I hadn’t planned on doing a post about the Bon Appetit chocolate chip cookies, but after making them a couple of (now many!) times and reading reviews, I had to. Some reviewers say the cookies spread too much and are greasy, but that shouldn’t be the case because they are awesome cookies. And they don’t even require a mixer or mixing bowl! The Bon Appetit Chocolate Chip Cookies are stirred together in one saucepan. So if you didn’t have good luck with the recipe, it’s worth trying again with changes.
Since this recipe appears to be a riff on an old famous Cook’s Illustrated recipe, I made it again and added back a step that CI originally used. The step is stirring the butter and sugar mixture, letting it stand for 3 minutes and repeating a couple of times before adding the flour. This is supposed to dissolve the brown sugar more.
Even with the stirring, BA’s version is still too loose to shape right away. Contrary to what the original BA article says, it seems the dough does need some chill time. When I make the cookies, the shaped dough goes into the refrigerator looking something like this.
The blobs of dough can be shaped into nicer rounds once they’re a bit firmer.
A Few More Tips for the Bon Appetit Chocolate Chip Cookies
Make sure to use enough flour. 210 grams works for me. If you don’t have a scale, use a slightly heavier hand with it. But I have a feeling flat cookies have something to do with the brown sugar, in this case.
You don’t have to use dark brown sugar. Light brown makes great cookies! The moisture level and brand of the sugar may affect your results if you are weighing by volume. For instance, if you don’t use a scale and pack a whole lot of really dry dark brown sugar into a 1 cup measure, you may get flatter cookies. Try to make sure the brown sugar is fresh and soft.
Dough chilled for 24 hours or more will definitely give you thicker, better textured cookies. However, you should be able to bake up some decent cookies with dough that’s been chilled for an hour or two.
Recipe
Bon Appetit’s New Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter (170 grams)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar (50 grams)
- 1 cup packed dark brown sugar (200 grams)
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, KA or a higher protein (210 grams)
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
Instructions
- Brown 8 tablespoons (114 grams) of the butter in a large (3 1/2 quart) saucepan. Remove pan from heat and add remaining 4 tablespoons of butter, stirring with a heavy duty heat proof scraper until fully melted. Add dark brown sugar, sugar, salt and vanilla and stir until blended, then stir in the egg and yolks. Let mixture stand for 3 minutes.
- After 3 minutes, stir again for 30 seconds. Let stand for another 3 minutes, then whisk again. The standing time helps dissolve the sugar with the theory being that more dissolved sugar in the batter will contribute to extra caramelization while baking.
- Add the baking soda and stir until blended, than add the 210 grams of flour and stir. The batter will be thinner than typical chocolate chip cookie dough and most likely still a little warm. Allow it to stand for another 5 minutes (or until cool) then stir in the chocolate chips.
- The batter will still be pretty runny, so empty it onto a large plate, cover and chill for about 30 minutes or until it is thick enough to scoop into portions.
- When thick enough to shape, shape into 16 equal portions and keep the portions chilled until ready to bake. You can bake right away, or let them chill overnight.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place on parchment lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake 10-14 minutes at 375 degrees F. Allow them to cool directly on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.
Gloria Rice
I want to enter CCC in the state fair this year, but I don’t know which recipe of the 1000s out there to use. I have not used browned butter lately. I think I will give that a go. These cookies look delicious….I took photos of the blue ribbon winners last year and the year before. The cookies looked anemic to me. I like them browned just a bit. Oh well!!
L.Tarpley
T. Martin, I also think measuring by weight, rather than cup would also address the spread. It is very difficult to get baking recipes correct (whatever that means) using anything other than by weight. Mine also spread more than I liked but I missed the part of letting the dough sit for 5-10 min to allow the flour to hydrate (as per Chris from the Bon Appetit video on YouTube). Also, my oven is all over the place. I need a truly good quality oven thermometer to get this thing calibrated. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Overall, though, an excellent cookie. Loved the flavor the browned butter added.
Anna
Cheryl, the old Alton Brown recipe is one of my favorites. I’m going to make a batch of Alton’s and a batch of these and see which cookies get the best reviews.
T. Martin
For Yvonne…
Yes, the recipe was posted online and they updated it recently with weights.
Anna
Sue, maybe the chill was the reason yours weren’t greasy.
Yvonne, I haven’t checked the magazine but for some reason I just assumed this one was only on-line.
Yvonne
Hello,
Was the Bon Appetit cookie recipe published in their magazine or only online?
Thanks,
Yvonne
-=^..^=-
Cheryl
I found Alton Brown recipe to be very good and less fussing around. Some may find it too sweet.
Sue
As you know I made these and used less flour. Mine were thin but not greasy. People loved them including me. I wonder if one of the problems other people are having is using too light a hand with the flour since the BA version doesn’t provide weights?
Most of the cookies I baked were baked after an overnight chill in the refrigerator.
I highly recommend this recipe using the weights here on Cookie Madness. Like I said before people loved these cookies even the way I made them. I can’t wait to make them again with these weights.
Anna
I don’t know. I think it’s the fact the original recipe says to just shape the dough right after mixing and people followed the directions. My dough definitely required some standing and chilling time.
T. Martin
Interesting that in 2019 a cookie recipe can “go viral”. My thoughts:
1. All this noise over a cookie (smh).
2. Sounds like the never ending collective quest for the “perfect” chocolate chip cookie continues.
3. A cookie recipe I tried in January browned the butter and then let it cool so it would return to a solid/semi-solid state. Wonder if that wouldn’t address the issues the “thin and greasy” crowd (wouldn’t be surprised if alot of this group lives in warmer climates or have warm kitchens) is running into.