American

Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies

by:
June  9, 2015
5
27 Ratings
Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies
  • Prep time 24 hours
  • Cook time 20 minutes
  • Makes 18 to 24 cookies
Author Notes

This is my classic cookie. It’s what I crave and the reason that I often have butter coming to room temperature on the counter. The dough exists only to hold the chocolate in place. But without the chocolate, this dough makes a great base for any number of cookies: dried cherry, white chocolate and cardamom, chopped dates and walnut, or oatmeal and rum raisin (just replace some of the flour with oatmeal).

Use all three sugars; if you need cookies now and don’t have turbinado sugar (also known as raw sugar), add more dark brown sugar.You’ll miss out on a nice little sugary crunch, but the cookies will still be amazing. Don’t skimp on the time you spend creaming the butter and sugar. As the sugar cuts through the butter to create bubbles, you build air and structure. Most people think baking soda and baking powder create bubbles in baking, but they only make existing bubbles bigger. So cream until the butter and sugar mixture is very pale and light, which takes a good 5 minutes with your electric mixer on medium speed.

There is a lot of chocolate, good dark chocolate, in this recipe. Chocolate chips work too, but they won’t puddle and melt into chocolate layers. To cut down the cost a bit, I often use a combination of a great chocolate bar and chocolate chips.

Finally, don’t over-bake.The oven temperature is an obnoxious 360° F so that an extra burst of heat sets the outside while the inside remains gooey. The end result is a crispy, gooey, and chewy cookie. Let the cookies cool on the tray for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack—any less than that and the cookie will most likely fall apart from all that chocolate and gooeyness. Oh goodness, it's time to start softening more butter.

The dough is best made a day or two before you plan to bake the cookies—their flavor and texture improves with time. Leftover dough can be rolled into a 2-inch-thick log, wrapped in parchment paper, and then refrigerated for 1 week or frozen for up to 1 month.You can also freeze the baked cookies, but I prefer to freeze the dough.

One final note: I always double this recipe. Just thought you should know.

From Date Night In (Running Press 2014) —Ashley Rodriguez

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup (115 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar
  • 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (170 grams) packed dark brown sugar
  • 1 egg, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 3/4 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 6 ounces (170 grams) bittersweet chocolate (use the best-quality chocolate you can), cut into roughly 1⁄2-inch chunks with a serrated knife
  • 1-2 pinches Flaky salt, such as Maldon, for finishing
Directions
  1. In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugars together with an electric mixer on medium speed, until light in color and texture, 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well to combine. Again, stop the machine and scrape down the bowl with a spatula.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt to combine.
  3. With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture. Mix until streaks of flour still run throughout. Add the chocolate and mix until everything just comes together. Finish mixing the dough by hand, taking care to scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is evenly distributed.
  4. At this point, it is best to refrigerate the dough for 24 hours. Resting the dough intensifies the deep toffee flavors and improves the texture of the baked cookie.
  5. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 360° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop the dough onto the baking sheets. Top the cookies with a pinch of flaky salt just before baking.
  6. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Rotate the sheets halfway through if they appear to be baking unevenly. The cookies should be lightly golden on the outside but still look quite gooey on the inside. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for at least 5 minutes.
  7. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling.
  8. These are best eaten the day of baking but will keep, if well sealed, for up to 2 days.
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Ashley Rodriguez
Author of Date Night In (2015) and creator of the blog, Not Without Salt.

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42 Reviews

Barbara C.
Barbara C. August 31, 2023
Fabulous cookie. Has anyone rolled it into a log for slice and bake cookies? How many days can the dough keep in the refrigerator?
 
ugh_no
ugh_no January 29, 2023
I've made these twice and I kept wondering why they seemed to spread less than the cookies in the photo. I'm realizing that I've been following the weight measurement for flour on the recipe (250g), which is actually not the same as 1 and 3/4 cup for the flour I'm using (120g per cup, for a total of 210g). Since most APF's weigh between 120-135g per cup, 250g seems really high for 1 and 3/4 cup, which might impact the final product.
 
Jessie
Jessie September 14, 2022
I rolled my dough into balls after two days in the fridge and froze it on cookie sheets, then put the frozen dough balls in a freezer bag. From frozen, I baked one at 360 for 12 minutes and it was perfect. Just add the salt when you pull them from the oven.
 
Roberta B.
Roberta B. February 25, 2022
This is a brilliant recipe, one which I especially like because it has only one stick of butter. I also liked the different kinds of sugar used; they produced a cookie with a caramel color and taste. The texture is chewy and the touch of Maldon salt on the tops delightful. Thanks!
 
june C.
june C. February 13, 2021
Have been searching for a chewy cookie and voila, I finally found it! Thank you. I did refrigerate over night. Cookies came out crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. My family will be the real critics. Will double the recipe next time, yielded about 30 cookies
 
june C.
june C. February 13, 2021
Have been searching for a chewy cookie and voila, I finally found it! Thank you. I did refrigerate over night. Cookies came out crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. My family will be the real critics.
 
Joanne
Joanne February 2, 2021
Great Yummy cookie! Our favorite chocolate chip cookie! I did not wait 24 hours to bake. Placed the cookie dough in a container in the refrigerator for a couple of hours only and scoped out some dough and baked up - yum!
 
Kellia B.
Kellia B. January 12, 2021
Followed the recipe exactly minus the maldon salt sprinkle since I didn't have any. They are perfection. Never will I bother with another chocolate chip cookie recipe.
 
Carina G.
Carina G. November 4, 2020
I made these the other night - didn't have maldon salt flakes to top them off but they still turned out fabulous! This will be my new go to for chocolate chip cookies
 
Carina G.
Carina G. November 4, 2020
I made these the other night - didn't have maldon salt flakes to top them off but they still turned out fabulous! This will be my new go to for chocolate chip cookies
 
Zach I.
Zach I. July 15, 2020
Followed recipe and instructions exactly. Turned out absolutely fantastic!!!
 
Francoise
Francoise April 4, 2020
Spectacular recipe, with lovely toffee elements. I baked two right away, 11 minutes which produced just the right crispy/chewy. Froze the rest to bake ‘just in time.’ Maldon adds lovely little crunch and salty hit.
 
Jp
Jp December 22, 2019
These are hands down the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made! Would highly, highly recommend them to anyone!
 
Renèe S.
Renèe S. December 22, 2019
These are simply amazing. I used semi sweet chips ( bc thats what I had ) and the cookies are to die for!
 
Jennifer M.
Jennifer M. December 11, 2018
Absolutely great chocolate chip cookie. Maldon salt is a must, I sprinkled some on before baking and then a bit more as they came out of oven so that you could clearly see the flakes on top. Have also made this and added dried cranberries, equally delicious.
 
Kris
Kris July 1, 2018
I hate to ask but will this work without the egg? If I substitute flax egg or sour cream?
 
kkimberly
kkimberly March 15, 2018
Seriously, these cookies are IMMENSE! Without question the best best CCC recipe I've tried. It's in regular rotation here already. Highly recommended for breastfeeding mums
 
souschef
souschef February 12, 2018
A local restaurant serves up a salted chocolate chip cookie that is great, so I looked to see if I could find a recipe online. Wow, this is it! Amazing. Thank you so much for sharing.
 
Annie
Annie December 30, 2016
these are A+, would make again! love the flavor and the fact that these have more brown sugar than most.

I added a pinch of nutmeg for funsies and, uh, a tablespoon of rum because the dough felt somewhat dry. they turned out spectacularly!
 
KJR
KJR November 11, 2016
Incredible recipe and my go-to whenever I'm feeling peckish for a sweet/salty pop of flavor. They taste best right out of the oven so I only bake off a couple at a time. Thank you!