I suppose there comes a point in every food blogger’s so-called “career” when she posts her favorite chocolate cookie recipe, but I’ve avoided this point for a long time because, does the internet actually need another chocolate chip cookie recipe? 130,000 times no. But, the thing is, I do have a favorite. And sometimes, sometimes when you’re making a heavy meal full of classics that I’ll get to one by one this week, you want to end on a simple–but not too subtle–note. See, this cookie has what we affectionately call “a lot of chocolate to very little dough,” in fact, when you’re folding all of the ingredients together, it seems impossible that so many chocolate and pecan chunks will fit in so little batter, and the best part is that they barely do.
Who is the crazed, handsome genius who brings us this masterpiece? No, not Alex, though he did bake the cookies while I washed dishes on Sunday (see how we switched it up there? cr-azy!). It is, and really just has to be, the famed David Lebovitz, from his Great Book of Chocolate. And yeah, I was like the last person on earth to buy this but I’ve made up for it by making these cookies more than twice. More than twice. You have no idea how few recipes get even one repeat performance in the smitten kitchen, twice means that you need to print (yup, it’s working again) this post and go make these right now. In 30 minutes, you’re going to be all “Schmoll House who?” and you’ll never look back.
Our Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies*
The Great Book of Chocolate
So, here’s my chocolate chip cookie thing. The nuts are always well-toasted and they’re always finely chopped–as in, some will be the size of petite peas but many will be more like powder. What this gets you is a cookie filled with all of the awesome flavor of nuts, as well as the extra crunch, without the nuts actually interrupting your chocolate chip experience. Nobody wants their chocolate experience interrupted. Half the people who try them will have no idea there are nuts at all in there–thus hushing the nut haters–but they will know that there is something undeniably better.
Makes 20 cookies, or more if you use one of these tiny cookie scoops.
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (120 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) (115 grams) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2-inch (1cm) pieces
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups (175 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt or 1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt (Deb option)
1 1/2 cups (200 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup (130 grams) walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped
Adjust the oven rack to the top third of the oven and preheat to 300F (150C). Line three baking sheets with parchment paper.
Beat the sugars and butters together until smooth. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and baking soda.
Stir together the flour and salt, then mix them into the batter. Mix in the chocolate chips and nuts.
Scoop the cookie dough into 2-tablespoon (5cm) balls and place 8 balls, spaced 4 inches (10cm) apart, on each of the baking sheets.
Bake for 18 minutes, or until pale golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
* Hey, Deb, Didn’t These Cookies Used to Go By Another Name? Why, yes, they did! As was explained in the original post, in his book, David Lebovitz names these cookies after a now-shuttered cookie shop in Ghiradelli Square, who bequeathed the recipe to them. However, the name of that cookie shop is now trademarked by an apparently unrelated cookie company who sent this site a Nastygram for the “unauthorized” use of their brand name which caused confusion among their customers who might wrongly believe that the recipe belonged to them and accusing this site of “intentionally capitalizing on their goodwill of their trademark.” Thus, the title has been updated.
[P.S. to Food Companies: This could be a case study in How Not To Get Bloggers to Warm to Your Brand.]
All of these comments had to be copied over during the server move. Sorry to the original commenters!
1#shana January 14, 2008
what is it with the chocolate chip cookies recently? these look lovely, i love how small they are. although inevitably that means i will eat. them. all. without even knowing it!
2# Pedro January 14, 2008
Partial feed. Grr. How can we encourage the end of the audition?
3# deb January 14, 2008
@#$! I had changed it back after Friday, wtf? Let me see what is going on.
4# David January 14, 2008
First you tell me Alex does dishes.
Then you tell me he bakes cookies?
Dear lord, I need to cool down.
(Too bad there’s no Murray’s in Paris…)
5# deb January 14, 2008
Oh, crikey. So, here is what is happened. WordPress 2.3.2, the latest version (upgraded on Friday) only has two RSS options: partial and full. However, the “full†cuts off where you put the entry break in (I do mine about halfway through entries, so the front page doesn’t get too cluttered) and there is *no* way to undo this. I will see if there are any plugin solutions to this problem that my WordPress Guru can install. In the meanwhile, this is WordPress’s fault, and not mine, not that it is any consolation. Sorry for the inconvenience, people. (Though I do think we’re worth the click.)
6# radish January 14, 2008
Sorry about web troubles!! Am I missing something? I think I can see it all? Or am I not an attentive reader?? Question though – how do you cream chilled butter – i always bring mine to room temperature to cream bc it’s hard otherwise?
7# deb January 14, 2008
Actually, I was a little confused by that step, too, and always soften the butter a bit so it is mixable (though not as much as if I were making a cake). Perhaps we can get David to clarify?
8# Hilary January 14, 2008
[redacted, see note]??????? We used to go there all the time in San Diego. I must try this recipe!
9# Sharon January 14, 2008
Ooh these cookies looks so good! i like a high chocolate to dough ratio. btw, i have a new blog and i have linked you on there, if you don’t mind! been reading from day 1 :D
10# Jocelyn January 14, 2008
Yum. Cookies are my second favorite weakness in life. My first is well done french fries with melted cheese & gravy on the side (Disco Fries, you know I coined the term in 1992 and now every calls them that!) I think you should let me guest blog again someday and I will make Disco Fries at home for all of your favorite hungover readers!
11# Joy January 14, 2008
MMM…you’re making me drool. It’s not even the middle of January and my dieting sensibilities have escaped me!
12# Kathryn January 14, 2008
Oh how exciting! I remember [redacted, see note] from growing up, and I’d always get one of their white chocolate chip macadamia nut ones. I can’t wait to make these.
13# katy January 14, 2008
gorgeous. and I was about to ask why they are called [redacted, see note], but of course, you’re one step ahead of me! :-)
14# 13desserts January 14, 2008
oooh! I am a huge fan of your blog and reading it really encouraged me to set up my own. I am totally reassured that a seasoned pro such as you also posted a choc chip cookie recipe ;-), in my opinion, there can NEVER be too many of those!
15# applebranch January 14, 2008
hurray! thanks for this — again, a fortuitous connection between what you post and what I’ve been craving. Last night, i was thinking of a way to use up the leftover pecans from the holidays and was wondering how they’d work in chocolate chip cookies…and voila!
16# spoiledonlychild January 14, 2008
Deb, I fail to understand how one person, with a full-time job at the NYT no less!, can bake as much as you do. It blows the mind. Do you sleep? Do you ever leave the house? Do you do anything during your non-work hours other than cook and bake? And everything comes out so scrumptios and perfect looking. I think I’m onto you. You’re a robot, aren’t you?
17# deb January 14, 2008
I’m super-flattered that you think that I work at the Times (!)–heh, not yet anyway–but can assure you I’m not a robot. But we did do a lot of cooking this weekend because we were having about 7 people and one staggering drunk of a toddler over on Sunday. I’ll get a couple this week.
18# Judy January 14, 2008
Deb,
Just made the caramel cake and the glaze is really thin…I cooked it until 212 temp, should I have cooked it longer??
Thanks for any help,
Judy
19# Veronica January 14, 2008
I tried this recipe off of David’s site but ended up starting over with a new one recommending softened butter after a butter creaming fiasco. Chunks of butter flew around my kitchen. I have a hand mixer, not a stand mixer so maybe that’s the difference? If you or David could clarify, I would try these cookies again. I so wanted to bake the best ones ever. Thanks!
20# Chuck January 14, 2008
I’m one of those “nut hatersâ€, hate maybe a little strong, but I don’t like nuts interfering with my chocolate deserts. However, I could deal with finely chopped nuts. The extra crunch sounds great!
Regarding your full feed issue, check out this plugin, which should solve your problem.
21# Warda January 14, 2008
That is so funny! David’s chocolate chip cookies are my favorite in the whole wide world too. I made them last month about three times just to make sure that they are indeed my favorite. And they are! (My hips will testify of that!) And the butter does cream pretty easily with the help of the sugar. I’m guessing the brown sugar has something to do with it.
22# moe January 14, 2008
These look great! Out of curiosity, what kind of chocolate chips do you use?
23# mike January 14, 2008
Sounds delicious and I agree about the nuts. Small/finely chunks or none at all in my cookies!
24# Anali January 14, 2008
I just printed it! Yum!
25# Helios January 14, 2008
I’ll have to try this recipe. My current favorite is Dorie Greenspan’s “Best†Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe in her Baking: from My Home to Yours. But your rave review makes me want to try these ones just to be sure! :) Nut free though. I’m a chocolate chip cookie purist that way.
26# deb January 14, 2008
Judy — I learned last night that my thermometer is a total piece of ahem, its temperature could be as far as 50 degrees off, likely explaining why my caramel topping was so thick. The original recipe’s picture shows a thin caramel that soaks in more, and many other commenters experienced this, thus your outcome was correct. If you want it thicker next time, like mine, go ahead and cook it quite a bit hotter. In the meanwhile, I’ll be investing in a thermometer that costs more than $2.99 but more on that later this week.
Moe — I’ve been using Ghiradelli because they’re the best-quality readily available ones in the stores I go to. I love their flavor, but their size is a little mega making them dominate the smaller-sized cookies I prefer to make. Nobody complains, but it’s just something I notice.
27# Mer January 14, 2008
“’Schmoll House who?’â€
I love your writing style. You make me laugh.
28# Alice January 14, 2008
I’ve made these cookies before and they are SO good. The chocolate and nut and nut content compared to the dough is higher and I think that’s why they taste better the, what did you call it, Schmoll House cookies dough? haha.
29# JEP January 14, 2008
Yes, I do need this choc chip cookie recipe & my tummy thanks you for it:)
30# Jane M January 14, 2008
I love cookies! I just don’t like the way each batch I bake come out differently. I know, sometimes my butter isn’t at room temp, sometimes it’s humid out, sometimes I’m not careful in measuring…but all in all I REALLY REALLY ENJOY BAKING. I just have to tell you, last week I made the goulash…IT WAS OUTTA-THIS-WORLD YUMMY! I’ve got probably 13 pounds of biscotti dough in my fridge waiting to bake them off for a Trade Show starting on Thursday. My customers LOVE my baking and many have asked me if I’m baking again for this show! They won’t be disappointed –I HOPE!
31# Kristin January 14, 2008
Oh my…my son just made me buy chocolate chips at TJ’s and I hadn’t yet found a recipe…what luck I found in this post tonight! Yay!
32# Amy January 14, 2008
While we’re on the subject of feeds and entry breaks and such, can I mention that I preferred when you used to have the break always happen between the writing and the recipe? Sometimes I don’t click through to the recipe, but I always read all of the writing. These days I never know whether there will be more writing if I click or not!
Fantastic idea to chop the nuts finely, by the way — I myself am a “nut haterâ€, but I don’t actually hate nuts (in fact I rather like them!) what I really hate is the interruption, just as you describe.
33# StickyGooeyCreamyChewy January 14, 2008
Lol, I must be working too hard. I was halfway through your post before I realized that they were “[redacted, see note]†and NOT “Blue Chocolate Chip Cookiesâ€! Sigh….I need a vacation.
Whatever they’re called, they look awesome. Of course, most of David’s recipes are.
34# Katie January 14, 2008
This is my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, too. Glad to see that others appreciate them!
35# meg January 14, 2008
Oh, no! I had gotten so excited about your pickled carrots – SO excited – that I made a bold statement that I’d planned to make them, in anticipation that they would be so delicious and snackable that I could finally resist chocolate for, like, a week.
And before I can even say “vinegar,†you’re trying to get me to make chocolate chip cookies, instead! And I have to say – you’ve done such a good job selling these cookies that I just don’t know how strong my vegetable-willpower will be!!!
But THANKS for them both – I can’t wait to dig in!
36# Val January 14, 2008
Deb, I also made the caramel cake, and the glaze came out thin as well. Yours looked so thick and perfect. I cooked it to 212, as stated in the recipe. Any thoughts?
37# TaratheFoodie January 14, 2008
I never thought to toast the nuts before adding them to the cookie batter and I’m not sure why. That’s a great idea and I’m sure it really adds to the flavor. These sound SO good and if I wasn’t watching what I eat right now, I would make these in a heartbeat. I’ll be sure to make them maybe on Valentine’s Day (when it’s acceptable to eat something bad for you always).
38# alison chino January 14, 2008
we made these tonight at our house and they were a huge hit! thanks for such a great recipe!! sooooo good!
39# caitlyn January 14, 2008
My current favorite chocolate chip recipe is from “The Good Cookie†by Tish Boyle, but your cookies look amazing. I’ll have to give them a try — thanks for sharing!
40# kathryn January 15, 2008
I’m going to make these without telling the (anti-nut) husband about the nuts. Wish me luck!
41# lobstersquad January 15, 2008
Deb, bless you for giving it in grams too. It´s very similar to my favourite recipe. I always think there´s no way all those chips will fit, but somehow they do. Next batch, I´ll try them with toasted nuts, too, following your sage advice.
3 days? Do you seriously think these cookies (either 20 or many more using the tiny scoop) would actually last 3 days in this house?
Not a chance. :-) Yum!!
The pictures alone are clogging my arteries. Yummy!
Hi–I made these cookies last night, but they turned out horribly! They were so greasy, they just melted into little pools in the oven and were so big and flat and meh, definitely not like your photos. I can’t really see what I could have done wrong, I followed the directions to a T. Does the recipe maybe just have too much butter? Anyone else have problems with this? Usually, your recipes turn out so well when I try them…
I made these this weekend as well, and while I wasn’t crazy about them (no matter what, I can’t warm up to walnuts in cookies), they actually came out beautifully and all the walnut lovers loved them. I’m looking forward to trying them again with just chocolate chips (sorry!). Clee, did you soften the butter? These have the unlikely direction to keep the butter cold. I wonder if that is why yours came out so greasy?
I tried these, coincidentally with the Ghirardelli’s chips and no walnuts (lots of allergic people in my life) and the chips were large enough to really hold the cookie together on their own. I am definitely more a fan of chewy, but my boyfriend prefers crunchy and I caught him standing in my kitchen in his underwear eating these for breakfast. Keeping the butter cold definitely made a difference given the amount of sugar in the recipe.
I whipped up a batch of these babies for a dinner party I held the other night. Unfortunately I didn’t have any nuts to throw in them, but they were still great!
Deb – these cookies were absolutely fabulous. I can’t thank you enough for sharing the recipe. I doubled the recipe, and was ever-so pleased. I wrote it up on my own blog too – giving you and David L all the credit.
http://tastingspoons.blogspot.com
Thanks!
I tired these today and they were huge (not like in your picture at all). They also spread and were flat and thin. I followed the directions exakctly. What did I do wrong? They still taste good, not great and just don’t look lihe pic
So, I made these today. Delicious. I’m not sure, however, that I like them better than “Schmoll House.” I really think that the beauty of Toll House is the slightly salty dough contrasted with the sweet chocolate chips. The dough here was a little, well, nondescript. Maybe I just like a little more dough to the chocolate chip ratio. Maybe I’ve just eaten so many thousands of Toll House that I’m desensitized to new chocolate cookie recipe adventures. Whatever . . . these are good, just not my favorite.
Im trying these tomorrow and i can’t wait! I’m sure they’ll come out purrrrfect! The best thing for an elementary school girl’s reunion! And my analogy for testing the best ever chocolate chip cookies entirely depends on how much milk you manage to consume with only ONE cookie.. hihihi and if Deb’s pics are any indication… i think one of these [redacted, see note] will definately require 2-3 glasses of cold milk!
I too had the problem of flat and thin cookies, though everyone in the house gobbled them up in record time anyway. The second time, even though I yes, used very cold butter, I also refrigerated the finished dough for an hour before scooping them into balls and baking – made all the difference. Still not as high as in these photos and they did spead a little, but the coldness did make a BIG difference. Just thought I’d share.
I made these last night and am currently brushing yet more crumbs off my skirt after an illicit sample. (Or two.) (They’re supposed to be dessert for a dinner party tonight. We’ll see how many make it.) Absolutely delicious, so thank you. I’m always on the hunt for good cookie recipes. I made a few mistakes I won’t make next time (butter not cold enough, nuts not toasty enough), but these cookies absorb mistakes like George W. Bush.
I’m apparently punchy because comparing something so wholesome and delicious to P. Bush feels like heresy.
Smitten, I made these last night and brought them to work this morning for an office valentines celebration. And now I have to swat my co-workers’ greedy hands away! Thanks so much for sharing. They came out great.
I couldn’t find this in your recipe index and felt momentarily flustered and upset.
Oddly, they were the biggest hit with my “I don’t like too much chocolate in my chocolate chip cookies” boyfriend so I just HAD to make them again.
(That is, b/c then I’d have someone else to absorb the guilt and help me eat them all.)
Anyway, I don’t know if it was my impatience, but just a heads up that it might not be in the index?
I had the same problem as Jeannie and Angie — my cookes spread out a lot in the oven, were super-thin, crispy, and looked nothing like your photos. I will try refrigerating the dough longer, but I wonder if they could use a little more flour (or if maybe the baking soda should have been added with the dry ingredients instead of the wet? I am just making things up here, now). So sad, because your pictures look great and that is what I have been craving all weekend!
awesome site and recipes just bookedmarked your site.. i love choc chip cookiess my sites dedicated to these devilish things lol
go to my cookie recipes and check it out. keep up the cool work
happy bakin
ben
i was a little confused at first about the chilled butter–i didn’t get that creamy consistency that i normally do. i even had ridiculous thoughts of adding a little melted butter just to soften it up a bit. thank god i didn’t–i kept to the recipe, and the cookies turned out great. these are amazing, and before this experience, i WAS a toll house lover (as well as a no-nuts, low chocolate to cookie ratio kind of girl). i’ve been converted. thanks for the recipe :)
I made these cookies about a month or two ago, and I’ve made them a few times since then! These are, in my opinion, the BEST chocolate chip cookies EVER. Thanks for sharing this recipe!! :)
I actually used to work and bake at two [redacted, see note] franchises, I will try the recipe and let you know how it measures up!
I was looking through the ‘prints’ photos for sale and wanted to know what the recipe is called for the first image in the cooking section. It appears to be a rolled dough that forms a bit of a spiral. It looks like it could be some kind of pastry or bread-like thing.
thanks!
It might either be the chocolate babka or the rugelach pinwheels. Either are astoundingly delicious, if I do say so myself.
My biggest beef with the Schmoll house recipe is that it’s always “Sea of dough….lump….sea of dough…..lump” – the lumps being the chocolate chips. This recipe is the exact opposite – PERFECT consistency & chocolate nirvana. I just made the recipe & will be making a triple batch for an upcoming wedding cookie table.
I’ve just made these (well, I mixed up the batter, it’s going in the fridge until Saturday morning!), and I could NOT stop eating the dough! OMG! Last time I made these I realized they were the best chocolate chips cookies I have ever made OR eaten!
The only thing that worries me is I forgot to used chilled butter this time. I forgot and brought it to room temperature first. Luckily it wasn’t super soft, but I hope they turn out as good as the last batch!
I just wanted to THANK YOU for sharing this amazing recipe with the rest of the world!
Oh. My. I just made these. They’ve got to be the best ones I’ve ever made/had. I had a craving for chocolate & they hit the spot. I couldn’t even wait for them to completely cool. I *almost* didn’t have to go back for another. :) I used dk brown sugar since that’s what I had on hand. My cookies also spread out but who cares? I am normally no-nuts-in-my-cookies! but these barely registered with me. They were perfectly chewy with a slight crunchy edge. My fiance loves his mother’s cookies dearly; he took his first bite & asked me if they were really from scratch!? Yea, I told him, don’t you worry.
I have tried so many of your recipes & have more on my list “to do.” Thanks Deb for these, gorgeous photography & fun reads!
I made these! Don’t look as delicious as yours, but still delicious!
Just made them! They’re tall and soft and slightly underbaked. Delicious!
This is in response to all the flat cookies. Well my first two batches came out flat before I remembered a tip I read somewhere on the internet that said to keep the cookie dough cold between batches. Well guess what…perfect beautiful cookies. I put the dough in the freezer and like magic the rest of my cookies honestly looked just like the picture. Good luck!
I just made these cookies, and indeed—ummmazing—-they were a perfect blend of crunchewiness ( it looks like I made up a new word). My only problem with the recipe as written, was the timing (or could the recipe temperature be a typo?). My oven is over the top accurate, and at 300º, the cookies only began to become pale golden at 25 minutes, versus 18 minutes as per the recipe. Probably a few more minutes in the oven would still not have hurt. The bottom line, once again, is that these cookies are absolutely “makeagainable”—(my second created word in this post!). The suggestion to finely chop the nuts, and use the accumulated nut “powder” as well—Brilliant!!! We LOVED these cookies.
Cheers all,
Jeff
I made these cookies last night…HEAVEN…tastes almost like my grandma use to make!!!
It’s going to take at least 20 of those cookies to fill me up.
These cookies are absolutely delish!!!! They’re my favorite thing to eat!
ummmm these are insanely amazing.
I love these cookies and was looking them up when I came to the infamous other site named above. I am glad to know that they are not the real deal, as the cookies on their site didn’t look as god as the ones above.
hehe, I mean good, although they are nearly worshipful.
they sure do sound tasty
They’re in the oven now … I toasted the pecans with a bit of melted butter …
This has become a rare repeat in my kitchen as well. I love trying out new recipes, but there are so many wonderful qualities in these. I LOVE toasted pecans; I think they totally make a great chocolate chip cookie. I even love the smaller batch size. I’m bringing them to dinner with the extended family tonight, and I know I’ll be proud to share them.
These cookies are the best cookies of its kind. I switched it up a little this time using 2 cups of white chocolate chunks and half a cup of chocolate chips, which will more than likely have perfected this chocolate chip cookie recipe
had the problem that others had where even with cold butter, the cookies spread flat and looks nothing like your photo.
you should probably add something like ‘put dough in fridge if dough is not firm after mixing’ somewhere in your directions.
baked these while watching the super bowl.
mine spread a bit thin, but i did have them in the fridge to firm up. they are quite tasty. and, i ate too many.
These cookies have become a instant favorite in my house. They are so simple yet so good. I made them without nuts and they were perfect. Thank you so much
halp!
i’ve tried this recipe twice. and it came out…. funky. they spread A LOT, were very flat and were textured really weird. i chalked it up to my mistakes (i forgot to add the brown sugar at first and ended up adding it in with the flour and i had no vanilla extract so i just left that out, i used parchment paper). The second time around i followed the recipe to the letter. measured correctly, baking soda was fresh, had the vanilla… and got the SAME results. (only difference is i used wax paper… but i used it waxy side down) they taste OK but they don’t look like yours and i imagine the texture of yours isn’t much more on the crunchy side than the chewy side. any suggestions??
The proportions of ingredients in this recipe (key ingredients anyway: egg/ flour/sugar/butter) are like the chocolate chip cookie recipe on the back of the Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips packet. I make that recipe all the time, but use exactly half the butter required. I find the grease content of many cookie recipes just way too high — for my own tastes. I think cutting back the butter to 1/2 a stick in this recipe, and even taking the chocolate chips down to just 1 cup would solve the problem of folks who find their cookies too crisp and crunchy.
this cookies were wonderful! very easy to put together and an instant family favorite! we made our cookies really big and cooked them a little longer, but of course the flavor was all there! thanks for the recipe! i’ll tell all my folks! they were most definately not a pool of grease!!!
just thought i should own up to making these cookies pretty much every other week…usually either dark dark chocolate chip or white chocolate chip. yum yum yummy yum! my thanks to you for this most pleasing of recipes, my search for the perfect chocolate chip cookie is now, i think, finally at an end!
These are in the oven right now and they smell so amazing. The toasted nuts, chocolate and salt are a heavenly combo. Will definitely keep this recipe in the rotation. Thanks!
I just made these here: http://www.laurasaur.com/2009/03/15/chocolate-almond-cookies/ and they are awesome.
Ok, since everything I have made from this site has been AWESOME, I’m off to go make these to give away! Alas, minus the nuts (though I Love them, I know the teenage boys won’t). Can’t wait to try one! BTW–the oatmeal raisin cookies from here were soo good. perfect.
i made these tonight and they were described as ‘pretty perfect’ by all who tried them. exactly the right amount of chocolate and exactly the right gewy/chewy/crunchyness. thank you! i also made the grasshopper brownies which were AMAZING. i am quickly becoming a smitten-kitchen addict :) thank you!
This is the 2nd time I made this recipe. We love it – perfect texture. We didn’t use walnuts, but only because we don’t have them on hand & I only make cookies when I’m having a craving…it doesn’t really warrant a trip to the store. Even w/o the nuts, they are delicious. And I LOVE that it’s a smaller recipe than most – less work, less cleanup, less ingredients…perfect for a small family.
At the end of a long night of studying, I found myself in desperate need of a warm-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookie. Or, as it turns out, four. This recipe came to my rescue. Thank you.
I made these chocolate chip cookies and they were delicious. A couple of things that I did not like were my cookies did not come out like yours in the picture. Mine came out flat and the cookies became very crispy and hard after a day or so. Any suggestions on how to avoid these. I want to make them again but I thought maybe, I should bake them at 10 minutes instead of 18 minutes. What do you think? Thanks. I also made your Jacked up banana bread and it was great!!
I made these tonight and was also somewhat disappointed at the way they turned out. A bit flat and greasy for me too. And I followed the recipe to a tee.
I think the chewy oatmeal cookie recipe on this site- chocolate chips added- is far better. I’m wondering if it will work just as well sans oatmeal??
made these today and they came out lovely. Thank you
I made these today, and the results were not at all what I had hoped. The cookies were spongy, flat, not chewy or crispy at all. Do you have any idea what could have gone wrong?
I just made these cookies in fact the second batch is in the oven now….. THEY ARE FANTASTIC!!!!! I have been looking for a recipe that seemed easy and this is super easy and tastes great!!!!
while i really like david lebovitz and most of his recipes, i’m not feeling these cookies AT ALL. it’s not the proportion of dough to chocolate that might put some people off, it’s the proportion of butter to flour. i used toasted chopped walnuts, chopped chocolate from a ghiradelli bar, chilled the batter overnight and i found them to be flat. and greasy.
not my style for a ccc… i won’t be making these again.
OMG…..I remember this cookie recipe from WAY back! I was just a kid and watched the original cookie shop (which will remain nameless) owners make this recipe on a local SF talk show and. I made them all through high school and then kinda moved on to baking other things. As I type, I have a cookie sheet full of them in the oven. They are just as I remember them. Yum! So glad I ran across your blog! TY!
I’m a huge fan of your site, and so far you haven’t steered me wrong… I’ve made these cookies about ten times, and they turn out wonderfully! My little brother always tells me I’m the “best sister in the world” when he smells these baking in the oven. Keep up the good work, these are a hit with my family and friends!
and for those who had a problem with flat, greasy cookies, I used a couple of TBSP LESS butter than the recipe, and baked for thirteen minutes, not eighteen.
I’ve baked these twice and they are a revelation- it’s hard to decide if I prefer these or Jacques Torres’ chocolate chip cookies (adapted by David Leite). Both are amazing.
I just baked these up this morning, but instead of chocolate chips, I used chopped Scharffen Berger 62% chocolate. They are delicious and I can’t wait to share them with my coworkers. I cook and bake regularly and post results on facebook. A lot of my friends have asked me to start a blog, but I just tell them that since my recipes mostly come from you, they should just visit your site! Thanks for all the recipes and baking therapy!
I just pulled these out of the oven and they are really good! (I’ve already eaten two.) I added a bit of chopped caramel which surprisingly worked. Also, toasting the pecans makes them so much better so don’t skip that step.
I might these again, but have to say that my first attempt was disappointing. First sheet, the cookies were too pale, boring, didn’t have much flavor to them. They were not at all gooey (i.e., they were not underdone), but they just didn’t taste *baked*—as if the temp was not quite high enough for the flavors to develop. So I nudged the temp up from 300 to 315 for the subsequent sheets, and those cookies looked better—better color—but were way too dry and crumbly—almost dusty. We’re serious cookie eaters, but it was easy to not scarf these—we’ll likely throw most of them away.
I guess I should have read the comments because, I too, found these flat and greasy. I might try one of the other chocolate chip cookie recipes you have.
totally awesome cookies, seemed like gourmet cookies, the trick is using cold butter, and mixing butter and sugar long enough to get a smooth consistency. also be sure to use a ice cream scooper for dough when putting cookies on cookie sheet. but i use half of scoop. hubbie loved them too! jean =)
Flat and greasy?! Sounds like dough became too warm – in a warm winter house with the oven raging, best to stick the bowl in the fridge between scoopings. Also be sure to have a calibrated oven thermometer, this cheap tool has changed my baking life!
Many thanks for sharing this one Deb, the toasted pecans are the most delicious kind of genius! I used a mini-food processor with great results. Perfect.
Thanks for the recipe. It turned out grate.
Sadly, at the critical moment of adding choc chips to the dough, I discovered some life in the bag (luckily, the discovery was before the adding took place). So I unearthed some dark chocolate, grind it in the food processor, went over the edge and the chocolate partially turned into dust. Which frankly added some brown glow chocolaty crust to the cookie, and tasted fabulous. So at the end it is a success story.
I froze the unbaked balls and baked a small batch each time I felt we need some cookie after the dinner. And now they are waiting in the freezer for tonight’s New Year’s dinner along with their freezer neighbors Snickerdooddle balls. And the Icebox wafers log.
Happy New Year!
Deb, thank you SO MUCH for sharing your recipes and joy of cooking. I’ve had so much fun trying out your recipes. These turned out to be the best cookies that I’ve ever made, and I have you to thank. I love your anecdotes and your photos and recipes are awesome.
This recipe looks awesome but is there some way to reduce the sugar amt without compromising the cookie texture? My mom and I are diabetic and we’ve been on the search for the perfect choc chip cookie to no avail….(we live in the tropics and our cookie always turns out flat!)
I have a small question about the beating and the mixing. I’m from Holland and even though my English is good enough, I’m not sure what you actually do when beating and mixing: does one of them involve an electric mixer and the other a whisk? (I have the same problem with Dutch recipes, because we even use the same word for both methods.)
Thanks so much in advance!
Next time I will remember to read the comments before trying a recipe. Mine were also flat, crisp and greasy. Thankfully, half the dough went into the fridge because I ran out of time, so maybe those will be better.
Also, as I have one kid who doesn’t like chocolate, I made some with pistachio and apricot (cut small) rather than chocolate chips and pecans. The flavors work well.
Just made the batter! Its in the fridge chilling, I’ll bake em when im done with folding the laundry, I added semisweet,bittersweet and a bit of chopped up 70 percent organic chocolate bar so far the dough tastes awesome! Oh and instead of plain white sugar i used vanilla infused sugar :DD I dont know if that makes any difference but it smells great
DOUGH…Not batter, jeez im silly
Update: the dough that went in the fridge made even oilier, crisp cookies that bore no resemblance to the cookies in the picture. Not sure what didn’t work out there, but since I like a soft chocolate chip cookie, I think it’s back to the NYT cookbook recipe for me.
these are killer! I had no issues with the dough at all – popped them into the oven as soon as everything was mixed together. My husband and I are snowed in today outside of Philly and these are keeping us very good company! Thanks Deb and David – my 2 favorites :)
Baked these last night (although without nuts, since there were none in the house).
Sent off all 22 cookies to little sister’s class for Valentine’s Day.
Little sister came home with empty cookie tin.
Success. :)
I made these last night and they were flat and crispy. Then I added another half a cup of flour and voila! — perfect.
Haven’t made these as cookies but as a big cookie cake instead. I didn’t have any nuts on hand and I used chocolate bars and cut into chunks (much better than chips in my opinion). Wonderful!! I’m partial to a crispy, buttery outside with a soft inside. This is perfect! :D
Does using salted versus unsalted butter make a big difference in the flavour?
Best cookie. period.
Agree with Mariam. Can’t stop making this recipe; can’t stop eating these cookies. Thanks, Deb.
Karrah that sounds great I need a cookie cake recipe, any other tips for great cookie cakes?
these are obscenely good. thanks for sharing!
@Amanda — i would definitely forego the extra salt if using salted butter. yes, it makes a taste difference!
@Sarah – this recipe made a good 1/4″ cookie cake in a 10″ cake pan. (not too thick or thin in my book). i baked it at the same 300 degrees until it was just starting to get golden brown, any longer and it will get too dry (important!). then i just made some simple buttercream frosting in vanilla and chocolate and piped it on. any leftovers (hah!) just leave on the counter, mine didn’t last after 2 days. very good!
I made them and mind failed the aesthetics test terribly, but still taste pretty good. Any idea why they went completely flat for me?
Check out this tip post for some reasons that cookies spread.
I made these cookies this afternoon, sans nuts. Nuts have a place, just not in my chocolate chip cookies. Anyway, I made sure my butter was chilled, and after I made the dough (with 1 cup semisweet chips and 1/2 cup bittersweet), I refrigerated it for an hour. I still experienced more spread than I would have liked, but I think I can attribute some of that to my “organic” butter, the steaming hot climate (that may be a reach)…as well as the fact that I think I was over-ambitious in my beating of the sugar and butter. Still, the spreading was nothing horrific. Anyhow, with a one-inch cookie scoop I ended up with the obnoxious number of 23 cookies…which has mysteriously become fifteen in the last thirty minutes. These cookies are that good. These might just become my favorite chocolate chip cookies! Now, to box them all up before fifteen becomes zero!
I made these cookies for the first time a few weeks ago. They were so good, they disappeared in the first 24 hrs! (I have 4 kids and a chocoholic husband!).
I made them again a few days later and my kids called all of the neighborhood kids and again they disappeared in an instant!
I have baked homemade cookies almost every week/month for 15 years and this recipe definitely tops them all! I think the key is in the temperature of 300 and baking them longer. They are a perfect color every time!
Tried making these, followed the recipe to the ‘T’ and got some delicious dough, but when I baked they were flatter than the flattest pancakes! What could I be doing wrong? Am in the UK using a fan oven, could that be it? Thanks!
Apologies, just found the super handy tip post. Thanks Deb!
I just took these cookies out of the oven, and they are easily the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever eaten. I didn’t put nuts in because one of my friends is allergic, and these have the perfect amount of chocolate chips…I could go on and on about how delicious they are, but I’m sure you already know.
I made these the other day and this recipe is superb! I can’t find chocolate chips here, and I was lazy so I just chopped two dark chokolate plates quickly and, oh my, supersized chunks of chocolate in these cookies… highly recommended. I also used hazelnuts instead of walnuts, just roasted them and squeezed the thin inner shell off of them in a dry piece of cloth. Also recommended. I have now used three of your (cake/cookie) recipes and all turned out great, thank you for posting them :)
I just made these cookies but with a gluten-free flour mixture so my mom could eat them. they turned out pretty good, considering the other gluten-free cookies there are out there! i found once i put them in the oven, they did turn somewhat pancake-like as others above have stated but the overall product was delicious!
I just made these cookies a few hours ago and I love them. I left them in the refridgerator over night to test out the theory proved in the Consummate Cookie recipe. THey are delicious but I decided to leave half the batter in the fridge to fully test it out with 36 hours.
I have also made a few changes to them to make them a little more personal. I omitted the white sugar and used the equivalent amount in Splenda sweetener, though I did leave the brown sugar as it is. I also used only 6 tablespoons of butter and the remaining 2 tablespoons in Greek yogurt. Finally, I used omitted 1/2 cup all purpose flour replacing it with buckwheat flour (Bob’s Red Mill, to be exact). Note that this DID NOT change the texture or taste of the cookie though it did make it darker- it just gave me a cleaner conscience when eating them.
Thank you, Deb!
These cookies are in the oven right now… and they smell fantastic!! Can’t wait to taste them, though I must admit I stole a lick of the batter off the spoon =)
Just made these cookies, and they are unbelievable!
I’ve been on the search for the perfect chocolate chip cookie, making chocolate chip cookies for every occasion I can, with a different recipe each time (I’ve nearly gotten sick of chocolate chip cookies – if that’s even possible), and these are by far the best! They’re perfect gooey goodness.
I do have to say a few of the cookies came out flatter than others, but just as delicious – maybe it was my inconsistent sizes.
These are the quintessential chocolate chip cookie.
Thank you for helping me end my search – and my waistline thanks you as well!
Yesterday, after I made your chocolate chip meringues, I decided I wanted to make a more substantial cookie. I had everything I needed to make this in the pantry, so I whipped it up and put in the oven. The chocolate chip to cookie ratio in this is insane! My significant other, who was a professional baker for 4 years, watched me mix it together and asked “How many chocolate chips are you putting in that?” Followed by “…and how much flour are you using?” and then staring at me like I had lost my cookie-making mind. They spread a bit but I planned for that, since I was using the already-warm baking sheets I used for the meringues. My significant other and his best friend ate a huge plate of the warm-from-the-oven cookies not long after they finished and I woke up this morning to find my significant other eating a few more with his morning coffee. I have a feeling they probably won’t last through today. They are very chocolatey and rich and the perfect mix of chewy and crispy – perfect with a glass of milk. I will definitely be making these again soon.
These might best be named, “gooey chocolate chips that are loosely held together with some dough.” And I love them.
Hey Deb – are these still your fave CChip cookies after making the “consummate chocolate chip cookies” from the NY times??
I think they’re different. These are a little more intense but they can get dry if overbaked. The consummate are wonderful and very buttery, but a little sweet for my regular tastes. This is my favorite everyday recipe, classic-style cc cookie. Hope that helps.
I’m officially retiring my old chocolate chip cookie recipe. It’s been my go-to recipe for a little over ten years, but I just finished making these and they’re WAAAAAY better. Seriously, they’re perfect – chewy, crispy, gooey, and heavenly. I did omit the nuts (I’m a purist when it comes to chocolate chip cookies) and they turned out awesome!!! Yet again, thanks Deb!
My oven isn’t very good at maintaining low temperatures (less than 350F, essentially) s the first tray took more like half an hour. But… these are very, very good. (The second tray is in the oven now.)
I just made these cookies last night (baked a tray and froze the rest) and they are very good. Not sure if I would say they are the best ever, but very yummy! The husband was very happy!
The salt is very subtle here I found and I went up to 1 teaspoon in amount. I also used 1 1/3 cups of ap flour and 2/3 cup of light brown sugar (which is more like David’s original recipe). Next time, I think I will do only a rounded cup of chocolate chips as I found this recipe as is to have too high of chocolate chip to dough ratio. (A small quibble though.)
I did not toast the walnuts as I am not that big of fan of plain toasted nuts. I refrigerated the dough for 8 hours before baking to let the flavors meld like David suggested originally. Overall, a lovely recipe that came together easily for me though I was worried the dough would be too dry (looked it when I was making it) but turned out just fine.
These look amazing! Do you think they would work in a larger format? I’m going to try a large cookie “cake” in a springform pan for new year’s.
Try these instead. They’re wonderful and I’ve already made them large, so I know they work.
I’ve been meaning to ask. Here in non-foodie Fresno, I can find sea salt, but nothing is labelled “flaky”. Would it say so on the package
I just made these cookies and mine also came out flat and thin. Not thick like the picture. Anyone know why? I won’t be making them again if they’ll always turn out like this. :( Did love the flavor, the toasted nuts makes a huge difference.
I found this recipe online because I only had one egg it turned out to be the best chocolate chip cookies Ive ever made at home. Great recipe!
I made these cookies today and they turned out fantastic! I’ve used many chocolate chip cookie recipes and I found this one to be the easiest and most delicious. I was surprised my cookies turned out flat compared to the picture but I liked that they turned out flat. When I usually make cookies they turn out oddly shaped so I was ecstatic that these cookies came out the normal shape a cookie is supposed to look like. The cookies were chewy in the middle and a little bit crispy around the edges. I was scared to use cold butter so I let it sit on the counter for maybe 30 minutes. It was still cold but not refrigerated cold. That surprisingly did the trick and everything else was easy to incorporate. I will definitely use this recipe again and recommend it to people. Thank you for sharing this recipe. :)
I made these minus the nuts because I was making them for people I don’t know well. They looked perfect, no flat-cookie problems here. They were a lot crispier than I like my chocolate chip cookies to be, though–I usually prefer a soft, slightly chewy, slightly cakey cookie. They were a little on the greasy side as well. This is the first recipe from this site that I haven’t completely fallen in love with once I tried it, though.
I love this website and have had many successes in trying these recipes. But not with this one.
I, too, had the flat cookie problem. Also, it really tasted too rich buttery and bordering on greasy. Which really surprised me because I love butter. I’d do it again and cut back on butter.
I just made these for the first time and they turned out perfect. My butter was so cold it wouldnt cream with the sugar so I had to nuke it for about 10 seconds. I didn’t chill the dough and my cookies look like the ones in the picture. I didn’t use nuts because I didn’t have any. Maybe the flat cookies are caused by whipping too much air into the butter/sugar?
Hi Deb – I just tried these cookies tonight and I had the opposite problem everyone else had – my cookies didn’t spread at all. they ended up about 1/2-3/4 inch high and while still delicious and cooked through, they didn’t feel so cookie like. Any ideas what might have gone wrong?
I’ve been meaning to post a comment for ages. These are the only CC cookies I make anymore, and I make them quite often. I thank you. All my friends and family thank you! ( I usually use a combo of toasted pecans and walnuts. Ground up to a powdery state). L.O.V.E.
A.Ma.Zing! You’ve done it yet again – delicios as usual!
I made these last weekend and they came out so great! Absolutely delicious.
I mentioned to my boyfriend that he could take some to his office if he wanted and after a slightly saddened pause he responded, “Can’t we just keep all of them for ourselves?”
Thanks for the recipe!
Hey Deb,
Didn’t these cookies use to require a full cup of butter? Did you cut the recipe in half?
Shel
OH. MY. GOD. Thats it. That pretty much sums it up….If these last 24 hrs in my house it will be a miracle. I’ve never been happy with any homemade “back of the bag” recipe I’ve tried they never turned out quite right. You nailed it with this recipe! wow….mmmmmmmmmm….
I am one of your many secret e-stalkers and have decided to come out of hiding to tell you that these cookies are phenomenal! I chopped up the Pecans extra fine like you suggested and everyone LOVES them. That extra crunch adds that over the top element to chocolate chip cookies that I have been looking for forever!
I’m a huge fan, but first time commenting, like many others :). My boyfriend Alex told me he was craving chocolate chip cookies with nuts today. I haven’t made them from scratch before, but I have all of the ingredients to make them. I just needed a recipe, so where do I turn? Nowhere other than SK, of course! I had to read the comments to encourage me into making these, but I started to become wary from the numerous “my cookies flattened” complaints. Well, after making so many of your successful recipes, I hesitantly made them anyway (making sure to do the tips that you posted). and WOW, I should smack myself for even doubting your recipe. They turned out AMAZING! They didn’t flatten AT ALL! I’m actually a little upset to see the negative comments!!! Followers–just make sure the butter is cold like the recipe says and if you want, after making the dough, pop it in the fridge for a while til the dough gets chilled! Mine baked for 23 minutes (because they were extra cold). But I encourage everyone’s that had flattened to give it another shot with added tips, because they really are awesome! Mine came out higher than the pictures! The second batch I even had to flatten them out a little by hand when putting them on the baking sheet so they would spread more!! :D http://smittenkitchen.com/tips/why-did-my-cookies-spread/
Oh yeah, I wanted to add, I followed the ingredients EXACTLY, using pecans that I pulsed through a food processor. Some people omitted the nuts, which is a full cup of the ingredients. That changes the proportion of dry/wet ingredients.. I really don’t know if that affected some of the flattening issues, but just thought I’d throw that out there (maybe add a little more flour in substitution or cut back butter or something). But follow it exactly and you’ll love these cookies. If you really don’t like nuts in your cookies, there is this recipe that I’ll try next: http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/03/crispy-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies/
As for crispy cookie comments, use less time. As for too soft cookie comments, bake longer. :) Much love!
just made these… they are the best cookie i’ve ever made! the little bit of sea salt made all the difference for me! thanks for all your fantastic recipes!
I wanted to add a comment (even though I already stalked on here earlier)…I made these for a end of years teacher present, but instead of chocolate chips I crushed up Reeses Peanut Butter cups…mmmmmmm….
:( omg i made these and the cookies just spread out so flat that they burnt.. idk why it happened. i followed the recipe exactly
I just made these. Had no problem with spreading at all. Here’s what I did:
-COLD butter, I think a lot of people are missing this key point (I almost missed it myself!)
-I made about golf-ball sized balls and stuck the whole pan in the fridge for 10-15 minutes while the oven was heating up and in between batches
-I have a convection oven (tends to run hot), but they still took about 17 minutes to turn light golden brown (300F, make sure the rack is on the TOP third level). I was scared that they would burn since typically I use the middle rack for baking, but they turned out beautiful. :)
I just mad these and they’re DELICIOUS!!! I used a mix of flaked almonds, almond pieces & pecans & a mix of chocolate chips & chopped chocolate :) Really, just amazing & hard to resist warm!
HO-LY CRAP! I’ve been baking chocolate chip cookies since I was 8 (maybe even younger) and these are the most amazing cookies I have ever made! Thank you for this recipe!! I want to bring them to work, but someone is allergic to tree nuts. Any suggestions for a nut substitute? I think not having them will change the flavor too much.
I’ve made dozens of “best” chocolate chip cookie recipes but this is THE BEST. Husband took one and after a few bites said, “This is the best chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever eaten” and he’s 80! This is also a recipe that requires no tinkering or changing but is perfect as written. Thanks, Deb. Please consider including it in your book (which I am looking forward to purchasing).
Hi Deb,
I would like to make these. This is officially my second cookie recipe from your blog. The first ones were oatmeal. Anyway I don’t know how to toast nuts. I I found info on the web but I don’t know if they know what they are talking about. I know I cannot go terribly wrong with this kind of stuff but I would like your opinion. How do you toast walnuts and how do you toast pecans? Mainly I need oven degrees and duration.
Thanks,
Anna
350 for 7 to 10 minutes on a tray, tossing them once halfway through. If your oven runs hot, check them at 5 minutes. Enjoy!
I havn’t even baked them yet and I can tell they will be AMAZING!! Even the delicious smell toasting the Pecans was heavenly :) Sometimes I feel bad taking all the credit for your fantastic recipes, have loved every single one I’ve tried!!
The recipes says to bake at 300 degrees. Could that be why many people said the cookies spread too much? Should the cookies be baked at 300?? My dough is in the refrigerator and I am baking tonight. I am actually doing a taste test with these chocolate chip cookies, your Leite Consummate Chocolate Chip cookies and a slight variation of the Toll House – needless to say I have a lot of dough in my refrigerator right now. I will report back the results. But would love to know the correct temperature to bake these at so they get their best shot at winning!
Ok – I finished baking the 3 batches of cookies for the taste test – I have not given them to the tasters yet – but I know my favorite between leite’s consummate chocolate chip cookie, our favorite choc chip cookie and the more traditional tollhouse style. For me, the clear winner is Leite’s!!
I made them this weekend and my cookies did too spread a lot. They didn’t look like Deb’s but they were still very tasty. We especially loved them after a few hours and the next day. They were just okay right out of the oven.
I used half walnuts and half macademia nuts. I personally didn’t find the toasting did much for the cookies. I used half light brown sugar and half dark brown sugar too plus the white. I found I got more than 20 cookies. My husband declared them his favorite in a long while.
made these a few days ago, and everyone really LOVED it! =] i usually have problems with sugar level in other recipes, but this one hit the spot.
the cookies still spread, even though i used cold butter, chilled the dough, and even floured the pan. =/ it’s probably due to the hot/humid weather here in the philippines.
thank you so much for sharing this! =] the BEST, indeeeeeed!!!
Made them today and am a huge cc cookie fanatic. So…they are excellent! Mine spread more than the picture and even with putting in the fridge for a bit. They look great and are nice and crispy yet chewy. So these are my No. 2 Fav! Toll House Cookies still reign No. 1 for me. Thanks again for all your expertise. Am looking forward to trying your recent cauliflower posted recipe.
Hi! So, I’ve got a friend who is absolutely cookie crazy and I had been dying to bake him a huge one. Well, yesterday afternoon was a huge cookie success, so thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Wow… this is my new go-to cookie recipe. I made them gluten-free using an equal amount of glutinous rice flour in place of the regular stuff, and they still came out perfectly. And with all the walnuts, there’s no way you’d notice any small difference in flavor or texture from the different flour. AMAZING cookies. My kids and even the picky hubby are scarfing them down…
Your favorite chocolate chip cookie = my favorite chocolate chip cookie! Yum!
I think there’s been some miscommunication here RE: cookie spreading. You will never get cookies like Deb’s picture if you’re getting only 20 cookies from a full recipe. Deb explicitly stated that her cookie dough balls were much smaller – this makes all the difference. Refrigerate your dough, make your balls a bit smaller than golf balls (getting about 40 cookies from a full recipe), and bake at 350 for like 13 minutes to achieve a cookie identical to Deb’s – pale but not under baked, sturdy but not crispy.
Ha! Were there really only 130,000 chocolate chip cookie recipes out there on Google when you posted this in 2008? It’s 1,040,000 now.
I was looking for something simple and sweet to bake the other day when I came across this recipe. I already have a go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe that I usually use, but decided to adventure out and make these. I am so pleased I did because they were wonderful! As Deb’s suggest, I toasted pecans and used sea salt and it truly made the difference. Bravo Deb! Thank you for sharing!
I tried this recipe and it tastes wonderful!! But I’m just wondering why my chocolate chips just melted into the cookies and wasn’t even visible. Maybe I used wrong kind of chocolate. My cookies also turned out more flat than those on the pictures. Anyway, they taste awesome and that’s all that matters! :-)
I am a beginner and was not confident getting the texture that everyone was raving about, but I did! Texture was spot on – chewy inside, crunchy outside. My family are not nut fans, so I will omit this ingredient next time, and see if it affects the texture. Thank you very much for sharing your recipe.
Just baked these cookies for my Dad’s birthday present. They turned out great! Thanks, Smitten Kitchen!
I am happy to visit here. I hope you continue to do the sharing through the post to the reader.
I feel a loss having gone without these cookies until just this year, but I have certainly made up for lost time! I have prepared per recipe as well as with dark chocolate and butterscotch chips, and – tonight – with semi sweet and sweetened shredded coconut. The latest may be the best yet!
So.. I’m trying to learn how to bake so I won’t buy processed cookies and cakes from grocery stores. I’m also living away from the USA in France, and pastries are dangerous.. and I just wanted some chocolate chip cookies. I added that fact because of the brown sugar differences, over here there is Cassonade and I havent been able to find firmly packed like at home. My cookies turned out thin and chewy… however I’m not complaining, this is the cookie recipe I have been searching for – I’ve made them three times this month. Thank you.
What a fabulous recipe! I don’t care for the texture of nuts in my chocolate, either, but I love this recipe with the nuts disguised:) and…. you are right – Schmoll House who?
I made them last night and they were reeeeeally crunchy… :( Are you sure the bake time isn’t way too long? I want to try again but pull them out faster and see how they do. I was really excited about them.
Not sure what some of you are talking about with them being flat. They were delicious. The only thing I did different was that I refrigerated the dough for about an hour or two before I baked them. I also made them a little bit bigger. With timing you have to watch them by the size and thickness, if you don’t they’ll overcook. These were by far the best chocolate chip cookies I have baked. Loved it.
First of all, these measurements are a bit off. I would recommend adding 1/4 cup of flour to the mixture and heating the oven at 350F. 300F is just not hot enough to cook these cookies. Just saying.
Hope this helps someone out =)
i’ve made these a few times now. the first time, they turned out absolutely perfectly. the second time, they were just ok. the third time, they were pretty great. the only difference between the first and second batches was i made the first batch at my mom’s, the second at my house. the third time i doubled the salt (one teaspoon of the umbrella girl salt). amazing. they just needed a little oomph. they’re a bit on the buttery side, but nothing too terrible. i think i’ll try six tablespoons of butter, as well as chilling the dough between batches, next time. and by next time, i mean tomorrow morning. yum!
Do you laugh out loud to yourself when you write? Because its pretty funny and I know I laugh out loud at my magical jokes sometimes. No one should ever have their chocolate experience interrupted by a toasted nut. Not ever. Also! Tip for fellow bakers: baking time is almost always adjusted depending on your oven. I know mine is hotter and baking time is lessened. Dont blame the recipe if you burn your cookies!
I made your rhubarb strawberry pecan loaf today. Fresh out of the oven actually except I used walnuts and 100% whole wheat flour instead of white flour and it if purfect. Meow! And I continue to look for amazing new recipes..
These look so delicious! I am going to make these tonight!
Also, I am looking for a good white chocolate chip cookie recipe. Do you have any suggestions? or would switching the chocolate chips in this recipe for white chocolate chips work?
THESE ARE THE MOST AMAZING COOKIES EVER! And so simple. I only wish I had made a double batch. Thanks!
Just a note after reading you had troublr cooking rice. Here is my sure fire long grain rice recipe.
Take a sauce pan (any size). Fill with uncooked rice to a depth of your first knuckle on your index finger. Add water until it reaches your second knuckle depth. Place on burner and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cover. Cook for 20 minutes. Turn off burner and move pan to the side. Let set for 5 minutes. Serve. Store leftovers in the fridge and reheat in microwave covered with damp paper towel. I use leftovers for rice pudding. Enjoy!
Wowzers! Just finished making these, one word to describe them…Perfection! I followed the directions except added the baking soda along with the flour and salt, luckily they still came out wonderful. I had no issue with spreading. I chilled my dough in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes and even stuck it back in between baking. YUM! Thanks for the great recipe.
Best chocolate chip cookies ever!!!!! I doubled the batch and used white and dark chocolate chips, omitted the pecans (cuz I didn’t have any) and used Earth Balance instead of butter, since I’m nutty like that. So super good!
So delicious! I make extra and put a roll in the freezer to cut off and bake when I please:)
Hey, me and my brother were using this recipe to bake cookies.
However, when we got to the process of placing the cookie dough onto the baking sheet, it was still in particles and not smooth.
We recommend putting 1 tablespoon of water. When we did that, the dough became smooth! :)
Made these cookies for a party that I was going to. They were a huge hit! Absolutely delicious and very easy to put together. I made ice cream sandwiches with the leftover by spreading a healthy spread of Nutella, scoop of vanilla ice cream, and a sprinkle of kosher salt, cover with a second cookie and voila!
They were good, but they spread too much and did not look like the picture. It’s a shame, because they taste good, but I would not recommend this recipe.
I made these cookies a week ago, and while they were delicious, they spread out very thin like others have complained about. I made them again this past weekend, and modified things a bit and came out with perfect looking cookies that were raved about at a party I brought them to. First, I added the exact amount of chocolate chips listed in the recipe (last time, I just eyeballed them). I did not add walnuts, as my husband is not a fan, but instead added a cup of peanut butter chips. Second, I refrigerated the batter. Third, I baked them at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. They came out golden on the bottom, chewy and perfect all around.
Thank you for the wonderful recipe! I just made them with white chocolate chips instead and they were super tasty! :)
I just made these cookies, and they were very well received by all who tried them. One of my roommates referred to them as “epic” and later “angel cookies”. Thank you!
I baked a batch of these last night, and tonight..I didn’t get to have any of the previous nights batch because when I woke up they were gone. Having only lasted a few hours whilst I slept, they must’ve been good though I cannot personally vouch. But tonight’s batch.. amazing. They were crispy on the outside while being soft on the inside, nearly liquid in its excess of chocolate. Pecans aren’t my favorite in a chocolate chip cookie, but I think they are important to the structural integrity of the final product. Toasting the nuts in butter for a few minutes is definitely a nice touch. keeping the butter cold, and the dough cold is integral in preventing the spread I read about in some comments..I changed nothing in the recipe except I cut a tablespoon of butter off the end of the stick to toast the pecans in..so I only used 7 tbspoons of butter. Writing this has made me want to throw a few more in the over. I’ve never had better.
these turned out great, although they baked up a bit quickly for me (and I usually have to add time to recipes!). not sure if i made them a bit smaller or what.
regardless, they were still delicious (as was the dough!!)
This recipe didn’t make 20 with 2 tablespoon scoops for each cookie. Wondering if I did something wrong?
These are the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made or have eaten anywhere. Made them 3 times already. I especially love that they are crunchy and not chewy. Follow the recipe exactly and you will have the perfect cookie. Make sure to toast the pecans, use cold butter, Ghiradelli chocolate chips and don’t use the mixer too much, I think that might make the batter too loose. You’ll make a lot of new friends with these. They’re addictive.
thanks for the great recipe Deb! if anyone is interested, i made a version with coconut oil, whole wheat & spelt flours, coconut sugar (and half what the recipe calls for) and chia ‘eggs’ and they turned out great
These cookies turned out beautifully. I let my butter mostly soften, and whipped it with about 2-3 oz of cream cheese, which made my cookies a bit tangy (delicious)! I omitted the nuts, and used some chopped dark chocolate (about 80 grams). I didn’t have the problem of them spreading and turning crispy, maybe because I let the dough chill for 45 minutes before baking. Thanks for another delicious recipe.
I made these cookies this weekend replacing the nuts with crystallised ginger, adding a little ground ginger to the mix and a splash of milk to replace the liquid from the vanilla essence. They turned out perfect! Thank you!
I typically do not care to comment, but for these I will make an exception!
The dough was delicious, but the finished cookies were AMAZING!
Thank you! I have been looking for a decent cookie recipe and I found some good ones, but this one is something to write home about. <3
Made exactly as written and the results were excellent! Got to love a cookie recipe that doesn’t require room temperature butter :)
I made these and subsituted Almond Extract for the vanilla. wonderful wonderful this is now may go to receipe. thanks. (lol i didnt even know it called for nuts until just now lol)
I made these instead of the Consumate Chocolate Cookie as I didn’t have a 24 window to leave the dough but I’m really happy with these – these are the first cookies I’ve made that don’t have a burnt bottom and have a great crisp to chewy ratio. I belong in the aforementioned nut-hater camp but the nuttiness in these cookies are great. Btw – your blog has made many a dinner in my horrifically incapable hands possible, you’re very appreciated in this household :)
Hi Deb – first time poster, but a long time fan! Just increased the stuff-to-dough ratio by adding the caramel squares from your salted caramel brownies recipe. Here’s hoping they’re not too decadent … if there ever is such a thing!
Thanks for the recipe. I recently started a paleo (sorta) diet, but my only worry was cookies! I LOVEEEE chocolate chip cookies, so you are a life saver. Thanks again.
Deb,
I’ve tried many of your recipes and this is another great one. They are crispy with a chewy center and soft! Delicious my kids are chomping on them as I write this!
Awesome! Simple, fast, and perfectly delicious. Just a little sub of a 1/4 cup whole wheat flour. Love them!
So Deb,
I may or may not have done something very naughty to your cookie recipe. I did everything as prescribed in your recipe, and then I added 3 shots of bourbon, froze the batter and baked them from a frozen dough state (The alcohol keeps them from freezing hard so it is still manageable when frozen).
I did this because I made cookie dough ice cream and wanted a cookie dough that wouldn’t get hard when frozen in the ice cream. It worked like a charm for the ice cream, but I figured if I baked the cookies they would be awful from the weird moister to flour ratio. I was wrong. They are fluffy and amazing with the bourbon flavor when cooked straight from the freezer. I hope you try it. Have a great day!
Hi Deb,
Do you think the unbaked dough would freeze well and be bake-able from frozen? If not, is there another delicious cookie recipe of this kind that you would recommend?
Ta
bell — Absolutely. I find that they spread less from the freezer if still frozen, but otherwise, it just needs an extra minute or two baking time.
Thank you for responding to me so quickly! I’m currently trying out a few different cookie recipes as we’re considering selling cookies in our bakery, which is something we haven’t really done a lot of yet. I think this sounds like a good start anyway! We hope to do a variety of flavours too, but as we’re a very busy little bakery, they’d have to be easy and quick enough to put together. A lot of experimentation is underway!
Wow I love food. I love these cookies and I love everybody. I wish everyone were cookies so I can eat them. Smartly in conclusion zombie apocalypse,fancy ponies. I love the book store.
Deb,
these have been my go to recipe for choc. chip. I’ve made variations with oats, oat flour, whole wheat, you name it! This afternoon, I subbed 1 cup of bacon for the nuts and whoa! I hit the jackpot. I’m on my way to deliver them to his office as a birthday surprise right now. I’ll have to leave them on the back seat so that I dont eat them en route!
forgot to mention – I also swapped out 2 tb butter for 2 tbs bacon fat.
I’ve used a lot of chocolate chip cookie recipes in my time and these ones were by far the best! I split the mixture before adding the walnuts/chocolate chips and used half for the oaty sultana cookies and half for these cookies (I added the extra butter for the sultana cookies) and both were the nicest cookies I’ve ever made! I used chopped up chocolate and used slightly more than the recipe asked for-took them up to Scotland for my gran and she loved them too!
We wanted dessert and there was none. I knew I’d be able to count on you or David Lebovitz, but both of you came through with this great recipe. It’s simple, nutty, chocolatey, yummy. Thank you!
i honestly thought i had perfected the chocolate chip cookie using the Toll House recipe with my own modifications…for giggles, i tried this one… it wins. these are absolutely perfect!
Am standing over my counter with spoon of batter in hand…some might even make it into the intended finished product. Not sure, though. This is my umpteenth batch over the past month – I’m stress baking and these are perfect cookies. My walking group will cheer tomorrow when I – if I – share these treats!
Delicious. I never thought of toasting the nuts first. SD
made these today – with a couple of changes – I just can’t help myself adding a thing or two every time I make some cookies…today I discovered an opened package of dried figs and some cocoa powder in our pantry so I’ve added a bit of each to the recipe and they turned out delicious :) great recipe – thanks for sharing it :)
After falling in love with your Jacked-up Banana Bread recipe, I decided to search your site for a new chocolate chip recipe. Bingo! Just made these (and my family and I have already almost finished them all!)…they are delicious!! Thank you!!
That search reveals 642,000 chocolate chip cookie recipes now!
I’ve just got to know… Why cold butter instead of room temp?
When using an electric mixer, you can often skip the softening step if it’s in small cubes. It’s for ease.
Mod
100 g flour
65 g almond meal
10 g ground flax seed
Use Mexican vanilla extract + little vanilla bean
200 g chocolate chips is overwhelming. Next time I’ll use 100 g.
Yum! Fresh out of the oven and these look great. Charity baking for my daughters school. Sad to gift these but thinking of the happy recipients! ;). Will bake these again for our house soon! Toasting pecans totally elevates!
Are these still your favorites? I ask because I’ve just discovered a new to me recipe that is similar to this but has less chocolate, more flour and is chewy perfection…and if that weren’t enough they get better as they age (well, if you can call three days “aging”!) I’ve rarely found a butter laden cookie that does that! In fact, I’ve made three batches of them in the past two weeks because I can hardly believe I finally found CCC nervana. I keep wanting to email the recipe to you to play with but then stop myself because you you already have several CC cookie recipes. Is this really the end of your hunt for the best?
Susan — It was, or it was as of two years ago. Then I moved onto these, which is still my go-to standard. But I made them recently, perhaps too small, and just wasn’t feeling them the way I used to. I found them too sweet, wanted more salt, more chew in the center. I may have overbaked them. Now I’m at a loss! I wonder if I should reconsider Leite’s, which everyone loved but me. Most people will tell you those are their favorites.
Leite’s has way too much chocolate for my taste but that is a minor fix as it is a stand alone add-in that anyone can adjust to taste. I want balance between the chocolate and the toffee cookie base and between sweetness and salt and I want a chewy texture, too, without the cookie ending up flat and the chips turning to pebbles upon sitting. I still have to find the answer to the pebble problem and I’ve worked on that, too. I found this combo, sans pebbles, so once again can feel the love. Really, I have not ever found cc cookies to be worthy of all the accolades they’ve been given. They have still been broken all these years even after all the recipes claiming to fix them. What? Me picky or just too little else to complain about?
I agree they can be a pain. Try the crispy-chewy ones. They’re my go-to for tender centers. I think I just overbaked the last time.
never posted before and i’m sure you’ve heard this about 132,234,344,234 times but thank you. oh. and you’re a freakin genius. i rolled these up into balls and stuffed them w a dollip of nutella. mmmmmmmm….
These cookies are amazing. Just wanted to share a variation I tried out FOR THOSE WITH NUT ALLERGIES.
A few of my coworkers are allergic to nuts and I wanted to bake these amazing cookies to bring into the office for the new year. I subbed in 3/4 cup dried cherries in lieu of the nuts and they were just delicious! Flew off of my desk within an hour, and I made 2 batches. Thanks for being incredible, Deb!
I made them with a 50-50 blend of whole wheat and oat flour. They’re SOO good! Thank you!
Love this recipe! I featured it on my blog today. Thanks! :)
http://emily-margaret.blogspot.com/2014/03/chocolate-chip-food-photography.html
Try this cookie once and you are addicted to chip chocolate cookies
Even though my cookies did not look like the picture, they were still really delicious. Using everything cold saved so much time and the batter came together fast. Mine were flat and crispy. I even stuck the batter in the freezer between batches. i will totally make them again.
AMAZING!!!
I will never go back to “Schmoll House” again! These are easier and far better in quality. Thanks for an amazing cookie recipe!!
Previous to last night I had a favorite cookie recipe. I thought it was awesome and perfect and a beacon to all the other lost and lonely cookie recipes out there who were obvioiusly inferior. Well let me tell you, I was wrong. Your recipe is so far superior to mine that I honestly never feel the need to bring out my old beloved again.
These cookies are chewy and have a perfect consistency. I made them with dark chocolate chunks (because I will stand my ground on dark chocolate forever being superior!) and they were wonderful.
Hey Deb! If I wanted to do these in a more salted chocolate style, do you think upping the flaky sea salt to 1 tsp. would do the trick? Or would that be too salty? Thanks!!
I usually don’t comment, butI had to here– these cookies are perfect!! I used to be a recipe-wanderer with my cc cookies, but no more, we make these weekly. The only thing that I’ve changed is I prefer baking at 350. Could be a relic of my oven, but at 315 my cookies stay a bit too flat for my taste. Bravo for sharing this exceptional goodness with the world!
These look beautiful. I love a puffy cookie! Also, to help avoid overspreading you can freeze your dough balls and trays lined with parchment prior to baking and make sure your oven is completely pre-heated. You can read more details at http://www.thebettercrumb.com/recipes/desserts/worlds-best-chocolate-chip-cookie/
I made these just now and mine also spread out really thin. 18 minutes after it still seems undone. It tastes great though! Would have been nice if it looked good too! Will try again next time, i will refrigerate and increase temperature as others suggested.
Deb, these are my favorite. a) they’re delicious b) i never have room temperature butter when i want it and c) i always seem to have only one egg. so i always revert to these when in a pinch and they please every time. thank you!
p.s to the people having spreading problems, i find it is best to chill the cookies again after forming into balls onto the baking sheet, as it inevitably takes longer than anticipated and the butter will begin to melt. freeze them for 5 minutes or refridge for 15 and they will be good to go.
KILLER. COOKIES.
This recipe is amazing!
I’ve made these cookies several times.
The last go-round involved scooping out a level tablespoon, rolling them into little balls and freezing them. When we want just a few cookies I take them out of the freezer, turn on the convection oven and within 15 minutes have these super delicious cookies! Can’t thank you enough for the recipe!
LOVE these cookies!! They last no more than 10 minutes in the ER. (I take them in as a treat for my boyfriend and the staff) Making them tonight again by request. Perfect for chocolate chip cookie day! Thanks Deb LOVE all your stuff!!
Just made these, my first chocolate chip cookies in months. I didn’t have the problem that many here faced. My cookies didn’t melt into thin wafers, they stayed little balls on the baking tray until I flattened them with a spatula. Might be because I used almost frozen butter? Anyway, they were delicious!!
We made them in muffin tins… SOO good! Thank you!
If it weren’t for this blog, I don’t know what I would cook 3-4 times a week. Thank you!!
Quick question, what would be a good substitute for the eggs in cookie recipes?
Mabel — There’s a flax seed and water combination that’s very popular as an egg substitute, but I haven’t tried it here. It works better in some things than others, I understand.
How long do you bake the cookies when using the tiny cookie scoop (from Amazon) which you mentioned in the recipe?
Paige — Oof, I can’t remember exactly now but start with two minutes less.
This is an excellent recipe for cookies! I have made it with the chocolate jello and chocolate chips and I’ve also tried butterscotch with vanilla chips and banana
cream with chocolate chips. They all turned out great. It is best to use real butter, like the recipe calls for, instead of margarine. Margarine makes the cookies too
soft!
I’ve made these several times and they’re delicious! When weighing your flour, how many grams do you consider 1 cup of all-purpose flour? I’ve read it’s anywhere from 120 grams per cup to 150 grams per cup. The recipe is using 140 grams per cup which seems a bit heavy for one cup of flour (obviously I should just go with the 175 grams flour stated) but I was just curious, what is your standard when baking?
April — I find mine between 125 and 130 grams. This recipe is from someone else; different cooks seem to not agree (as you mentioned) but if I don’t use their estimate, the recipe could be off, so I go with it when it’s not my own.
These are the best chocolate chip cookies ever! I’m a dark chocolate addict and used chopped 85% dark instead of the chocolate chips. Big chunks=highly recommended. I also added some red and green sprinkles because I’m a grown woman.
I LOVE this recipe. I don’t eat gluten or dairy – but the substitutions I made were simple and the end result still gooey with the perfect crunch to compliment. Instead of butter I used 8 tablespoons of coconut oil, and instead of regular flour I used ‘Bob’s Red Mill all-purpose baking flour’. I also left out 1/4 of the sugar (a bit sweet for my taste) and chose hazelnuts instead of the walnuts/pecans (because, well, they’re fantastic and I had some hanging around). Your recipes are always spot on, and so flexible when it comes to my dietary restrictions. “Cooking is pure joy, baking is pure love!” Thanks again.
I’ve made these cookies about a dozen times now. My 4 year old loves them! I leave out the nuts so he can take them to preschool in his lunch, but I’ve started adding other stuff like oats, flax, chia seeds and sometimes coconut. This chocolate chip cookie recipe is so good I don’t even want to try any others. Thanks for sharing Deb!
I halve the amount of sugar for both granulated and brown, adding kahlua instead of vanilla, and love to add hemp seeds!
I’m currently, anxiously staring at my oven waiting. This is prob my oven flaw, but 300F just doesn’t seem hot enough? At 15 mins they were still piles of dough. Approaching 25 mins now and cranked to 350F. Did everyone elses bake fine at 300F for 18(ish) mins!?
I had to do 350. My oven does not do anything at 300. I also baked smitten brownies at 300 and they were batter in case you are planning on doing those. In case of my oven every time Deb says 300 I have to do 350 or maybe 315. I just made these cookies at 350 and baked for 18 minutes. I had two cookies sheets in the oven at once and the cookies did not bake evenly. One set had a slightly browner bottom while the other has a more yellow bottom. I cannot remember which one but I would guess it’s the lower rack. But they came out very good. I hope this helps.
ok – I love this blog and I can’t remember if I’ve commented before. but – I am making these cookies and can’t figure out what I missed: there was nowhere near enough dough to make three sheets of 8-each 2-tbsp balls. I followed this recipe exactly. Double checked. what did I do wrong. There are 18 medium sized cookies because I made basically heaping 1-tbsp balls.
I followed the directions, exactly, and they came out absolutely perfect. Rave reviews all around – even from my boys. Thanks so much!
I have been making this recipe for years and nothing else even comes close. I normally let my butter come to room temp so it’s easy to cream, but it’s very forgiving. Today I made them and learned after I had started that my mixer was broken, so I creamed the butter and sugar with a fork. Turned out perfect. Don’t be afraid of the chocolate and nuts ratio to dough. It’s perfect. I also like to sprinkle a bit of corse salt on top before I stick them in the oven.
I made these cookies and while the taste was good, they didn’t rise in the way I had hoped/expected. Instead of baking the cookies right away, I let the dough rest overnight in the refrigerator instead. I had dome some reading online and saw that in general this was recommended for cookies. Can this cookie dough rest overnight, or does it need to be baked immediately since it only has baking soda, no baking powder?
Hi! By complete chance I made 3 of your recipes this week! Everything I wanted to make, you just happen to have the perfect recipe for. These chocolate chip cookies are in the oven as we speak. I wanted to say thank you for all of your beautiful work and inspiration!
These finally worked out for me. Very good. I did bake them at 350. I don’t think my oven does anything at 300. It’s old. The last few times I tried to make these they were not soft and I am not sure what I did wrong. Is it possible to overmix batter when it comes to cookies? The last time I did everything in the kitchenaid and then added nuts and chips but this time I mixed in the flour by hand. Wondering.
I’ve made these several times in the past 12 months, it has truly become our favourite too. I love the nuts in them and I think they make for a much more interesting cookie. Nice that it makes a reasonable amount of dough, so you are not left panicking about how many people you are going to have to invite over to share them so you don’t eat them all yourself. I keep my dough in the fridge for a few days so we can have warm cookies when we feel like it.
I’ve made these cookies three times and only once they came out think and chewy. The other two times they were flat (still delicious). I used dark brown sugar the last time I made them and an earth balance butter substitute all three times. Why are they so flat?
My favorite recipe so far. Delicious. I refrigerated for a few hours before making them.
I have made many of your recipes over the years (mostly sweet ones) and this and the blondies are family favorites. Today, my kids helped me make these (their first time baking) and it tuned out lovelier than usual. So, a big big thank you for all your wonderful work creating, finding and testing the recipes so we can be sure it’ll succeed every time.
Are you sure you don’t want to go into Journalism……. you do an amazing job! These photographs are incredible.
This is my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe! I’ve tried a number of chocolate chip cookie recipes, but nothing comes close.
At 8:15p on Friday I decided that I wanted cookies so I did a quick SK search. By 9:15p I was eating these cookies and sharing them with my neighbors, who called them “spectacular.” So simple, yet so delicious! (the cold butter was a bit unwieldy, so slightly closer to room temp would make the creaming easier)
Amazing
I’ve made these multiple times and they are delish! My go to cookie recipe for sure. One question, I want to make dozens of cookies, for an event, about 200, should I double the recipe or can I make a huge batch?? Thx!!! 😊
You can make a huge batch, so long as your mixer can handle it. Glad you’re enjoying the cookies. :)
Thank you!!
This is my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe! The cookies consistently come out soft and fluffy, and there’s something to be said for the simplicity of the measurements/directions. (Today we substituted equal parts M&M candies for chocolate chips and it was a success.)
I always love your recipes and have great luck switching out for GF flour when necessary. My boyfriend is a great sport with my dietary restrictions, but I cried haply tears with all his compliments for these cookies!! Thanks
These cookies are fantastic! Great recipe. And I really liked that it didn’t make a huge amount, until I accidentally put in too much of the sugars, and *had* to double the recipe :)
I will also note that it is the best raw cookie dough I’ve had in YEARS. Take that CDC.
THANKS AGAIN, I’ll keep this one!
Years ago I got a recipe for chocolate chip cookies that replaced part of the flour with vanilla malted milk powder. They were the best CC cookies I have ever tasted. It was a pretty basic recipe, except for the 3/4 c. of malted milk powder. I would be happy to share if you are interested. The recipe also included 2 T. of sweetened condensed milk. They were rich, chewy and delicious.
These are friggin’ DIVINE, Deb. I never would have thought to add pecans to chocolate chip cookies but *chef kiss*
I made this with white chocolate instead of nuts (as I didn’t have any to hand), so they came out very sweet, not surprisingly. The spread a lot more than I was expecting, but the texture was perfect for those who like the thin choco chip cookies.
White chocolate melts and nuts don’t–that’s why they spread so much more with white chocolate.
I recommend putting them in the fridge for one hour before cooking
Making these now and I’m sure they’ll be great, but here’s a tip! If you first chop and then toast your pecans or walnuts, make sure you cool them before you put them in the batter. You’ll have melted chocolate chips otherwise!!
These are my “Emergency CC Cookies,” when I need a fix, and fast. No chilling, no softening the butter, just pull out the scale and start measuring. From start to finish, just about one hour.
Won the chocolate chip cookie taste test contest at work! Roughly 6 of us competing in our physical therapy clinic with the patients as judges. So thankful for Smitten Kitchen! Have been making your recipes for years, but I never bake. I didn’t even own cookie sheets before trying this recipe. The cookies truly were fabulous. Shared your blog with patients and co-workers.
Just made these and were delicious! Perfect with the kids on a snow day. I definitely don’t understand why the recipe called for cold butter though. Trying to mix it with the sugar was an absolute mess – sugar and pieces of cold butter flew everywhere and it had to be warmer to eventually mix with the sugars so I don’t understand why it didn’t just call for room temp butter to begin with. Will make that minor adjustment next time, but otherwise, GREAT and very easy recipe!
Had the same issue- butter and sugar flying out of the bowl and all over me and my kitchen. Finally nuked the butter/sugar mixture for ten seconds in the microwave to bring it to room temperature. Much easier after that. Cookies were great!
I didn’t’ find that these were the best cookies too make. I followed the recipe to a t but other recipes I have used have worked better.
You shouldn’t use cold butter and then attempt it to cream it with anything. And cold butter is generally left for flaky pastries like pie crusts and biscuits to give you lovely pockets, but that’s not something you want in cookies.
The baking temp was too low and the time too long to try and make up for the temp. This means that the cookie had more time to melt than cook and you are left with crispy outside edges with and undone middle.
I have never seen a cookie recipe without baking powder and I don’t think the baking soda was doing it justice. This would explain the dense overly chewy cookie. Chocolate chip cookies should be more melt in your mouth.
The chocolate chip ratio was too big compared to the amount of cookie dough. I love chocolate in my cookies, don’t get me wrong, but when it gets to the point of that many chocolate chips, there is no structure in the cookie. There wasn’t enough cookie dough to really hold together the cookie well.
My family and I also just noted that the cookie wasn’t very sweet (which I know is great for some people) but that it also didn’t have a ton of flavor. The chocolate did end up making up for most of this.
All in all, it wasn’t absolutely terrible and my young siblings thought they were good (it’s the chocolate) but it was definitely a disappointing cookie recipe. Somebody said I should try it out but there there were so many things that unfortunately this will be a one-and-done. Hopefully you can tinker with it a little more!
Room temp butter, Ghirardelli milk choc chips, would have preferred dark but the milk version was all my pusher had,… no nuts…AND I doubled the recipe. Followed the original time and temp and first round were a little crunchier than I prefer, very good though, the sugars definitely caramelized. Next round I reduced the time to 15 minutes and we had perfection. They spread just a bit which I expected but not too much. I like the butter/ flour ratio not greasy at all, but not dry and flavourless. I use unsalted butter because I am my own sodium control board. But added the salt as in the recipe.
My friend originally made these for us when my family was going through a difficult time after losing my mom. So, yeah, a special cookie in our rotation. Simple and delicious just watch the timing if crunchy ain’t yer thang.
My pusher works for Lindt who owns Ghirardelli. Blessed am I;)
Made these for the first time today with Trader Joe gluten-free flour mix and several partial bags of chocolate bits from the freezer and some sort of over-toasted walnuts . . . because not going shopping right now. Added a sprinkle of xanthan gum. They are delicious if different from yours . . . thin and a bit crispy and just sweet enough. Love the toasty walnut flavor. Putting dough balls in the freezer to bake off later so I won’t eat them all in the next few days. Thanks for another winner!
Hi Deb, these had great flavor but my cookies came out flat…I had refrigerated the dough before I baked too. I hadn’t noticed a problem with my baking soda the last time I baked and I know that can be a problem. Any other reason that you can think of?
Thanks!
Cathy
These cookies came out well for me once, and since then I’ve found they’re very flat, and I couldn’t figure out why. After doing some research about why cookies end up flat, I made sure to do three things when I made them last night, and I’m happy to say they came out perfectly (not flat!).
1) Make sure to use cold butter and don’t over cream the butter and sugar;
2) Freeze the cookie dough balls for ~15 min before baking;
3) Bake at 350 degrees.
Hope this helps!
Thanks for sharing this recipe, it looks great! What are your thoughts about range hoods? I’m trying to decide if I should get one.
https://prolinerangehoods.com/blog/proline-range-hoods-customer-reviews/
I looked for a classic chocolate chip cookie recipe and this one is amazing! No need to look for another one.. It also worked very well with half all-purpose and half wholegrain spelt flour because that’s all I had at home. 🤓 I actually used less of the chocolate chips and pecans tho 🤔 And they turned out more flat than in the pictures. But they turned out divine! 🍪 My parents loved them as well (even tho usually in Austria we bake cookies only for Christmas), so yesyesyes will make them again. I just microwaved one and am eating it at almost 11pm and got no regrets. love your recipes! The peanut butter cookie recipe will be the next one I try! YAY! All the best from Vienna!
Hello!
Can I freeze the dough and make at a later date? I like the idea of baking a few cookies at a time for that nice sweet treat!
Nicole
These are fantastic. I am also not a nuts-in-cookies-person, but this is a game changer. I adore toasted pecans, but it is genius to chop them really small. You get the flavor and crunch throughout. Just wow. The ONLY thing I did was use softened butter, and I chilled my dough a while. We will be making these again and again.
These cookies were lauded and adored right out of the oven, one sheet stayed a bit longer for browning for those who enjoy a darker cookie. Crisp on the outside, melts in the middle, who can argue this texture?
The only changes I made were more vanilla, the addition of a 1/4 of bread flour to capture more of the chocolate. I used generous chunks sliced from the five pound Trader Joe’s dark chocolate bar. In the end I used my hands to incorporate the chunks until I had a true dough which I refrigerated for ten minutes.
At room temp the cookies became more crunchy but still much appreciated.
Made this and they were great! I used a scoop that is a little large than 2 tbls and it made 14 very large cookies. I used silicon matt instead of parchment paper. I used the cookies to make ice cream sandwiches (and ate a few just by themselves). Best cc cookies I’ve ever made, came together fast, and baked in 2 batches with 2 extra cookies baked in the toaster oven. Thank you so much for this recipe! Perhaps toasting the walnuts put these over the top. Highly recommend.
These are great!! I tend to be a little too light-handed on my scoop and measure approach with flour, so I needed a little more flour than (my version) of 1.25c. Overall, though, amazing.
I realize this recipe was posted 200 years ago, but I printed it out years ago and only just made them last week. These cookies are SO GOOD. The nutty flavor from the pecans was subtle but delicious. My cookies ended up thin but chewy, exactly how I like them. A+ recipe that I will keep as a go-to!
These cookies just didn’t work for me. They taste fine, but I just didn’t care for the way they spread. I even tried chilling the dough first to prevent the spread but it didn’t help. I guess I expected them to be a little puffier. However, my husband loves them!
im a smittenkitchen devotee, i use your recipes for everything! i noticed that there wasnt the usual instruction to chill the batter here, and i thought about doing it anyways but decided against it. i think that must be why theyve turned out this way :( theyre huuuge and flat and oily- nothing like the pics and i think i may have even used the same recipe before with better results. id agree with other commenters that you should definitely chill the batter first!!
Where has this recipe been all my life? It’s perfect, and it’s very easy to downsize. I made a batch of just five cookies last night, from a quarter of the ingredients, because I don’t need dozens of cookies sitting around. Usually that doesn’t work with cookie recipes, but these came out perfect.
Deb, they don’t dry out baking for so long? I realize it’s a lower temp.
These are so great! I was skeptical about chopping the roasted nuts so finely (per Smitten Kitchen’s notes and I ALWAYS read Deb’s notes) but the cookies are just fabulous. A real keeper recipe. I used my #70 scoop and love the size.
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How do you get softer chocolate chip cookies not crispy ?
You’ll want to bake them less time and keep them in an airtight container at room temperature.
I just made these–and baked one tray at 300 for 18 minutes and a 2nd tray at 350 for 10 minutes. They’re still cooling, so I can’t tell for sure, but they seem almost exactly the same. Possibly the 1st tray made flatter cookies, but not by much. What’s the reasoning (or science) behind a longer bake time at a lower temp? Thanks!
I tried this apparently iconic recipe for the first time this week with much anticipatory excitement after comparing different versions on different websites (I don’t have a copy of the cookbook to refer to.) It’s so deceptively simple I wanted to know what the big deal had to be, and the whole bake at 300 degrees thing—I was very skeptical, it didn’t seem like the dough would caramelize enough and develop a deep flavor at just 300 degrees. I was OCD and measured the ingredients by weight and made the ice box form of the cookies where you roll it into logs let the dough “age” for 24 hours. OMFG….the product was unbearably, hankeringly scrumptious. I sliced and baked 3 cookies off the log to share with my family, thinking portion control would limit the intensity of the addictive chocolate chip cookie effect. We were all left stuck with tons of cookie-induced dopamine and nothing more to channel it toward. Those cookies are crazy amazing.
I love these and just made them twice in the last couple weeks! When I baked the smaller suggested size at the suggested time mine cooked pretty to a pretty hard state. I found that I liked them much bigger than I think was suggested, perhaps 2 inches in diameter and still baked them for about 12-13 mins, pulling them as soon as they look even a little golden at the edges. They set beautifully into a deliciously chewy cookie that way. Yum, thank you!
Deb, we only use smitten kitchen for recipes, and if you don’t have a recipe for something, it’s not worth making. I’m just saying your recipes are amazing!! We have these cookies in the oven right now.
I am def late to this party but love the cookies. I made two sep batches of dough for a church function – used silicone mats as well as parchment paper and several dif baking sheets. Used this project to justify buying a cookie scoop – such a wonderful tool. I ran out of time so had to chill one batch overnight, but made one batch and baked immediately. I used 1/3 white whole wheat and 2/3 a/p flour. I cut each butter quarter in quarters lenthwise then diced those. No problem in the stand mixer. The immediate baked cookies spread out to 4,” the chilled to 3 1/4″ even after letting the dough sit for 45 mins., so chill ’em. I decreased the sugar by 2 Tbsp and they were still plenty sweet. Loved the toasted walnuts, less bitter!
These are my go to recipe for chocolate chip cookies. I have been making this recipe for years now.
Tip- I do place the cookie dough in the refrigerator as other commenters have suggested.
These are perfect! I’ve had a request to make chocolate chip cookies for a while.
I was looking for a recipe that was soft but had a little crunch on the edges. When I read that these were compared to Toll House but better, I decided to give them a try.
The recipe was easy, and they were exactly what I was looking for. They will definitely be my go-to chocolate chip recipe from now on!
Thank you!! :)