Ins and Outs of Chocolate Chip Cookies: The Ultimate Guide

Hear from the cast of The Kitchen to learn how to tweak a classic recipe to achieve the kind of finished product you're craving.

From: Jeff Mauro, Katie Lee, Marcela Valladolid, Sunny Anderson, and Geoffrey Zakarian

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Photo By: David Lang ©David Lang

Transforming a Classic

"It is really easy to kind of nudge the standard recipe," Sunny says of tweaking a classic how-to in order to get the kind of finished product you're craving in a chocolate chip cookie. Get Katie's recipe for a traditional cookie below, then click through the gallery to check out the complete guide to chocolate chippers.

Get the Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookies

All Baking Soda

"If you like a dark brown, crack-y and coarse cookie, then you're going to use only baking soda," Katie says. "But there is a risk to this, because it can leave with you with kind of a soapy taste if [the baking soda] doesn't completely activate."

All Baking Powder

"If you like a very light, bright and cakey, smooth cookie, then use only baking powder. These cookies are going to rise more, because the baking powder reacts twice: once when you mix it in and again when you bake it," according to Katie.

All Brown Sugar

"Brown sugar's a little bit acidic, because it has molasses in it," explains Sunny. "That acid works with the baking soda and the baking powder to create all kinds of air pockets." She adds, "Look at the cookie [and] how it's a little bit more risen. So when you use brown sugar, you're going to end up with a cakier cookie."

All White Sugar

"If you use white granulated sugar, it's not acidic at all, so it doesn't interact with the baking soda or the baking powder, so there's not a lot of rising action," Sunny says, "and it keeps everything nice and flat and crispy."

Creamed Butter

"[Creaming butter] incorporates air into the butter — air pockets — so you're going to have lighter, cakier cookies," Jeff says.

Melted Butter

"Here we have melted butter," Jeff explains. "Without that little additional leavening, you're going to get, as you see, a little crispier, crunchier [cookies]."

Chilled Dough

"A chewy cookie? First of all, you have to have a chilled dough. If you chill the dough, the dough will not spread out," GZ explains. "If you don't chill the dough, you'll have [the cookie] get flatter."

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