazing! The best gluten-free cookies I’ve had.
We followed the recipe the same, except we substituted the all-purpose flour with Tom Sawyer’s Gluten-free flour (which is also nightshade-intolerant friendly, for those who can’t do potato starch which is in a lot of gluten free cup-for-cup blends) and we used buckwheat flour for the bread flour. I also doubled the baking powder and baking soda. That’s it!
The color is a bit darker due to the buckwheat flour, that’s normal. I think if you were to add some cocoa powder (or espresso powder if it’s just for adults!) no one would be able to tell the difference.
THANK YOU TESSA for the BEST ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe ever, that even stands up under gluten-free strain! We will be making more soon! <3 <3 <3
Hi there! I don’t have bread flour, anyway to substitute it with regular flour? Is there a huge difference? Thanks!!
Can we substitute eggs with milk ? And if yes then how much?
I followed the directions100% and the cookies turned out cakey vs. chewy. Any thoughts as to why?
Your recipe calls for 2 sticks-227grams of butter. Are you meaning one stick of butter? The butter sticks I purchaed…has 4 sticks of butter…each stick is 4 ounces-226.5 grams.
It was delicious, amazing recipe, but I’d add the ingredients in Grams too! Thank you!!!
Tessa OH MY GOSH. This cookie recipe is the best thing I have ever found. It’s now my go to recipe.
I made a big double batch so I could have a batch of chocolate chip and a batch of peanut butter chocolate chip and they were a HIT!
I made them without the 24hr chill and with the 24hr chill and freezing them, and let me tell you! Baking them right away gives you delicious cookies, but chilling for 24hrs and baking them from frozen gives you IMMACULATE chewy, complexly flavoured cookies that will leave you craving more.
This recipe is something I now make in advance and always have some ready to bake in my freezer.
Tessa OH MY GOSH. This cookie recipe is the best thing I have ever found. It’s now my go to recipe. I made a big double batch so I could have a batch of chocolate chip and a batch of peanut butter chocolate chip and they were a HIT! I made them without the 24hr chill and with the 24hr chill and freezing them, and let me tell you! Baking them right away gives you delicious cookies, but chilling for 24hrs and baking them from frozen gives you IMMACULATE chewy, complexly flavoured cookies that will leave you craving more.
This recipe is something I now make in advance and always have some ready to bake in my freezer.
Bless your heart for sharing this, its now a permanent part of my recipe journal. Guys this is a must try. 100%