Bakery Style Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

"I know... Not ANOTHER chocolate chip cookie recipe... BUT, you'll find that these are sheer perfection, large bakery-style, thick and chewy, cookies that taste as good as they look with a fool-proof set of instructions. It was pointed out to me that this recipe is from Baking Illustrated, perhaps so as I wrote down the ingredients from a morning show years ago! Thanks for letting me know."
 
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photo by Lieutenant Ducky photo by Lieutenant Ducky
photo by Lieutenant Ducky
photo by TH532 photo by TH532
photo by Anonymous photo by Anonymous
photo by Marina No Ar photo by Marina No Ar
photo by Lexie G. photo by Lexie G.
Ready In:
28mins
Ingredients:
12
Serves:
18
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ingredients

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directions

  • A couple of tips from helpful reviewers.
  • The dough is meant to be on the dry side so it can be rolled, not dropped.
  • If you're not getting a good flavor, try using a higher quality vanilla and/or chocolate chips. (Penzey's Madagascar Vanilla, Ghirardelli chips, fresh/real butter).
  • Check your oven temperature, cooking time and temperature is critical. If the cookies are not chewy they are probably overcooked.
  • Bread flour will make the cookies even more chewy, biscuit flour will make them less chewy.
  • Do not let your dough get warm, I like to scoop it on to pans and refrigerate before I pop them in the oven.
  • Pan color is very important, if they are too dark you may experience some crisp edges, try using some parchment and lowering the cooking temperature a bit.
  • Place oven racks in the upper and lower 1/3's of the oven.
  • Preheat oven to 325°F.
  • Cover 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper Mix flour, baking powder & salt in a bowl or bag and set aside.
  • Mix butter and sugars with with a mixer until blended and smooth, add egg, yolk & vanilla.
  • Mix until incorporated.
  • Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
  • Stir in chips and optional nuts.
  • Divide into 18 equal balls, a 2" cookie scoop works just about perfectly, about 60 gms each.
  • EVENLY space 9 on each cookie sheet.
  • Bake for 12-18 minutes, rotating front to back and top to bottom after 8 minutes.
  • Cool on sheets to maintain chewy texture.

Questions & Replies

  1. How can I print this recipe.
     
  2. Why did the cookies spread? I used bread flour as suggested and the cookies were flat like discs. As they were cooking could see the butter seeping out.
     
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Reviews

  1. I've been making this recipe for over a year now, and I'm definitely known for making the best cookies around! All thanks to Steve_G! I always use half ww pastry flour and omit the extra 2 tablespoons of flour (don't seem to need it)... Often, I make the dough and freeze it to use as I need... too much dough for a house of 2. I pop the frozen dough right into the oven and it usually takes about 20 minutes to bake at 330....... BEST COOKIES EVER!!! Update: I was out of brown sugar, so I made my own using 1 C. white sugar plus 4T molasses. These were the BEST BATCH YET! The homemade brown sugar ended up being very dark, similar to a muscovado brown sugar. It added that mysterious rich, caramel-y, deep flavor! SO GOOD. I also used 1 teaspoon of brewed coffee and 1 teaspoon vanilla (instead of 2 vanilla) didn't notice the flavor, but like I said, they were the best I've ever made!
     
  2. I'm not a great chef by any stretch of the imagination. I heavily rely on recipes to help me make edible food... And this recipe is more than simply "edible"! :) I was searching for a cookie recipe that did not require baking soda, and I stumbled upon this one. I had already purchased salted butter sticks... so I used them instead of the unsalted butter. I also reduced the chocolate chips to one cup and I used a combination of white chocolate chips and semi-sweet milk chocolate ones. Oh yeah... I was measuring the vanilla over the butter/sugar mixture and spilled extra in there... so these cookies had an extra blessing of vanilla flavor.... <br/><br/>Since I'm not a baker extraordinaire, I don't have any parchment paper or fancy schmancy baking equipment/tools. I just covered a regular dark pan with some cheap-o Reynolds foil and sprayed it with olive oil. I didn't leave the dough in the fridge long... only about 20 minutes or so... but that was enough time for it to firm up a bit. I rolled the dough into balls, and then pressed them down a bit so they'd be just slightly flat. (I read that tip somewhere. I don't know how effective it is.) Anywho, I baked each batch for about 16 minutes... and whoa! Those cookies were scrumptious! They were slightly slightly crunchy on the outside (I don't mind that so much) and nice and chewy on the inside. I look forward to experimenting with this recipe by adding other super fun ingredients, like toffee bar pieces, butterscotch and peanut butter morsels. Simply put, these cookies rocked my socks!
     
  3. I LOVED these! I like that they didn't flatten and they stayed plumped up. The only thing I did differently was I used 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of the amount listed in the recipe. It was the perfect amount. I think a cup would be way too much for how many cookies this makes. I rolled up some put them on parchment covered sheets and put them in the fridge till I was ready to throw the next batch in and 18 minutes in my oven was PERFECT for them. *UPDATE 1/17/12* I used the trick of taking them out 2 minutes early, letting them sit on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes, and then putting them into a sealed container ASAP. Kept them soft for days.
     
  4. I have tried a tone of the choc chip recipes and this is the one we like the best. I used 1 bag Hershey's Dark Choc Chips and added regular choc chips to equal 2 cups. Make sure to undercook a little for the the ultimate chewy cookie.
     
  5. Love, Love, Love ! I picked this recipe because I didn't have any shortening which the other recipes call for. Very good cookie. I know I messed it up because the dough was supposed to be on the dry side and mine wasn't but they still taste great. Thanks for sharing this one ! Update: The cookies came out even better the second time around. Last time I cut the recipe in half and that's when the dough wasn't dry enough. This time I went ahead and did the regular recipe and they came out perfect. I let the dough sit in the fridge for about 20 mins before baking. Great looking cookie as well.
     
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Tweaks

  1. This is also an extremely easy recipe.
     
  2. I followed another commenters tip and banged the pan against the counter to drop the cookies so they would get I nicer looking top. It worked well.
     
  3. I thought these were alright, nothing to rave about. I didn't want a cakey cookie (I wanted chewy like the name implies), so I followed suggestions of other reviewers and used baking soda in place of baking powder. I also added a touch of cinnamon and followed the remainder of the recipe precisely. I felt like something was definitely missing from the batter after baking. I can't pinpoint what it was exactly, but it lacked flavor for me. I'm glad I wasn't planning on using these for anything momentous. I'm still searching for a satisfying chocolate chip cookie recipe...
     
  4. This recipe is FANTASTIC! I substituted margarine for the butter, and Splenda Brown Sugar blend for the brown sugar (half the quantity). I also used 1/2 chocolate chips and 1/2 peanut butter chips. They turned out terrific.
     
  5. This recipe had me by the photographs and I knew I just had to try it. I made a few minor substitutions: 1. I substituted half of the all-purpose flour for whole wheat flour 2. I substituted 1/3 of the butter for canola based margarine. 3. I substituted the nuts with 1/2 cup of toffee bits and I reduced the chocolate chips to just short of a cup. 4. I made much smaller cookies than recommended. This recipe yielded 45 small cookies for me instead of 18! I did find that the cookies expanded a fair bit during cooking, so I am glad that I had left lots of room between cookies on the pan. The results were delicious and chewy and tasted especially delicious right out of the oven!
     

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