Home Recipe Food Lab: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s best chocolate chip cookie recipe

Food Lab: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s best chocolate chip cookie recipe

I’ve been craving cookies for weeks now, but didn’t get around to making them for a good long while. Others would tell me to just go buy some, but I have a rather strict rule when it comes to baked goods: if I’m too lazy to make them, and a friend hasn’t offered them to me, then I’m not going to eat them. This comes both from a certain amount of food snobbery as well as a desire to remain able to fit into my jeans (did I mention I loathe clothes shopping?). The other night I finally got to it with help from my gent.

The Food Lab’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe is my go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies, replacing one that a friend had given to me in elementary school and which I’ve never written down, so never seemed to remember quite right. When I make a batch, I scoop the dough and then freeze it solid before putting it into an airtight freezer container so that I don’t feel obliged (or tempted!) to bake and eat them too fast. When I want to make fresh cookies, I just put them onto a lined cookie sheet and bake them as normal, adding a couple of minutes to account for the frozen dough.

Recommended reading: the science behind baking the most delicious cookie ever

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 Food Lab: The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
Brown butter plus brown sugar mean these cookies have a delicious toffee-like flavour in addition to the familiar satisfaction of a chocolate chip cookie. The optional overnight rest gives the enzymes in the dough the chance to break down carbohydrates into sugars and improve browning during the baking process.
Course Dessert
Cuisine North American
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes (per pan)
Passive Time 1 day
Servings
cookies
Ingredients
Brown butter
  • 225 grams butter 2 sticks, or 8 ounces
Dry mix
Wet mix
Mix-ins and toppings
Course Dessert
Cuisine North American
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes (per pan)
Passive Time 1 day
Servings
cookies
Ingredients
Brown butter
  • 225 grams butter 2 sticks, or 8 ounces
Dry mix
Wet mix
Mix-ins and toppings
Instructions
Making the dough
  1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat and cook until solids start to brown and butter releases a nutty aroma, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat swirl pan about 15 seconds longer, then add ice cube and mix. Let cool completely, using an ice bath if you want to speed it up.
  2. Combine dry mix in a medium-sized bowl and mix well.
  3. Place all wet mix ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whisk with an electric mixer until mixture is pale brow and falls off the whisk in thick ribbons (about 3 to 5 minutes on medium-high speed)
  4. Add cooled brown butter to wet mix and mix on medium speed until just combined.
  5. Add dry mix to wet and mix until just combined.
  6. Add chocolate and mix until dough comes together.
  7. Refrigerate dough in an airtight container at least overnight and up to 3 days.
Baking the cookies
  1. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325°F (163°C) and prepare cookie sheets with parchment paper or nonstick liner.
  2. Scoop dough in 1-ounce scoops (about 3 tbsp in volume) onto lined pan. About 8 scoops should fit on a standard half sheet pan.
  3. Bake about 15 minutes, until cookies are golden brown around edges but soft. Rotate pan halfway through baking if unsure whether your oven heats evenly.
  4. Remove pans and (optional) sprinkle hot cookies lightly with sea salt and gently press down. Let cool 2 minutes, then transfer cookies to rack to cool.
  5. Let cookies cool completely before storing in an airtight container at room temperature, up to 5 days.
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