Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies - Sally's Baking Addiction (2024)

Published: 08/13/2018Updated: 01/14/2022

Even soft chocolate chip cookie lovers will reach for thesecrispy chocolate chip cookies. Crackly and buttery, you’ll love the satisfying crunch you get in every bite. They’re so irresistible that it’s almost impossible to eat just one.

Crispy vs. Chewy: The Different Types of Chocolate Chip Cookies

All chocolate chip cookies—whether they’re soft, chewy, or crispy—are made from the same ingredients. It is the ratio of ingredients and a few simple modifications that create the textural differences. Let’s take a look at some of our chocolate chip cookie recipes and how the proportion of ingredients can make or break your cookie. (Literally!)

1. Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies: Creamed butter, cornstarch, and a higher ratio of brown sugar to white work together to achieve this cookie’s perfect melt-in-your-mouth softness.
2. Chewy chocolate chip cookies: Melted butter, an extra egg yolk, and more brown sugar than white sugar will help you bake a supremely chewy cookie. The melted butter is the secret to this dense, indulgent treat.
3. Crispy-edged chocolate chip cookies from Sally’s Cookie Addiction cookbook (page 26): Milk plus a higher ratio of white sugar to brown help create the spread needed for a crispier cookie. The creamed butter and sugar create a soft and light center. These are the perfect blend of soft, chewy, and crispy. Definitely a favorite around here.

Tell Me About These Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies

• Texture: For that pleasing buttery CRUNCH when you take a bite, let the cookies cool completely. The longer the cookies cool, the crispier they will be. I suggest using a cooling rack if you have one. It circulates air to the bottoms of cookies and, as a result, cools them quicker and more evenly.
• Flavor: Crispy chocolate chip cookie fans will love the rich, buttery flavor contrasted with sweet chocolate chips in every bite.
• Ease: This quick and easy recipe makes a lot of cookies in a short amount of time. Perfect for no-fuss bakers who want big flavor without a big mess.
• Time: Unlike many cookie doughs, chilling isn’t required (see Note), so this recipe comes together in minutes. Here are all of our cookie recipes without dough chilling.

Recipe Testing Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies: What Works & What Doesn’t

Chocolate chip cookies can turn out differently depending on a few different factors, particularly the proportion of ingredients. Every ingredient has a job to do. That’s cookie science! The good news is that as long as you know which type of cookie you want, you can learn how to make it successfully each and every time. Here are the secrets to making a crispy chocolate chip cookie:

1. Melted butter. Creaming butter and sugar together, like you do for most cake recipes, aerates the cookie dough, creating a softer, fluffier cookie. Since we crave a crispy cookie here, we’re using melted butter instead. Melted butter = a chewy and dense center.
2. Sugars.Since brown sugar is soft, we want to use more white sugar for a crispy cookie.
3. Milk. Just like melted butter, milk helps the cookies spread in the oven which produces crispier edges.
4. Honey. This natural sweetener crisps and melts in the oven, creating a crackly top on your cookie. If you don’t have honey, you can substitute light corn syrup instead.
5. Egg yolk. One egg yolk adds richness and structure but leave out the egg white. Why? Egg whites fluff up when beaten or whisked. We want to avoid the fluff in this crispy cookie
6. Smaller cookies, hotter oven.Roll the cookies smaller and bake at a higher temperature so the whole cookie crisps up perfectly.

To Chill or Not to Chill?

It’s entirely up to you—baker’s choice! The first time I made these cookies, I chilled the cookie dough for my usual 2 hours, and the cookies had a lovely crisp edge with a chewy center. They were delicious but tasted like my soft chocolate chip cookies.I wanted something different: a thinner cookie with an overall crunch so I continued testing the recipe. Here’s what I discovered:

• No chilling:For thin and mega-crispy cookies, skip chilling the dough entirely.
• Chill for 1 hour:For cookies that are a little thicker, have a little chew and a lot of crisp, chill the dough for 1 hour.
• Chill for 2+ hours:For thicker cookies with less crisp, chill the dough for 2 hours or longer.

I appreciate that this cookie recipe works all 3 ways.

More Cookie Recipes

• Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
• White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
• Peanut Butter Cookies
• Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Crisp Molasses Cookies
• Sugar Cookies

For a gluten free cookie, try my flourless almond butter chocolate chip cookies or flourless peanut butter oatmeal cookies. The latter are chock full of chocolate chips, too!

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