Even soft chocolate chip cookie lovers will reach for these crispy 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!)
- 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.
- 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.
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:
- 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.
- 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 don’t 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?
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!
PrintCrispy 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 flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 10 Tablespoons (142g) unsalted butter, melted + slightly cooled
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons (43g) honey or light corn syrup
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) milk
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/4 cups (225g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- See step 4. If not chilling the cookie dough, preheat oven to 375°F (191°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Whisk 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 | Rubber Spatula | Cooling Rack
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
I followed the recipe word for word. I scooped and rolled a “scant” tablespoon of dough per cookie as indicated. In no way does this recipe make 32 to 36 cookies as the Yield says. It makes more like 20 to 24. They’re delicious though! Thank you.
I used gram and milliliter measuring and these worked beautifully! I made the all theee ways, and our family prefers them chilled for an hour; they’re also easier to measure out onto the baking pan.
Hello! I had a question. Vanilla extract isn’t exactly something I can buy whenever I want in my country. Or maybe just my city, I don’t really know. My point is, the vanilla extract I have, which was a gift from a friend when they went to another country, is running low, probably two teaspoons left and I can’t just replace it. I do, however, have vanilla powder. I was wondering if those two are interchangeable?
Hi Johana, We’ve never used it before so we’re unsure of the exact ratio. Let us know if you you try it! If you can’t find vanilla extract where you live, you can make homemade vanilla extract: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/homemade-vanilla-extract/
What would be the calorie count fallowing the recipe just as it is ?
Hi Alex, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Very good cookies! They’re very buttery and sweet, but that’s what makes them good. 🙂 My first tray was a bit overdone after 10 minutes at 375º, but after I knocked it down to 350º, they came out much better.
This was delicious! I chilled for 1 hour & my whole family loved them!
These chocolate chip cookies were delicious, Sally! Thanks for the great recipe.
P.S. Is there a specific app/website you used to create your blog? If so, I would love to try it out.
Perfect!!! My favorite recipe by far. Chilled for 1 hour and got soft/chewy in the center and crispy golden edges!! I didn’t have milk, so I substituted for rice milk. Didn’t affect anything! The small size of the cookies make them so addictive! Will save this recipe.
I love these cookies they were a hit, just wondering whether I can use this one to make cookie cups?
Hi Ludwina, Yes, that should work. The bake time depends how much dough you press into each, so keep your eye on them while baking. Enjoy!
I just made these. Followed the recipe exactly. Didn’t refrigerate the dough. They turned out great. Mostly crispy (like my long-distance partner prefers) with just a slight amount of give (for me). Sending them off for Christmas. Perfect.
Hi Sally, delicious cookies, except mine wouldn’t spread, they more or less stayed in the ball shape before I had baked them?
Hi Karen! When cookies don’t spread it usually means the dry ingredient ratio is a little off. How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
These are seriously so good.
I made the dough a couple weeks ago and threw it in the freezer in a baggie. I grabbed them out and put them on 375 and they ended up perfect.
Soooooo good and buttery.
Sally, thank you for all your amazing recipes
Made this exactly like the recipe and these where the best. Making them again.
Since we live in the Netherlands, we only had honey instead of corn syrup. Don’t use honey!!! It makes them turn into a liquid once you put them in the oven and they never rise back up or completely harden.
Followed to a tee. Didn’t chill. They did nit turn out very crispy?
Very good recipe, love it.
Thank you for sharing!
Will it be ok if i add the chocolate chips only on top of cookies after placing on cookie tray and not into the batter
Absolutely, that will work just fine. Enjoy!
I’ve had nothing but success and pleasure with Sally’s recipes (experienced baker) but these cookies didn’t turn out that well for me and I’m not sure why. Followed the instructions and did the 1-hour chill: cookies didn’t spread that much and were not crispy like I was hoping. I might try once more and not bother w/the chilling for comparison. That being said, this site will still be my first stop when on the lookout for something new to bake.
Sally’s recipes are always the best
the dough seems quite wet to me, not really sure how to roll into a ball!
I am putting it in the fridge to see if that stiffens it up a bit!
Thank you for posting this as I too found the recipe to be really wet and panicked .. definitely not able to roll but I was able to spoon onto the baking tray and they turned out incredible.
The flavour of these biscuits is next level.
I’ve been looking for a real choc chip cookie recipe for so long and this is the one. Reminds me of Mrs Fields cookies.
I’m sure this would have been great if I had any vanilla and, I didn’t slightly over cook them! lol! sometimes I forget that a convection oven is hotter than a non-convection.
Even though I almost burned them, (very dark brown-no black) they’re still good. I will defintatly try again-with a lower temp, and vanilla…( used maple syrup-I had no vanilla) everything wrong with my batch of cookies is completely my fault. Whenever I follow one of your recipes, it always turns out wonderful! Thank you so much!
I have a problem with cookies! Every recipe that I try is perfect the day that it’s baked but the day after the cookies turn dry!! Do you think this type of cookie will work??
My family really likes crispy cookies especially peanut butter. How do I make and keep them crispy.
Hi Wendy, for crispier cookies, you can typically bake them a minute or two longer than stated in the recipe. Or, recipes like this one use melted butter and don’t chill the dough for an extra crispy cookie. Cookies will tend to lose their crisp over a few days, but keep them tightly covered — we also like to put a slice of bread in there to help soak up any excess moisture!
Hi there! I’m halving this recipe… can I still put the whole yolk in or should I only add half the amount? Thanks!!
Hi Mary, you can just beat the yolk in a separate bowl and use half of it – a little awkward but totally doable
Hi Sally, what if I will use hard flour (wheat) instead of all purpose, would that work too?
Thanks in advance! Love from the Philippines!
Hi Juan, we haven’t tried wheat flour here, but the cookies would likely be rather dry and dense. Best to stick to all-purpose flour here if you have the option!
Hello. I don’t know if there’s a difference between wheat flour and bread flour, but I used bread flour and they came out amazing. Hope this helps
Hi Sally from Australia.
The Crispy biscuits are perfect and should be made exactly how you have instructed.
Really enjoy every recipe.
Diana
Hey Sally! May I ask you if in your cookies recipes you use fan or normal “up and down”/conventional oven function?
In general, what is a good rule to know when to use one or the other?
Thanks!
Chiara
Hi Chiara! All of the recipes on this site are written for conventional settings. Convection ovens are fantastic for cooking and roasting. If you have the choice, we recommend conventional settings when baking cakes, breads, etc. The flow of air from convection heat can cause baked goods to rise and bake unevenly and it also pulls moisture out of the oven. If you do use convection settings for baking, lower your temperature by 25 degrees F and keep in mind that things may still take less time to bake. Hope this helps!
I used your weight measurements and my batter came out very soft, there’s no way I could have rolled it into a ball like the recipe says, but it did stay in a ball when I dropped each scoop onto the sheet. They spread out a LOT and left all the chips in the middle of each cookie. I baked 2 batches like that and then added about a teaspoon of flour to the last batch of dough. They still spread a lot but lemme tellya what, these cookies are delicious and I actually like the ones before the extra flour better. So nice and crispy. I would even eat these without the chocolate chips and be perfectly happy. Thanks for this recipe!
Made this today. Followed the recipe exactly and the came out perfect. Will make again. Sometimes just want a crispy cookie.
Followed the recipe exactly, except I made smaller cookies (1/2 tbsp circles). The texture was perfectly crisp. But it was too sweet to my liking, I can barely finish one cookie. Can I half the white sugar and the brown?
I always use way less sugar then the recipe It turns out fine I only use lik 50- 70 grams in stead the 150 in total. I also didn’t put the extra honey in.
Hi Sally before, before I start I have a question. Do I have to use corn syrup? I don’t have any and I’m just making sure it doesn’t affect the taste/texture.
You can leave the corn syrup out or replace with another liquid sweetener like maple syrup or agave (or honey as listed in the recipe). It crisps and melts in the oven, creating a crackly top on your cookie.
This recipe was a hit. Warm or cooled. I used measurements, no weighing. Will make them again. Thanks!