Chocolate chip cookies

THE ONLY chocolate chip cookies recipe you will ever need! These melt-in-your-mouth cookies are crispy around the edges, with soft, buttery centre. Studded with pools of melted chocolate for the ultimate chocolate cookie experience!

Hello friends!

Happy March!!! Spring is at the doorstep, the air smells different and the days are getting longer! So many reasons to be happy and cheerful! As if all of that wasn’t enough, I also have amazing recipe to share with you all today! Trust me, this one is a real corker!

If you follow me on my Instagram, you know that over the last few weeks I’ve been on a quest to find a perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. Many batches of cookies have been baked, dozens of cookies have been eaten. The results are in. I’m ready to share them with you!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Any self-respected food blogger/ baker will have their favourite recipe for chocolate chip cookies on their website. So you can only imagine my surprise, when I discovered that I actually don’t have one!!! (I have plenty of other cookie recipes tho, like these dulce de leche cookies or chocolate salted caramel cookies or these sugar cookies)

Almost 4 years into blogging, and no sign of the chocolate chip cookie recipe over here. How the heck did that happen, I honestly do not know. But better late than never, right?

So over the last few weeks I’ve been testing, testing and testing some more. CCC (chocolate chip cookies) are such classic, and one of these things that everyone loves and can easily make. Let’s get to it!

Why this recipe is special?

Firstly, it is super easy to make! You need only 10 basic ingredients to make them. Secondly, these ingredients are super simple and the chances are you already have all of them in your kitchen.

They’re crispy around the edges, but the middle is nice and soft. Buttery texture, studded with pools of melted chocolate. Perfect for sharing, or keeping them all to yourself. You decide…

As well as searching for the right taste, I’ve been obsessed with finding the right texture. And I will share my hack with you, which will result in a perfect texture of the cookie every time!

Before I move on to the ingredients, let me just tell you that I have searched the width and the length of the web on this quest. I’ve read tens, if not hundreds, of my favourite baking blogs to gather all the tips and tricks for best CCC. I took different bits and bobs from all of them, including ingredients and techniques, and basically combined them to create this recipe.

It’s been a time- consuming (and very delicious) process and I have done it all, so you don’t have to! This is literally, honestly, 100% the ONLY recipe you will ever need for this type of cookie!

Closer look at some of chocolate chip cookies ingredients

As with many good cookie recipes, the ingredients are simple and very basic. Butter, sugar, egg, flour, baking soda, salt and chocolate. Easy! Let’s take a closer look at some of these ingredients:

• Butter- make sure it’s at room temperature. Take it out of the fridge about 30 minutes before you are planning on making this recipe. You know it’s ready when pressed finger leaves an indentation on the surface of the butter
• White and brown sugars- we are using a mix of white caster sugar and light brown soft sugar. White sugar makes cookies browner (by caramelising) and crisper (by absorbing moisture from the dough). Brown sugar makes cookies moister and chewier.
• Plain and bread flour- we are using a mix of these two flours. Bread flour has the higher protein content, and it produce more gluten, resulting in a chewier cookie!
• Chocolate- use variety of different types. I like using chopped dark chocolate (70%), because it creates these lush, big, pockets of melted goodness along with milk and dark chocolate chips.

How to make these chocolate chip cookies

If possible, use the standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. But if hand-held electric mixer is all you have, then go ahead and use that!

The important thing is to make sure to beat the butter and both sugars until they have pale, light and fluffy texture. It should take about 3-4 minutes, on a medium-high speed. Once that is done, add the egg and vanilla. Keep scraping the bottom and the sides of the bowl, so all the ingredients can combine well.

Place both flours, baking soda and salt in a large bowl and mix them well. Turn your mixer to low speed, and slowly add the flour mixture. It’s SUPER important not to over-mix your dough at this stage. You should be able to still see some strokes of flour. Over-mixed dough will produce tough and dense in texture cookie.

Lastly, add the chocolate and mix it into the dough using a spatula or a wooden spoon. Mix until it is evenly distributed in the dough. Cover the cookie dough with kitchen wrap or a tea towel and place it in the fridge for at least couple of hours (I like to chill my dough overnight).

Why to chill cookie dough?

Chilling cookie dough before baking controls spread. It also solidifies the fat (butter) in the cookies. As the cookies bake, the fat in the chilled dough takes longer to melt than room temperature fat. The longer the fat remains solid, the less cookie will spread!

Please, please, please do not skip this step! It’s sooo worth the extra time, and you can thank me for it later.

Ready, steady, bake!

Once the dough have been chilled, preheat the oven and line two large baking trays with some baking paper. Use a cookie scoop or a measuring spoon to create equal size balls of the cookie dough and place them on a baking tray. Make sure to leave plenty of space between the cookies (about 5 cm). Place the baking tray in the middle shelf of the oven and bake them for about 10 minutes, rotating half way through.

The cookies are ready to come out of the oven when their edges are just beginning to brown up and the middle is still looking a bit undone. Sprinkle some sea salt flakes on them while they are still a bit warm (this helps the salt to stick to the cookie).

The genius hack for best looking cookies!

Now, here’s the cool trick I’ve recently learned while trying to achieve that perfect texture and look of the cookie: tear and stack the dough for perfectly rippled chewy cookies!

If you want that ‘perfectly imperfect’, Insta-worthy looking cookie with chewy layers, simply tear each cookie dough ball in half and stack it. So simple, but soooo effective! Try it and you will never look back!

Thanks so much for tuning in and reading today’s post! As always, feel free to leave me a comment and a rating below!

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