Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

About This Recipe

This is the definitive chocolate chip cookie format: brown butter for nutty depth, a mix of brown sugar (chewiness) and white sugar (crisp edges), real chocolate chunks (not chips — chips have stabilisers that prevent melting). The 24-hour dough rest is non-negotiable: it deepens the flavour through enzymatic action and produces a more uniform texture. Without the rest, you have good cookies. With it, you have great ones.

Ingredients

Serves 24

• 230 gunsalted butter(browned (see step 1))
• 200 gsoft dark brown sugar
• 100 gcaster sugar
• 2 largeeggs(room temperature)
• 1egg yolk
• 2 tspvanilla extract
• 320 gplain flour
• 1 tspbaking soda
• 1 tspfine sea salt
• 300 gdark chocolate chunks(70% cacao, hand-chopped)
• 1 tspMaldon sea salt(for finishing)

Instructions

1. 1

   Brown the butter

   Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Continue cooking 4-5 minutes, swirling, until deep amber-brown and smelling deeply nutty. Pour into a large bowl. Cool 20 minutes — must be at warm room temperature, not hot.

2. 2

   Beat sugars and butter

   Whisk both sugars into the cooled brown butter for 90 seconds — the mixture should look smooth and slightly aerated.

3. 3

   Add eggs

   Beat in eggs, egg yolk and vanilla until completely smooth — about 60 seconds. The mixture should look glossy and ribboned.

4. 4

   Combine with dry

   Whisk flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. Fold dry into wet with a spatula until just combined — no flour streaks. Fold in the chocolate chunks.

5. 5

   REST 24 hours (essential)

   Cover the dough and refrigerate AT LEAST 24 hours, ideally 36-72. This rest is the difference between good and great cookies — the flour fully hydrates and the flavour deepens enzymatically.

   Skipping the rest is the #1 reason home cookies are mediocre.

6. 6

   Scoop and bake

   Scoop the dough into 60g balls (size of a golf ball). Place 6 per tray, well spaced. Bake at 180°C / 350°F for 11-13 minutes until edges are golden but centres still look underdone.

7. 7

   Finish with salt

   Sprinkle with Maldon flakes immediately. Cool 5 minutes on the tray (cookies finish setting), then move to a rack. Eat warm or at room temperature.

Variations

• •

  Espresso Chocolate Chip: add 1 tbsp instant espresso to the dry ingredients.

• •

  Salted Tahini: substitute 60g tahini for 60g of the butter.

• •

  Brown Butter + Pecan: add 100g toasted chopped pecans alongside the chocolate.

• •

  Stuffed Cookies: stuff each ball with a square of caramel before baking.

Storage

Cookies keep 4 days in airtight container. Dough balls freeze 3 months — bake from frozen, adding 2 minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions