The cookies are by far the BEST chocolate chip cookies I have ever made. They’re crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. And they stay that way days after they’ve been baked and have cooled. Gone are the days of chocolate chip cookies that are hard as a rock. But my very favorite part? There are no special ingredients! No egg replacers, no flax seeds, no vegan butter, no special flours… nothing! If you have all-purpose flour, sugar, and oil in your pantry chances are you have everything you need to make these cookies.
Its taken about 100 batches over the past 3 years to get these cookies absolutely perfect, but we did it. I used to watch cooking shows and watch as southern ladies placed mounds of cookie dough onto baking sheets that would spread and ripple into the perfect cookie in the oven. But, mine never did that, they always came out looking like fluffy little cloud cookies. So for 3 years, I tweaked the volume of every single ingredient until we landed here. The perfect cookie, that spreads on its own, but doesn’t end up too flat and crips, with just enough bite, and filled with chewy chocolatey goodness.
The dough requires a quick chill in the fridge, at least 1 hour but longer is fine too before they can go into the oven. Something I considered a deterrent at first, but it really does improve the flavor of the cookies, allowing the flour to really bloom with the moisture of the other ingredients so that nothing tastes chalky or raw. The advantage here being that you can make the dough ahead of time and keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. When you want freshly baked cookies, simply scoop and bake!
Regarding the scoop size, I go for a large scoop with these cookies, placing only 6 cookies per baking sheet. You can absolutely make smaller cookies and reduce the baking time down to 8-10 minutes. But I wanted the bakery feel of big cookies baked to perfection. If you don’t have a cookie scoop, a rounded tablespoon works well, the amount of dough per cookie should be just under a ¼ cup. You’ll love how easy these cookies are to make, and because the ingredients are so simple, as long as you have a bag of chocolate chips in the panty, you’ll always be ready to go.
- 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling
- 1 ¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ¾ cup brown sugar, lightly packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup canola oil
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons water
- In a large mixing bowl mix together the water, oil, and sugars. Whisk until the mixture comes together and looks creamy, the oil should be well incorporated. An electric hand mixer works well here if not whisking by hand for about a minute should do it.
- Add in the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt and mix to combine until only a few spots of the dry ingredients are still visible, using a wooden spoon or silicone spatula.
- Add the chocolate chips and mix until fully combined and distributed, being careful not to over mix. A few stirs should do it.
- Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 1 hour to chill, or in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- Before baking preheat the oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Scoop large mounds of dough onto the baking sheets using a cookie scoop or rounded tablespoon, placing the mounds 3 inches apart as the cookies will spread. Aim for just under a ¼ cup of dough. Do not flatten as the cookies will spread on their own.
- Sprinkle the tops of each mound of dough with a small pinch of kosher salt.
- Bake for 14-15 minutes until lightly golden.
- The cookies will look slightly puffy when removed from the oven but will settle and develop that perfect crinkly top as the cool. Cool on the baking sheet for 3-4 minutes before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for 3-4 days at room temperature or frozen for up to a month.
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