How To Bake Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies (Every Time)

How many times have you placed a pan full of delicious mounds of chocolate chip cookie dough into the oven, only to pull out flat, brittle cookies. Not the fluffy, soft, melt in your mouth perfect chocolate chip cookies you envisioned.

Use these tips that I have put together for baking perfect chocolate chip cookies every time. So, the next time you get the craving for homemade perfect chocolate chip cookies, use these tips for successful baking.

A glass of milk with chocolate chip cookies.

Use The Proper Techniques For Ingredients

Butter And Eggs

The number one rule for all baking is to use cool room temperature butter and eggs. They emulsify much better when they are not ice cold out of the refrigerator. Your baking will be more enjoyable creaming sugar and butter when your butter is pliable. I mean, who wants to fight with a cold stick of butter? Admit it. You have put a cold stick of butter in your stand mixer and just watched it get tossed all around the bowl. Me, too!

I do not recommend melting the butter. Although, when I first started baking I did. It made mixing easier. But in the end, the cookie dough spread too much when baked.

  • Use real butter. You can taste the difference.
  • Only allow the butter to become a cool room temperature.
  • You might want to also try using half butter and half shortening. This will give you a denser cookie.
Ingredients in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer.

Flour

Too much or too little flour can make or break your perfect chocolate chip cookie. Don’t get in a hurry and just dump a scoop of flour into your bowl. Use a proper dry measuring cup. Scoop flour into it and level it off using the flat side of a dinner knife.

Add all of the flour to the mixing bowl at once. Don’t add a little flour at a time then mixing. Mix it all at once till the flour just disappears. Too much mixing will develop the gluten in the flour resulting in a tough cookie. You know the old saying, “You’re one tough cookie”. I don’t think that cookie would taste too good.

Chocolate Chips

Add chocolate chips last to your dough when using a stand mixer. If you add them earlier, you may just chop up those chips into little bits of chocolate. Not the perfect chocolate chip cookies you were after.

Don’t use the stand mixer to mix in the chocolate chips. Instead, fold them in with a spatula. You don’t want to over mix the cookie dough or chop up your chocolate chips.

Chocolate chips in a measuring cup with eggs and butter.

Should you grease the cookie sheets for chocolate chip cookies?

Do not grease cookie sheets for chocolate chip cookies.

Use ungreased cookie sheets. Do not use parchment paper or those non stick liners either. These were not meant for chocolate chip cookies.

By greasing cookie sheets, this will cause the chocolate chip cookies to spread.

This comes from experience.

I have a couple of silicone non-stick liners. I store them on my cookie sheets. So, they are ready to go when I want to bake rolled sugar cookies.

Last Christmas, I got lazy and didn’t remove the non-stick liner from my cookie sheets. Wow, did those cookies spread. Yikes. Lesson learned. Drop cookies need something to grip onto, not slide around on.

Cookie scoop full of cookie dough in a bowl.

How To Get The Perfect Size Cookie

Use a small cookie scoop for uniform sizing of cookies. I like to use a cookie scoop that will hold one tablespoon of cookie dough.

These scoops also make it pretty easy to scoop the dough out of the bowl. I then roll the dough into balls. I find they spread less that way.

Two cookie sheets with unbaked cookie dough balls.

Tips To Make Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • Chilling the dough overnight makes a better tasting cookie. This gives the dough time to completely hydrate and absorb all the ingredients. This will result in a chewy cookie that is full of flavor.
  • Alway preheat your oven to the proper temperature. Check the recipe for oven temperature. I tend to bake everything at 350°F but not all recipes use that temperature.
  • Place the cookies onto baking sheets with 2 inches of space all around. Cookies need room to expand without touching. You definitely don’t want them too close or they will bake together.
  • Only bake one sheet of cookies at a time. This allows the air to circulate around the baking sheet so the cookies bake evenly.
  • Never use warm baking sheets. This will cause the cookies to spread before baking. Alternate between baking the cookies by using two cookie sheets. This gives one baking sheet time to cool.
  • It is best to bake cookies on the middle rack of your oven. This area heats consistently ensuring an evenly baked cookie.
  • Bake cookies 9-11 minutes. Always use the least amount of time before checking them. You want the cookies to be barely golden. Not browned. Baking too long will give you a crisp cookie. Not chewy at all.
  • Move cookies to a cooling rack to prevent them from continuing to bake while on the cookie sheet. If left on the cookie sheet to cool, they will harden on the sheet. This makes them difficult to remove.
Chocolate chip cookies on a cooling rack.

I use these tips in my old fashioned  peanut butter cookies recipe. A fun little cookie. Especially if you love peanut butter!

For better baking, try the above tips. Therefore, you will bake the perfect chocolate chip cookies every time.

To get you started, here’s an amazing classic chocolate chip recipe to try out your new techniques.

Three chocolate chip cookies beside a cookie jar with the lid on the table.
Chocolate chip cookies with a glass of milk on table.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

Carol
Crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside. A classic chocolate chip cookie recipe.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 9 minutes
Total Time 19 minutes
Course Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American
Servings 30 cookies

Ingredients
  

  • cup butter (room temperature)
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • ½ cup light brown sugar (packed)
  • 1 whole egg (room temperature)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla (real)
  • 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup chocolate chips (semi sweet)

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 375° F.
  • Cream the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar till smooth in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the egg and vanilla till thoroughly combined.
  • Sift or whisk together flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. Add to the creamed ingredients. Mix till just combined.
  • Stir in chocolate chips by hand. Gently folding into dough.
  • Using a small cookie scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto ungreased cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Roll each ball of cookie dough till round. Optional: Chill dough balls overnight.
  • Bake cookies for 9 to 11 minutes. Bake only till barely golden.
    Let cool for a few minutes before removing from cookie sheets. Then transfer cookies to a cooling rack. 
Keyword chocolate chip cookies
Did you make this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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