The Secret To The Chewiest Cookies Of Your Life Requires No Extra Tools

If you're someone who loves baking cookies at home — and then indulging in your hard-earned desserts — then you're probably always on the lookout to perfect those homemade cookies. One element that you may need help with is making sure those cookies are ultra chewy and delicious. To find out the secret to the chewiest possible cookies, Daily Meal spoke with an expert: Jennifer Yee, the pastry chef owner of Bakers Bench in Los Angeles, which was named one of the best bakeries in the United States by the New York Times.

The best part about Yee's advice? It doesn't require any extra tools. When asked for her secret to super chewy cookies of any flavor, Yee said, "Melting your butter, or even better yet, making brown butter and using it while it's still melted."

You may have already known that brown butter is the unbeatable ingredient for the best chocolate chip cookies (among other cookie types) flavor-wise, but the fact that it also helps with the chewy texture gives you all the more reason to include it in your next batch. Just make sure to look out for the tell-tale signs that your brown butter is ready — the last thing we want is to mess up the brown butter and, ultimately, the chewiness of the cookies. If you've never made brown butter and don't want to risk your cookie batch, then just go with Yee's other suggestion: melted regular butter.

How exactly does melting your butter change the texture of the cookie for the better? Chef Jennifer Yee explained, "When butter is melted, the water and fat start to become unemulsified, so the water will mix with the gluten in the flour. As you're mixing your dough, the water and gluten will begin to develop, giving you a chewier result." After the melted butter has done its job, Yee then recommends scooping and shaping your dough into tall rounded balls (rather than a flat disc shape). According to Yee, this will "give you a softer texture in the middle which will result in more chew."

As for any steps to avoid, be sure to let your melted butter cool before integrating it into the dough. Otherwise, the hot melted butter will cause the eggs in the batter to "cook and curdle," which we certainly don't want. And if you can't decide what type of cookie to make to try out these tips, Yee has a suggestion. She says, "The chewiest cookie by nature is probably the humble oatmeal cookie. It is designed to chew!"