I’ve had people ask me the secret to making chocolate chip cookies that don’t spread and turn out super flat when baking. The secret here my friends, is a good recipe! You need the proper balance of sugars and flour and I do believe I’ve found it here. The other secret, and this is a big one, is to chill your cookie dough overnight! This is a must.
*EDIT* December 24, 2018
My sister called me for Christmas cookie baking advice and mentioned that I had several chocolate chip cookie recipes on my website and she wanted the easy one. That would be this one; mixed the same way you’ve mixed dough before and using the same ingredients. The only difference here is the amounts, set to give you thick cookies that won’t spread flat when baking.
And while this dough does bake incredibly well as a large cookie, you can also bake these any size you want. If you’re in a hurry, a quick chill in the refrigerator will also do the trick, but I still prefer letting the dough rest overnight.
- 2½ cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour (360 grams all purpose flour)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1¼ teaspoons salt
- 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened slightly
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed (220 grams brown sugar)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams white sugar)
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks
- fleur de sel or kosher salt for sprinkling (optional)
- chocolate candies for topping (optional)
- Whisk together the flour, soda and salt.
- In the bowl of your mixer, cream the butter and sugar just until it is combined and smooth.
- Scrape the bowl and give it another quick mix on medium. You do not want to cream the butter and sugar until it is fluffy.
- Add the vanilla extract and one egg. Mix on medium about 20 seconds until egg is combined. Scrape bowl.
- Add second egg and beat to combine,
- Add the flour and mix about 10 seconds. Add the chocolate chips.
- Mix until the flour is mostly incorporated and then finish mixing with a spatula.
- Cover the bowl of cookie dough and refrigerate AT LEAST one hour but preferably overnight.
- Preheat your oven to 350*F.
- Portion the dough into 2" round balls (for giant cookies) or 1" round balls for smaller cookies.
- Place on a parchment lined half sheet pan and flatten just slightly. Sprinkle lightly with salt if desired.
- Bake the cookies for about 14-16 minutes for large and 12-14 minutes for small, turning half way, until the edges are golden and the centers no longer look wet.
- Do not over bake, these will continue to cook for a few minutes once removed from the oven.
Hi Dan! Love that you’re trying your hand at the magical half pound cookies that have taken over our itty bitty City Cakes shop! Keep up the baking fun and swing by next time you’re in the neighborhood. 🙂
HI Chef Marc!
Wow- I can’t believe that you managed to stumble across my humble baking blog. That is so awesome! The work that you all do at at City Cakes is truly inspiring. Next time I am in the NYC area I’ll be stopping by!
Love this recipe…
I’ll try the tip with the parchment paper five minutes after cooling to reduce crisp edges.
I’m new at baking, can you let me know if these giant cookies are at all dry or too dry? The picture kind of looks that way to me but what do I know, I can’t taste them through the computer screen;) These would make great cookies for my son’s lunch boxes (and for me;)
Thanks in advance for your assistance.
Hey Antonio. This is a pretty classic recipe, with a slight chew and a kind of cakey outer edge. They could dry out if they are over baked, so just keep an eye on them like you would when baking any cookie recipe. Give them a try!
Happy Baking
Dan