Gemma's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe (With Video) (2024)

Gemma's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe (With Video) (1)

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I’ve been a pastry chef for years, so I know a thing or two about cookies (just look at the100+cookie recipeshere) That’s why I’m so excited to share with you how to make my Best-EverChocolate Chip Cookies. Move over Toll House and Mrs. Fields, the Bigger Bolder King of allChocolate Chip Cookierecipesis here, and it’s the onlyrecipeyou’ll ever need! Just check out thethousands of commentsand five-star reviews:

“By far the bestcookie recipeI’ve used. They have a lovelyflavor, crispy edges, and a soft chewy middle. The pockets of melted chocolate are heaven. I’ll never use anotherrecipe.”–Cherie

“They came out perfectly. I concur 100%, this is the best-evercookie recipe.” –Beginner Baker

“I’ve tried A LOT of differentcookie recipesover the years, but these cookies are just…WOW.” –Lidi

Follow my tried and truerecipeand my BoldBakingTips below, and I’ll show you how to make butterychocolate chip cookieseven better than the ones you love from your favorite bakery or restaurant.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This recipe was updated and improved on 4/25/2023, to include additional step-by-step photography, science behind ingredients and the process, answers to the most frequently asked questions (why flat/why puffy/why oily), and perfected Pro-Chef Tips (chocolate types, baking from cold, “pan bang magic”, etc.).

Table of Contents

  • What is a Chocolate Chip Cookie?
  • The Secrets to My Best-Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies
  • Tools You Need
  • Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies Ingredients
  • How to Make Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies
  • Why Are My Cookies Too Flat? How to avoid cookies spread?
  • Why Are My Cookies Too Puffy? How to make cookies spread out properly?
  • FAQs
  • Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips for the Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
  • All The Ways To Make Chocolate Chip Cookies
  • Don’t Miss More Best-Ever Recipes

What is aChocolate Chip Cookie?

The originalrecipe, called the Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookie, was invented in 1939 by chefs Ruth Graves Wakefield and Sue Brides. Wakefield owned the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts, and used Nestlé semi-sweet chocolate for the historicrecipe.

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The Secrets to My Best EverChocolate Chip Cookies

This Best EverChocolate Chip Cookierecipehas the magic ratio of brown to white sugar. While this seems like a small detail it makes a huge difference in thetextureof the cookie. Read below about howbrown sugarand white sugar combine to make the ideal combination of crisp and chewy.

I don’t believe in skimping on key ingredients, so the Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookie has serious chocolate chunkage. Normal cookie recipes are 80% cookie dough to 20% chocolate chips, comparatively, the Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookie has a 50-50 ratio. I like to use bittersweet chocolate with 72% cocoa solids, and I use a chopped-up bar of quality chocolate.

The Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookie dough is chilled before baking in order to give the dough a better texture and to meld the flavors.

Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies Ingredients

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Dry Ingredients

  • Flour: All-purpose flour(AKAplain flour) is the base of these cookies. It has a protein content of around 11%, so the cookies will be soft.
  • Salt: A pinch of salt will enhance your cookies’ flavor by balancing out the sweetness.
  • BakingSodagives you achewy cookiewith a gooey, doughier center (usingbakingpowderwould give you acakeycookie).
    • Baking soda reacts with the small amount of natural acid from eggs to lightly leaven the cookies.
    • Baking soda reacts with hot sugar contributing to the flavor and browning of cookies.
    • Baking soda delays the setting process allowing cookies to spread more properly. Find the science behind these in this article BakingPowderVS.BakingSodaWhenBakingCookies.
  • Both white sugar and brown sugarsweeten cookies, bind easily with water to lock in moisture moistening cookies and inhibiting excessglutenformation and contribute to browning andflavors.
    • Granulated Sugar (AKA: White Sugar/Caster Sugar) is the main sweetener. With less moisture than brown sugar, white sugar caramelizes faster and gives the cookies delicately crispy edges.
    • Comparatively, Brown Sugaradds moisture to give cookies a gooey chewy center and a lovely hint of caramel. I recommend darkbrown sugarwhich has more moisture and a deeper caramelflavorthanlight brown sugar. Make your own or enrich it using myrecipeHow to MakeBrown Sugar.

Wet Ingredients

  • Butter contains around 80% milk fat which adds richness to cookies. Salted butter adds extra flavor and is what I always use, but unsalted butter works too.
  • Eggs:
    • Eggs always need to be at room temperature in baking unless specified otherwise.
    • Eggs enrich flavors.
    • The yolks act as an emulsifier to bind all ingredients hom*ogeneously, and the egg whites help make the cookies soft.
  • Vanilla extract works as a seasoning to bring out the flavor of the other ingredients and specifically pairs really well with bittersweet chocolate. Make your own using my Homemade Extractrecipe.
  • Bittersweet Chocolate:
    • Bittersweet chocolate (63 – 72 % cocoa solids) is darker and more pronounced than semisweet chocolate and has the perfect balance of bitter and sweet. Hence, this is my go-to chocolate.
    • Find out more about chocolate here in my Ultimate Guide to the Different Types of Chocolate.

How To MakeChocolate Chip Cookies

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Making the Dough

  1. MyBoldBakingBasic of whisking dry ingredientsand wet ingredients separately first before combining is the key to the success of this recipe and many others!
    • Separate mixings incorporate extra air to lighten cookie dough compared to whisking everything together all at once.
    • Whisking dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately not only evenly disperses ingredients without toughening gluten but also helps to prevent dense rubbery cookies.
  2. Use melted butter instead of softened butter. Softened butter retains much more air than melted butter which will make cookies rise like cakes. We’re looking for a gorgeous chewy, gooey cookie here, not a cake-like cookie.
  3. Add the eggs one at a time.
    • Introducing eggs slowly will allow emulsifiers from egg yolks adequate time to bring all ingredients together hom*ogeneously and eliminate lumps without over mixing.
    • Adding one egg each time also cools down the very warm butter and sugar mixture to prevent eggs from getting cooked too early.

Chilling the Dough

  1. CHILLCOOKIE DOUGH! I can’t stress enough how important and how beneficial it is to chill thecookie dough.
    • Chilling cookie dough allows time for wet ingredients to hydrate dry ingredients, concentrating and enhancing flavor.
    • Chilling cookie dough prevents overspreading. On one hand, the cooled solidified fat takes a longer time to melt and make the cookies spread. On the other hand, sugar has time to absorb more excess moisture from the dough to stop the cookies from overspreading.
    • Additionally, chilling cookie dough slightly dries out the dough making sugar caramelize more easily, leading to a crispy-on-the-outside and chewy-on-the-inside texture.

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Baking

  1. Take care NOT to overbake the cookies.Bakecookies JUST until the edges are set and the cookies begin to turn darker or golden brown but are still doughy and a bit pale in the middle. They may appear raw but will set more while cooling.

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Why Are My Cookies Too Flat? How to avoid cookies spread?

  1. First, flours don’t absorb liquid equally. Use up to 3/4 in one go and adjust it accordingly to reach the same consistency as the recipe.
  2. Second, DO NOT over-mix. Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature. Mix ingredients until JUST combined. Over-mixing will separate fat from butter causing the cookie spread out during baking.
  3. Third, Chilling cookie dough not only enhances flavors but also stabilizes dough to prevent cookies from spreading too thin.
  4. Fourth, Preheat your oven. The moment you put your cookies in, they start to rise. Imagine melting chocolate on the stovetop on low heat. When you’re baking cookies, you wouldn’t want a situation where low oven heat is causing your cool cookie dough to melt slowly.
  5. At last, another problem could be that you flattened the cookie dough out on the cookie sheet before baking. Do not flatten these cookies! They will flatten out themselves in the oven.

Why Are My Cookies Too Puffy? How to make cookies spread out properly?

  1. First, your dough might have been on the dry side. Flour in different places behaves in different ways and absorbs liquid differently. You may need more for yours to get the same consistency as the recipe.
  2. Second, you might have over handled the dough. This strengthens gluten and prevents cookies from spreading. Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature and mix until just combined.
  3. Third, if your oven runs hot, the outside of the cookies may bake too so they don’t spread as they should.
  4. Last but not least, I DO recommend chilling your cookie dough in the fridge or freezer. However, baking from frozen will affect the texture. Let frozen cookie dough sit at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes while preheating the oven, then bake the cookies until the edges are set and the cookie is beginning to turn darker or golden brown throughout. Be sure it is still doughy and a bit pale in the middle. They will set more while cooling down.

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FAQs

Can I MakeChocolate Chip Cookiesin Advance?

Yes. You can make chocolate chip cookies in advance. As long as you cover the bowl of dough with cling wrap, and it will keep just fine in the refrigerator for up to 7 days. You can also freeze pre-scooped balls of dough for up to 8 weeks.

How to Store the Cookies

You can store the cookies at room temperature in anairtight containerfor up to 2 days.

Can I Make the Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies Egg-Free?

Yes. You can always use myegg substitute chartand still enjoy fabulous cookies.

[Vegan? Try myVeganChocolate Chip Cookierecipe! ]

Why did my cookies come out oily?

The secret to getting a cookie that’s crisp on the edges but chewy in the middle is to bake a very cold or frozen dough in a really hot oven. You can form the dough into balls before freezing. Then just place them on a cookie sheet and bake them in a preheated oven. Keep this in mind: cold dough, hot oven. Also do not overmix, as that will separate the butter, giving you a greasy cookie as a result.

Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips for the Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

  1. Use a chopped-up bar of quality bittersweet chocolate. Chocolate chips contain stabilizers and they won’t melt and pool like chopped-up chocolate. Also, the quality of chocolate in chips is sometimes not as good as what you’ll find in a bar.
  2. Remember to chill your cookie dough. Chilling dough not only refines flavor and texture but also ensures less spread during baking.
    • On one hand, chilling the dough for at least one hour will prevent your cookies from over spreading during baking.
    • On the other hand, “aging” your dough overnight or up to seven days gives your dough a more pronounced flavor and gooier texture.
  3. Scoop 1/4 cup of dough per cookie as directed in my recipe. The baking time is based on a 1/4 scoop of cookie dough. If you make the scoops are smaller then you need to bake them for less time. Correspondingly, you will get more than the recipe’s yield of 14-15 cookies.
  4. Another key point is to make sure you don’t FLATTEN the cookies. Shape round balls of dough, pop them in the fridge to make sure they are cold before baking, and then place them on the cookie sheet. They will flatten out in the oven, giving you a thick cookie with a gooey center.
  5. Bake cookies from COLD at a high temperature for a short time. This will ensure you have crisp edges and a gooey, doughy center.
  6. Last, bang the pan! The easy trick of banging the pan a few times after baking, causes the cookies to “fall,” and produces a cookie covered in lovely crinkles on the surface and pools of melted chocolate.

Gemma's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe (With Video) (8)

This recipe is the best of all worlds, but if you’re a fan of chewy chocolate chip cookies, soft chocolate chip cookies, and chocolate chunkage, I have what you’re looking for:

  • The Internet’s Best Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
  • The Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies Of Your Dreams
  • Bakery-Style Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
  • 5 Star Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

Don’t Miss More Best-Ever Recipes

  • Best Ever Brownies
  • Best Ever Banana Bread
  • Best Ever Oatmeal Cookies
  • Best Ever Peanut Butter Cookies
  • Best Ever Sticky Buns

My new cookbook, Bigger Bolder Baking Every Day, is available now!

IMPORTANT NOTE: This recipe was updated and improved on 4/25/2023, to include additional step-by-step photography, science behind ingredients and the process, answers to the most frequently asked questions (why flat/why puffy/why oily), and perfected Pro-Chef Tips (chocolate types, baking from cold, “pan bang magic”, etc.).

Full (and printable) recipe below!

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Watch The Recipe Video!

Gemma's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe (With Video) (2024)

FAQs

How do you keep chocolate chip cookies soft and chewy? ›

Putting a slice of fresh white bread in the container with the cookies will help the cookies stay soft: fresh bread is moist, and that slice will give up its moisture for the greater good: keeping the cookies from drying out. We recommend white bread so that no flavor is transferred to the cookies.

Why are my chocolate chip cookies crunchy and not chewy? ›

The ingredients you use and how you shape your cookies both play an important role in whether your cookies turn out crispy or chewy. The type of flour and sugar you use, if your cookie dough contains eggs, and whether you use melted or softened butter all factor into the crispy-chewy equation, too.

Is it better to use butter or margarine in chocolate chip cookies? ›

But when you're baking, butter triumphs over margarine every time. For cakes, cookies, and pastries, butter (unsalted, that is) provides richer flavor. (It begins as cream, after all, and margarine is made from vegetable oil.) Butter's high fat content is also what gives baked goods their texture.

How do you make cookies soft and chewy vs hard and crisp? ›

Different types of sugars affect the texture because they absorb different amounts of water. Remember moisture is the key! White sugar creates crispier cookies and brown sugar creates chewier cookies.

What is the secret ingredient to keep cookies soft? ›

Cornstarch Is The Secret To Soft And Chewy Cookies.

What is the trick to making soft and chewy cookies? ›

Cornstarch helps product soft and thick cookies. Using more brown sugar than white sugar results in a moister, softer cookie. An extra egg yolk increases chewiness. Rolling the cookie dough balls to be tall and lumpy instead of wide and smooth gives the cookies a bakery-style textured thickness.

How do you make cookies softer instead of crunchy? ›

use cold, diced butter as it will ensure that when baked the cookie will be slightly “underbaked” and prevents spreading of the dough while baking - this will ensure that it is soft rather than hard and crisp. You can also chill the prepared dough before baking to achieve a similar effect.

What makes cookies more chewy? ›

Double Your Yolks Most cookie recipes call for at least one egg. You can try omitting the white of each egg, which tends to dry out when baked, and replacing it with an additional yolk. Plus, egg yolks have more fat than egg whites, which helps to keep your cookies moist and chewy.

Why are my chocolate chip cookies hard after baking? ›

Cookies become hard when the moisture in them evaporates. This can be caused by leaving them out in the air for too long, baking them for too long, or storing them improperly. The lack of moisture makes the cookies hard and dry, which makes them difficult to enjoy.

Is it better to use Crisco or butter in cookies? ›

Which One Should I Use in Cookies? Basically, cookies made with butter spread more and are flatter and crisper if baked long enough. However, they are more flavorful than cookies made with shortening. Cookies made with shortening bake up taller and are more tender, but aren't as flavorful.

What are some common mistakes people make when baking cookies and how can they be avoided? ›

The 10 Most Common Cookie-Baking Mistakes—and How to Avoid Them
  1. Using the Wrong Butter.
  2. Combining All Ingredients at Once.
  3. Substituting Ingredients on a Whim.
  4. Using Expired Ingredients.
  5. Eyeballing Instead of Measuring Carefully.
  6. Baking as Soon as the Dough Is Made.
  7. Using Different Cookie Sheets Interchangeably.
Dec 6, 2022

What does brown sugar do in cookies? ›

Brown sugar, meanwhile, is dense and compacts easily, creating fewer air pockets during creaming—that means that there's less opportunity to entrap gas, creating cookies that rise less and spread more. With less moisture escaping via steam, they also stay moist and chewy.

What does cornstarch do in cookies? ›

As Levy Beranbaum writes in The Baking Bible, replacing a little bit of the flour in the dough with cornstarch results in “a more delicate cookie that is also easier to pipe or push through a cookie press.” Adding cornstarch helps tenderize tough gluten, contributing to a softer cookie dough with a finer crumb after ...

What is the trick to keep baked goods like cookies soft? ›

This simplest kitchen hack you'll ever love!

If you bake too many cookies (as if there is such a thing!) and are concerned about them going stale, just add a slice of white bread to the storage container to keep them from hardening.

Why do my chocolate chip cookies get hard after cooling? ›

Cookies become hard when the moisture in them evaporates. This can be caused by leaving them out in the air for too long, baking them for too long, or storing them improperly. The lack of moisture makes the cookies hard and dry, which makes them difficult to enjoy.

What makes cookies chewy and not hard? ›

Use Melted Butter

If the goal is a chewy cookie, then you absolutely need to be using melted butter. The technique of creaming softened butter and sugar together is often used for making cakes. And for good reason! The process of creaming incorporates air into the butter which results in a more airy and cakey cookie.

How do bakeries keep their cookies soft? ›

Corn Syrup (Light)

In other words, it helps prevent the mixture from clamming up. Light corn syrup is sometimes used in specialist cakes and confectioneries to help keep baked products soft and doughy for longer. Use just a tablespoon for a regular batch of tasty cookies.

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