Bon Appetit shares tips to make the best chocolate chip cookies
The Bon Appétit team has time and again proved their expertly developed "BA's best" recipes reign supreme, so it comes as no surprise that their chocolate chip cookie is so sweet.
Bon Appétit editor-in-chief Adam Rapoport joined "Good Morning America" to continue our "Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Week" and shared the cooking magazine's top tips to making the best chocolate chip cookies.
Check out all the BA chocolate chip cookie hacks below, plus a recipe for their "BA's best" version of the classic confection.
Thin and Crispy vs. Thick and Chunky
Butter and sugar are two crucial ingredients in any cookie recipe, but the way you use them, and the quantities, can yield all different types of results in your cookies.
Sugar
Most chocolate chip cookie recipes call for the use of white sugar and brown sugar because while both vary in sweetness, they also contribute to the overall consistency of the cookies.
Brown sugar gives cookies their chew while the granulated stuff gives it crispy edges.
By decreasing the white sugar and using more brown sugar, the cookies will achieve a softer consistency and a richer, caramel-y flavor. Whereas if you were to add more white sugar you would wind up with a crispier cookie.
Butter
Before you add butter to the mix, always remember to soften it first to room temperature. Trying to mix cold butter into a dough is no fun!
Softening the butter not only makes it easier to cream together with the other ingredients, but it also makes for a better cookie flavor and texture.
For a thicker, denser cookie, use melted or browned butter. We like to mix brown butter in with softened butter to get a chewy dense cookie, but with crisp edges (best of both worlds!). Plus, that incredible caramel, nutty brown butter flavor.
If you like a thin and crispy cookie … use more granulated sugar and more butter.
If you like more thick and chunky cookie … use more brown sugar and browned or melted butter.
If you like caky cookies, you can add about 10% more flour as well.
You Can Skip the Chocolate Chips
Don’t limit yourself to packaged chocolate chips. If you want to make the ultimate chocolate chip cookies, then it's time to step out of the box (or bag!) a bit and cut your own chocolate.
Cut the chocolate yourself using a serrated knife, and don't worry about getting pieces of exactly the same size.
Using chopped chocolate not only tastes superior, but it will give the cookies a great texture. The bigger chunks will give your cookies those great pools of chocolate and the smaller pieces and shavings will give you flecks of chocolate throughout the whole cookie.
Plus, you can even get creative with it and use different types of chocolate!
Bittersweet, dark-dark, semi-sweet and milk chocolate all have their own unique flavor that pairs beautifully when added together.
Once you sink your teeth into a warm, chewy cookie with chunks of perfect chocolate, you'll never use chips again.
Use an Ice Cream Scoop
Have you ever noticed that when you don't shape the dough and simply plopped each dollop down that some wind up more crisp on the outside or under-cooked in the middle? That's because they are all different sizes.
While varying sizes can look great, they don't all cook evenly on the sheet pan, which is what causes them to be cooked with varying results even though they were baked in the same batch.
By using a cookie scoop or shaping dough into relatively the same size by hand, the cookies will get a more uniform shape -- and bake evenly no matter where they’re placed on the pan.
Unless you like doughy middles and burnt edges, use an ice cream scoop to portion out your dough so the cookies bake to perfection.
Double the recipe and pop extras in the freezer
We believe that you should always have some cookie dough in your freezer to have on hand if a guest comes over or if you just want a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie.
When making cookies from scratch, you should make enough dough to portion out extras and pop them in the freezer. When you want a batch (or even just one cookie!), take a portioned ball of cookie dough out of the freezer and pop it in the oven, just keep an eye on the cook time to go a few minutes longer.
BA's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
Bon Appetit senior food editor Chris Morrocco developed the "BA's best" recipe for perfect chocolate chip cookies. Check out his full recipe here.
Want more cookie recipes that are perfect for your holiday party, cookie swap or next family gathering? Check out our full cookie guide here for the most beautiful, fun, delicious holiday cookies that are sure to dazzle on your Instagram feed and Pinterest board and are worthy of your Christmas traditions.
