Create Your Own Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Over time, I have created recipes for different cookies. Today I want to focus on the classic – the good old chocolate chip cookie. I want to help you craft your signature recipe. A good chocolate chip cookie starts with butter and ends with chunks of chocolate.

When creating your signature cookie recipe, a few factors you’d want to consider are –

the texture: crisp or soft, the spread: thick & chunky or wide & flat, and the rise of the cookie.

Seems like a lot? Think of it this way, if you were looking to get a well-fitted outfit stitched, which material would you buy? You'd consider different factors. Whether the material is stiff or has a nice fall? Whether your Pinterest design inspiration is created in this specific material? Will it need a lining inside? Similarly, you'd want to answer for cookies.

To help you simplify this, I want to focus on 3 things in this article -

Butter. Sugar. Leavening agent.

---

With creamed butter, the cookie holds its structure more, as opposed to when melted. Aeration occurs when creaming butter & sugar together. This traps the air into pockets and once the cookie goes into the oven, these pockets lead to a uniform rise. Creaming is mechanical leavening. Melted butter has low viscosity- in simple terms, it flows easily. This makes the cookies spread more. Cookies baked using melted butter deflate once baked, hence they are flat.

It’s not about one vs the other, it depends on the result you are looking for. I use both techniques for my cookies.

Melted butter – flatter & crisp

Creamed butter – lighter & fluffier

---

Sugar is hygroscopic i.e. it absorbs & retains moisture. So how does that affect cookies? Depending on the type of sugar, it affects the texture. Brown sugar absorbs more moisture, making cookies chewier. White sugar makes it crisper. But moisture is not the only property of sugar that affects the texture. Brown sugar is acidic. Continue reading to understand this. The acidic property of brown sugar affects the rise. A good chocolate chip cookie usually has a mix of both, and when in doubt go 50-50!

White sugar – crisp

Brown sugar - chewy

---

Everyone needs assistance, so does that cookie dough to rise! Baking powder and baking soda are the two commonly used chemical leavening agents. They are made from sodium bicarbonate, which when mixed with an acid releases C02. This helps the cookies rise. Baking soda needs an acid to react with, in most cookies this is brown sugar. Baking powder already has a base (like baking soda) + an acid. Baking soda browns more & makes the cookies crisp at the edges. Since baking powder already has the acid in it, it gives the cookies a lift and makes them fluffy. Most recipes call for a mix of both.

---

While creating your recipe try to understand how the ingredients interact. There’s no one way to make a chocolate chip cookie. It should feel like a warm hug, that's the cookie for you!

If you are looking to try existing recipes, I have a booklet available. Eggless Chocolate Chip cookies - 5 ways! All recipes are tried, tested & used in my kitchen in some form. Over the years I have come to tweak & use different types of base recipes for various purposes. If you want to start baking or know someone who enjoys baking, gift them the booklet!