Ultimate Chocolate-Chip Cookies (with Tips and Troubleshooting Guide)

A perfect chocolate chip cookie has to be soft and chewy, yet still have a crispy edges with chocolatey gooey bits in the cookies. It's a classic!

This is a simple recipe which has been tweaked multiple times with various inputs from various sources to give the ULTIMATE: BEST EVER chocolate chip cookies.

I've added a section on tips and troubleshooting to help you diagnose any shortcomings and improve upon them.

Step 1: Ingredients

This recipe makes 10 cookies:

3/4 cup (95 g) all-purpose flour
80 g dark chocolate bar (I prefer 55% cocoa)
2/3 cup (150 g) butter
2 tbsp (25 g) granulated sugar
8 tbsp (100 g) light brown sugar
1/2 tsp (3 g) kosher salt
1/2 tsp (3 g) baking soda
1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract
1 small egg (whole)
1 egg yolk
Ice Cream scoop

Step 2: Brown the Butter

The first trick in the bag to elevate the flavour and taste of the cookies is to brown the butter.

To brown the butter heat 2/3rd of the butter over a medium flame while occasionally stirring it till it starts foaming and turns brown. Let this slightly cool down and then add the remaining 1/3rd remaining butter in small pieces while gently stirring and then transfer to another bowl.

Browning the butter removes moisture from it so that it doesn't cause gluten activation in the dough, thus resulting in crisp cookies. Adding the remaining normal butter to the brown butter re-introduces a little bit of moisture into it, so that there is still a little gluten activation. This gives a slight chewiness to the cookies while retaining crispiness.

Step 3: Chop Chocolate and Mix the Dry Ingredients

While the butter cools completely, in a different bowl mix the all-purpose flour, baking soda, salt and whisk until nicely combined (about a minute).

Now, When it comes to the chocolate component, store-bought chocolate chips just won't do. They'll make just average choco-chip cookies. We're trying to make the ULTIMATE: BEST EVER chocolate-chip cookies. So, take your chocolate bar of about 55% cocoa, and roughly chop it into 0.5 cm x 0.5 cm chunks using a knife. This will add small globs of melted and gooey chocolate in the cookies!

Step 4: Mix the Wet Ingredients

By now the butter would have completely cooled down to room temperature.

To the butter add the brown sugar and the granulated sugar and whisk thoroughly to break any lumps. At this stage the dough will still be granular.
Now add the whole egg, the egg yolk and the vanilla essence and keep whisking till the whole mixture becomes smooth and shiny. After adding the eggs, the cookie dough consistency will turn from granular to smooth and shiny.

Step 5: Combine Everything

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and keep folding and incorporating with a spatula until it's nice and mixed. Keep working on the mixture for a minute or so with your hands and a spatula. No fancy equipment needed.

Now add the chocolate and incorporate it by mixing it for another 30 seconds. At this stage your dough should smell of chocolatey and caramel-y heaven!

Step 6: Let Everything Rest

This is probably the most painful step in the procedure, but most important.

You have to let the cookie dough rest for about an hour on the counter-top to firm it up.
In hotter climates, you can even put the dough in the fridge. Even overnight in the fridge will do.

Resting the dough allows the flour in the dough to hydrate, thus preventing excessive spread of the cookies while baking. If you're refrigerating your dough, be sure to cover it up to prevent it from completely drying out.

Step 7: Preheat Oven

While the cookie dough is resting and hydrating, preheat your oven at 190°celcius (or 375° Fahrenheit).

Step 8: Bake the Cookies, WAIT, and ENJOY!

Using an ice-cream scoop/ cookie-scoop, scoop out 2-3 tbsp sized portions onto a (optional: parchment lined) baking sheet/ tray/ pan with adequate space between each cookie as they do spread a little.

The consistency should be like firm dough-balls, it should stand up firmly on the baking tray. If it starts melting, put the dough back in the fridge till it firms up.

Bake at 190°Celsius (or 375° Fahrenheit) on the rack second from the bottom of the oven for 10-12 minutes.

DO NOT rotate the tray or open up the oven to check on the cookies, that will release all the heat. After removing your cookies from the oven, wait for 10 minutes for them to cool down on the baking sheet (it's important) and enjoy!

Warm chocolate chip cookies taste absolutely heavenly!

Step 9: TIPS

There will de facto be some variability because everyone's ingredients, butter, flour, chocolate, vanilla varies. Even ovens vary in their heating. So be patient.

TIPS-

Brown the butter. Use a metal pan to see the colour change and use a rubber spatula to stir the bottom. Let the brown butter cool completely before adding the sugar to it.
Browning it adds a nutty flavour to the cookies which elevates their taste.
Thoroughly whisk all dry ingredients for a full minute.
Let the dough rest or refrigerate it to make it firm and hydrate the flour in it so that the cookies bake and brown more evenly. The moisture from the eggs and butter is absorbed by the flour and the sugar giving you soft and chewy centre while being surrounded by a firm edge.
Use a scoop to portion out the cookies. It makes them all even and same sized.
Don't use a hot (pre-heated) baking sheet. It'll add to the spread of the cookies.
Don't grease your baking sheet. That'll again increase the spread of the cookies.

Step 10: TROUBLESHOOTING

Cookies spreading a lot-
- This can be prevented by refrigerating the dough to firm it up.
- DON'T grease the baking sheet. That'll again add to the cookie's spread. The dough contains enough butter already.
- DON'T pre-heat the baking sheet.
- If they still spread, add 2-4 tbsp of all-purpose flour to it, let it rest and then try baking them again
Cookies are flat and not puffing up-
- maybe your baking soda has expired or maybe your brown sugar does not have enough molasses to activate the baking soda.
- try adding in 1/8 tsp of vinegar or lemon juice to add to the acidity and activate the baking soda.
- refrigerate the dough before baking.
Cookies are raw and haven't baked completely-
- Preheat your oven before you start making the recipe.
- DON'T open the oven door in the middle to check on the cookies.
- DON'T rotate your baking pans halfway.
- Opening the oven to rotate the pan will let out all the heat of the oven. Considering that cookies bake for such a short amount of time, opening the oven midway will make it difficult for the oven to again build up that level of heat required to bake the cookies.
Cookies were too greasy-
- Let your brown butter cool completely before adding the sugar to it. When you add sugar to warm butter, it'll melt the sugar which in turn will make your cookie greasy.
- If it's still greasy, add another 2-4 tbsp of flour to the mixture and try baking again.
Cookies are sticking to the baking sheet and not coming out-
- After taking out the cookies from the oven, let them cool down on the sheet itself for 10-15 minutes and then remove them. Hot cookies are still soft and gooey in the centre and will take some time to firm up. So WAIT for them to cool down, they're worth it.