It took 1,200 chocolate chip cookies to perfect our new Recipe of the Year
Big and buttery, Supersized, Super-Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies are our new favorite cookie.
The chocolate chip cookie is iconic. It’s one of the first — and most frequent — things people bake, and the gold standard by which they judge bakeries. Everyone has passionate opinions about what makes their ideal cookie the best. So when chocolate chip cookies were first tossed out as a contender for our 2024 Recipe of the Year, my initial thought was, you must be joking, since as Senior Recipe Developer it would be my job to actually develop the recipe. When I realized that it was no joke, my next thought was, <bleep>.
But now, over a year and a thousand test cookies later, I’m proud to introduce Supersized, Super-Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies, our 2024 Recipe of the Year and our new favorite chocolate chip cookie. It’s big, ultra-buttery, and full of deep caramel notes thanks to nutty brown butter. The texture is nostalgic, yet complex: a touch bendy, incredibly soft, and chewy with slightly crisp edges.
1,200
The number of cookies we had to bake to perfect this recipe
Why chocolate chip cookies?
Our intent is not to reinvent the chocolate chip cookie, and certainly not to dethrone your treasured family recipe or your favorite bakery’s version. We’re here to provide a chocolate chip cookie that is modern, innovative, sophisticated, and very much the chocolate chip cookie of 2024; to cannonball into the deep end of the eternal chocolate chip cookie debate and encourage bakers to try a new recipe, one that’s been endlessly tested and carefully calibrated to deliver a groundbreaking, must-try version of this classic.
What makes this cookie special?
Everyone knows that butter + sugar + chocolate = delicious, so what makes this chocolate chip cookie special? I’m so glad you asked! Here are seven elements that make this chocolate chip cookie stand out from the rest.
1) No special equipment
We wanted this recipe to be accessible for everyone, no matter your kitchen setup. To make the dough for Supersized, Super-Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies you will need a small pot, 2 bowls, a whisk, a spatula, a cutting board, and a serrated knife. This recipe comes together by hand — no mixer required!
38
Pounds of butter used while testing these chocolate chip cookies
2) Brown butter
Brown butter adds a nutty, complex flavor to the cookies that helps push beyond the mundane, one-note taste of a cookie that is only sweet. And the added bonus of using brown butter is that there’s no need to soften any butter, and no need to worry about how to properly cream it with sugar.
3) Bread flour
You might be thinking — wait, I thought bread flour was for making bread? Not always! In this recipe, bread flour’s higher protein content (12.7%) allows for more gluten to develop. More gluten development leads to a stronger dough, and a stronger dough results in a chewier texture in the baked cookie.
4) Tangzhong
Making a tangzhong — an Asian technique that involves cooking flour and liquid together until they reach a roux-like consistency — is usually reserved for bread recipes, helping to deliver a loaf with super-soft texture (think milk bread) and an extended shelf life. Using the method in cookie dough, and cooking the mixture to a thicker, mashed potato-like consistency, brings the same characteristics to a chocolate chipper — they are super-soft and keep for up to five days.
5) Chopped chocolate
It’s true, there’s nothing easier than tearing open a bag of chocolate chips and stirring them into cookie dough. But chocolate chips will never eclipse chopped chocolate in terms of chocolate distribution and eating experience, and when you use a serrated knife to chop, it’s not as annoying as you might think.
Chopped chocolate in varying sizes provides a dynamic eating experience, and the meltability and mouthfeel are a 10/10. Plus, when you chop your chocolate, you have more control over the type of chocolate you can use and can lean into high-quality options like Guittard semisweet wafers.
50
Total pounds of chocolate used during recipe development
6) Overnight rest
Once mixed, the cookie dough rests in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours. I know, I know — waiting is the hardest part! But there are many benefits of a refrigerated rest: It gives the dough time to fully hydrate, prevents too much spreading, and enhances the flavors of the cookies. The benefit I love most about an overnight rest is that it’s hands-off time, giving you more flexibility for when to bake. The dough can sit in the fridge for up to three days, so if you’d like to treat yourself to freshly baked cookies every afternoon, live your life!
7) Huge size
Portioned with our largest cookie scoop, these are big cookies at a little over 4" across when baked. Giant cookies are fun and whimsical and different — that’s the point! The larger surface area gives plenty of room to enjoy the beautiful, textured top that’s studded with pieces of chopped chocolate while also creating space for multiple textures; soft, chewy centers that are surrounded by edges that are slightly crisp.
Sure, there are other cookies that use brown butter, chop the chocolate, call for an overnight rest, or employ bread flour. But when you combine them all together? You have a modern chocolate chip cookie unlike any you’ve tried before: a bit bendy, incredibly soft without being cakey, chewy with slightly crisp edges (on the day that they’re baked). And, thanks to being made with tangzhong, these characteristics last for days.
90g
The weight of each cookie (we told you they were supersized!)
But there’s only one way to know for sure: Bake our newest Recipe of the Year, Supersized, Super-Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies. Be sure to share your cookies with us on Facebook and Instagram using #RecipeOfTheYear, and please leave a review and let me know what you think (pssst: I really do read them all!).
Cover photo by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne.
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