The chewy-centered, crisp-edged chocolate chip cookie on a baker's-percentage ratio, with a bakery-style browned-butter-and-chill method and a quick same-day one-bowl method.
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About this recipe
A great chocolate chip cookie is mostly about texture: a chewy, slightly underbaked center, edges that crisp and set, and pools of chocolate throughout. This ratio leans into that chewy-center side — a generous amount of butter, more brown sugar than white, and just enough flour to hold it together. The brown-to-white sugar split is the single biggest lever you have. Brown sugar is hygroscopic and brings molasses, so more of it means a softer, chewier, more caramel-edged cookie; shift toward granulated and the cookie spreads more and crisps up. I keep the default tilted brown because that is the cookie I want most days.
There are two methods here. The bakery-style one is the deeper cookie: I brown the butter for a nutty, toffee note, then rest it in the fridge for 24 to 48 hours — that long lets the flour fully hydrate and the flavors marry, which is what gives bakery cookies their complexity. I scoop them tall, press in chopped chocolate chunks, and finish with flaky salt. The quick one-bowl method skips all of that — melt the butter, whisk everything together, and bake the same day for a very good cookie in under an hour. On the chocolate itself: chips are stabilized to hold their shape, while a chopped bar or chunks give you melty pools and thin shards running through the dough, which is the move I prefer for the bakery version.
Gluten-free works well here. A 1:1 cup-for-cup blend (the kind that already includes xanthan gum) drops in directly with no other changes — it behaves close enough to wheat that the same dough comes together. Oat flour is the more interesting swap: it gives a softer, slightly nuttier cookie, but oat flour absorbs less liquid than wheat, so the dough runs wetter and spreads more. Add roughly 10 to 15 percent more oat flour, or give the dough a short chill, to firm it back up. If you are baking for someone with celiac, use certified gluten-free oats — plain oats are cross-contaminated with wheat in most mills.
This ratio takes variations easily. Swap the chips for chopped chunks for bigger melt pools, or for candy-coated chocolates for the bakery-window look. White chocolate with toasted macadamia nuts is a classic detour. A teaspoon of espresso powder whisked into the dry ingredients deepens the chocolate without reading as coffee. And if you fold in rolled oats along with the chocolate, you are part of the way to an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie — a heartier, chewier cousin worth keeping in rotation.
At a glance
At its default setting, this Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe makes 24 rolls at about 35g each — about 1231g of batter in total. In baker's percentage that breaks down to 301g AP flour (100%), 181g Unsalted butter (60%), 160g Light or dark brown sugar (53%), 108g Granulated sugar (36%), 72g Large eggs (24%), 9.0g Vanilla extract (3%), 6.0g Baking soda (2%), 3.0g Fine sea salt (1%), 241g Chocolate chips, chunks, or chopped bar (80%), and 151g Walnuts or pecans (chopped) (50%). Change the rolls or enter a target batter weight in the calculator and every amount rescales to match, in grams or ounces.
Make
24rolls
Display unit
Eggs display
By count for cartons of whole eggs; by weight for liquid egg or precision baking.
Total batter
1081g
Mix-ins
Chocolate chips, chunks, or chopped bar· 80%
Walnuts or pecans (chopped)
301gAP flour100% baker's
181gUnsalted butter60% baker's
160gLight or dark brown sugar53% baker's
108gGranulated sugar36% baker's
1 largeLarge eggs≈ 72g24% baker's
9.0gVanilla extract3% baker's
6.0gBaking soda2% baker's
3.0gFine sea salt1% baker's
Mix-ins · added on top of pan capacity
241gChocolate chips, chunks, or chopped bar80% baker's
The deeper cookie. Browning the butter builds a nutty, toffee note plain melted butter cannot reach, and a 24-to-48-hour chill lets the flour fully hydrate and the flavors marry — the dough bakes up with more complexity and a chewier set. It is a two-day plan more than a two-day effort: the active work is short, the fridge does the rest. If you want cookies today, use the quick one-bowl method below.
About half a day, most of it hands-off in the fridge: 15 min brown the butter + cool, 15 min mix, 24-48 hours chill, then ~12 min per tray to bake. The browned butter and the long chill are what give these the deeper, complex flavor you get from a good bakery.
01
Brown the butter
10-15 min cook + 20-30 min coolmedium heat on the stovetop
1.Cut 181g of butter into pieces and cook in a light-colored saucepan over medium heat. It will melt, foam, then quiet down; keep cooking and swirling until the milk solids on the bottom turn golden brown and you can smell the nuttiness, usually 8 to 12 minutes. Watch the last minute closely — it goes from nutty to burnt fast.
2.Pour the browned butter, including the brown bits, into a heatproof non-glass bowl. ⚠️ It is around 270°F / 130°C and can shatter glass. Let it cool 20 to 30 minutes until just warm, not hot — it should still be liquid but no longer steaming, so it will not cook the eggs.
02
Mix the dough
15 minutesroom temperature
1.In a large bowl, whisk the cooled browned butter with 160g brown sugar and 108g granulated sugar until smooth and glossy, about 1 minute. Browning evaporates some of the butter as water, so the mixture will look a little thicker than with raw butter.
2.Whisk in 72g eggs (about 1 to 2 large, or 1 large plus an ) and 9g vanilla until the mixture is smooth and slightly lightened.
3.In a separate bowl, whisk together 301g flour, 6g baking soda, and 3g salt. Add the dry to the wet and fold with a spatula just until no dry streaks remain — stop there, since overmixing toughens the cookie.
4.Fold in any mix-ins you have toggled on: chocolate chips or chopped chunks (241g at the default), nuts (0g — off by default). For the bakery look, hold back a small handful of chunks to press onto the tops before baking.
03
Chill the dough
24-48 hoursrefrigerator
1.Cover the bowl (or scoop the dough into balls first, which saves time later) and refrigerate 24 to 48 hours. This rest hydrates the flour and deepens the flavor; even a few hours helps, but a full day is where the bakery character shows up.
Chilled dough balls also freeze well — bake straight from frozen, adding 1 to 2 minutes.
04
Bake
11-13 min per tray350°F / 175°C
1.Heat the oven to 350°F / 175°C and line two sheet pans with parchment. Let the chilled dough sit out 10 to 15 minutes if it is rock hard, then scoop into tall mounds (about 35g each) — scooping them taller rather than flat keeps the centers thick and chewy.
2.Press a few reserved chocolate chunks onto each mound and sprinkle the tops with a little flaky salt. Space them well apart; they spread.
3.Bake 11 to 13 minutes, until the edges are set and golden but the centers still look slightly underdone and puffy. Pull them then — they finish setting on the hot pan. For a bakery-style edge, rap the pan on the counter once at the 10-minute mark to deflate and ripple the cookies.
Cool on the pan 5 minutes before moving to a rack — the centers are too soft to lift cleanly straight out of the oven.
The fast version. Melt the butter, whisk everything together in one bowl, and bake the same day — no mixer, no chill, no creaming. Melted butter gives a chewy, dense cookie, and skipping the chill costs a little flavor depth but saves a day. This is my weeknight cookie.
Cookies today, one bowl, under an hour: 10 min mix, no chill, ~11 min per tray. Melted butter and no creaming step keep it simple while still baking up chewy.
01
Mix
10 minuteswarm butter, room-temp eggs
1.Heat the oven to 350°F / 175°C and line two sheet pans with parchment. Melt 181g butter in a saucepan or microwave and pour it into a large bowl. Let it cool a couple of minutes so it will not cook the eggs.
2.Whisk in 160g brown sugar and 108g granulated sugar until glossy, then whisk in 72g eggs (about 1 to 2 large, or 1 large plus an ) and 9g vanilla until smooth.
3.Add 301g flour, 6g baking soda, and 3g salt right on top, then stir with a spatula just until the dry disappears — do not overmix.
4.Stir in any mix-ins you have toggled on: chocolate chips or chunks (241g at the default), nuts (0g — off by default).
02
Bake
10-12 min per tray350°F / 175°C
1.Scoop into mounds (about 35g each), spacing them well apart since they spread. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are set but the centers still look slightly underdone. Pull them then — they finish on the hot pan.
2.Cool on the pan 5 minutes before moving to a rack. A pinch of flaky salt on the warm tops is optional but good.
These spread more than the chilled dough — for thicker cookies, pop the scooped mounds in the freezer for 15 minutes before baking.
Frequently asked
Questions about this recipe.
How do I scale this Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe to a different pan size?+
Use the calculator on this page. Pick your pan dimensions (or enter a total batter weight) and every ingredient amount updates automatically. The recipe is written in baker's percentage, so the ratio — and the texture — stays the same whether you bake an 8×8, a 9×13, or a half sheet.
Can I leave out the espresso powder, nuts, or chocolate chips?+
Yes. The espresso powder is optional — it deepens the chocolate flavor without tasting like coffee, but the recipe works without it. Nuts and chocolate chips are mix-in toggles in the calculator: switch them on or off and the amounts update. Turning a mix-in off removes it cleanly without changing the rest of the ratio.
What is the difference between the brown-butter and classic methods?+
The brown-butter method cooks the butter to a nutty brown before mixing, which adds a deeper, almost caramel-edged flavor — at the cost of about 45 minutes of cooling time. The classic melt-and-whisk method is faster and still produces a rich, fudgy result. Both use the same ratio; only the butter handling changes.
More general questions about ratios, hydration, and the calculator on the FAQ page.