New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies

New York Times chocolate chip cookies are a study in exactly what makes a great chocolate chip cookie: chewy centers, crisp edges, and rich, buttery chocolate flavor in every bite. The blend of cake and bread flour does the heavy lifting on texture, and the dough works whether you bake it right away or pull it from the freezer on a whim.

I have a chocolate chip cookie pinning problem. I have way too many versions saved, and somehow half of them trace back to the same source: the famous New York Times chocolate chip cookies. The technique comes from Jacques Torres, whose approach helped define the famous New York Times cooking version!

If that many people keep coming back to it, I need to know why. After making them, I get it. They are chewy, sweet, and completely satisfying. And just like my monster cookie recipe, the dough freezes beautifully, so you can bake them whenever you want.

Ingredients & Substitutions

• Cake Flour: Cake flour softens the overall structure so the cookies stay tender even with a high proportion of sugar and fat. Its lower protein content limits gluten development, preventing a tough or bready texture in a cookie this thick.
• Bread Flour: Bread flour adds strength and chew to balance the tenderness from the cake flour. The higher protein content allows the cookies to hold their height and develop that slightly elastic, satisfying chew.
• Baking Soda and Baking Powder
• Kosher Salt
• Unsalted Butter
• Light Brown Sugar: Light brown sugar adds moisture, chew, and a subtle molasses note that deepens the cookie’s flavor. Its hygroscopic nature keeps the centers soft for days rather than drying out quickly.
• Granulated Sugar: Granulated sugar sweetens and encourages spreading and crisping at the edges. The ratio of white to brown sugar is calibrated to produce defined edges while leaving the interior still soft.
• Eggs: Eggs provide structure, emulsify the high-fat and sugar content, and add moisture to the dough. Their proteins set during baking, helping the cookies hold their shape while the yolks contribute richness.
• Vanilla Extract: Vanilla reinforces the caramel and chocolate notes so the cookies taste complex rather than just sweet. Use pure vanilla extract here; imitation will be noticeably flat given how central the flavor is.
• Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips: The very high chocolate ratio is the signature of this cookie. There is more chocolate than dough in each bite, which is exactly the point. Semi-sweet keeps the sweetness in check, and a quality brand like Ghirardelli melts into distinct pockets rather than chalky bits. If you enjoy rich, chocolate-forward bakes, my German Chocolate Cake leans on a similarly generous hand with chocolate.
• Flaky Sea Salt: Flaky sea salt on top gives bright, concentrated pops of salinity that cut through the richness and highlight the chocolate. I use this same approach in my cream cheese chocolate chip cookies.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Variations on This New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies

• Mix-ins. Swap some or all of the chocolate chips for peanut butter chips, M&M’s, butterscotch chips, or mini Snickers, in any combination you like! I am partial to adding walnuts or pecans to my chocolate chip cookies!
• Stuffed Cookies. Flatten each dough ball into a disc, place a frozen scoop of peanut butter or a caramel candy in the center, and wrap the dough around it before baking. The frozen filling keeps the inside from overbaking while the outside sets.
• Make it a Pizookie! Press the room-temperature cookie dough into a skillet and bake until the edges are golden brown and the center is completely matte. To make your skillet cookie dreams come true, add vanilla ice cream, chocolate fudge sauce, and sea salt on top!

Professional Tips

• Cream the butter and sugars until the mixture is pale and noticeably fluffy. Unlike my [thick chocolate chip cookie] you want the butter is sugar light and fluffy! Rushing this step leaves the fat under-aerated, which means flatter cookies with less defined texture. Give it a full 3 to 4 minutes on medium-high speed.
• Stop mixing the moment the flour disappears into the dough. Overmixing the cookie with bread flour develops gluten and produces a tough, dense cookie. Once only a little flour is visible, add the chocolate.
• Chill the cookie dough. Yes, this can be a no-chill cookie, but for THE BEST cookie, chill it overnight. I’ve been there when you just need a cookie now and I get it.

How to Make New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies

Use these instructions to make a perfectly chewy New York Times chocolate chip cookie every time! Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below.

Step 1: Sift the dry ingredients. Measure your flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl, sift them together, and set the bowl aside.

Sifting distributes the leavening evenly and prevents any bitter pockets from undissolved baking soda in the finished cookie.

Step 2: Cream the butter and sugars. Add the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until the mixture is pale, noticeably increased in volume, and pulls cleanly away from the sides of the bowl. Proper aeration here gives the cookies their structure and that slightly crisp edge with a chewy center.

Step 3: Add the eggs and vanilla. With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, stopping to scrape the bowl thoroughly after each addition. The batter may look slightly curdled between additions, which is completely normal. Once both eggs are incorporated, add the vanilla and mix until the batter is smooth and glossy.

Step 4: Stir in the dry ingredients. Add the sifted dry ingredients in three additions on low speed, mixing only until the flour just disappears after each addition.

Step 5: Fold in the chocolate chips. Add the chocolate chips and stir them in by hand or on the lowest speed of the mixer until evenly distributed.

The original recipe calls for refrigerating the dough 24 to 36 hours before baking. I am not going to pretend I always do that, because I do not make chocolate chip cookies when I want one in two days. I make them when I need one now. Baked straight from mixing, these are still excellent. Refrigerated overnight? Even better. If you have the time, rest the dough. If you do not, bake them anyway. The dough also freezes beautifully as portioned balls, which is what I always do when I have leftovers, so future-you has cookies on demand.

Step 6: Portion and salt the dough. Drop spoonfuls of dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing them a few inches apart to allow for spreading. Sprinkle the tops generously with flaky sea salt before they go into the oven.

Step 7: Bake the cookies. Bake at 350°F conventional 325°F convection until the edges are set and lightly golden but the centers still look soft and just barely matte. Start checking at 8 minutes. The window runs 9 to 12 minutes depending on your oven and cookie size. They will continue to firm up on the hot cookie sheet. An overbaked chocolate chip cookie cannot be undone, so I always err toward the earlier end of that range.

Step 8: Cool on the pan. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack. That short rest allows the structure to set so they do not fall apart when you move them. They are best eaten warm, when the chocolate is still soft and the centers are fudgy, which I love.

Recipe FAQs

Before You Go

If these thick, puddle-edged cookies with their glossy, crackled tops and pockets of melted chocolate are your kind of thing, there is a lot more where that came from. Browse all my Cookie Recipes or make this chewy sugar cookie recipe next!