Chocolate Chip Cookies
Big, chewy chocolate chip cookies with crisp edges and gooey centers, made with browned butter, extra brown sugar and a sprinkle of flaky salt.
- Everyday Classics
- Oven
- No meat
- Dessert
- 60 min total
- Serves 18
Ingredients
Ingredients for servings
Enter a number of at least ½, in steps of ½.
Original recipe serves 18. Ingredient amounts adjust automatically. Cooking times and pan size may need adjusting separately.
- 1 cup butter, 2 sticks, unsalted
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 12 oz semisweet chocolate chips, or chopped chocolate bar
- 1 tsp flaky sea salt, for sprinkling
Gear
- Light-colored saucepan
- Sheet pans and parchment
- Cookie scoop (3 tablespoons)
- Wire rack
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Steps
Step 1: Melt the butter in a light-colored saucepan over medium. Keep cooking and swirling 5 to 7 minutes, until it foams, the milk solids at the bottom turn toasty brown and it smells nutty. Pour into a large bowl, scraping in the brown bits. Cool 15 minutes.
Step 2: Whisk both sugars into the butter until smooth. Whisk in the egg, yolk and vanilla until glossy, about 30 seconds.
Step 3: Stir in the flour, baking soda and salt just until no dry streaks remain. Fold in the chocolate.
Step 4: Cover and refrigerate the dough at least 30 minutes (up to 3 days).
Step 5: Heat the oven to 350°F and line 2 sheet pans with parchment.
Step 6: Scoop the dough into 3-tablespoon balls and place them 3 inches apart.
Step 7: Bake 10 to 12 minutes, one pan at a time, until the edges are golden and the centers look slightly underdone. Sprinkle with flaky salt right away.
Step 8: Let cool on the pan 5 minutes, then move to a rack.
Swaps
- Plain butter: Use softened butter creamed with the sugars for a lighter, more cake-like cookie.
- Chocolate: Mix milk chocolate and dark chocolate, or add 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts.
- Smaller: Scoop 1.5-tablespoon balls and bake 8 to 10 minutes for about 36 cookies.
Tips
- Chilling the dough helps the cookies spread less and gives them a deeper, toffee-like flavor.
- Bake one pan at a time on the middle rack for the most even results.
The story
HAM Cooking. Let’s fire it up.
Every house needs one cookie recipe that never fails. Nobody remembers who brought the store-bought cookies. Everybody remembers who brought these.
Browning the butter is my favorite upgrade. Butter has milk solids in it, and when you cook it past melting, those solids toast and turn golden, giving a nutty, caramel flavor to the whole batch. Using more brown sugar than white makes them chewier, since brown sugar holds extra moisture. An extra yolk adds richness and chew too.
Chilling the dough for even 30 minutes makes a real difference. The flour soaks up moisture and the butter firms up, so the cookies spread less and get thicker. And pull them when the middles look a little underdone. They keep baking on the hot pan. Then the flaky salt on top makes the chocolate taste even more chocolatey. Science. Delicious science.
HAM out.
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