How To Make The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie In 12 Easy Steps

It always seems impossible to recreate those thick, chewy, soft chocolate chip cookies that you buy from your favorite bakery whenever the craving strikes. Every time you try, you convince yourself that the bakery must use some magic ingredient that you can't buy that makes the cookies taste so much better than your attempt. But we promise you that the staff is not using witchcraft to make them, they just have all the insider knowledge. There are several secrets behind baking your most-loved chocolate chip cookies, and we're here to reveal them to you. With this power, you will soon be able to have your ideal cookie cooling on a wire rack in your own kitchen.

Make sure you're using the best ingredients you can when making your cookies. High-quality chocolate and butter make a huge difference to the end result.

The oven needs to be at a steady, settled 350 degrees F when the cookies go in. Get the oven warming up early so that the cookies can bake evenly, and quickly, making for the chewiest, softest texture.

Whisk together 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, ¾ teaspoon baking soda, and ½ teaspoon salt. Make sure you whisk thoroughly to add some air to the dry ingredients, to evenly distribute the raising agents, and to make sure there are no unwanted lumps of flour in the cookies.

It's so important to beat together ½ pound butter, ¾ cup granulated sugar, and ¾ cup light brown sugar, thoroughly. These ingredients need to come together to have a fluffy texture and a light color. When you cream them together, you're adding air to them which will help create a soft, airy cookie.

Add the two eggs one at a time, and make sure the first egg is well combined with the butter and sugar before adding the second one. This small detail will help ensure that your cookies have a consistent texture.

Combine together the wet and dry ingredients, but don't be brutal with the mixture. Mix them by hand, and do it gently, until they are just combined. If you overmix the dough, you'll develop excess gluten, which will lead to tough cookies.

Using 16 ounces of chocolate chunks rather than chocolate chips makes for the most indulgent cookies: The chunks will melt and remain molten in the center, rather than staying solid as chips do. Fold these into the batter gently, until they are evenly distributed.

This is the most important step in creating the chewiest cookies: If you skip this step, your cookies will never be perfect. Baking the cookies without chilling the dough means the butter will melt out the dough, so the cookies will spread, and won't maintain their thickness. Give the dough at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator before baking.

For evenly baked cookies, use an ice cream scoop to measure out the dough. If all your cookies are the same size, you'll be able to cook them perfectly, rather than having some burning while others are undercooked.

Chocolate cookies are always improved when topped with a sprinkling of sea salt. Top every cookie with a few flakes of salt before they're baked to add an addictive contrast to the sweet chocolate and cookie dough.

These cookies only need to bake for 7-9 minutes to get that sought-after chewy texture, but make sure you set a timer to go off halfway through that time to remind you to rotate the baking sheet. This will help to bake the cookies evenly.

Check your cookies after seven minutes of baking, and keep checking them every minute after that to ensure that they don't overbake. You want the cookies to be lightly golden-brown around the edges. Don't worry if they seem too soft, they will become firmer as they cool. Place on a wire rack to cool — this will stop them from continuing to bake on the heat of the baking sheet.