I like to consider myself a consistent source for recipes that are usually pretty quick and easy. Making cooking less of a chore for folks is my goal. And I pride myself on that. But there are exceptions.
While I’d never say my recipes aren’t absolutely delicious, sometimes we have to sacrifice something to make them quick and easy. And then there are times when I want something to be the absolute best. This is one of those times. So while this recipe isn’t exactly complicated, I can’t really call it quick or easy – at least compared to what you normally expect from me.
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 second.
Starting with cold butter lowers the temperature 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 that 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 of 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.
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 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. This is to keep things consistent and to ensure you get the exact same results I do. 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 chocolate chip cookies ever. So get to baking. Y’all enjoy.
Ultimate Bakery-style Chocolate Chip Cookies
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 13 minutes
Chilling time: 30 minutes
Servings: 9 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 flour by spooning it 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 degrees 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 coarse or flaky salt. Bake 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 three days. For warm cookies, reheat in the microwave for about 15 seconds.
Notes
- White Lily All-Purpose Flour is important to the success of this recipe because of its low protein content. If you can’t find it in your area, see notes above, which suggest an acceptable replacement.
This recipe originally appeared on SouthernBite.com. For more great recipes, visit the website or check out ”The Southern Bite Cookbook.”
October 04, 2020 at 12:03AM
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