THE BEST Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies

Name: The BEST Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Ingredients: 1 ⅔ cups 235g all-purpose flour; ¾ tsp baking soda; ¼ tsp salt; 10 tbsp 140g salted butter, at room temperature; 1 cup 220g packed dark brown sugar; 3 tbsp 40g granulated sugar; 1 tsp 5ml pure vanilla extract; 1 tsp 5ml honey; 1 large egg (at room temperature); 7 oz 200g dark chocolate (55-70% cocoa), chopped into chunks

Published: Nov 12, 2021 · Modified: Sep 26, 2023 by christina.marsigliese · 135 Comments

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Your search for the BEST Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies ends here because THIS IS IT. My recipe yields cookies that are golden caramelized around the edges with crispy on the outside and ooey gooey chewy insides. They are HEAVEN. This recipe comes from my cookbook called "Scientifically Sweet Chocolate". You can order it on Amazon and it features SO MANY other incredible chocolate cookie and bar recipes, as well as cakes, pies, tarts and delicious desserts.

WHAT MAKES THESE THE BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES?

It's all about the flavor, the textures, the size and the color.

Rich butterscotch flavor - these cookies have a deep rich buttery brown sugar flavor that is not overly sweet with underlying notes of natural vanilla.
Crisp edges and soft gooey middles - just like the cookies from your favorite bakery, these have crisp golden caramelized edges, but they are soft and gooey in the middle.
Super chewy chocolate chip cookies - if you like chewy cookies, these are certainly for you! And, they stay chewy for days thanks to my secret ingredient that you can read about below.
Big cookies - each cookie is a nice large size to give you that contrast of textures.
Deeply golden - they bake with a bakery-worthy golden brown surface which is a testament to their rich caramelized flavor.
Dark chocolate chunks - puddles of melted dark chocolate chunks instead of chips takes these to a whole other level!

bakery style chocolate chip cookies on cookie sheet

COOKIE SCIENCE: HOW TO MAKE THE BEST CHEWY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

You can certainly expect a few tips from me since I am a Food Scientist after all. The secret to the best chocolate chip cookies comes down to chemistry.

Firstly it is about ingredient ratios. The amount of butter, sugar, flour and egg is very important.

Ratio of Butter: Butter should be the main flavor in chocolate chip cookies since it is a simple recipe after all. Getting the right amount of butter to egg ratio is very important. Too much egg will dominate the taste and also make the texture more cakey rather than chewy.
Egg ratio: The liquid in egg serves to help dissolve sugar in the dough but too much will prevent the edges from becoming crisp and also delay browning. That means you will need to bake the cookies longer to develop the color, and they will often become dried out before that point.
Amount of Flour: It is so important to either weigh your ingredients using a scale, or measure your flour correctly without packing it into your measuring cup. Too much flour will lead to thick cookies, but they will be more doughy and less gooey. Too little flour will make a very soft dough that will spread too much and lead to greasy cookies.
Baking soda: Not only is baking soda important to help the cookies spread, but it also gives them color! Baking soda is an alkaline ingredient (the opposite of an acid), and the Maillard Browning reaction is encouraged in an alkaline environment. Too much baking soda means the cookies will spread too much and maybe burn too quickly, while not enough means the cookies will not spread much at all and will be pale in color.

WHAT IS MAILLARD BROWNING?

Maillard Browning is the delicious reaction between proteins and sugars that creates the beautiful color and flavor of chocolate chip cookies. When the proteins from egg and flour react with sugar, they form these brown compounds that taste like caramel, toffee, roasted nuts and toasty bread. YUM!

INGREDIENTS

Butter - there is no substitute for butter in chocolate chip cookies in my opinion! It is the foundation of the rich butterscotch flavor after all. In this recipe, you can use salted or unsalted butter, but if you choose unsalted then I recommend doubling the added salt to ½ teaspoon. I like to use salted butter because it adds another level of richness.
Granulated sugar - this recipe uses a combination of simple white granulated sugar and brown sugar. White sugar helps create the crunchy caramelized edges. I wouldn't recommend reducing the sugar because it will compromise the chewy texture.
Brown sugar - I highly recommend dark brown sugar for this recipe as it has twice as much molasses as light brown sugar and will make a big difference to the flavour. It will also make the dough more acidic which means it will react more thoroughly with the baking soda so that you won't be left with a soapy taste (a defect I find common in many chocolate chip cookie recipes)
Egg - you'll need one whole egg for this recipe. It's the perfect amount of moisture to make these cookies chewy and not cakey.

Pure vanilla extract - vanilla is essential to making delicious chocolate cookies. I like this Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla extract.
Salt - don't leave out the salt! It really elevates the rich buttery, caramel flavors! It also enhances the chocolate taste and balances the sweetness.
All purpose flour - regular unbleached all-purpose flour makes the best chewy chocolate chip cookies in my opinion.
Dark chocolate chunks - this is important! I highly recommend using bar chocolate, that is, chunks that you chop up from a bar of chocolate instead of chocolate chips. Why? That is because chocolate that is made into bars, also known as "tablets" has a higher cocoa butter content and typically melts smoother than chocolate chips to give you puddles of chocolate in the cookies. I love this effect! Chocolate chips will hold their shape and spread less.
Honey - it's the secret ingredient! Honey is a moisture trap so it will keep the cookies soft and chewy for days.

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS

STEP 1). Beat together butter and sugar. You can use an electric stand mixer, a hand mixer or do this by hand with a spatula. You want to beat until slightly pale and a bit fluffy, but not overly creamed. It will still look like a thick paste or damp sand and this will leave us with chewy cookies. Over-mixing at this point would make more crisp cookies.
STEP 2). Beat in egg. Add the egg, honey and vanilla and beat until well incorporated and smooth.
STEP 3). Combine dry ingredients. Blend flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl and whisk it to blend evenly. Then, add it to the butter mixture and mix it in until evenly combined.
STEP 4). Fold in chocolate chunks. I only ever use dark chocolate chunks. Dark chocolate with a higher cocoa content will melt better to give these luxurious pools of chocolate. Chips will hold their shape and won't melt into the cookie. I find milk chocolate too sweet for these cookies and they also don't melt as well due to the high sugar content.
STEP 5). Refrigerate the cookie dough. This is crucial to developing the chewy texture and rich caramelized flavor and golden color.
STEP 6). Bake until golden on the edges and still soft in the middle. Do not over-bake as they will continue cooking on the hot baking tray.

stack of gooey bakery style chocolate chip cookies

EXPERT TIPS FOR BAKERY STYLE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES:

Secret ingredient: honey! Just a teaspoon in this recipe is the key to making them stay chewy for days. Honey is a humectant which means it is an ingredient that binds water tightly and prevents them from drying out. It is also acidic so it will react with the baking soda to help the cookies spread just the right amount. You can use corn syrup, but do not use maple syrup as it wouldn't have the same effect.

Don't skip the salt. The right amount of salt is so important. I use salted butter because there's something about salted butter that provides an underlying richness that can't be quite copied by adding salt separately. You can use unsalted butter if that is all you have on hand, and in that case increase the total salt in the recipe to ¾ teaspoon. BUT, if you have salted butter then you will not regret it!

Use regular large size eggs. Large eggs weigh 57g. Using an extra large egg will add up to 2 teaspoons more liquid to the cookie dough which can throw off the moisture balance and make the cookies spread too much.

Refrigerate the cookie dough for at least 4 hours. Refrigerating cookie dough serves several purposes: 1.) Flour hydration - time in the fridge allows the flour to fully hydrate from the moisture of the egg and the water in the butter. If the flour is evenly hydrated, the cookies will be thicker and they will bake more evenly; 2.) Flavor development -as the baking soda becomes more evenly incorporated with the flour hydration, the cookies will brown more evenly which will help them develop flavor more quickly; and, 3.) Chill the butter - butter in the cookie dough will also firm up in the fridge so that the cookies wont be so greasy after they've baked. Chilled fat will also spread less readily during the initial stages of baking so the cookies won't spread uncontrollably.

RECIPE FAQ

Do I need to chill the cookie dough?

Chilling this cookie dough is so important for the best results. Of course you can bake them right away, but they will not be as golden, as thick or as chewy and flavorful as they could be if you chill the dough. Ideally you would chill the dough for a minimum of 2 hours. 4 hours is better and overnight (8 hours) will lend the richest flavor and chewiest texture. Chilled cookie dough also yields cookies with a longer shelf life so they will stay chewy for longer.

Why did my cookies spread too much?

If your cookies spread a lot, then it could be that the dough wasn't chilled long enough, there was too much honey added (you only need just 1 teaspoon), or there was not the right amount of flour added. Too little flour will mean the cookies will not have enough structure to hold their shape and the dough will be too wet. The best way to measure the flour is using a scale to ensure you use the right amount. Too much will make the cookies thick and less chewy, but too little will mean they will be crispy and thin.

What type of chocolate is best for bakery style chocolate chip cookies?

For the best results, use dark chocolate with over 60% cocoa solids, and use a high quality block of chocolate that you chop into chunks.

How do you get melty puddles of chocolate in chocolate chip cookies?

To get melted puddles with irregular shapes like in these photos, use chopped chocolate from a bar with over 70% cocoa solids. The darker the better when it comes to meltiness because the higher the total cocoa content, the more cocoa butter it will have and that high fat content is what makes chocolate melt and spread easier. Also, block chocolate is tempered as a block that you will break up and expose all sorts of jagged edges whereas chips are tempered in a specific shape that will stay in place.

Why is bar chocolate better than chocolate chips for chocolate chip cookies?

When you chop chocolate from a block you make a variety of different shapes and shards that will get in all the crevices of the cookie dough. So, use your favorite dark chocolate - the kind that you snack on. Using block chocolate instead of chips will also give you better texture in the cookies. Block chocolate has a higher cocoa butter content so it will melt more evenly and readily to create pools of chocolate that will melt into the crevices. It also helps the dough spread. You can also use dark chocolate feves, callets or discs which are often made from couverture chocolate (high cocoa butter chocolate).

STORAGE AND FREEZING

How do I store bakery style chocolate chip cookies?

These cookies are best stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 1 week. They stay nice and soft and chewy!

Can I freeze chocolate chip cookies?

Just place the cooled cookies in a resealable freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months. They just need 5-10 minutes to thaw.

How to serve chocolate chip cookies?

With nothing more than a tall glass of cold milk!

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