Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the freezer for 1 month. Note: as for most cookies, I prefer salted or even cultured butter here but unsalted will work too.Use disks, not chips, here. The shape is better for cookies. Some of the disks will break as you mix the dough, creating smaller pieces. Once the cookies are baked, they will have well-dispersed little bits and large pools of melted chocolate that will mitigate their overall sweetness. Coarsely chopped bar chocolate would be fine too.
Ingredients
- 3 cups (408 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 20 tablespoons (2½ sticks; 283 grams) butter softened (see note above)
- 1-1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup (150 grams) packed dark brown sugar
- 2 large (100 grams) eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon (14 grams) pure vanilla extract
- 2-1/2 cups (350 grams) semisweet chocolate disks (see note above)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- In a large bowl, using a wooden spoon, mix together the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until creamy. Note: mix the dough by hand to avoid creaming the butter and sugar and creating loft. We’re going for chewy here.
- Add the eggs and vanilla and mix to combine, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix to combine. Mix in the chocolate disks.
- Tip the dough out, shape it into a square, wrap well in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 8 hours, and up to 3 days. Note: despite the fact that it is very difficult to wait, cookie dough really does benefit from a rest. It gives the flour a chance to hydrate and the starches and proteins time to break down, so the baked cookies have a more developed flavor and an even brown color.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, with the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.
- Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Note: avoid insulated baking sheets. They just don’t conduct heat the same way as regular sheets and they often lead to underbaked or underbrowned cookies. Ditto for nonstick sheets, which can encourage too much browning.
- Divide the dough into 24 equal pieces and roll into balls. (At this point, you can freeze the dough balls in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Bake the cookies from frozen, but add a few extra minutes to the baking time.)
- Set 6 cookies on each prepared sheet, with at least 2 inches between them.
- Bake until the cookies are golden brown and just set in the center, about 12 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through.
- Transfer the sheets to racks to cool for 10 minutes, then transfer the cookies to the racks to cool. Repeat with the remaining dough.
Notes
Recipe reprinted with permission from Bake Smart by Samantha Seneviratne (HarperCollins, 2023). Photography by Johnny Miller.