Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies are made with brown butter, a combination of brown sugar and white sugar, and semi-sweet chunks and chips. A perfect chewy chocolate chip cookie!
I have come to a realization in my search for the perfect chocolate chip cookie…everyone has different taste buds. Some may love the thin crispy while someone else may prefer a thick and cakey.
Let’s take my family for example. My sister-in-law, Laura, despises cakey cookies (right there with you) and prefers a thin chewy cookie. My Mom loves a thick chewy cookie with nuts. My brother Ryan prefers one with very little chocolate so the cookie flavor comes through. I have created enough chocolate chip cookie recipes to please the masses! Scroll down to find all of my recipes on Modern Honey.
This is precisely the reason I test out SO many chocolate chip cookie recipes. I have been obsessed with figuring out the BEST Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe, so for all of you that love a thin chewy chocolate chip cookie, this recipe is for you. But don’t worry this isn’t a recipe that produces super flat cookies with chocolate chip mountains. They aren’t that flat!
So how do you make these Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies? It all starts in the saucepan. Brown butter adds a ridiculous amount of rich toffee flavor to these cookies and is definitely the secret to making killer chocolate chip cookies. The key is to cook the butter until it is a nice warm amber color.
The key is to not brown the butter for too long or precious liquids will evaporate and you will lose some of the moisture. I suggest watching it like a hawk and removing it from the heat earlier than you may think to make sure you don’t end up with puffy cookies.
It is imperative to remove the butter from the heat and let it slightly cool, just to room temperature, before adding the rest of the ingredients (specifically the eggs). After the butter is slightly cooled, it is added to the mixing bowl and creamed with the remaining ingredients.
I love to use a mixture of chocolate chips and chocolate chunks. My favorite chocolate chips are Ghirardelli, Guittard, and Trader Joe’s. If I can find Callebaut chocolate chips at Restaurant Depot, then I love to mix those in too.
If you have read my blog for more than two seconds, you know how I feel about Trader Joe’s Pound Plus Bar. It is a GAME CHANGER. It is so good in the chocolate chip cookie dough because it melts just enough to make the cookies rich and chocolatey. A big bar lasts forever too!
Of course, it is important to chill your dough. I know it is hard to be that patient when all you want is COOKIES. But you need to give it that precious time to do its thing. Cookie dough just gets better with time (as long as it is tightly wrapped in the refrigerator). Give it at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator. If you can wait longer, do it! You will end up with an even better cookie. I promise you that.
Since we are discussing chocolate chip cookies, let’s chat about all of my recipes on Modern Honey. Let me know which one is your favorite! Find all of the popular recipes below. I am also sharing my favorite cookie baking tools….those that I couldn’t live without.
Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Copycat Cookies — the most unique chocolate chip cookie, using different methods to create a thick chewy cookie without being cakey. I am sharing all of the secrets, tips, and tricks to make this perfect cookie. I worked for months perfecting this chocolate chip cookie recipe and it was my very first post on Modern Honey. Before I even started this blog, I had a lawyer offer to patent this recipe after trying out the cookies. This is a Modern Honey favorite cookie! There is good reason why Levain Bakery is the number one bakery in New York City. I am saving you a trip because you can make them at home!
Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies — a traditional, fool-proof chocolate chip cookie recipe. This is my go-to recipe is if I want to make a classic chocolate chip cookie.
I Want to Marry You Cookies — this cookie recipe won the Cooking Channel’s Perfect 3 Contest to find the nation’s most perfect cookie. I filmed a segment for the show, “The Perfect 3” in Food Network Studios in NYC. It became the number 1 recipe on cookingchannel.com in 2012. This recipe is made in a saucepan (no mixer required) and has a touch of oats, chocolate chips, and white chocolate chips. It’s a winner!
MJ’s Top Secret Chocolate Chip Cookies — this is the recipe that started my brown butter love affair. This chocolate chip cookie recipe is made in one saucepan (no mixer required) and creates a toffee flavored chewy chocolate chip cookie.
Doubletree Hotel Copycat Chocolate Chip Cookies — people visit Doubletree hotels just to get their hands on their ultra-popular chocolate chip nut cookies. This recipe has a few secrets to set it apart from the rest. The result is a chewy chocolate chip cookie.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars — this is a super easy recipe since the cookie dough is baked in one pan. People go crazy for these ooey gooey chocolate chip cookie bars. It’s no wonder they are a favorite!
100K Malted Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies — the combination of malted milk powder and milk chocolate chips make this a sweet and chewy chocolate chip cookie. If you love sweet malt, you will love these cookies!
My Favorite Cookie Baking Tools:
Baker’s Half Cookie Sheets — I prefer a light colored baking sheet as it ensures the cookies bake evenly on the top and the bottom. Dark colored baking sheets turn the bottoms too brown very quickly.
Silicone Baking Sheets — these are such a genius invention. This makes cleanup a breeze and the cookies remove so easily. Click HERE for an inexpensive version. Click HERE for the original Silpat version.
Nylon Turner — this ensures the cookies come off of the cookie sheets perfectly.
Spatula Set — these are imperative to use to remove the cookie dough from the sides of the bowl.
Cookie Scoop — this creates uniform, perfectly shaped cookies every single time.
Cooling Racks — this helps for the cookies to cool and stops the cookies to continue to cook on hot baking sheets.
Kitchenaid Mixer — my favorite mixer. This is a very well-used machine in my home! I can’t imagine baking without it.
Here is the recipe for Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies:
- 1 1/2 cups Butter (3 cubes, melted in a saucepan)
- 1 1/2 cups Brown Sugar
- 1 cup Sugar
- 2 large Eggs
- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 cups Flour
- 1 cup Cake or Pastry Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1 1/2 cups Chocolate Chips
- 1/2 cup Chocolate Chunks (chopped from bar)
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- 3/4 cup Butter (melted in saucepan)
- 3/4 cup Brown Sugar
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 1 large Egg
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Flour
- 1/2 cup Cake or Pastry Flour
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 3/4 teaspoon Salt
- 3/4 cup Chocolate Chips
- 1/4 cup Chocolate Chunks (cut from chocolate bar)
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Simmer until butter starts to turn a warm amber color and gives off a nutty aroma. Watch it carefully and don't allow it to get too brown as the liquids will start to evaporate (see NOTES below). Pour the butter into a mixing bowl, cover, and let cool in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes.
Once it is cooled, add brown sugar and sugar and cream for 4 minutes. Scrape down the bowl. Add eggs one at a time (if making the full recipe), mixing after each addition. Add vanilla and mix.
- Stir in cake or pastry flour, all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix until just combined. The total flour amount added will equal 3 cups for the large batch.
- Add chocolate chips and chocolate chunks and mix.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 20 - 30 minutes. 24 -48 hours is ideal. In order to the cookies to spread, let the cookie dough come to room temperature after it has been chilled. If it stays cold, it may hold its shape.
- Heat oven to 375 degrees.
- Scoop the cookie dough onto prepared baking pans. Bake until lightly golden on the edges, 9 -11 minutes for medium-sized cookies or 11-13 minutes for larger cookies.
- *Recipe adapted from G Bakes Recipe
** In order for it to be a thin and crispy cookie, it is imperative to not cook the butter too long. If the butter is browned too long, some of the liquid in the butter will evaporate. This will produce less overall butter in the cookies and the cookie dough will be slightly crumbly and dry. This will create a puffy cookie. If you aren't sure how long to let the butter brown, I would suggest letting it melt and simmering for about 2 minutes after it is melted.
Happy Baking, my friends! Come say “hello” on my instagram @modern_honey. xo
I made these again today because I really wanted the butter to be browned this time around. Oh my, what a difference that made! I read a tutorial on making brown butter and managed to get it just right. The texture of the dough was completely different too. Soooo yummy!!
My husband only likes crispy cookies.
Been trying so many recipes non hit the marks.
Made these and told him the recipe is a few steps not so simple…after eating 6 in a row he said save this recipe cuz its worth the work…i found i winner! Thank you.
Wow, this recipe is a keeper!!! I made a large batch, followed the recipe exactly, except for I did all choc chips, no chunks. I refrigerated the dough for about 24 hrs, then let it sit out for about 40 min so it was workable. I cooked them in 3 batches and it made 37 small-med cookies. I did a light golden, medium golden, and darker golden batch so that everyone could have their perfect cookie. Every version was amazing. Crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside with almost a salted caramel taste to it. This was exactly what we were looking for! Thanks 🙂
Hands-down, the best cookies I’ve ever made in my entire life. I followed the directions exactly except I added an extra cup of chocolate chips the milk chocolate ones. Just about everybody who ate them told me it was the best cookies They ever had in their entire life. I am by no means a pastry chef as a matter fact I hate baking. I am a veryExceptional sous chef though. I was even told that sell these Cookies.
Made these before and they were delicious! But I was wondering, what if I used milk chocolate chips just alone? Would the recipe stay the same or would you have to tweak it?
Yo it don’t matter what chocolate chips you use the knob thing that will change is the flavor of the chocolate chips
Okay just WOW. This is such an amazing recipe.
First time I made it I was missing the self rising flower, added right before baking (along with a late add of vanilla sigh) And baking Sofa which i tried to substitute with baking powder.
That batch tasted an awful(but delicious) lot like the butter, and didn’t remain a firm cookie.
Baked as instructed and they were absolutely perfect. To get a thin cookie I dropped the pan a few inches from the counter and they were the perfect thickness.
Also I used 1/4 cup of butter and they were still perfect!
Raj, this recipe doesn’t use self-rising flour!
I think I may have browned the butter for too long because the dough was a bit dry and crumbly but wow these cookies still turned out AMAZING! I baked them for a little bit less time (10 min for large cookies) and they were still slightly crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside.
Hi. What is your thought on using Crisco vegetable shortening and melting that instead of butter? I’m way to lactose intolerant to use butter in the recipe. Thanks!
Is brown sugar dark brown or light?
I am THRILLED at how these came out! They actually are thin, crispy and a little chewy just like the photos. I lessened the sugar because I personally don’t like too sweet. I am so happy to have found this and finally have a thin cookie that worked (I used the half batch recipe)
These are hands down the best cookies ever! I’ve tested multiple recipes and finally found the one. I prefer a flatter, chewier cookie, so I didn’t chill them. They held their shape and came out amazing! I can not recommend these enough, definitely try them!
I haven’t even baked these yet and I’m leaving a 5 star review based on how much cookie dough I’ve shoveled in my face straight from the mixing bowl. OMG brown butter makes everything so delicious and now I have to eat carrots for the rest of the day to make up for this.
Update: I baked them and they came out perfect. Best crispy chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever had.
Is all all purpose flour ok? That’s all that I have.
Hands down THE BEST. I find other recipes produce cookies that are too fluffy and mediocre in taste. USE REAL VANILLA to kick it up a notch too…you can definitely taste the difference between real and artificial extract with this recipe. I know it’s way more expensive but its totally worth it… I promise! I usually dont bother with comments on pages like these but I had to comment about how much this recipe has changed my cookie game. Its consistent every bake. Thank you so much!!!!
Do you have to have pastry flour? I don’t have any.
Hi!
I have made your best chocolate chip cookie recipe and it was awesome!
Want to try this one, but i faced some difficulty in creaming melted butter and sugar
It just wont mix together. the sugar stayed as one sinking big lump
May i know what i might have done wrong?
Thank you!
I am about to make these, I only have all purpose flour, will they still turn out, thin and crispy?
If you don’t have cake flour, you can add cornstarch or arrowroot powder to your AP flour, as follows:
Start with one level cup of AP flour, remove two tablespoons of the flour, and add two tablespoons of cornstarch or arrowroot powder back in.
Enjoy these delicious cookies! 🙂
Do you add the cornstarch only for the one cup of cake flour you are substituting or for each cup of all purpose flour that you add ?
Just for the one cup. Three cups total minus two tablespoons, plus two tablespoons of corn starch. Enjoy!
I’ve had to use only self rising and only all purpose before and both times it did not affect the final product.
Oh my gosh, THANK YOU for posting this recipe! The “thin and crispy cookies” are my favorite kind of chocolate chip cookies. I made the small half version, followed it to a T; and they came out perfect! They were crispy, chewy & just delicious. I will definitely be making the full version of the recipe and storing the dough in my freezer. My chocolate chip cookie search, is now over. I will certainly be trying out more of your recipes, because I know they will be soooo good.
These are the best cookies I’ve ever made. I leave the baking powder out though because I don’t like them to puff up. This makes them super thin, chewy and crispy. They make the cookies really big though so make sure you space them out.
The best recipe! I used dark maple syrup instead of white sugar and instead of chocolate chunks did pecans.. OMG! So delicious!! I also just did all white flout as I didn’t have pastry flour, but turned out crispy, tasty and delicious!
Extremely happy with this recipe – particularly the browned butter trick!
The prep time is definitely more than ten minutes… The butter took a long time to brown and since there was no estimate on how long it would take, I was constantly hovering over it afraid I would burn it by accident. The texture did not come out exactly right, but I think that is more due to my own fault. I had never tried the butter browning trick and I don’t think I did it quite right. They taste delicious, but overall the amount of work and time required to make these was a lot more than I was expecting.
I recently ate a chocolate chip cookie from a local bakery and it was soo crispy and delicious I could not stop thinking about it. This recipe ended up being the perfect recreation to satisfy my craving. The details in this recipe made it easy to follow even though this is a more ‘complicated’ chocolate chip cookie recipe. SO delicious and will be saving this recipe to make in the future and share with friends & family.
Absolutely the Best Chocolate Chip Cookie I have ever made !! My first time using brown butter ,but not my last ! I loved the taste !! Cookies came out Perfect !! Thank You For Sharing Your Recipe!! We Loved Them !!
I’m a total amateur baker but these sounded amazing so I gave them a try and they are DELICIOUS. My husband used the word “gourmet.” Thank you!
So good, but not really crispy. It doesn’t matter though because they are delicious.
I made these exactly per your recipe and they were exactly what I was looking for – crispy edges, chewy center, not too sweet. I sent some with my parents and my mother texted me that they didn’t even get home before eating them all and that she wanted the recipe,
Yum! Crispy, soft, and chewy. I think my texture is just a little off though, smoother than the photos. No crinkles. I only had dark brown sugar, so they’re definitely darker than pictured too. (I know it’s usually light brown sugar)
I’m not sure if I browned the butter for too long. First time doing it! 2 minutes seemed a little misleading, although it did take a short time after simmering the butter to separate the milk solids which is what was meant I guess, but as a first timer I didn’t really know. The actual simmering before you can even start browning the butter took me like 15 minutes. Once the foam dissipated and I could see the solids sink down, it took very little time to get that toffee smell. Immediately stopped then, but I was still paranoid if it was too long! No idea.
Had to flatten my cookies too, so that they’d melt down thinner. First batch went in as balls and didn’t flatten really. Room temp dough after ~12 hours in the fridge. Added walnuts and used dark chocolate instead. Someone tell me if my edited ingredients did something to the cookies haha
Thank you for the recipe! Definitely will be browning more butter. The smell and taste 😋