The Beginner’s Guide to the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie

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Raise your hand if you love chocolate chip cookies! I’ve perfected the process to make the ultimate chocolate chip cookie and I’m here to share it all with you today!

 

If you asked me how many cookies I’ve baked over the past ten or so years… I would wager a guess at about 10,000… no seriously. Chocolate chip cookies are kind of my thing and with the combination of the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe and a few little tricks I’ve learned to perfect the process and well… I present to you:

The Beginner’s Guide to the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie

I use a few specific tools, the same recipe as always, and some hacks and tricks to get the perfect crispy-edge-and-soft-and-gooey-center texture (plus the best tip on how to store them to keep them that way!). Let’s get right to it!

These make great neighbor gifts! If you’re looking for other neighbor gift ideas, I’ve got a few for you here!

Tools

KitchenAid Stand Mixer (not required but makes it so much faster! You could also use a hand mixer)
Measuring Cups & Spoons
#2 Cookie Scoop
Silicone baking mat or a Silpat
Cookie sheet
Cookie Spatula (also have and love this one!)
Cooling rack

This is the recipe that my mother-in-law handed down to me when we got married! It is super simple and very basic and you won’t believe how easy it is for them to come together!

Recipe

1 C. Crisco (I use the premeasured sticks)
3/4 White sugar
3/4 Light brown sugar
2 Tsp. Vanilla
2 Eggs
1 Tsp. Salt
1 Tsp. Baking Soda
2 1/2 C. Flour
12 oz Semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a stand mixer or with beaters, cream the Crisco and sugar together until it is completely combined. It will become very creamy and smooth and the granules of sugar will be dissolved into the Crisco.

Next, add the vanilla and eggs and combine well.

Add in the flour, salt, and baking soda and combine. Then slowly fold in the chocolate chips.

Now let’s talk about the process and some of my tips!

Process

Preheat your oven to 350. Use the cookie scoop to scoop the dough onto the baking sheets with about 2″ between each dough ball. The cookies don’t expand much but you still want to have room for the hot air to get all the way around them so they cook evenly.

Bake them for 9-10 minutes, keeping careful watch on the cookies so they don’t overcook! Here is tip number one for you!

To achieve that perfect texture – crispy on the edge and soft and gooey in the middle, you want to take them out of the oven right when the edges start to get a brown crispy edge on them. Then leave them on the pan for about 5 minutes to finish cooking. This is called carryover cooking. They’ll still look raw in the middle when you take them out, but after a few minutes they are cooked completely through but are still soft!

After the five minutes, I move them to a cooling rack and let them cool completely before storing them! Once the baking sheets are cool to the touch, you can do another round of dough on them.

Also – I love baking sheets over cookie sheets! This is probably just a personal preference, but I like a nice, thick, solid baking sheet because I feel like it evenly heats and holds heat longer once it comes out of the oven for that carryover cooking part. Cookie sheets are much thinner and cool down faster, but for the way I like my cookies I like the baking sheet better!

Cooking Baking Hacks

Here are a few of my favorite hacks for baking lots of cookies at once! It makes the process faster and cleanup easier!

1. Set up a cookie baking station! Put your stand mixer (or bowl and hand mixer) in the middle of your counter top and put all your wet ingredients on the left (Crisco, sugars, vanilla, and eggs) and the dry ingredients on the right (flour, salt, baking soda, and chocolate chips)
2. Invest in a cookie scoop! It helps make each cookie the same uniform size and they they cook evenly!
3. Use plastic wrap (or an empty chocolate chip bag) to put your messy wet utensils on your counter while you’re baking. It makes cleanup much faster!
4. If you’re making multiple batches of cookies, don’t bother cleaning the mixer bowl, paddle, or beaters in between batches! Just a waste of time!
5. A good cookie spatula is essential for me! It makes it easier to get them off the sheet without breaking them!
6. I love using the premeasured Crisco sticks – super fast and no cleanup with the measuring cup. I use the paddle of the mixer to break it up before adding the sugar to the bowl so it blends in quicker!
7. Find a recipe you love and stick with it! I have been using this one so long I have it memorized and I don’t have to even get my recipe book out anymore! Makes the process faster! (Notice, a lot of these are to make things faster!)
8. Oh – always scrape down the bowl while your mixing between steps! Makes sure everything is evenly incorporated into the batter!
9. Crack your eggs into a small bowl before putting them in with the batter in case there are any stray egg shells in there!
10. Use all the cookie sheets you have, especially if you’re baking a ton of cookies, and line them with a silicone baking mat or a SilPat! Rotate them out and have one in the oven, one cooling, and one waiting with dough balls on it!
11. Store the completely cooled cookies in a plastic storage bag with a plain ol’ slice of white bread. Normally the cookies would dry out but with the bread in there, it keeps the cookies soft and moist and the bread gets hard! Switch it out after a few days and you can keep your soft cookies for several days (i mean – you’ll eat them before that but thats neither here nor there!)
12. Finally – have a cocktail and send your kid to the neighbors while you’re baking so you can enjoy the process!

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Let me know if these hacks are helpful and when you try these cookies! They are SO delicious and easy to make!