Bake

My Newest Chocolate Chip Cookies

October 20, 2016
4
13 Ratings
Photo by James Ransom
  • Makes about 50 cookies
Author Notes

My Classic Best Chocolate Chip Cookies have been my favorites for close to twenty years. I still love them, but when it comes to chocolate chip cookies, it's hard to be constant. Recipes for chocolate chip cookies are like scarves—you're always happy to have a new one. And so, here's my new cookie. Not radically different from the old one... but different enough you'll want to make both.

The cookie, with its combination of all-purpose and whole wheat flours and a different mix of white and brown sugars, bakes to a chewier cookie than my classic. I added nutmeg and coriander to the dough, and it's up to you if you'd like to use them or not—or if you'd like to use even more. Or maybe you want to flavor the dough with a little instant espresso (1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon), with or without ground cinnamon (1/4 teaspoon), or even a little (1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon) Chinese five-spice powder.

You can use the dough soon after it's made, but it improves with more chill time. If you can wait a day to bake the cookies, do.

From Dorie's Cookies (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2016). —Dorie Greenspan

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Ingredients
  • 1 3/4 cups (238 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup (91 grams) whole wheat flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 2 sticks (8 ounces; 226 grams) unsalted butter, cut into chunks, at room temperature
  • 1 cup (200 grams) sugar
  • 3/4 cup (150 grams) packed light brown sugar
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons fine sea salt
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 10 ounces (283 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (or 1 2/3 cups chocolate chips)
Directions
  1. Whisk both flours, the baking soda, nutmeg, and coriander together.
  2. Working with a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter, both sugars, and the salt together on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.
  3. One by one, add the eggs and beat for 1 minute after each goes in. Beat in the vanilla. Turn the mixer off, add the dry ingredients all at once and pulse to begin the blending, then mix on low speed until the dough comes together and the flour has disappeared. Add the chocolate and incorporate on low speed or mix in by hand with a sturdy flexible spatula. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour.
  4. Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat it to 375° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
  5. Using a tablespoon, scoop out level portions of dough. Roll each tablespoon of dough between your palms to make a ball and place the balls at least 2 inches apart on the lined baking sheets.
  6. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, rotating the pans top to bottom and front to back after 6 minutes, or until the cookies have spread, puffed a little, turned a light golden brown, and feel only just set around the edges. Transfer the baking sheets to racks and let the cookies rest on the sheets for at least 5 minutes before letting them onto the racks to cool to just warm or room temperature.
  7. Repeat with the remaining dough, being certain to use cool baking sheets.

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With the publication her 14th book, Baking with Dorie, New York Times bestselling author Dorie Greenspan marks her thirtieth anniversary as a cookbook author. She has won five James Beard Awards for her cookbooks and journalism and was inducted into the Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America. A columnist for the New York Times Magazine and the author of the xoxoDorie newsletter on Bulletin, Dorie was recently awarded an Order of Agricultural Merit from the French government for her outstanding writing on the foods of that country. She lives in New York City, Westbrook, Connecticut, and Paris. You can find Dorie on Instagram, Facebook, Bulletin and her website,

20 Reviews

judy April 18, 2021
I like to use oats in my CC cookies. Makes them a little firmer and chewier. I ALWAYS use salted butter. I have tried it several times in a variety of recipes since the push NOT to use salted. And I do not like it nearly well. I reduce the overall added salt by about 25%. but we each have our own liking. I do sprinkle a few grains of kosher salt over the top just when I bring them out of the oven. I also don't like salt in my pasta water!! go figure.
Aditi July 4, 2020
I made these and liked the flavor. But they spread a lot and were very soft. I would have liked them fatter and firmer. Maybe next time I’ll try with all whole wheat flour.
Susie S. July 4, 2020
I suggest using a bit less butter- we’ve found reducing by 1T per 1/2 c in our recipe helps reduce the spread.
Aditi July 9, 2020
Thanks for the suggestion, Susie. I can try that since I did find the dough pretty soft even after chilling. I was also thinking of adding a small amount of ground oats at the end...
Susie S. July 9, 2020
Abby uses about 1/4 cup of oats in her recipe too!
Bailey P. May 3, 2020
I saw this recipe linked in another article so I thought I might as well try it out. Not a keeper for me. I usually use the six vegan sisters chewy chocolate cookie recipe. The only modification I made to this recipe was using Earth Balance vegan butter from a tub. The batter tasted good but the finished product was good but not worth repeating. The cookie was more like a crunchy cookie you might get from a package. I prefer chewy, soft cookies. I wonder if maybe the difference is using egg versus no egg in the vegan recipe. The egg seems to make it cakier
SG April 26, 2020
Fair. It’s simply a choc
Chip cookie.
No better or worse than most.
Try browned butter and dark brown sugar.
Cvandeb April 26, 2020
What ingredients would you recommend to make a gluten-free version?
Nosherium July 23, 2017
I made these yesterday for my husband's birthday party. They were a hit! Following Susie Sorkin's recommendation, I scooped the dough right after mixing. I then chilled the scooped dough on a baking sheet in the freezer. Some of the cookies spread a lot, others did not. Perhaps there are hot spots in my oven. I added a couple twists of black pepper to the spices, next time I think I'll increase the spices or add some others. I had some red walnuts so I made one sheet with halved walnuts on top of each cookie - it was delicious. I'll post a link to my blog post soon.
Amelia R. January 23, 2017
Amazing!!!
Susie S. December 8, 2016
Sounds like a delicious recipe. My daughter has been perfecting her own recipe so we've been enjoying eating delicious cookies for awhile. A suggestion, we have found it is easier to roll the cookies into balls right after mixing the dough and then put them into the fridge to chill. Added benefit - any uncooked cookies can be easily frozen (chill before you freeze the balls so they won't stick together) and then cooked when you want. Now, even though our daughter is at college, we have fresh baked cookies!
Nosherium July 23, 2017
Thank you for the tip, I scooped the dough right after mixing and it was easy!
KS December 8, 2016
In the blog it states cardamom & nutmeg and then in recipe it says coriander? I think cardamom makes more sense in a cookie but please clarify for me before I make ;)
Nosherium July 23, 2017
The base recipe is with nutmeg and coriander. You can add or omit spices as you like.
Robin M. December 8, 2016
How does the recipe change for high-altitude?????
Trishington November 15, 2016
These are so incredibly dee-lish! Resting the dough in the fridge for an hour allows the spices to meld perfectly so they're not overpowering - something I was a bit worried about. Well, I wasn't worried - my husband is a notorious nutmeg disliker (unless it's sprinkled on eggnog). But I needn't have worried at all. He gave these cookies two thumbs up!! Yummy!!!
sylvana November 14, 2016
is the coriander fresh or dried?
Nosherium July 22, 2017
It is dried. Dorie uses American terminology so fresh coriander would be called cilantro.
Alma M. November 13, 2016
I made these and can attest to their high quality.
Steven W. October 22, 2016
So coriander. That's the big difference? Ok!