The new Cook's Illustrated Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe is not so new anymore! It's originally adapted from the May/June 2009 issue of Cook's, and since then it has become a beloved recipe. Lots of people have created new brown butter variations including the Bon Appetit recipe which is similar, but slightly softer. Some might say less reliable than this one, but I love the BA version too. This original version is still VERY good if you follow the directions. The recipe is also convenient because it calls for melted butter which you just stir with the other ingredients.
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Cook's Illustrated Chocolate Chip Cookies Flavor
These cookie are dark, thick, and have a very faint toffee flavor. The flavor of the cookies is good, but for some reason I always felt it could be a tiny bit better. Sometimes people add soy sauce to chocolate chip cookies for umami, so at one point I tried doing the same thing by adding a hint of coconut aminos. It still didn't quite do the trick, but it was a fun test. Maybe I'm just being too picky. The cookies are still very good.
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Tips
- If you are out of dark brown sugar, replace about 5 to 8 grams of the light brown sugar with 5 to 8 grams molasses. I do this all the time and think it makes the cookies better.
- Don't skip the whisking and resting. You are supposed to whisk the egg mixture for 30 seconds, let it rest 3 minutes, then do that again twice. Resting the batter dissolves the sugar before baking, and the dissolved sugar should caramelize easier resulting in a cookie with a more toffee-like flavor and chewier edges.
- To take it a step further, cover and refrigerate the scooped dough portions overnight. The cookies will be even more flavorful and chewy.
- If your edges are browning too quickly at 375 degrees F, bake the cookies at 350 degrees F.
- Bake one sheet at a time if possible for more evenly baked cookies.
- As soon as you pull the cookies from the oven, put a few squares of milk chocolate on top and let it melt onto the hot cookie.
- A sprinkling of Maldon sea salt never hurts!
Other Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies
Here's my current (3/8/2021) list of top cookies in case anyone wants to compare favorites! Updated (1/8/2024). Adding Mama Kelce's or Donna Kelce's cookies to the list. They are smaller, but have a great texture.
- Bouchon Bakery Chocolate Chip -- The blackstrap molasses adds just a touch of bitterness to offset the sweetness. This is a very adult tasting chocolate chip cookie.
- Alton Brown's The Chewy -- This is an old recipe, but one of the first popular ones to use bread flour and bake up thick and chewy. It's a change from all of the trendy brown butter versions.
- Bon Appetit -- A browned butter version which seems like it was inspired by this one (CI's).
- Levain Small Batch -- These cookies are huge, so I'll sometimes make a small batch, bake up one cookie, and leave it on the counter with a knife for people to walk by and shave off pieces.
- Michelle Obama's Cookies/Grandma's Cookies -- Best with half shortening! This recipe reminds me of my grandma's recipe.
- Donna Kelce's Cookies -- Be sure to use both types of flour as directed. It's worth it.
- Thomas Keller's Cup4Cup Chocolate Chip -- My favorite of all the gluten-free chocolate chip recipes, but you have to buy the Cup4Cup.
Recipe
New Cook's Illustrated Chocolate Chip Cookie
Ingredients
- 14 tablespoons unsalted butter (196 grams)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
- ¾ cup packed dark brown sugar** (150 grams)
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 ¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour (245 grams)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
- ¾ cup chopped pecans or walnuts toasted (optional)
Instructions
- Brown 10 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet or saucepan. Pour browned butter into a mixing bowl, scraping up all brown bits, then add remaining 4 tablespoons of butter and whisk until fully melted. The added butter will cool it a bit, but it's best to let it cool slightly longer (another 10 minutes).
- Add both sugars, salt and vanilla and whisk until blended, then whisk in the egg and yolk. Let mixture stand for 3 minutes.
- After 3 minutes, whisk again for 30 seconds. Let stand for another 3 minutes, then whisk again. The standing time helps dissolve the sugar with the theory being that more dissolved sugar in the batter will contribute to extra caramelization while baking.
- Combine the flour and baking soda in another bowl. Using rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
- Divide the dough to make 16 equal balls. At this point you can chill the balls or bake immediately. For large cookies, divide the dough into 10-12 balls. Put the dough balls on a plate, cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 12 hours or up to 3 days. After 3 days, you can freeze them.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. If you chilled the portioned dough, you can bring them to room temperature or bake cold. I honestly do both things. They bake more evenly if brought to room temperature.
- Place shaped balls on parchment lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake 10-14 minutes at 375 degrees F. For the larger cookies, expect to bake for around 18 minutes. If the dough is cold, the cookies will take longer to bake.
Linda says
I've made these twice - once per directions using a big scoop with big chips, and thought the contrasting textures were perfect. I made them again yesterday with a smaller scoop and smaller chips (I needed smaller cookies for this "audience") and it was much more difficult to get the contrasting textures, and they were flatter. If I make the smaller cookies again, I will form the dough balls and chill or freeze them before baking, as Anna suggesed to Katherine. I've been doing the browned butter thing for a while, just not using as much brown sugar as this recipe uses for fear they would have too much spread. These are great!
Judy says
I did a NY Times vs. Cook's Illustrated C3 (chocolate chip cookie) bake-off, and the NYT won be a slight margin. Cookie's are more impressive looking, with lots of wonderful nooks and crannies, and have lots of complex flavor. However, they are a pain to make. Cook's Illustrated has a much better result to effort ratio, pretty tasty cookie and really easy to make. So for company, definitely NYT. Last minute, let's make cookies - cookie, definitely cook's illustrated.
Jess says
I made these the other day and they are wonderful cookies. Definitely in my Top 5 Chocolate Chip as well.
Anna says
Katherine, did you weigh the flour? If you don't have a scale, make them the same way you did before but add 2 T. flour and chill the dough.
I've made these twice and both times they are pretty thick. Before chilling, they are slightly thinner (not flat, though) and after chilling, they are positively thick.
Katherine says
I made these yesterday. I used chunks of dark chocolate bar instead of the chips. They were good but flat as a pancake.
Anna says
Phillygirl, Todd took mine to work and everyone loved them. I think in terms of texture, they are very impressive. For overall taste, there's something lacking.....not sure what. They're very good, but not perfection.
PhillyGirl says
I made these using a little less salt since my butter was salted. The warm cookies were good but were just "meh" the next day when I took them to work. I used the Ghiradelli 58% choc chips so I agree with you that the darker the better. The recipe made 36 tablespoon-sized balls. I will say that the dough was fantastic. The browned butter made the dough taste like salted caramels with chocolate. Oh well, still on the hunt for the next choc chip cookie recipe..
Todd says
These were great.
Leslie says
I saw this recipe, too, and plan to try it soon. They do cite the Ghiradelli bittersweet as their top pick so I may have to go buy some before baking these.
Cookiemouse says
Cookiemouse just had to check out Cookie Madness, 'cos cookies are cool!
Jenn's Baking Chamber says
Those look like the ultimate cookie to me! very sturdy and chewy, just like a chocolate chip cookie should be.!
Elyse says
Mmm, these cookies look delicious. I am ALWAYS up for a new chocolate chip cookie! How fabulous. Thanks for sharing!
Melanie says
I just bookmarked this recipe in the new Cook's Illustrated so it is great to see a few reviews of them already. They look delicious.
Anna says
Valerie, mine were pretty thick. I think I only made the original version once and don't recall how thick those were, but theser were a decent thickness. I think the sea salt idea is great!
Pearl says
oh those look so yum!
Valerie says
I made these last night about 5 minutes after I got home and saw them. I kind of was already doing the melting sugar technique with their original 'chewy chocolate chip cookie' recipe...and most recent trials were browning most of the butter, so I felt like a genius when I saw this recipe. I did a half-batch and they are delicious. But I wouldn't give them to kids...they're almost sophisticated tasting! And thinner than the original recipe and a deeper caramel flavor...next time I'm going to sprinkle some sea salt on top!
snooky doodle says
they look really good. I d like to try these too. I think you re right bigger chocolate chips will be better for this cookies
clumbsycookie says
So I've made CI's CCC yesterda but it was the old recipe. I had high expectations for them, since I've seen them all around being refered as "the best", but thought they were good but nothing extraordinaire. Wonder how these new ones will differ from the "old". They look "puffier" and I spot pecans.
Louise says
I agree. Those chips look kind of wimpy in those cookies. I've been pretty happy with the Scharffen Berger Bittersweet Baking Chunks. From your taste memory, how do these compare to Alton Brown's? Now I'll have to add these to my personal ccc bakeoff.
Steph says
I'm dying to make those! Must get a copy of the mag now!!
Sue says
Yours look really good with the pecans in them. I wish I had some on hand when I made mine.
Katrina says
Mmmmm! Does the recipe still call for melted butter? Is it much different from their other popular recipe? Just wondering.