Biting into a perfectly warm chocolate chip cookie is maybe one of the great pleasures in life. Warm, melty chocolate encased in simply sweet dough… what’s not to like? We all have memories of recreating the recipe off the back of that little yellow bag. They’re universally loved and they’re a true classic, and yet they tend to create some division. Because we all have our favorite version.
You see, there are three main camps when it comes to creating the best chocolate chip cookie: thin and crispy, chewy, and last but not least, puffy and cakey. This recipe here is for the puffy cookie loving crowd. These are rounded piles of cakey cookie deliciousness, and even if you usually like your cookies with a bit of crunch, we’re sure you can appreciate just how good these are.
There are a few secrets to getting the perfectly puffy cookie. While we’re usually all about butter, using shortening instead helps to create a puffy cookie because it melts at a higher temperature than butter. This means it remains solid longer and gives the batter time to rise before spreading out. Using cake flour rather than all-purpose is another great trick. It absorbs less liquid and creates steam, which helps the cookie rise in the oven. Baking soda, rather than baking powder, creates a more acidic batter, which means the batter sets up quicker and spreads less.
If you want a truly puffy cookie, the one trick you don’t want to skip is chilling the dough. Cold dough spreads more slowly when baked, so this gives the cookie yet another chance to lift before it sets in the oven. You just need to put the whole bowl of dough in the fridge to chill for about an hour before you scoop out the dough to bake. None of these tricks are particularly complicated, but when you put them all together you’re guaranteed to have the perfectly puffy chocolate chip cookie!
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