It’s no secret that I have a rampant sweet tooth. And chocolate chip cookies might as well be my kryptonite… I make them almost every week! (If you follow me on Instagram, you know I’m not exaggerating!) Not only do I have the best ever chocolate chip cookie recipe in the whole wide world (And she’s modest!!!), but I also have a cookie-saving secret that will change your life! It’s about time share my best kitchen creation – the Perfect Dual-Texture, melt in your mouth, Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookies!
Baking Cookies is a Science
And you’re in luck, because I’m a (former) science teacher! In true science-teacher fashion, I created the perfect cookie through a series of experiments. AKA, trial and error. Raise a hand if you’ve ever made a batch of cookies that has: fallen flat, been too crumbly, spread too thin, too hard or cakey, too puffy, too easily overcooked. All of you? Me too! So I set out to resolve each of these and learned the following things.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Truths
- Sugar ratios matter. More brown sugar makes the cookies chewier and gives them a more golden, deep flavor.
- Temperature of dough makes a huge – HUGE – difference in the texture and shape of your cookie! Room temperature dough will spread more, while chilled dough maintains it’s shape and bakes “up”, allowing the inside to remain gooey while the outside is golden and crisp.
- Baking powder, more eggs, and more flour make the cookies more “cakey”. Not my preference…
- For some unexplained reason, adding the eggs last has always yielded better results for my cookie shape and texture. I don’t know why.
- Sea salt gives a much better flavor than regular salt, but you need nearly double the amount of it. This is because the larger “coarse” grains don’t distribute as much in the dough, so you need a larger volume of them! But the flavor is so worth it.
Qualities of a “Perfect” Chocolate Chip Cookie
We all have a list of cookie traits that make a chocolate chip cookie “perfect”. So, I realize my definition of the “perfect” chocolate chip cookie might not be the same as yours! Nevertheless, I’ve spent many batches finding a way to achieve a perfect cookie, and here are the qualities I’ve chased (and achieved)!
- Dual-Texture: gooey on the inside, crispy on the outside!
- Not too thin, not too fluffy
- Golden, chewy edges
- Delightful salty, sweet, and Buttery Flavor
- Don’t mesh together while baking
The perfect gooey chocolate chip cookie recipe I’m sharing below possess all of these wonderful qualities. I can’t wait for you to try it yourself!
What’s In The Cookies:
One of the things I pride myself on regarding this recipe is that all of these qualities have been achieved with just 8 simple ingredients. You shouldn’t have to go buy a container of shortening or chill the dough overnight to make a perfect batch, so I made sure to keep things simple! Here’s what you need to make my perfect gooey chocolate chip cookies!
Brown sugar
White sugar
Butter
Vanilla
Flour
Baking soda
Sea salt
Eggs
Chocolate Chips
I’d be willing to bet you already have all of these ingredients on hand! So, run to the pantry and pull them out – because you’re going to be taking a bite of this deliciousness in about 30 minutes!
Alright, I’ve kept you waiting long enough! Find my Perfect Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe below! But first… one more life changing cookie pro tip…
Cookie Storage Pro Tip:
I learned this from Matt. I always thought it was weird, but it is now my favorite way to enjoy chocolate chip cookies! Not only does it make cookies actually taste BETTER, but it makes them last for weeks! Ready for it? Drumroll please….. FREEZE them straight out of the oven! Yes, at their peak of gooeyness – once you can handle them off the cookie sheet, throw half of your cookies into ziplock bags and pop those babies in the freezer! They will taste like cookie dough bites because the freezer doesn’t allow them to dry and age the way they do at room temperature! When we bake cookies at home, we enjoy a few that first night and then reserve the rest for the freezer for the days following – it is SO good. Sounds weird, I always made fun of Matt for it before I tried it myself. But now I’ll never go back. Frozen cookies forever!!!
Perfect Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookies
Perfect Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 C unsalted butter (2 sticks - softened)
- 1 C packed brown sugar
- 1/2 C white sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt (or 1/2 tsp regular salt)
- 2 1/2 C flour all purpose
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 eggs large
- 1-2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Allow butter to soften at room temperature. Once butter is soft, cream together butter, sugars, and vanilla with a hand mixer.
- In a separate bowl (or on top of the wet ingredients), toss together flour, salt, and baking soda. Then, use a mixer to incorporate the wet and dry ingredients until the dough is thoroughly combined and crumbly.
- Add eggs and incorporate with a hand mixer. Then fold in chocolate chips.
- Pop the bowl in the fridge to chill for 10 minutes. This step is very important to keep your cookies from spreading/meshing together in the oven!
- After the dough has chilled for at least 10 minutes (more is fine), take it out and roll spoonful's of dough into ~1.5" balls (pictured below). Arrange these on a baking sheet so the balls are about 2 inches apart.
- Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes! (If they look golden on top right out of the oven you have probably baked them too long - undershot time always produces better results!)
Nutrition
Give these a try and you’ll never look for another cookie recipe again! And if you’re looking for more, check out my recipes tab for lots of sweet treats! My favorites are my Skillet Cookie Cake, Dark Chocolate Cheesecake, Rose Wine-infused Sugar Cookies, Old Fashioned Fudge, Toffee, and my “Clean” Peanut Butter Cups! And that’s just to name a few… see, I told you I had a sweet tooth!
With Love,
Kelsie
How much baking soda?
1 tsp! Thanks for the catch, I can’t believe that didn’t show up!