Everyone has their recipe for the perfect chocolate chip cookies. But Chef Sarah McIntosh of Epicerie in Austin has the science down to a tee. Epicerie makes one of our favorite chocolate chip cookies in town, maybe anywhere, and so we were dying to know her secrets. Thankfully, she was more than willing to share them, and after trying them out ourselves, we can agree that if you follow these tips, your chocolate chip cookies will turn out better than ever.
Baker Tip #1: Freeze Your Flour and Butter
A shortcut for those of us who hate freezing our dough (we have no patience), freezing your flour and butter “helps ensure your cookie is nice and dense and keeps all of the chocolatey goodness in the middle, instead of spreading all over the pan,” Chef McIntosh says. Plus it takes less time than freezing a whole bowl of dough, reducing the time between prepping and eating—always a win.
Baker Tip #2: Use a Combination of Chocolates
Many chocolate chip cookie recipes call for just one kind of chocolate, but Chef McIntosh thinks this is a mistake. Instead, she recommends adding both a semi-sweet and a dark chocolate to give you a range of flavors in your cookies. This, like adding flaky salt on top, gives your cookies a grown-up edge (though kids can still enjoy them too), and keeps them from being overly sweet.
Baker Tip #3: Be Precise
Precision is key in achieving the bakery-level chocolate chip cookies. Baking is a science, and a fairly exact one at that. Because of this, we recommend measuring your ingredients with an electric scale, instead of measuring cups, which can vary slightly between manufacturers. More precise measurements ensure that your cookies will come out perfect every time.
Ready to Try it for Yourself?
Now that you know the three key ingredients to baking the perfect chocolate chip cookie, check out Chef McIntosh’s recipe. These might be the most delicious cookies we’ve ever had, and the fastest to make, too. If you want your clean up to be equally easy, bake them on one of our Non Stick Sheet Pans.
