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! These babies are 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 patience is involved. You can make a double batch, shape the dough into balls, chill for a day or two, then freeze the balls. Bake when the cookie cravings come!
Pros: My all-time favorite cookie recipe.
Cons: None.
Would I make this again? A thousand times yes, I’ve made this recipe countless times and have extra dough stashed in the freezer at all times.
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I’m super duper excited to share with you my Ultimate Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies complete with a video to show you exactly how they’re made.
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!
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!)
Be sure to check out my Ultimate Guide to Chocolate Chip Cookies before you make these!
You may be asking yourself, what makes this recipe the “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!
How to Make Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Do you remember my Ultimate Guide to Chocolate Chip Cookies Part 1 and Part 2? That is where I discovered ALL the secrets to making my version of the best chocolate chip cookie.
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 thick and 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.
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.
- The flavor and texture improve SO much as the dough chills!
- If you’re absolutely strapped for time, you can bake off some cookies as soon as the dough is done. But I’d definitely encourage you to try chilling and see all the wonders it works on your 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. 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 Keep Cookies Soft
- Most 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 an apple wedge, piece of bread, or 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 from the bread or apple will migrate to your cookies, making them soft and chewy again.
- A tortilla is a new favorite of mine because it takes up much less room than a slice of bread, and doesn’t transfer any flavors or aromas like an apple wedge, and takes up almost no room!
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 cookie dough 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 (one of my most popular recipes!)
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
- Soft Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Giant Reese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Cookies
See ALL of my chocolate chip cookie recipes + tips & insights into the SCIENCE of cookie baking here!
Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies
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.
This recipe was originally published in October 2013 and updated in 2021 with more baking tips and new photos. Photos by Constance Higley.
Hi Tessa! can i use all purpose flour for the bread flour
Yes you can, though the bread flour really helps make these cookies chewy and wonderful.
OMG that is exactly how I like my CCC!!! This is THE recipe! I’ve found many recipes only focusing on texture but paid no attention to the gooeyness or flavor of the cookie. THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!! And what do you mean by culinary grad? Does that mean you went to a culinary school?
YAY!!! Love this comment 🙂 And yes, I went to culinary school.
I tried this recipe last weekend !
It makes 20 cookies with me , however they were the BEST COOKIES EVER!
Everyone loved them!
Thank you so much for sharing this AMAZING recipe.
Yay! Thanks for sharing your experience 🙂
Hi Tessa. I just wanted to thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe. I had to convert everything to metric weights and search for appropriate flour types, since I’m from Germany and they are a little different here. We also don’t have packed brown sugar so I used the normal brown cane sugar. The result was fantastic!! Everyone that I shared them with couldn’t get enough of them, they taste so great. Heres a picture of my cookies fresh out of the oven:
I’ll have to bake them again soon 😀 Greetings from Germany
Thank you so much for your lovely comment and for sharing your photo! I love it!! I’m so happy everything turned out well in your German kitchen. Yay!
Thanks for the tips Tessa. I will persevere and try them again until they look like yours in the photo!
Hi Tessa,
I made these cookies twice. Following the chilling in the fridge, temperature of the butter, using bread flour etc…. but somehow the cookies are not as chewy and soft as you have them. They get really puffy though and the inside texture looks very “bready” and crumbly. I wonder what i have done wrong. I baked them for 15 mins.
Could I have overbaked them ? The taste was still great though, not too sweet.
It sounds like you may have used too much flour. Be sure if you’re using volume cup measurements that you avoid compacting the flour into the cup – instead spoon the flour into the cup then sweep off the excess. OR better yet, use a scale the measure the weight of the flour (ounces listed in recipe). You may also try shaving a minute or two from the cooking time to achieve a more ooey gooey center. Hope that’s helpful!
Thanks Tessa,
You helped me a lot. I’m not a baker but love to bake & I learn from friends & net. Your blog is so helpful esp the video so that way I can get a rough idea how everything looks like when you blend & mix. Thanks again, I’ll let you know how my cookies turned out after 24 hrs chill. I’m hoping to have a wonderful result, I have tried many recipes & I’m not giving up esp after seeing your post & I had bread flour since I bought for NY Times CCC. Wish me luck! Your pictures are simply stunning.
I followed your recipe & I’m hoping to have cookies like yours. I followed the NY Times recipe but my dough balls didn’t spread much for some reason & I had to use the back of spoon to flatten them since no one likes a puffed up blob of sugary bundle, LOL. I like my cookies the way yours are. Any idea why my cookies (following NY Times Recipe) didn’t spread much. THANKS!
When cookies don’t spread it can be caused by a few things:
1. Too much flour. Make sure you’re not packing your measuring cups with flour, spoon the flour into the measuring cup. OR better yet, weigh your flour.
2. Dough is too cold. Since I know that recipes requires the dough to chill, you may want to let it come to room temperature before baking so it will spread more.
3. Your oven is too hot. Cookies baked at a higher temperature spread less. Try using an oven thermometer to test your oven’s accuracy and adjust if necessary. Many ovens are off by 20+ degrees!
Hope that helps!
Hi Tessa~
I’m always looking for a great CCC recipe. I’ve been using the one from America’s Test Kitchen (look it up) and they are phenomenal. I can’t wait to try yours, but I’m not a big fan of butterscotch. Your recipe is similar, except they melt the butter (almost brown it). I don’t do that, as it tastes too peanut-buttery for me. I just barely melt it. I also use 1/2 dark brown and 1/4 light brown sugars, not all 3/4 dark brown.
Anyway, what makes yours taste like butterscotch do you think? You don’t melt/brown your butter and that’s the only thing I can think of that would lead to a butterscotch flavor.
Thanks!
Ed
Hi Ed! The high proportion of brown sugar definitely lends some butterscotch flavor (in addition to moist chewiness) which is enhanced by the minimum 24 hour dough chill. During the time the dough is in the fridge the sugar can really dissolve and the butterscotch flavor develops. The chill also improves the texture. You might consider baking the dough right after it’s made or use a shorter chill time to avoid that butterscotch flavor. However, doing so may sacrifice some of the great texture. Hope that’s helpful!
I LOVE both tests!!……we need a 3 and 4th!!.I love chocolate chip cookies but i must watch my cholesterol intake ( doctors orders). I prefer cookies with a texture similar to the ‘ultimate chocolate chip cookies’ above and I always add walnuts. How can I accomplish this without sacrifizing texture and flavor too much. Less butter or fat, using spreads or margarine etc. Or less egg and egg replacement together etc. Thaks in advance. I am hooked on this blog,love the tips and comments from other people too.
Thanks! You know, I’m really not a fan of nuts in cookies so this is something I don’t have much experience with. I think you’re heading in the right direction with lowering the fat content of the dough since the walnuts are quite oily themselves. I hope you get to experiment with this a little! Let us know if you find a good compromise.
I see a couple people have asked if there can be a substitution for the bread flour, I am curious as well. What is the benefit of using the bread flour, what could be substituted and in what way would the resulting cookie be different?
Bread flour is pretty crucial to these cookies, I definitely included it for a specific reason because it makes the cookies thick and chewy. You can read more about it here: https://handletheheat.com/2013/08/the-ultimate-guide-to-chocolate-chip-cookies-part-2.html
Tessa,
Thanks for your wonderful post! I’ve been trying to make the “ultimate chocolate chip cookies” for some time now but hasn’t gotten it right yet. But now, thanks to your post, I will try it again!
My question is: if I’d like to add oatmeal to this recipe, but without altering its chewiness, how would you make your recommendation?
Adding oats can be a challenge because they tend to draw moisture away, which is what lends chewiness. I do have an Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe: https://handletheheat.com/2013/07/oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies.html