Want to know how to make the best chocolate chip cookies? Well, I make these chocolate chip cookies a lot. I’m pretty confident in this recipe whenever I need to bring a treat and don’t feel like being creative. They are snatched up at parties and they have become my signature dessert.
These cookies are a little fancy. I add coffee and a little bourbon. And browned butter. So there are a couple more steps than just your standard cookie but it’s still a manageable recipe. SO, if you want to know how I make my favorite cookies, keep scrolling for my step by step guide.
Equipment needed for my chocolate chip cookies
- 2 large metal sheet pans – I use Williams Sonoma Goldtouch Corrugated Sheets. I like to use two sheets at a time so I can prepare the next cookies while another sheet is baking in the oven. HOWEVER, I don’t cook two sheet pans at a time. I find that the cookies come out differently if you shove both trays in there.
- 1-2 cookie cooling racks – I like this half sheet rack. Once the cookies have cooled on the sheet pans for 5 minutes – I move them over to this rack to stop any further baking from the hot pan.
- 1 small saucepan – I like to use a stainless steel one to brown butter, like this one from Le Creuset. Try to use a light colored one if you don’t have steel!
- 1 large mixing bowl – to mix our batter
- 1 sharp knife – to chop dark chocolate
- 1 small cutting board
- 1 Whisk
- 1 rubber spatula – I switch to a spatula once we add the flour and other dry ingredients.
- 1 cookie scoop – optional, but makes it easier to get same-sized cookies.
- parchment paper – to prevent sticking. Don’t use wax paper! They are two different things. I like to use Reynolds brand.
Ingredients for Chocolate Chip Cookies
Here’s all the things you need to make these chocolate chip cookies AND what I like to use to get the best flavor possible:
- unsalted butter – when I want to go all out, I buy Kerry Gold butter. It’s grass-fed Irish butter and it’s a nice and rich yellow color. The flavor is GOOD.
- dark brown sugar – I prefer dark brown sugar over light brown sugar. Dark brown sugar has almost twice the amount of molasses, which provides a nice caramel flavor. I use Trader Joe’s brand.
- granulated sugar – I use Trader Joe’s brand for this as well.
- eggs – we need one whole egg and then just one egg yolk. Egg yolks work like emulsifiers for cookies, giving them a light and chewy texture. Too much egg white will add too much moisture to the cookies, which could make them dense. But if we only use egg yolks, they will likely be too thin and dry. So I like to do one of each.
- salt – your standard granulated table salt.
- vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract – I love to use vanilla bean paste because it’s more affordable than whole vanilla beans. Plus, you don’t have to split them open and scrape the pods out. Vanilla bean paste is thicker and more gelatinous than vanilla extract, but it can be used almost interchangeably with extract – and it has large flecks of vanilla bean in it, which makes it even more flavorful, in my opinion. I get mine from Trader Joe’s, but there are plenty other brands online.
- black coffee – freshly brewed if you can! I honestly just use a Nespresso pod in my machine and drink the rest of the leftover cup once I’ve added some of it to my cookies.
- bourbon – I love to add just a dash because it enhances the sweet vanilla flavor of cookies. I like to use Maker’s Mark, Hayner’s, Buffalo Trace, or Woodford Reserve (if I can). You can always omit this step too if you don’t want to use alcohol, but I promise your cookies won’t taste like liquor.
- all-purpose flour – self explanatory!
- baking powder and baking soda – use both to maximize flavor and rise.
- dark chocolate chips – use your favorite kind. I prefer dark chocolate Guittard, Nestle Toll House, or just Trader Joe’s brand.
- dark chocolate – I love Guittard’s 70% semisweet chocolate bars. Lindt and Ghirardelli are delicious too.
- flaky sea salt – I use Maldon’s! My favorite for sprinkling finished cookies.
How to make the best chocolate chip cookies
We’re going to make them together, with my tips mixed in between.
Step 1 – How to brown butter.
We start with browning butter – a process where we turn the milk solids brown while cooking out extra water in the butter. The result: nutty, amber-toned butter that smells delicious and provides richer flavor.
To brown your butter, add 8 tablespoons to a steel or light colored saucepan. Turn the heat to about medium and let the butter melt completely in the pan. Stir it occasionally with a spatula or spoon. The butter will start to bubble, crackle and foam. Keep stirring for about 3-4 minutes, and the butter will turn a dark golden color. The foam will start to subside as the milk solids toast.
Once you smell the nutty aroma, know you are almost done! Once you start to see dark brown bits at the bottom of your pan, take it off the heat quickly! The butter can burn pretty fast after this point. Pour the butter into a heatproof bowl and be sure to scrape out the brown bits – those have the most flavor and they shouldn’t be left behind!
Leave the butter to cool for about five minutes – it will still be pretty warm at this point.
Step 2 – Add more butter.
We need to add some regular butter to the cookies, too. Why? Browning the butter removes all the water, and we still need that moisture to bring the dough together.
Take the other 4 tablespoons of butter and slice them into tablespoon-sized pieces. Add them to your large mixing bowl. Pour the warm browned butter over the solid butter and whisk it around until the solid butter melts into it. It should become nice and homogenous.
Step 3 – Add in our wet ingredients.
We’re going to add both brown sugar and granulated sugar. White granulated sugar will aerate the dough for us to help make the cookies creamy and puffed. On the other hand, brown sugar is dense and compact, which will create less air pockets when we whip it together. I like a cookie that spreads but not too much, so a combination of both sugars will help.
Add 3/4ths cup of both brown sugar and granulated sugar to the bowl and whisk it together until the mixture is well combined.
Step 4 – Add the eggs and wet ingredients.
We’re going to add one whole egg and just one egg yolk to the bowl. Like I said before, egg yolks work like emulsifiers for cookies, giving them a light and chewy texture. Too much egg white will add too much moisture to the cookies, which could make them dense. But if we only use egg yolks, they will likely be too thin and dry. So I like to do one of each (kind of like our butter)!
Add the egg and egg yolk along with the salt. Whisk the mixture vigorously for 30 seconds. Then add the coffee, bourbon and vanilla – the trifecta of flavor. I love the coffee and bourbon to balance our sugary sweet taste and blend with the caramel taste of the butter. Whisk vigorously again for about 45 seconds. This will make the mixture lighten and look creamy and slick – I’ve read this as a “ribbony” texture as well. We want to emulsify the eggs by whipping air into the batter. Don’t go crazy and keep whipping out of control though for a long time – this could make them too aerated!
Step 5 – Add the dry ingredients.
Now add in the flour, baking powder and the baking soda – adding both baking powder and baking soda will allow the cookie to be both light and tangy! Use a sifter to prevent lumps if you have one!
Switch to a rubber spatula to gently fold the batter together. Scrape the sides and the bottom as you go. But don’t over do it! Once it looks homogenous, be done. The batter will become dense if you over work it.
Step 6 – Add your chocolate.
We’re adding both chocolate chips and chopped chocolate. Why? They have different melting points. Chocolate chips have stabilizers in them that prevent them from totally losing their shape when you bake them – so they stay like discernible chunks in your cookie. A regular chocolate bar, or baking chocolate, does not, so it will melt more haphazardly in your cookie.
I love to chop up a dark chocolate bar into various chunks – the tiny shavings and pieces will melt in the batter which is delicious. Leave some bigger chunks on the side for the end so we can plop them on top of our cookie balls to make them extra pretty.
Add the chopped chocolate and chocolate chips to your batter and fold in gently.
Step 7 – Why should I freeze my cookie dough?
Ah yes, the age old question. Freezing your dough allows it to hydrate, which will create a more chewy cookie. So, I like to stick the whole bowl of dough in the freezer for at least ten minutes. If you do this, you can pull the bowl out and prepare the cookies for baking right away.
If you can, freeze it for 30 minutes or longer (a few hours or overnight). Just know that cold dough won’t spread as easily in the oven when baking, so you should let the dough sit out to return closer to room temperature – especially if you want cookies that spread.
Step 8 – Bake your cookies!
Line your baking sheets with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350℉ and make sure the rack is in the center of the oven. Using a cookie scoop, scoop a hefty tablespoon’s worth of dough and use your hands to roll the batter into a ball. Place around 6 cookies on a sheet (so they don’t crowd). Too many cookies will cause them to meld together!
Take a dark chocolate chunk (leftover from earlier) and push it into the top of each cookie to give them a nice appearance.
Pop them in the oven (only bake one sheet at a time) for five minutes. Then carefully rotate the pan 180 degrees, and bake the cookies for 3-5 additional minutes – until the edges look just set. The centers may still look soft, but they will continue to bake still even after you remove them from the oven (thanks to the hot pan).
Quickly sprinkle the cookies with flaky sea salt so that they adhere to the cookies while they are still warm.
Step 9 – Let the cookies cool.
We want to move the cookies to a cooling rack as soon as possible, since the hot pans will cook the cookies further. After around five or six minutes, gently move the cookies from the pan to the rack. If they are still too wobbly on the pan, you can wait just a little longer before moving them. Let them cool completely OR eat warm :).
Other tips for making good chocolate chip cookies
Mix up your chocolate – just because I like dark chocolate, feel free to use chopped milk chocolate or white. Mix and match!
Don’t use foil – I used to use foil to bake cookies (once upon a time). Parchment paper is very much worth the investment. Foil can easily scorch your cookies, I HAVE EXPERIENCED! Parchment paper will ensure that the heat is evenly distributed.
If you burn your butter….start over. I have also burned my brown butter and thought “it can’t be that bad, right?” Well. It’s not the best to continue on like that. It doesn’t taste amazing. So I would just try again!
Storage Directions for chocolate chip cookies
I put my chocolate chip cookies in airtight plastic containers and I leave them on the counter. Refrigerating them is very drying. They will taste great for a week but I’ve definitely kept eating them for two :).
You can freeze finished cookies too – put them in a freezer-friendly plastic bag and store them in a flat, single layer if you can. You can keep them there for a couple months – just let them thaw completely before eating.
Other cookie recipes
If you like my chocolate chip cookies, try some of these others out!
Brown Butter Bourbon Snickerdoodles
Bourbon Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream Sandwiches
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The BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- 2 large sheet metal pans
- 1 cookie cooling rack
- 1 saucepan to brown butter
- 1 large mixing bowl
- 1 sharp knife to chop chocolate
- 1 small cutting board
- 1 Whisk
- 1 rubber spatula
- 1 cookie scoop optional
- parchment paper to prevent sticking
Ingredients
- 12 tbsp unsalted butter
- ¾ cups dark brown sugar
- ¾ cups granulated sugar
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 egg yolk room temperature
- ½ tsp salt
- 1½ tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp black coffee freshly brewed
- 1 tbsp bourbon
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ⅓ cup dark chocolate chips
- ⅓ cup dark chocolate chopped
- flaky sea salt for topping
Instructions
- Brown the butter. Add 8 tablespoons of unsalted butter to a saucepan and turn the heat to medium. Let the butter melt and stir occasionally. Let the butter bubble for 3-4 minutes, until it turns an amber shade and becomes fragrant (it will smell sweet and nutty). Remove it from the heat before it burns and pour the butter into a heat-proof bowl. Let the butter sit for 5 minutes.12 tbsp unsalted butter
- Take the other 4 tablespoons of butter and slice it into four pieces. Add it to a large mixing bowl. Pour the hot browned butter onto the solid butter in the bowl. Whisk until all the butter is melted an homogenous.
- Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar. Whisk the mixture together until combined. It may be a little firm at this point, that's okay.¾ cups dark brown sugar, ¾ cups granulated sugar
- Add the egg and egg yolk along with the salt. Whisk the mixture vigorously for 30 seconds. Then add the coffee, bourbon and vanilla and whisk vigorously again for about 45 seconds. The mixture should lighten and look creamy and slick.1 egg, 1 egg yolk, 1½ tsp vanilla bean paste, 3 tbsp black coffee, 1 tbsp bourbon, ½ tsp salt
- Add the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Use a rubber spatula to gently mix the batter until just combined. It will firm up – scrape the sides and the bottom!2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp baking soda
- Chop the dark chocolate bar – I like to chop half of it into smaller shards and leave some larger chunks. Leave some of the large chunks aside and add the rest of that chocolate and the whole chocolate chips to the batter and fold into the batter.⅓ cup dark chocolate, ⅓ cup dark chocolate chips
- Freeze the batter for 10 minutes minimum. You can leave the batter right in the bowl.If you freeze for 10 minutes, you can bake the batter right away. If you freeze the batter for 30 minutes or longer, be sure to allow the batter to return to closer to room temperature before baking – otherwise they won't spread much in the oven if they are cold.
- Line your baking sheets with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350℉ and make sure the rack is in the center of the oven. Using a cookie scoop, scoop a hefty tablespoon's worth of dough and use your hands to roll the batter into a ball. Place around 6 cookies on a sheet (so they don't crowd). Take a dark chocolate chunk (leftover from earlier) and push it into the top of each cookie to give them a nice appearance.
- Place the cookies in the oven to bake for 5 minutes. Then rotate the pan completely and bake them for another 3-5 minutes, until the edges are set and golden.
- Remove the cookies form the oven and immediately sprinkle with flaky sea salt. Let the cookies cool for 5-6 minutes. Then transfer them to a wire cookie rack to cool completely.flaky sea salt
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