Original Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Stand mixer or hand mixer
• •Rimmed baking sheets
• •Parchment paper
• •Wire cooling rack
• •Cookie scoop (1-tablespoon size)

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare dry ingredients

   Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. This takes thirty seconds and ensures even distribution of the leavening. Set aside.

   Measure flour by spooning it into your measuring cup and leveling with a knife. Scooping directly from the bag compacts the flour and can add up to 30% more than intended, resulting in dry, cakey cookies.
2. 2

   Cream butter and sugars

   Beat the softened butter with both sugars in a large bowl using a stand mixer or hand mixer on medium speed. Continue for 3 to 4 minutes until the mixture turns pale and fluffy, scraping down the sides halfway through. You'll see the volume increase noticeably. This step builds the structure that gives Toll House cookies their characteristic texture.

   Proper butter temperature matters enormously. It should yield to gentle pressure but hold its shape. Cold butter won't cream properly; melted butter creates flat, greasy cookies. Leave it at room temperature for 45 minutes to an hour before starting.
3. 3

   Add eggs and vanilla

   Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until fully incorporated. The mixture may look slightly curdled after the first egg. Don't worry. Add the vanilla with the second egg and beat until smooth. The batter should look creamy and uniform.

4. 4

   Incorporate flour mixture

   Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in three additions, mixing on low speed just until the flour disappears after each addition. Stop the moment you no longer see dry streaks. Overmixing develops gluten and toughens the cookies.

5. 5

   Fold in chocolate chips

   Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the chocolate chips using a sturdy spatula or wooden spoon. Distribute them evenly throughout the dough. The dough will be thick and slightly sticky.

6. 6

   Chill the dough

   Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or up to 72 hours. Cold dough spreads less in the oven, producing thicker cookies with better texture. The flavors also develop and deepen as the dough rests.

   The 72-hour rest isn't just acceptable, it's preferable. The flour hydrates fully, the sugars dissolve into the butter, and something magical happens to the flavor. If you have the patience, try it.
7. 7

   Preheat and prepare pans

   Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of your oven and preheat to 375°F (190°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper. No greasing necessary.

8. 8

   Portion the dough

   Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. They will spread. A cookie scoop ensures uniform size, which means uniform baking. Each cookie should weigh roughly 1 ounce (28g).

9. 9

   Bake until golden

   Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back halfway through. The cookies are done when edges are golden brown but centers still look slightly underdone and puffy. They'll continue cooking on the hot pan. Remove them too early and they'll be raw; too late and you've lost the chewy center forever.

   Trust your nose. When you smell that unmistakable toasted butter and caramelized sugar aroma filling the kitchen, check the cookies. Your nose knows before the timer does.
10. 10

    Cool properly

    Let cookies rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. They're too fragile to move immediately. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, or eat them warm with a glass of cold milk, as Ruth intended. The edges will crisp as they cool while the centers stay tender.

Chef Tips

• •Use real butter, not margarine. The water content in margarine steams during baking and produces a different texture entirely. Ruth Wakefield used butter, and so should you.
• •Good chocolate matters. Semi-sweet chips are traditional, but you can chop a quality chocolate bar for more irregular, rustic pools of chocolate. Guittard, Ghirardelli, or Valrhona all perform beautifully.
• •For bakery-style thick cookies, chill portioned dough balls until firm, then bake directly from frozen, adding 2 minutes to the baking time. The extended cold start produces taller cookies with more pronounced texture contrast.
• •Salt is not optional. It balances the sweetness and makes the chocolate taste more chocolatey. Don't reduce it.

Advance Preparation

• •Dough can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours before baking. The flavor improves with time.
• •Portioned dough balls freeze beautifully for up to 3 months. Arrange on a parchment-lined sheet, freeze solid, then transfer to a freezer bag. Bake directly from frozen, adding 2 minutes to the baking time.
• •Baked cookies keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. Add a slice of bread to the container to keep them soft.
• •Baked cookies freeze well for up to 2 months. Thaw at room temperature or warm briefly in a 300°F oven to refresh.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 cookie (about 32g)