What It Takes to Make a Really Good Chocolate Chip

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Over my years of experience baking chocolate chip cookies, there are 4 important things I have realized when creating the perfect cookie.

1. HIGH QUALITY INGREDIENTS

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Chocolate chip cookies will always need a base of flour, butter, sugars, eggs, vanilla, chocolate, and salt. I used to underestimate the difference high quality ingredients could make, but it's true. The type of vanilla you use is a great example of this, using real extract or even paste can enhance the cookie's flavor far beyond artificial vanilla.

If I were to only focus on 3 ingredients to splurge at the grocery store, they would be chocolate, butter, and vanilla. These 3 are the pillars to what makes a chocolate chip cookies flavor profile so good.

Trader Joe's Bourbon Vanilla Bean Paste is a great affordable option for vanilla that I personally love using in any dessert.

2. BROWNING THE BUTTER

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Browning your butter can add a flavor complexity that is just not achievable if you were to use the butter plainly. Heating the butter causes the milk solids to start to toast and brown. Cooking most of the water out of the butter allows the cookie to stay chewy with those crispy edges. The browned butter will look like a transparent golden liquid with brown bits at the bottom of the pan.

The flavor of the cookie intensifies creating a deep, rich, toffee-caramel flavor that has some nutty notes. Just by smelling the dough you can tell a difference in the cookie's flavor composition. If you're on a budget and can't splurge on ingredients I would highly recommend browning your butter as a small extra step to take your cookies to the next level.

3. RESTING THE DOUGH

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Similar goals as browning the butter, as cookie dough sits in the fridge over time, the dough ages, improving the rich cookie flavor that has been established with the butter, sugar, and vanilla. When you give dough time to sit and relax the flour slowly starts absorbing the liquid from the eggs and butter, essentially hydrating the flour particles. This process creates a smoother cookie dough that has a soft cookie crumb once baked.

I recommend letting the dough rest for at least 24 hr (max 72 hr). The dough will become very tough and solid, as the butter has cooled down and now has solidified. I advise letting the cookie dough sit out at room temp for 2 hrs before baking, until the dough becomes easier to scoop into cookie dough balls.

4. BEING CAREFUL WITH BAKING SODA & BAKING POWDER RATIOS

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From my experience working with many chocolate chip cookie recipes the biggest thing that made a difference in the cookie's texture and crumb was the baking powder to baking soda ratios. Both play important roles in achieving your dream cookie, but when ratios are offset and wrong, it results in an unenjoyable cookie.

Baking soda controls the spread, browning, and chewiness of a cookie, while baking powder controls the lift and cakey texture. If there is too much baking soda the cookie gets too thin and will darken in color before the cookie is done baking. With baking powder if there is too much of it the cookie get too puffy and tall, not spreading out causing a more cake like texture that minimizes the cookie's chewiness.

Both characteristics together can create a beautiful, delectable cookie, but when there is too much of one or the other ingredient the cookie results aren't as desired, so work with different amounts and try to find your perfect ratio.

Working off of other bakers recipes and making adjustments can help start your journey to developing your signature chocolate chip cookie.

Thank you for reading and best of luck!

Let me know your thoughts and experience below.