This recipe is the result of weeks of testing and countless bags of chocolate chips to produce what I think is the ULTIMATE chocolate chip cookie. And for me, that was a pretty tall order.
I wanted a cookie that was thick, chewy, filled with chocolate chips, and was big! It had to be crisp on the exterior, but gooey on the inside. It had to be the perfect combo of sweet and salty, too.
These cookies are every bit of that. And at nearly 5 inches in diameter, they’re pretty dang big, too! It’s a hefty cookie for sure! Each one starts with 6-ounces of dough.
Let’s go over mechanics here for a sec…
Starting with cold butter lowers the temp of our dough, leading to a shorter rest time in the fridge. And yes, that rest time is important. Chilling the fat – in this case butter – keeps the cookies from spreading too much in the oven.
White sugar makes them crispy on the outside and the molasses in the brown sugar makes them chewy.
So let’s talk about flour. For this recipe, I highly recommend you find White Lily All-Purpose Flour. White Lily Flour is known for being super low protein because it’s made from soft winter wheat. This makes for a tender cookie and bakes up perfectly. We tested this with a host of varieties and brands and found White Lily All-Purpose to produce the best, most consistent results.
Can you use another flour? Yes. If you can’t find this brand, I’d recommend using 1 1/2 cups of another brand all-purpose flour and 1 1/2 cups of cake flour to produce a blend that will more closely resemble the protein content of White Lily.
And on to the chocolate chips – and there’s a bunch of them… I used an entire 12-ounce bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips and an entire bag of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, too. The minis seem to be sold in 10 or 12-ounce bags, depending on brand, and either size will work. Can you use fewer chocolate chips? Well… you can do lots of things, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
Using fewer chocolate chips will cause the cookies to spread more. And while the cornstarch is in there to help hold things together, it can’t work miracles. So go ahead and splurge. Use them all. No one is going to force you to eat the entire cookie. Though I’ll admit that I’ve not had tons of luck practicing that much restraint.
Can you make smaller cookies? Sure you can. You’ll just need to adjust the bake time accordingly. Smaller cookies will require less time.
I’m normally am a big proponent of using silicone baking mats, but they serve as insulators in this case, so I prefer using parchment on a light colored baking sheet to get a crisp bottom. Darker colored baking sheets get hotter and can cause the bottoms of the cookies to burn. If you only have a dark colored baking sheet, I might recommend reducing the heat about 10 to 15 degrees.
And yes, I’m being super specific about each dough ball being 6-ounces. I know. But this is to keep things consistent and to ensure you get the exact same results as me. If you don’t have a scale, measure about 3/4 of a cup of dough and just watch them carefully to know when they’re done.
Ok! You’re all educated and set to make the best chococalte chips cookies ever. So get to baking! Seriously, though, let me know if the comments below if you have questions. Y’all enjoy!
Ultimate Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup cold, unsalted butter - cut into small cubes
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 3 cups White Lily All-Purpose Flour*
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 (12-ounce) bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 (10 to 12-ounce) bag mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
- flaky/kosher salt
Instructions
- Combine the cold, cubed butter, white sugar, and brown sugar in a large bowl and use a mixer to combine - 3 to 5 minutes - or until completely mixed. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- In another large bowl, measure 3 cups of White Lily All-Purpose flour by spooning the flour into a dry measuring cup and leveling it off before adding it to the bowl. Add the baking soda, cornstarch, and 1 teaspoon salt and whisk to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture all at once. Mix until just combined. Do not overmix. Add the chocolate chips and mix until just combined. Cover and refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a light colored cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- After the dough has chilled, use a food scale to measure out 6 ounces of dough for each cookie. Place 2 to 3 dough balls 6 to 8 inches apart on the prepared pan and sprinkle with a generous pinch of course or flaky salt. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the cookies are golden brown around the edges and just set. Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 5 minutes before moving the entire piece of parchment, with the cookies on it, to a wire rack to cool. Work in batches to bake the remaining dough, being sure to keep it refrigerated until it gets baked.
- Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 days. For warm cookies, microwave for about 15 seconds to reheat.
Notes
- White Lily All-Purpose Flour is important to this success of this recipe because of its low protein content. If you can't find it in your area, be sure to check out the blog post for this recipe which suggests an acceptable replacement.
Charlotte Greer says
Love this recipe. I made as is, which was wonderful, and also made it using bread flour. My family preferred the one made with bread flour. It can out a little more chewy which we like in cookies. Also, why in the world don’t you have a show on Food Network? Your videos are some of the most entertaining food videos I watch and certainly better that a lot of what Food Network is offering these days. They are missing out. Thanks so much for this recipe and all of your delicious recipes.
Stacey says
Thank you so much, Charlotte! I appreciate those kind words! Maybe one day! 🙂
Stacey says
Can’t wait to try these. You’ve never steered me wrong before! And White Lily is definitely the best. It is all I use.
Stacey says
Sure hope you’ll enjoy them!!
Noreen says
Sooo…. who ate all the failures?
Stacey says
I had folks lined up to volunteer! 🙂
claire says
These LOOK great. But sad to see all the focus on accuracy followed by a recipe in cups when only metric weights are truly reliable and accurate.
Stacey says
The only metric measurement you’d need is for the flour. The other ingredients come prepackaged in the amount they’re listed at.
suniti hrishikesh says
How to make this eggless?..
Stacey says
I wouldn’t recommend making this eggless.
Angela says
So if I don’t have White Lily, I’m going to substitute it for 1 1/2 all purpose flour am I right?
Also, if I scoop them, do I make it to a circle before putting it on the sheet?
Thank you!
Stacey says
No, you’ll need to substitute the 3 cups of White Lily with 1 1/2 cups of all purpose and 1 1/2 cups of cake flour sifted together.
Carla says
Is there some reason why they recipe doesn’t include pecans?
Stacey says
Just because I’m not a huge fan of pecans in chocolate chips cookies. 🙂
Amy says
Looks great. I’m typing this but can’t see my words because there are literally 5 ads covering my screen.
Stacey says
You should be able to close any ads that cover the screen. There’s an x at the upper right hand corner.
Robin says
The cookies were delicious but couldn’t taste much cookie for all the chocolate chips. I will definitely make them again but even the grandkids agreed, I should use less chololate chips. Thank you for the recipe!
Stacey says
I do talk about how chocolate they are! Just be cautious that using fewer chips will make them spread more.