A few weeks back I introduced you to BethT’s Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies…
Now let me introduce you to mine.
These are my cookies. You know, the chocolate chip cookies you’ve been baking since you were old enough to stand and your mom would hand you down the spoon to lick.
Sorry. I’m getting a little dramatic, I know. In reality, I discovered these cookies in college but have been baking them ever since! I swear! There are so many reasons why I adore (read: obsess over) these cookies, but mainly because they are made with one hundred percent dark brown sugar, producing a very chewy cookie with a deep, complex sweetness to it.
I can’t tell you how many batches of these cookies I’ve made in the past six years. I don’t even want to know. I will tell you, however, that they are delicious when sandwiched together with vanilla bean ice cream or made into chocolate chip whoopie pies with buttercream inside.
And while I love this recipe, what follows is closest to my heart. I’m happy to share it with you!
Here’s what you need for success:
Now, well you don’t brown the butter in this recipe, you do need to soften it. I set two sticks on the counter this morning and then went and ran around the lake while they came to room temperature.
Yes I ran around the lake. I really did.
Anyways, first thing you need to do is whisk together two and a half cups of flour, a teaspoon of baking soda and a teaspoon of sea salt.
Whisk it together really well and set that bowl aside. In another bowl, cream together two sticks of your now soft butter, along with two cups of packed dark brown sugar.
A quick note here. All throughout college and my former life, I always creamed everything by hand using a large wooden spoon. It’s totally doable. I only got a KitchenAid for Christmas a year ago and even though I love that baby with all my heart and soul, you don’t need one! I think I had better arm muscles when I didn’t have one, actually. But that’s besides the point.
If you ARE using one though, dig out your creaming attachment and get that puppy goin’.
Have you ever made cookies and they’ve spread like crazy when you baked them and caused you to get incredibly frustrated with yourself for failing to bake the “easiest thing ever”?
Yeah…that happens. It happened to me at school, actually. You know why that happens? Because you’re over-creaming your butter and sugar! Seriously. Don’t take out all your aggression on the butter, people. Just cream for a few minutes until it looks nice, smooth and fluffy, and then shut the mixer off and step away. It’s done.
Now, add one egg, mix on low for about ten seconds, and then add another egg.
Also, at this time, add a teaspoon of vanilla extract (or vanilla paste). Mix gently.
Add the flour mixture and stir to combine. Be very careful not to overmix here!
Then, it’s go time. Add the chocolate chips and stir. How many chocolate chips you add is your choice alone. Personally, I added a whole bag because that’s how I roll.
Drop dough by the spoonfuls (I wanted to make mini cookies so I only used about a teaspoon of dough for mine) onto Silpat or parchment paper lined sheet trays and bake at 350 for about twelve minutes or until the cookies have started to turn golden.
Oh baby.
Yes.
Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes about three dozen cookies
2.5 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups packed dark brown sugar
2 eggs
2 sticks butter, softened (2 sticks)
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each one. Add the vanilla and mix gently to combine.
Add the flour to the butter and mix. Carefully stir in the chocolate chips. Bake at 350 for about twelve minutes, or until golden.
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{ 133 comments… read them below or add one }
I so love deep, rich, chocolate chip cookies. Especially when they’re hot and goopy from the oven or hard and frozen.
These look absolutely mouthwatering!
I’ve tried making basic chocolate chip cookies before and they just turn out flat, even though I follow the recipe step by step. Yours look amazing and I would LOVE to try them!
By the way what ARE you doing with 3 dozen cookies?
“Have you ever made cookies and they’ve spread like crazy when you baked them and caused you to get incredibly frustrated with yourself for failing to bake the “easiest thing ever”?”
Oh yes. Glad to hear it’s not just me
Yay! We love that you use all that fabulous dark brown sugar – totally makes the cookie! These look completely amazing…!
Wow these sound sooooo good. I want two with buttercream frosting in the middle, please!
I love the taste of sea salt in a chocolate chip cookie. The sweet and the salty makes you never want to eat anything else in the world again but these. Yum.
You’re killing me with all these dessert posts!!! LOL
And I don’t think anything beats a perfectly fresh baked chocolate chip cookie.
I hate you, now I’m craving chocolate chip cookies. My problem with baking is the butter always clumps on my mixer. How do I keep that from happening?
you probably aren’t using butter that’s soft enough…let it sit out awhile so its nice and soft before you attempt to cream it.
Whoopie pies rock my socks!
Mmmm. My coworkers have been requesting cookies, and it looks like these will fit the bill nicely. Thanks for the recipe (and the encouragement to hand mix!).
Those look heavenly.
If they are your favorite, I say this is a trusted recipe! Thanks for sharing.
my hubby might send you an email saying thank you for these bad boys
Jenna, your recipes really are the most entertaining narratives, coupled with the mouthwatering photographs, they’re elevated food porn: FOOD EROTICA.
Next time I make chocolate chip cookies I have to try this recipe – the brown sugar sounds so good@
is there really a difference in recipes when you don’t whisk the dry ingredients? I usually just dump the dry together and think that it will get mixed up in the batter, after pondering this I think it might have been the reason my carrot cake cumbled when taking it out of the pan?
I didn’t know that the answer was all in the Brown Sugar. Whenever I spoon out my cookies though – they never come out looking like the “perfect” Tollhouse shape…how does that happen?
Also…I’m guessing Baking is a preference of yours?
Who knew that was a creaming attachment? I think I use it for everything but pizza dough….haha
Dude, I cream my sugar and butter by hand too! But I won’t lie, I can’t wait for the day I get my very own KitchenAid (swoon)
Great tip about not creaming the butter too much. Never thought of that one. Now I can bake the easiest thing on the planet without feeling bad about myself!!
Love these! My aunt uses the same recipe and these really are the best cookies!
Looks like a great recipe! Thanks for sharing
I heart my KithcenAid Mixer
Yum… gotta love fresh baked chocolate chip cookies!
I am in the process of perfecting my chocolate chip cookie recipe. As a newbie baker, it’s taking some time but I’m getting there! Browned/melted butter is a good thing and so is brown sugar. And I find it really hard to actually DO this but high quality (i.e. spendy) chocolate chips/chunks seem to take things to a whole new level. Why are cookies so perfect?
The cookies look delicious!
I love your blog, but something has been driving me CRAZY in the blog world. I see it on many of the popular blogs- and it boggles my mind because it is on the blogs of those who are writing books! I don’t mean to pick, and I have been holding my tongue.
“Anyways, the first thing you need to do….” —– The proper term here would be “Anyway, the first thing you need to do….”. You use anyways often. Well, many of your posts start with that word. The word “anyways” is found in some dialect of the United States- but is not really considered standard English- especially in a situation (like a writer’s blog!) where you want to sound reasonably well-educated.
I don’t mean to criticize— but I just cannot believe all the people in the blog world who are authors that use it!
I know I will probably get nasty comments for saying something about this- but try not to take offense- I am not personally attacking Jenna, her blog or her food- just pointing out a common grammatical error.
As always, these look great. I’m saving the recipe for when I finally get over my fear of eating eggs again. Judging from today’s headlines, that’s probably not too soon.
Does it specifically have to be sea salt? I’ve only got table salt and kosher salt at my house and I’m wondering if one of those options would work…because clearly I need to make these cookies soon!
Delicious! I’ve been looking for a new cc cookie recipe to try… this just may be it!
Adore. I’ve been in cookie mood lately. It would be hazardous to my health to make those. Someday, though, and for the rest of my life!!! Oh, the drama.
Chocolate chip cookies are one of God’s greatest gifts. I’ve always baked the nestle tollhouse verison (I only know it by heart….) however I might give these a try. My little brother just started college 10 hours away and it seriously homesick – maybe a nice package of ELR choc chip cookies will do the trick?
“C” – Jenna is a great writer and doesn’t need correction from anyone on how to write… she does it for a living! This isn’t a book, it’s a blog. She can be a little more laid back in how she writes… it’s not being edited by an editor every time she posts. This is how most of us actually talk and communicate with each other and I love how down to earth it makes the author seem.
Several blogs that are really well written are so boring to me! I like the casual atmosphere it lends ELR.
You’d better believe I’m making these tonight. My boyfriend has had a stressful week, and I think these will make everything better
(I respectfully disagree with the “anyways” comment that C posted…there’s nothing wrong with a blog author being a little more colloquial!)
These may be out the NY Times cookies! I need to try.
I really want some of those cookies, right now!!!
)
Ummm – these look unbelievably incredible. There really is nothing quite like an incredible chocolate chip cookie recipe.
CC cookies are possibly the world’s most perfect food. I have about 5 different base recipes and almost always mix up the ingredients a little. As long as you have the basics, it’ll turn out delicious. My latest thing is adding a cup of oatmeal. It adds amazing texture without making it a traditional oatmeal cookie. Yummmmmmm
too many desserts to try! I want to make them all. i made bethT’s and they were awesome. I kept them chewier as well, by letting them cool on the baking sheet. did you know that keeps cookies from getting too crisp? I just learned that myself…something about the air not circulating around them.
I’ll take a dozen please! Can’t wait to make these for a family gathering this weekend. I mean who doesn’t love chocolate chip cookies!!
I can not wait to try these cookies. Everyone who ate one of the cookies I made following the last recipe you shared LOVED them and loved me for them. Obviously said ELR give me the recipe!
But these…no browning of the butter and using the KitchenAid…cant. wait!
Are these coming with you to Austin? That would be awesome
I’m drooling…at work and now craving cookies. Only 20 minutes till the end of the day!
I want to do a bake-off between the two recipes and see how they compare!
I am so guilty of the cookie spread! I have a hard time accepting the less is more strategy when it comes to mixing. The first step is acknowledging when you are wrong though, am I right?! And I’m sloowwwwly acceptin’ it!
Oh…and I love that you write like you probably talk – I think it adds to your writer’s voice
…and a blog is the perfect venue to express that!
Jenna, These look OUTSTANDING!!! I have had a serious itch to bake lately and these might have pushed me right over the edge…
Over the last week, I have saved 3 of your blog posts that have recipes I want to try out. I am LOVING the direction you’re taking this blog in and I enjoy reading it every day!
I never realized that the over mixing caused them to go flat- good to know!
wow so less IS more when it comes to baking! I thought my cookies would come out perfecto if I put some lovin’ into’em butter and sugar!
I love your new blogging style by the way! I like your unique “Here’s what you need for success” mantra
you should copyright it! haha
Anyways, I don’t care what kind of grammar you use to describe them. I’m loving these cookies!
These look amazing! A silly question though, would you say a stick of butter is around 8oz? I’m English and we don’t have a standardized butter stick size here, so weigh butter out in oz/grams. I’ve had a look on the internet and 8oz looks about right, but just wanted to check first. Thanks!
Holy yum!!! Chocolate chip cookies, when made well, are possibly my favorite dessert ever!
I love that you’re posting stories from culinary school and recipes! Not that I didn’t like your blog before…but I’m just saying I like it more now.
These cookies look so good. Dark brown sugar will be on my grocery list, so I can make these.
That looks phenomonal! Thanks for the recipe! =) I want to make that as soon as possible!
Wow that’s heavy on the butter and brown sugar, but man they look good.
These cookies look so good! I’ve always only done brown sugar with all my cookies before because it makes a HUGE difference in keeping them soft and chewy. Unlike the regular mixing of granulated and brown, which causes them to be crispier and have a bite.
I love adding oatmeal to my chocolate chip cookies, and even currants too! Yum yum.
Oh dear. I’ll make these … eventually. I may need to stop reading your blog for the sake of my waitline.
Gah, I hate you for posting all of these amazing recipes when my mixing bowls are not in my apartment! Not fair. Luckily I am going home for Labor day and will be bringing them back with me. Can’t wait to make these!!!
Oh myyyyyyy….. This should be considered food porn
and now I’m going to have to add cookie-baking to my to-do list! Love it
That butter-sugar mix looks so good I don’t know if I would ever even make it to the next step. Yum.
I am totally going to have to make these and my family’s famous recipe and do a BAKE OFF!!!
Oh. Oh. Oh. There should be a warning about food porn on here.
Those are some serious cookies.
How many dessert posts are we going to see? You can post your daily eats once in a while too.
Amen, sista’.
I tried Beth T’s cookies, and while they were dang good and impossible to resist, I still preferred the texture of my creamed-butter, 100%-brown-sugar type.
this post sent me over the edge in search of chocolate. thanks for that.
so many great tips, all this time I have been over creaming….okay, please, please, pretty please – next up…THE best brownies???
Um, I am drooling. I am loving the direction that your blog is going. The recipes look great (the chana masala is next on my list to try), and your tone is fun and entertaining. You really make me feel like I can make anything that you post, even though I have such little cooking/baking experience. Thanks!
Looks soooo good…will get around to making this recipe. BTW if haven’t read Julia Child’s ‘My Life in France’ can’t put it down! Like her I was from Pasadena, also lived in Montecito, and my son went to grad school and lived for a long time in Paris before moving for a couple years to Amsterdam. What is so intriguing to me about the book is that I met her twice–a perfectly nice woman but no one you’d imagine if didn’t know it the empire she created. Reading her book–her personality is sooooo impressed. So dedicated and driven and such a perfectionist . I put down books on my faves Jackie O and Audrey Hepburn to read this.
Oh, and might want to watch ‘The Kings of Pastry’ trailer if haven’t. I MUST see that. About the French pastry awards ( it’s at the bottom of French First Lady post
http://tinyurl.com/oe4ezq ) At the moment am on a Herbes de Provence cooking kick—your choc chip recipe next. lol
I’m trying to figure out what to bake for our family get-together this weekend. You keep posting these amazing recipes, and I don’t know how to choose!
Oh yum. Wow.
I love how honest you are with EVERYTHING.
I want to bake some cookies right now so badly!!! Unfortunately, all of my kitchen and cooking stuff is in boxes in a trailer for another week
They look delicious though!!!
Yumm!!! I wouldn’t be able to make 36 cookies and not eat them, not all at once, but I would be having at least 4! Do you just give the rest to people?
those look so good! Thanks for sharing!!!
Love a chocolate chip cookie on a Tuesday.
Now Miss Jenna… I think a pastry chef like you should know better not to measure your brown sugar in a liquid measuring cup
Aha! So that’s why I’ve “melted” so many of my cookies over the years. Thanks for the warning about over-creaming butter and sugar!
THAT’S why they spread like crazy? It truly is frustrating when it’s supposed to be an easy thing to bake. Who knew? Thanks for sharing your wealth of knowledge!
but i actually prefer my cookies flat!!
Jenna – its hilarious – you are obsessed with cookies!
These look very yummy I must say.
Julia
I can’t wait to try this! I’m always on the lookout for new chocolate chip cookie recipes and these cookies look chewy and amazing.
Nothin’ like a good ol’ fashioned chocolate chip cookie
xo
Kris
I love having those recipes that you just keep coming back to!
This one looks like a gem.
Those look fantastic!
these look amazing! i love good choc chip cookies (who doesn’t?)!
I am a firm believer in brown sugar in chocolate chip cookies! I think it makes all the difference in the world.
I love eating chewy moist chocolate chip cookies with a tall glass of milk
!
oh wow i am definitely bookmarking this recipe
those look like the perfect treat!
Just baked these bad boys and they came out, er flat. I didn’t over mix the dough and they weren’t liquidy when i placed the batter on the sheet, could it have been expired baking soda? (I’m not sure how long the box had been open for.) I also used foil on top of a baking sheet. Bad idea?
I just realized that the stick of butter was salted. Oops. Could that have been a possible culprit?
I enjoyed reading your blog and learning about your yoga routines, daily foods, etc. But now it’s mostly recipes and because of my dietary restrictions – doesn’t really appeal to me! I know you have to change your blog and expand your own personal horizons of course. Just thought you might appreciate a comment from a reader. A lot of people read your blog, some people have allergies and intolerances. It would be nice to have other entries to read that aren’t just limited to recipes!
I am a firm believer that you can never have too many chocolate chip cookie recipes! Which may partially explain why my body is…let’s just say NOT firm. ( : I will try this recipe soon. Jenna, have you tried the “New York Times” chocolate chip cookie recipe? It’s been all over the internet for a while now. It is truly amazing. Have a blast in Texas!!
I have a hard time finding dark cane sugar here in Sweden. Is it possible to use dark muscovado sugar instead? Please help me out here, im dying to make these sweeties!!
Jenna, do you use unsalted or salted butter in this recipe? Thank you!
Jenna, I just made these last night, and they are AMAZING! My fiance said they were even better this morning! I love them; very soft and chewy, perfect balance of sweet and salty. Thanks for the fabulous recipe! I’m looking forward to more.
Your cookies look absolutely perfect! Hence why I added your post to my sweet saturday share list
http://ksayerphotography.blogspot.com/2010/09/sweet-saturday-sharing-time.html
I made these the other night and just have to say to ANYONE THINKING OF BAKING THESE…please do, but DO NOT ommit 1/2 of the butter and sugar like I did and substitute with applesauce and a little agave. It doesn’t work. Need the full on butter and sugar to make these babies sing. I have learned my lesson. Don’t attempt to healthify cookies. Cakes and cupcakes, maybe, but not cookies. They need all that goodness.
Made these cookies today. OH MY GOD. Totally worth every sinful single bite. I ate one and gifted the rest…though I really should have kept more…. haha. Thanks for the recipe Jenna, I’m sure one day I’ll be teaching my children this same one
Hi Jenna,
I just made these today and they are now MY favorite choc. chip cookies as well! Thanks for such a good recipe and such detailed instructions. Really made it a no-brainer. I kept about 4 and are gifting the rest. But I’ll be making these again soon! I pretty much want to share the greatness with everyone I know who appreciates a good cookie
Thanks again!
So how many cups of butter is two sticks? I’m from Canada and our sticks of butter are different than yours.
Thanks for the recipe, Jenna! This was actually the very first thing I baked in my new oven =)
They ended up a tad crispier than I would have preferred but the taste is spot on. I’ll work on tweaking the time.
My apartment smells so good, I may never make it to the dinner party I just made these cookies for
I used to be a break-and-break kind of girl, but I think I’m hooked, those nevvver smelled this good! Thanks for the great recipe!
After thinking about making chocolate chip cookies for a while, I knew exactly who to go to for the BEST recipe. I am making them for my boyfriend tonight. I think he might propose to me after tasting them. hahahah
Jenna. OMG. I made these cookies last weekend. I made the dough during the afternoon and stuck it in the fridge for several hours, until it was fresh-baked-cookies-for-dessert time.
OMG. I am never using a different recipe ever again. That is all.
I just entered into a sugar coma. I know I have a cookie dough problem.. but these babies just took it to a whole new level. I now have enough cookies to feed a 3rd world country. Or just me.
I’m hooked!
These are definitely the best cookies I’ve made. Thank you for sharing! My apartment smells completely amazing, also.
thanks for a new “go-to” C.C.C. recipe, jenna! i made these tonight and the only thing i screwed up was cutting the recipe in 1/2 so i didn’t have so many laying around. must make full batch next time!
i usually box my cookies up and send them to work with my hubby or take to my co-workers- i know everyone will enjoy these tmw!
absolutely ridiculous. I will never go to another recipe. THANK YOU!!!!!!!
Hi,
What is the conversation for 1 stick of butter to grams???
Thank you
Hi, Jenna! I just made these and posted them on my blog. They turned out great, thanks for the recipe!
hey jenna, i wanna make these cookies but i live in colorado. would i have to adapt the recipe for the higher altitude?
YOUR COOKIE ROCK!
Jenna, you’ve done it again!
I’ve tried quite a few recipes of yours (including engagement scampi, chili) and you have yet to disappoint! I made these cookies tonight while snowed in in NJ and my fiance can’t stop raving about them!
Thanks a million! Love your blog and the new style!
-Melissa
OMG! These look ridiculous. Bookmarked!
Mary xx
Delightful Bitefuls
Just made these-now they are my families go to chocolate chip recipe! They are the best
I kinda wish it wasn’t 12am so that I could make these at this moment. Oh, and that fact that I don’t have any buttah may be an issue
Amazing! Made these a couple days ago. Sooooo good!
I have always been frustrated with my cookie results- they always came out flat as paper! But these were different, these were perfect! Thanks for the yummy cookies!
I made these tonight and they are SO good. They may replace my fave CCC recipe. I made the dough before dinner. Big mistake. I was snacking on it the whole time I made soup. Probably the best dough EVAH! My cookies turned out crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. So delicious. And I used your old college arm strengthening method for mixing. Worked like a charm.
Ahhh I am in the midst of editing photos..of choc chip cookies!! That I made in the wee hours of the morning. I was SCOURING the internet trying to figure out what recipe to use. In the end use a version of the Tollhouse recipe but had I known about yours, would have made them. Just saw your tweet.
Mmmm my fav chocolate chip cookie is made with oat flour and browner butter!!
These cookies are delish!They are my go-to recipe when I need t make cookies for my brother who is currently serving in Afghanistan. I also add 1/4 cup of cocoa powder to half the batter to create double chocolate cookies. YUM!!!
This recipe makes me miss you and college . . . I cant even count how many times I either made you make these for me or I have made you give me the recipe (hence the reason I am looking it up on your blog right now). I miss your cookies and your pretty face!
I love you!
Made these cookies yesterday — DELISH! These are quite possibly my new favorite. I used some Rancho Gordo products that I received for Christmas (Vanilla and Brown Sugar) – I think that really made them even more special! Thanks for the AWESOME recipe!
Mmm…just made these again and love them! Butter makes ‘em betta!
Mmmmm. I made these last night and they were good warm, but they’re even better today! So chewy and chocolatey. Will definitely be making them again. Thanks for the recipe! And please come to Atlanta on your book tour.
I made these cookies and they were delicious!! However, they were flat. Have you ever tried using shortening for some of the butter or adding more flour? I’m making these again this weekend. Thanks!!
Jenna,
Any idea on how long to bake standard cookies, 1.5 tbsp approx or the cookie scoop? I didn’t realize the 12 min was for 1 tsp size cookies and so I kept having to put them back in over and over again and given that I am sure the temp dropped by keeping putting them in, I’m not sure. I think I put them in maybe 3 times in 3 min increments and I could have probably done a little less… Very good though, it’s hard for me to trust a chocolate chip cookie recipe. I always my the best big fat chewy chocolate chip cookies but found these stayed soft and chewy the next day better.
I just made these and they are terrific. I had a bag of red and green M&Ms from last Christmas (!) that I needed to use, so I used those instead of the chocolate chips, and they are GOOD!
Anybody try these with Earth Balance to replace the butter, I’m working with a dairy intolerance
I tried with Earth Balance instead of butter, they turned out good, didn’t make as sweet a cookie as with regular butter, but considering I can actually eat these ones, they’ll do!
I made these today and I loved them! I’ve made the browned butter ones, too, and they were wonderful, but these are my favorite chocolate chip cookies I’ve tried thus far. Easy to make, wonderfully chewy, and didn’t spread out too much (I took note of what you said about over-creaming the butter). A complete win! I added Guittard milk chocolate chips, though, because I can’t seem to get enough chocolate. Oh well. Thank you!
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