What makes chocolate chip cookies rise

I was never sure what to change in order to get what I wanted. Cookies are fickle and the advice out there is conflicting. Does more sugar make for crisper cookies? What about brown versus white?

Does it matter how I incorporate the chocolate chips or whether the flour is blended in or folded? How about the butter: cold, warm, or melted? I made it my goal to test each and every element, from ingredients to cooking process, leaving no chocolate chip unturned in my quest for the best. Most traditional chocolate chip cookie recipes start with the same basic ingredients and technique: butter and a mix of granulated and brown sugar are creamed together with a touch of vanilla until fluffy, eggs are beaten in one at a time, followed by flour, salt, and some sort of chemical leavening agent baking soda, baking powder, or a bit of both.

The mixture is combined just until it comes together, then spooned onto a baking sheet and baked. When you bake a cookie, here's what's going on, step-by-step:. It's a simple technique that hides more complicated processes underneath. So how do you decipher what's going on? My first course of action was to test out these basic ingredients one at a time in order to determine how they affect the final outcome. Butter is where most recipes begin, and it provides several things to the mix. First, butter keeps cookies tender.

When flour is mixed with water such as the water found in eggs , it develops gluten, a tough, stretchy network of interconnected proteins that set up as they bake. Gluten can't form in fat, thus butter will inhibit its overall formation, leading to more tender results. The higher the proportion of butter to other ingredients, the more tender your cookie will be and consequently, the more it will spread as it bakes.

I found that a ratio of 1 part flour to 1 part sugar to 0. Because of shortening's different melting qualities and the fact that it has no water content , shortening-based cookies come out softer but more dense than those made with butter. How butter is incorporated can also affect texture. In the early creaming stages of making a cookie, cool butter is beaten until it's light and fluffy. During the process, some air is incorporated and some of the sugar dissolves in the butter's water phase.

This air in turn helps leaven the cookies as they bake, giving them some lift. Melting butter before combining it with sugar and eggs leads to squatter, denser cookies. Butter is essential for flavor. Substituting butter with a less flavorful fat like shortening or margarine yielded sub-par cookies. These proteins brown as the cookie bakes, adding nuttiness and butterscotch notes to the final flavor of cookies. I asked myself: if browning milk proteins provide extra flavor to cookies, how could I boost that flavor even more?

My friend Charles Kelsey, the man behind the fantastic Brookline, MA sandwich shop Cutty's, developed a simple chocolate chip cookie recipe for Cook's Illustrated magazine back in In his recipe, he made the ingenious discovery that browning the butter before adding it to the mixture would give the cookies a much more pronounced nuttiness. But this created some other problems. Since the butter can't get hot enough to brown milk proteins until all of its water content has evaporated, brown butter adds no moisture to dough.

This produces a couple of interesting results. Without water, sugar that is mixed into browned butter cannot dissolve sugar molecules are highly hydrophilic and will dissolve readily in water, but not in fat , which makes it subsequently more difficult for them to melt into each other as the cookie bakes. The cookies ended up missing out on some of that caramelized toffee flavor I was after.

With less water, you also end up with less gluten development, thus a cookie made with browned butter is softer and more tender than one made with creamed or plain melted butter.

Soft and chewy is good, but I wanted a slightly better balance. So how do I get the flavor benefits of browned butter while still allowing for sugar to dissolve and caramelize properly? The answer turned out to be in the eggs. Before we jump to the solution, let's take a quick look at what eggs have to offer in a cookie. Egg whites provide a good amount of water, as well as protein. Egg proteins are particularly good at trapping and retaining bubbles of air or water vapor. The higher the proportion of egg white in a cookie, the more it rises during baking.

Because of the extra water, you also get more gluten formation, which again leads to a taller cookie provided you use enough flour to absorb that extra water.

Other than the small amount in the butter, eggs are the main source of water in a cookie dough recipe. Egg yolks also provide some moisture and protein, but more importantly they provide a well-emulsified source of fat.

When cooked, egg yolk forms a tender protein coagulum that can keep cookies tender and fudge-like. A high proportion of egg yolk leads to a more brownie-like texture in a finished cookie. By keeping the total mass of egg added to a dough the same but altering the proportion of white to yolk, you can achieve a variety of textures.

Two whites and a yolk, for instance, produces the more open structure of the top cookie in the photo above, while three yolks and no whites produces the denser, fudgier texture of the cookie on the bottom.

Turns out that the combination I like best is actually a 1 to 1 ratio of egg whites to egg yolks, which conveniently is exactly how eggs naturally come.

Ain't that something? Going back to my initial problem of wanting the flavor of browned butter but disliking the way it prevented sugar from properly dissolving, I asked myself, what if I were to flip the script for these cookies: instead of creaming sugar and butter and adding eggs, why not beat together the eggs and sugar then add the butter?

I tried it, beating brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla with whole eggs in a stand mixer until the mixture became pale, aerated, and ribbony, with a nearly completely smooth texture. Lesson learned: let that browned butter cool before adding it. My working recipe contained about 4 ounces of egg and 10 ounces of sugar, so perfect smoothness was an impossible goal.

My next attempt with cooled brown butter fared better, but the finished cookies ended up with an oddly uniform texture and a relatively smooth top rather than the cragginess I'd been getting earlier. Turns out that you actually want a balance between dissolved sugar and undissolved sugar to keep things texturally interesting. I settled on beating half of the sugar with the eggs until it completely dissolved, then incorporating the rest when I added the brown butter.

The degree to which the butter is cooled before adding it to the mix can also affect how well it holds air when being mixed with the eggs. Warm butter flows very easily and doesn't trap bubbles well.

The cooler it is, the more viscous it becomes, and the better it can trap air. Even a few degrees can make a difference. By letting my browned butter cool down until it was almost at room temperature, it became firm enough to beat into the egg and sugar mixture without deflating it.

In order to get my browned butter to chill a little faster and to add back some of the moisture that's lost in the browning process, I discovered that whisking an ice cube into it after cooking killed both birds with one stone. There's more to sugar than just sweetness! The type of sugar you use and its method of incorporation can have a profound effect on the finished cookies.

Granulated sugar is crystallized sucrose, a disaccharide consisting of a fructose molecule and a glucose molecule linked together.

It is mildly hygroscopic that is, it likes to retain moisture , and relatively neutral in pH. Brown sugar is mostly crystallized sucrose, but also contains a good amount of glucose and fructose, along with trace minerals that give it its flavor and a slightly acidic pH. Rising doesn't just make cookies taller. It also opens up space to keep the cookie from becoming too dense. Salt slows down the decomposition of baking soda , so the bubbles don't get too big.

This could lead to weak cookies or to cookies that fall flat when they come out of the oven. The heat works on the butter, egg yolk, and flour to change the shape of the molecules. The gluten in the flour forms a polymer mesh that works with the albumin protein from the egg white and the emulsifier lecithin from the egg yolk to form the dough and support the bubbles. Heat breaks the sucrose into the simple sugars glucose and fructose, giving each cookie a shiny, light brown crust.

When you take the cookies out of the oven, the hot water gases in the cookie contract. The chemical changes that occurred during baking help the cookie keep its shape. This is why undercooked cookies or other baked goods fall in the center.

If the cookies aren't devoured immediately, the chemistry doesn't end with baking. The humidity of the surroundings affects cookies after they have cooled. If the air is very dry, moisture from the cookies escapes, making them hard. Good luck! Hi Shiran, thank you for sharing the recipe. It is my 1st time making cookies and it really tastes so well that my daughters are all so happy when they eat.

Hi Shiran! Thanks for the recipe and for the response. Will do it with nuts next time. I finally found my kind of cookie for real! So addicting to eat!

I chilled mine for 12 hours. Just made these! Hi, I fell in love with this recipe when they came out thick and soft. And i always use this recipe but lately it is turning out thin and flat. I let it chill for 7 hours today and still thin and flat. They are too done to be done or too gooey and uncooked if I take them out early enough.

Any ideas? Hi Sarah! There are many reasons why this can happen. If you use the same oven, and same ingredients, here are a few other things to check; use cookie sheets that are light in color because dark ones heat too quickly, and use parchment paper or silicone baking mat.

I suggest next time to chill the dough for 24 hours, and see if it makes any difference. The longer you chill it, the less it would spread. God, the sweetness of these cookies are incredible! So delicious, soft and chewy.

The smell that was filling the kitchen while baking was just amazing. While it was in the fridge, everyone took a bite or maybe even more than one from the cookie dough, as it already looked really delicious in the uncooked form.

Thank you for sharing this recipe. Just made this cookies with my young son we both enjoyed making them and eating them. They are delicious and turn out exactly like you said they would. They are by far the best I have ever made finally found a recipe that does what it says thank you!

Please help me with any cookies that are eggless? My daughter loves to eat them but is allergic to eggs. I have followed this recipe a few times and it always yields incredible results! Do you have any advice on adjusting the baking time if I bake them from frozen cookie balls?

Hi Anar! I usually add minutes to the original baking time, so you can start with that and see how it works. Hi Shiran, Wow they look so good! I am thinking of making these for my daughters birthday for her to take to school for her class. The kids are 2 and 3 years old so I wanted smaller cookies.

How many tablespoons of mixture should I use for a smaller cookie and the cooking time please. Hi Jazel, you can make them any size you want. If you want mini cookies, use 1 teaspoon. It can take minutes, or longer if you make them bigger. Any idea why? I weighed out ingredients. It could be the mixing, make sure you mix the ingredients in the right order, until fully combined. Also, when the cookies are undercooked, it can cause the center of the cookies to look a little shiny.

I am from Europe and we Europeans, Croatia to specify usually make creamy cakes with lots of eggs, walnuts, and not that much cookies. But these ones are something else! My neighbours love them too and have asked me for the recipe. I even put the dough in the refrigerator for several hours prior to baking. It is very discouraging because I never seem to get thick chewy cookies. I was hoping this recipe would have been the one. Next time, place the cookie dough in the fridge for 24 hours, and then shape it into tall mounds rather than balls.

Also preheat the oven. Another trick is to freeze the cookie dough balls until firm, and bake straight from the freezer, but usually what works for me is just refrigerating them for a day. Oh my gosh Elaine, I just made them and they are just like in the picture. Please try again! AND if I could give this recipe 10 stars I would. I made them and they came out amazing!

Is there a way to turn this recipe into a chocolate dough so I can make double chocolate chip cookies? I made them and they came out great but were very gooey and undercooked in the middle. Should I raise the temp of my oven or bake them longer? Also, can I add cocoa powder to this dough to make it into a chocolate cookie?

And can I use this dough as a base and change up my add ins like white chocolate chips and cranberries? Slightly underbaked in just the center, but now every batch I make is coming out only cooked around the edges and very gooey and shiny throughout the cookie. Every oven is different and it sounds like you just need to bake it for longer. Instead of baking the whole batch of cookies next time, bake cookies for longer to test it, until you like the result.

If I could give these a 10 star I would. Followed the recipe except that I made mine about half the size. Seriously the BEST recipe!!! Hi, this cookies are perfection!! Just one question, what kind of butter did you use, salted or unsalted. Thank you!! This recipe is really really good. I ended up freezing the dough for 20 minutes wrapped in parchment paper and I cooked just a few for the first batch following your instructions.

My oven is either cooler than yours or the chilling really makes a difference, but I increased the temperature to and cooked for minutes, finished for 10 minutes out of the oven on the pan like you recommend, and ended up with really amazing cookies. Thanks for posting this! Best chocolate chip cookie ever!

Just Made my 3rd batch for Christmas. Your cookie recipe is the best! Definitely leave the dough chill. Thank you! Best cookie recipe ive come across so far! Used this recipe quite a few times now and every batch has come out amazing. Never had a problem. Thanks for sharing this recipe! We moved to feet and have been having problems with cookies spreading. So on this snowy day I decided to do research and chose your recipe to try.

I did rrefridgerate for 6 hours. They turned out like I wanted them too. I would be proud to give them out. I will definitely keep this recipe around.

I have tried many and none are like this. I refrigerated the dough for about hours which I certainly think is needed as it really is soft beforehand. Did you post one? Hi these can be frozen but do you need to defrost before cooking please,by the way I made these on Monday wow they were amazing thank you for posting.

The baking time will take minutes longer. I tried to do this recipe but my cookies turned out super chunky. It did not spread out even a bit. Why is that? I made these the texture is perfect but was a bit overly sweet though. Do u guys use semi sweet or dark choco chip? Thank you for posting this recipe. I followed your instructions very carefully, chilling the dough for 8 hours. The cookies came out flat, like mine always do. I baked the first batch on a silicone mat, and thought that was the problem.

Remember that butter has a low melting point. That means it has a tendency to start to melt while we are still making the dough, and before it hits the oven. By keeping it chilled, melting is delayed until the cookie begins to rise and bake, resulting in a thicker final product.

Line baking pans with parchment paper or Silpat nonstick liners , or use nonstick pans instead of greasing. Silpat is the highest quality silicone tray liner on the market. Available on Amazon. If you use parchment, change sheets between batches. Also, let pans cool completely between batches.

Placing dough on warm sheets will cause the butter to begin to melt. Proper proportions are crucial to a good outcome, so be sure to measure carefully. Use dry measuring cups for dry ingredients, so you can level them off. Instead, tap the measuring cup against your counter to eliminate air pockets.

Level off with a straight-edged spatula or knife for accuracy. Brown sugar should be packed firmly into your measuring cup, and levelled off. It can be lumpy as well, and these lumps should be removed before packing to measure. Recipes are based on how ingredients react chemically, rising and binding to create delicious food. Even a slight shortage in the amount of flour will throw off the rising portion of the recipe, producing a flatter result.

If yours is past its expiration date, it might not react chemically with your ingredients, leaving you with a flat, dense result. Maybe your recipe is like mine and it suggests an optional cup of an additional item like nuts , raisins, peanut butter chips, or the like.

Did you ever wonder why a recipe can take or leave an entire cup of an ingredient without affecting its outcome? The fact is, the outcome is affected. Without these chunky additions, a cookie tends to be flatter.