Chocolate Chip Cookies, The Cooks Illustrated Way

Medically reviewed by Christiana George Updated Date: January 4, 2026

cooks illustrated chocolate chip cookies

This weekend, I gorged on chocolate chip cookies. I mean who wouldn’t? Look at these things. Just look at ‘em. Seductive, no, served alongside a cool glass of milk?

I totally thought I’d settled the question of world’s best chocolate chip cookie recipe for good. But I find I may have to re-open the topic (it’s of the utmost importance, you know) and thrown in another contendor.

First, let’s figure out if we’re in agreement here. Do you like your cookies chewy? And soft? With that characteristic give when you first bite into them? Do you like them bronzed and flat and ripply on top, ready to dunk into cold milk?

That’s how I like my chocolate chip cookies. And my long-time standby has been Kim Boyce’s whole wheat chocolate chip cookies—yeah, the ones that spread like wildfire in the blogosphere. They’re ridiculously good, with the whole wheat flour stealing the show.

But for times when I want a slightly lighter cookie, one that’s not quite as… bold, let’s say, I think I’ll be reaching for this recipe.

It’s plain old comfort food, albeit comfort food I could eat at any time. It’s the classic chocolate chip cookie, no frills, no fancy ingredients, and I’m having a hard time keeping my hands off them.

My solution is usually to shove a bunch in a bag and hand them off to friends, but I find myself oddly protective of these.

In my heart, there’s room for two favorites.

I’ve had The New Best Recipe sitting on my bookshelf for a while. Bless those giant, comprehensive compendiums. I put a lot of confidence in America’s Test Kitchen for its reliability and rigorous kitchen methods.

In the book, you can read about the entire trial and error process—the countless alterations tried—before a recipe was deemed perfect. It’s really informational.

For instance, did you know that “when melted butter is added to a dough, the proteins in the flour immediately grab onto the freed water molecules to form elastic strands of gluten?” I didn’t know that.

In the case of these chocolate chip cookies, their focus was on chewiness. Which is why melted butter and an extra egg yolk are called for. And they invented an elegantly simple way of shaping the cookies so they come out with that classic rippled top (instructions in the recipe).

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe from Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies in The New Best Recipe
Makes about 18 large cookies (I ended with 14)

Ingredients:

2 cups plus 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 Tbsp (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until just warm
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 to 1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Update 8/22/12:I made these with half whole wheat flour and they turned out a success.

Directions:

Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper (or bake the cookies in batches like I did). Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined. Stir in the chips to taste.

Roll a scant 1/4 cup of dough into a ball. Holding onto it with the fingertips of both hands, pull the ball apart into two equal pieces. Rotate both pieces so that the jagged, ripped edge is facing upwards, then push both halves together again with the jagged edges still facing upwards. Place the dough on the baking sheet, spaced about 2-1/2 inches apart.

Bake 15 to 18 minutes, until the cookies are light golden brown. Rotate the baking sheet about halfway through for even baking. Don’t overbake! The cookies will harden when cooled and the centers will set.

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Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Recipes

Christiana George

Updated Date:
June 9, 2023

I can’t believe it’s almost Halloween. Time is flying by. We finally got around to putting up our spooky decorations for the kids and decorating our pumpkins. Hopefully, they will have as much fun as last year when the big day arrives. In the meantime, we are enjoying these Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Cookies. They are chock full of Pumpkin Spice M&Ms, pumpkin puree, pretzels, and Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa. They are decadently good.

I love chocolate and pretzels together, so why not add a little pumpkin and pumpkin spice to liven things up a bit.

It’s okay if you eat a few Pumpkin Spice M&Ms as you are mixing everything together. You deserve it.

Once they are baked, you will probably think to yourself that these are just about the ugliest cookies you have ever seen. And you would be right. Unfortunately, Pumpkin Spice M&M’s tend to bleed out their colors when baked. If you sit then on top, like I did for my Maple Pumpkin M&M Cookies, it’s not so bad. Once mixed into the cookie, they kind make a mess. Have no fear, because we are going to pretty these up with a heavenly dark chocolate glaze.

I kept the glaze on the thick side, more of a frosting to cover any M&Ms that lost color. I just poured it on with a spoon and spread it around a little.

Since the pretzels inside the cookies became soft during baking, I wanted to add more to the top for some crunch factor. I also sprinkled the glaze with a bit of sea salt before adding the pretzel bits.

Not only did the dark chocolate glaze cover the ugly parts, but it added a new level of decadence to the whole cookie. The cookies themselves were a soft, cake-like consistency and full of pumpkin spice flavor. The thick dark chocolate glaze made them richer and enhanced the chocolate flavors while the pretzel bits on the top added a little saltiness and crunch.

Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Cookies

by The Sweet Chick

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10-12 minutes

Yields: 36 Cookies

Keywords: bake dessert pumpkin pumpkin spice Pumpkin Spice M&Ms pretzels Halloween cookie American fall

Ingredients:

For the cookies

1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons pumpkin spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped pretzel pieces
1 cup Pumpkin Spice M&Ms

For the glaze

2 cup powdered sugar
6 tablespoons Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa
5-6 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoon vegetable shortening

Optional toppings

1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
1 cup chopped pretzel pieces

Instructions

For the cookies

Preheat oven to 350° F.

In a stand mixer, add pumpkin puree, sugar, oil, egg, and vanilla. Mix on low until well blended.

In a medium bowl mix together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, spice, and salt. Slowly add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture while mixer is on low speed. Mix until smooth.

Next add in the pretzel pieces, mixing until full incorporated.

Then mix in the M&M’s by hand.

With a cookie scoop, place cookie dough mounds on a parchment lined or greased baking sheet, 2 inches apart.

Bake for 10- 12 minutes at 350° F , or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out dry. ( I baked mine for 12 minutes.)

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 2 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack with some wax paper underneath. Then let them cool completely before adding the glaze.

For the glaze

In a small bowl whisk together powdered sugar, cocoa, milk, and vegetable shortening until smooth. You want the glaze to be on the thick side.

Using a spoon, pour a bit of the glaze over each cookie and spread it around a bit to cover any M&Ms that have lost their color.

Optional toppings

If you are adding sea salt and/or pretzel bits, add them before the glaze sets. (The glaze will not be completely hard, but will become thicker.) Just sprinkle a bit of sea salt on each cookie per preference and then sprinkle the pretzel bits.