Even soft chocolate chip cookie lovers will reach for these crispy chocolate chip cookies. Crackly and buttery, youโll love the satisfying crunch you get in every bite. Theyโre so irresistible that itโs almost impossible to eat just one.
Crispy vs. Chewy: The Different Types of Chocolate Chip Cookies
All chocolate chip cookiesโwhether theyโre soft, chewy, or crispyโare made from the same ingredients. It is the ratio of ingredients and a few simple modifications that create the textural differences. Letโs take a look at some of our chocolate chip cookie recipes and how the proportion of ingredients can make or break your cookie. (Literally!)
- Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies: Creamed butter, cornstarch, and a higher ratio of brown sugar to white work together to achieve this cookieโs perfect melt-in-your-mouth softness.
- 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.
- 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.
If you love extra crispy cookies, you’ll want to try my chocolate chip cookie bark, too!
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 isnโt 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. Thatโs 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:
- 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, weโre using melted butter instead. Melted butter = a chewy and dense center.
- Sugars. Since brown sugar is soft, we want to use more white sugar for a crispy cookie.
- Milk. Just like melted butter, milk helps the cookies spread in the oven which produces crispier edges.
- Honey. This natural sweetener crisps and melts in the oven, creating a crackly top on your cookie. If you donโt have honey, you can substitute light corn syrup instead.
- 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
- 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?
Itโs entirely up to youโbakerโs 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. Hereโs 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!
Print
Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 25 minutes
- Yield: 32-36 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Crispy chocolate chip cookies with a satisfying crunch. With their crackly tops, crisp buttery edges, and overflow of chocolate chips, I have a feeling even soft chocolate chip cookie fans will get a kick out of these.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flourย (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 10 Tablespoons (142g) unsalted butter, melted + slightly cooled
- 1/2 cup (100g)ย granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) packed light or darkย brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons (43g)ย honey or light corn syrup
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml)ย milk
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/4 cups (225g) semi-sweetย chocolate chips
Instructions
- See step 4. If not chilling the cookie dough, preheat oven to 375ยฐF (191ยฐC). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Whiskย the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Whisk the melted butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, honey, egg yolk, milk, and vanilla extract together until combined. Pour into dry ingredients and mix everything together until completely combined. Fold in the chocolate chips. (You can use a mixer for this step if needed.) Dough will be soft.
- For thin and crisp cookies, do not chill the cookie dough and proceed with step 5. For slightly thicker and crisp cookies, cover and chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour then preheat the oven. For slightly thicker cookies with soft centers and crisp edges, cover and chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator for 2 hours then preheat the oven.
- Roll cookie dough into balls, 1 scant Tablespoon of dough per cookie, and arrange 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 10-11 minutes or until browned on top and around the sides.
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies crisp up as they cool.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Cookies stay fresh lightly covered at room temperature for up to 1 week. You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Allow to come to room temperature, preheat the oven, then continue with step 5. Keep in mind that cookies are the thinnest and crispiest when baked right away. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Silicone Spatula | Cooling Rack
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I’ve only recently started baking and Sally’s recipes and website have helped me tremendously. I made these cookies and they were tasty and crispy. However, despite chilling for over two hours, they spread quite a bit and ended up being only about 5mm thick. I used metric measurements and followed the recipe precisely. Can you help me troubleshoot why they spread so much and weren’t thicker?
Hi Carly! Here’s our best tips for preventing cookies from spreading.
Made several batches in one day. I reduced both granulated and brown sugar by 15 grams and also reduced honey by 10 grams because I saw that a few ppl in the reviews said the cookies were too sweet. It turned out well! I made them much smaller though, like around a half a tablespoon of dough per cookie. The cookies were crispy on the outside, and slightly chewy in the center. I think the humidity in my area may or may not have affected the cookies, but they still tasted good โค๏ธ
Made recipe as is, was easy to follow. Quite sweet though. I did not chill the dough and they did spread and they were crispy.
Personal tastes vary, I know that. Not my ideal cookie due to sweetness but they turned out as were described. Texture and flavour (beyond the sweetness) was good.
timing was acurate, mixing instructions good.
negative – for too sweet, could not taste the chocolate.
These are always my go to recipe for chocolate chip cookies. Crispy and chewy and delicious. Love Sally. Thank you for always giving me a reliable recipe
The Best Chocolate chip recipe After collecting recipes for 70 yrs just got rid of all except this one .Your recipes are always right on Many thxs for sharing them
Made these today as my best friend and I love crispy chocolate chip cookies and have never found a recipe that worked well. Followed as written and did not chill but I did let it sit for about 15 minutes to let the flour full hydrate. Perfection! Mine took closer to 12-13 minutes but it could be my oven or that I baked two pans at a time. These are the best crispy chocolate chip cookies ever! Never had a Sally’s recipe fail and she is my go-to for anything I am baking. Love the elaborateness of her recipes with tips and notes. I am a convert of weight measuring thanks to Sally. Now when I see a recipe that uses volume measures I am suspicious! Sally you are the best!
Forgot to give it 5 Stars!
I followed instructions with one exception; I substituted ww flour for 1/2 C of the white flour. They were not at all crispy and were quite greasy. Rather disappointed.
Must have been the change in flour – as mine were perfect and not the least bit greasy! Best recipe ever for crispy CCC.
You change the recipe, it doesnโt work out and you give it 3 stars?
Thatโs unfair. Itโs now YOUR recipe that failed, not Sallyโs.
It was great. I will love to bake this again.
The recipe for thin, crispy chocolate cookies sounds wonderful and I am anxious to try. I generally add walnuts to my chocolate chip cookies. Can I do so with this recipe and how much would you recommend?
Hi Pam, certainly! We would try 3/4 cups chocolate chips and 1/2 cups walnuts.
Hi ! Love this recipe! But I have a lot of requests for eggless cookies? Could you please suggest a replacement for egg yolk?
Hi Ree, we have not tested this recipe with any egg substitutes, so are unsure what to recommend. If you try something, please let us know how it goes!
Can I add peanut butter? Do I need to adjust the recipe?
Hi Giana, here are our crispy peanut butter cookies instead.
Can you add walnuts?
Certainly! We would try 3/4 cups chocolate chips and 1/2 cups walnuts.
Hey!
How to cut down a bit of the sugar in the recipe? Itโs rly good but a bit too sweet so I was wondering about the correct way to cut the sugar back. Thanks.
Hi Zehra, weโre so glad you enjoyed these cookies! You can certainly try reducing the sugar โ but since it plays an important role in taste and texture, the outcome will be different depending on how much you reduce the sugar. If you do decide to experiment, let us know how it goes!
Such delicious cookies that you can throw together in a pinch! We baked one tray right away and chilled the other – loved both. Iโm a big baker and Sally is my go-to. Preordered your cookbook and looking forward to it!
These are great! The only thing I’ve noticed is that they do tend to get pretty hard after a week, but I suppose they’re not to last that long normally!
We keep most of them in the freezer and defrost either in the counter or in the microwave as needed. Works well!
Can we just use chocolate bits instead of chocolate chips?
Cookies were fantastic and delicious. I make them again. Easy to make. Got plenty of compliments.
Thank you
Judith
I pre ordered your book canโt wait. You are my favorite I refer to you for everything and you recipes are always perfect thank you .
Hi sally this recipe is great though I need your advice I need to make 12 large cookies chocolate chip of course but I need to place vanilla ice cream between them for 6 sandwiches and my son wants them crispy of course these are his favorite ( his birthday ) which of your chocolate chip cookie recipes should I follow to accomplish this thank you
Hi Lisa, we recommend following these chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches. Hope they’re a hit!
The best chocolate chip cookie recipe!
OMG these cookies are so delicious I dare you to eat just one! Simple to make and the honey gives it a different texture and taste that takes it over the top. I had to reduce the oven to 350 becuse my cookies were browning too quickly
Whenever I want to bake anything, I refer to Sally. She never disappoints. She has options for everyone. My kids like soft batch and I like crispy. She clearly explains the entire process. All my close friends knowns I swear by all your recipes. Thanks Sally, you make my desserts a hit every time.
Thank you so much, Anika!