Happy Belated National Chocolate Chip Day! I meant to post this back on August 4, National Chocolate Chip Day, but never got around to it. Well, better late than never. This is my Wegmans Chocolate Chip Copycats recipe. The cookies are similar to the ones they sell at the grocery store in that they are thin, soft, bend-y, flat, and loaded with chocolate chips. Below is a picture of an actual cookie from Wegmans (left) and one of mine (right).
So what makes the Wegmans chocolate chip cookies so good? I think it's their flat and chewy texture. Like Subway's cookies, they bend instead of break. They're loaded with chocolate chips, made with 100% butter, and seem to have a lot of vanilla.
Wegmans chocolate chip cookies come in packs of 2 or in large buckets, which last time I checked were around $15. Given how expensive butter is right now, that's a pretty reasonable price for cookies that taste like homemade. But if you have the time and ingredients to bake, homemade is the way to go.
I've made this recipe about a million times and the cookies are are always a little different based on what brand or type flour I use, my mixing method, the time and temp baked and how long I've chilled or frozen the dough portions. This last batch was the closest yet.
The Chewiest Chocolate Chip Cookies
Bendy Texture
I didn't have any problems making flat cookies, but getting the bendable texture just right was a challenge. My cookies kept coming out with crispy edges and soft centers. Not exactly a bad thing, but the grocery store cookies are softer. The obvious solution seems like it would be to use a syrup of some sort, and I tried that multiple times without success. It made the cookies chewy, but the texture was still not quite right. What seemed to be the two key things were a) using a higher ratio of egg yolk (more lecithin) and b) using enriched, bleached flour with barley. The Food Lion store brand white bleached flour worked perfectly.
I always use the Toll House recipe as a benchmark. This recipe has similar same ratios, but slightly less egg, a higher ratio of yolk (as mentioned), cheap bleached white flour (and a little less of it) and less baking soda.
For best results, use the weights. Volumes are approximate.
Measurements for Copycat Wegmans Cookies
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (228 grams)
- ¾ scant cup sugar (144 grams)
- ¾ scant cups packed brown sugar (144)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg and 1 egg yolk (70 grams total)
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups flour (270 grams) -- Bleached for softer cookies
- 2 cups chocolate chips -- the Kirkland chips from Costco or Wegmans brand
Half Batch
If you don't want or need the full batch, here are the measurements for a half batch. The equivalent of half of an egg and a whole yolk is 1 whole egg with about 15 grams of white removed. So that's about 18 grams of yolk and roughly 17 grams of white making 35 grams total egg. You can use this egg measurement any time you need to halve a recipe that calls for 1 egg and one yolk.
1 stick unsalted butter, softened (114 grams)
¼ plus 2 scant tablespoon sugar (72 grams)
¼ plus 2 scant tablespoon brown sugar (72 grams)
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 egg yolk (18 grams) and (17 grams) of white
⅜ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour 135-140 grams , bleached (more like grocery store cookies)
1 cup chocolate chips -- the Kirkland chips from Costco
Update
I changed the yield from 26 to 28, but it will probably still vary from kitchen to kitchen.
Type of Baking Sheet
Here's another tip for bendy cookies. Use an insulated baking sheet or stack your baking sheet on top of a smaller rimmed pan. I did this for my Potbelly Sugar Cookie impostors and it made them bendy like Potbelly's cookies. It should work for these too.
Recipe
Chocolate Chip Cookies Like Wegmans
Ingredients
- 270 grams all-purpose flour (bleached makes the cookies a little softer), weigh the flour for best results 2 cups of flour that has been fluffed and aerated well.
- 228 grams unsalted butter, softened 2 sticks
- 144 grams light brown sugar About ¾ cup
- 144 grams granulated sugar About ¾ cup
- 1 large egg (50 grams)
- 1 large egg yolk (18 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (5 ml)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, generous cups!
Instructions
- Weigh the flour to make sure you have 270 grams. Sift it after weighing. You could probably skip the sifting, but I've been using some lumpy flour lately and am having to sift. It may or may not affect overall texture.
- Crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk to blend the yolks and white.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Continue creaming for about 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla, Scraping the sides of the bowl often.
- With the mixer on medium low speed. drizzle in the beaten egg 1 tablespoon at a time. Beat on medium speed until egg is incorporated. If you're not using a stand mixer, just stir the egg in with a big spoon or scraper and once it's incorporated, beat with the mixer.
- Add the salt and baking soda to the mixing bowl and beat until evenly blended.
- Using a heavy duty scraper, stir in the flour gradually (⅓ at a time) until fully incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Using a cookie scoop, scoop out generous balls that weigh about 40-42 grams each. You can use a scanty large scoop or a generous medium scoop. Scoop the balls and put on a plate or tray lined with plastic wrap. Press the tops down slightly so they are disks rather than balls. Cover and chill overnight or bake a few right away. You can also freeze them.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. or use 325 F convection. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Arrange mounds, either chilled or frozen, on baking sheet, spacing 2 ½ inches apart.
- Bake one sheet at a time, checking at 12 minutes, until the cookies are just barely set. The surfaces will have tiny bubbles and they will no longer look as shiny.
- Slide the parchment off the baking sheet onto a counter. Using a rimmed baking sheet (you can use the one you baked the cookies on or another), flip it over and let the cookies cool under the baking sheet. The idea is to trap some of the steam and keep the cookies soft.
- When the cookies have cooled and are just slightly warm rather than hot, slide them into a freezer or regular zipper type bag and seal. Again, the point is to lock in the steam from the cookies to help keep them soft.
Anna says
Hi Lauren, that's great news! Thanks for the review.
Lauren Keyes says
I’ve tried every variation to make the perfect choco chip cookie and I have found it. This recipe is perfect to a tee. I was nervous to use the measurements instead of the weights since that is what was recommended but it still came out amazing. I will not use a different recipe for cookies. Thanks!
Ella says
I loved Wegman cookies but they were getting pricey. I was looking for copycat recipe for Wegmans' Ultimate Chocolate Chip cookies and this recipe was very close! Very delicious and my whole office enjoyed it. This will become staple recipe for chocolate chip cookies.
Anna says
Glad you liked them!
Nikki says
They don't taste like Wegmans but they are DELICIOUS! This will be my go to choc chip cookie recipe from now on!
Anna says
Yay! I'm glad the recipe worked well for you, Kim.
Kim says
These turned out so good!! I think this will be my new go to chocolate chip cookie recipe!!!!
Anna says
Thanks so much for trying them and taking the time to comment, Pam! It means a lot. I was basically obsessed with these cookies for months trying to get them just right. These and their Marathon bread, which I also love. They also have good chocolate cake.
Pamela Rodriguez says
Wow, these are yummy! The trick of putting them, while hot, under the baking sheet works wonders to lock in the moisture. You won me over with these! They are very close to Wegmans! I used 2 types of chips, regular Nestle Toll House chips and Ghiradelli 60% Chocolate chips. The combination was great! I did measure each ingredient with a scale.
Thank you for sharing this gem! It will be a staple in my recipe repertoire!
Anna says
See if you can find any bleached white flour that lists barley malt in the ingredients. If not, don't sweat it and just use any brand of bleached white flour. Any AP flour should give you good results, but I got the best when I used Food Lion brand and it happens to list barley malt in the ingredients while others still just list "enzyme". I think the barley malt does the same thing as "enzyme" and it may just be a labeling issue, but that brand did work better.
Zess says
About to go out and get the ingredients I need… but I do not have a Food Lion near me! What was the next best flour that you used, for those who are unable to get Food Lion flour due to their location?
Anna says
Thanks for the review, Renée! I am really happy to hear the recipe worked well for you in your kitchen and also that you are a Wegmans fan who knows what the real version tastes like. Have a great weekend!
Renée says
I'm obsessed with Wegman's ultimate chocolate chip cookies. I adore them and I never leave without some in my bag. But they are pricey. So when I saw this recipe I thought I'll give it a try. OMG!!!these taste just like them. I was so amazed and how they turned out and how delicious they are. Great recipe and I'm making more tonight.