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 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 Eggs
- 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, 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
so I did the recipe of the Thin and Crispy cookies and refrigerated overnight- the cookies all melted together in the pan! Is it because I didn’t use cake or pastry flour? xoxo! PS the cookie dough flavor is AMAZING!!!
ohhhh boy…. I didn’t add the regular flour! I am missing 2 cups of flour, eek!!! Guess I just have to eat the dough! 🙂
Hi friend! Haha! I have done that so many times so you are not alone! I bet the cookies turned out very decadent with only that much flour (even if they spread like crazy). Try them again and you can substitute all-purpose flour for the cake flour (for a total of 3 cups), no problem. I will add a little more detail in the instructions to help clarify. Thanks for trying them out and for your support. You are awesome! – Melissa 🙂
Not gonna lie, I’m a little nervous to see what would happen if I were to be left alone with a fresh batch of these bad boys. They look BEYOND amazing!
Hi Karly! Haha you made me laugh! I am so with you girl!
when I take the cookie batter out of the fridge, should I let it get to room temp before scooping it? It’s rock hard right now and impossible to scoop out.
Hi Roya! Yes, you can bring it to room temperature. It usually only takes about 5-10 Minutes for the dough to be workable. I hope that helps. Thanks for trying the recipe! 🙂
Hi, how big do you scoop each cookie dough? By medium size you mean golf ball size? Or how many Tbsp each scoop? Thank you!
Hi Meg! I usually use a traditional small cookie scoop which holds about 4 teaspoons. You can also use a medium cookie scoop as well. Hope that helps!
Followed your recipe and left the cookie dough in the fridge for 48 hours. Never had done that before. I liked the addition of cske flour. Texture and taste of the cookies were terrific. Thanks.
So great to hear, Paul! Thank you for trying my recipe and for taking the time to comment. I appreciate it!
This recipe was the best I’ve ever made. I used 3 cups of AP flour and used 2 cups of chocolate chips instead of the chocolate bar only because I didn’t have it. They came out perfect!!
They were so delicious! I can’t thank you enough. Thank you!
Love to hear it, Annie! Thank you so much for trying them and for leaving such a kind comment.
What variety of chocolate chips do I use… semi or regular, please??? Approximate yield on the smaller batch?
Hi! I used semi-sweet chocolate chips and I prefer Ghirardelli or Guittard. It depends on how big you want to make the cookies — approximately 16. I hope that helps!
These are absolutely amazing! Just wondering if I can freeze half of the dough to defrost and bake later? A big batch is a really big batch. If not, it’s ok. I’ll just eat them. haha! 🙂 Thank you for this wonderful recipe and I wouldn’t change a thing!
Hi Fiona! I am so glad you loved them. Thank you! You can absolutely freeze the dough. I would suggest rolling into balls, place on cookie sheet, and put in the freezer. Let them freeze for 1 hour. Remove from freezer and place in Ziploc FREEZER bag. The dough should last for months in the freezer. Hope that helps!
Approximately how many medium cookies does the large batch make?
Can’t wait to try this recipe!
Hi Leslie! Great question! The small batch makes about 16 and the large batch makes about 24-30. I hope that helps!
Hello! Ok, I have made over 40 different CCC recipes. I’m obsessed with the perfect cookie. I thought I had it narrowed down to 2 favorites. Until I tried this one. It has the perfect crisp, chew and buttery toffee flavor. It may just be my new “go to” CCC. Thank you, thank you. I just made a batch and have already eaten 3.
Hi Betty! I LOVE to hear that. You made my night. Thank you! I appreciate you trying my recipe!
Followed the directions minus using cake flour and the batter is super crumbly. It looks like any normal cookie batter but when trying to scoop out the batter it crumbles. Is it lacking moisture ?
Hi Jacki! It sounds as if some of the liquid evaporated from the butter while cooking. This happens when it is browned for too long. Since some of the liquid is gone, it can create a crumbly dough. I hope that helps solve the mystery. Thank you for trying my recipe!
can I substitute the butter for anything?
Hi Rachel! I haven’t tried margarine with this recipe but you can try it. I wouldn’t brown it for very long since it has a higher water content and could make the dough crumbly. I would suggest just melting it for a short time. I hope that helps!
Finally a cookie that spreads out like the shop bought ones. Would probably reduce the salt on my next batch a bit but yum 😁
Yay! I love to hear it. I love the buttery chocolate goodness of these cookies. Thank you for trying the recipe!
Thank you so much- these cookies are perfect!
Love to hear it! Thank you so much for taking the time to comment, Eliie!
How many cookies does the full batch make and how far apart do you put them on the cookie sheet.
Hi Linda! It depends on how large you make the cookies but it makes about 16-24. I don’t overcrowd my cookies and only put about 8 per cookie sheet. I hope that helps! Have a great night.
Hi Linda, I actually have a clarification. The small batch makes about 16 and the large batch makes about 24-30. I hope that helps!
hiya, i just made a huge batch of these to satisfy a cookie craving but sadly my cookies didn’t spread at all! i was hoping for some thin crispy cookies but my cookie dough didn’t thin out in the oven and remained bolus-like so i ended up with thick cookies. they were delicious, but i was disappointed by how thick they were. do you reckon i went wrong somewhere? i tried flattening the dough a little before baking but that just resulted in the cookie keeping its shape throughout baking 🙁
Hi Claire! Thank you for trying my recipe. It could be that the dough was too cold. If it is straight out of the refrigerator, it will hold its shape longer than if the dough was at room temperature. I would suggest bringing it to room temp for about 20-30 minutes before placing in the oven.
Another thought could be that some of the liquid evaporated from the butter. If the butter is browned too long, the waters from the butter can evaporate and leave you with a more crumbly dough which wouldn’t spread as much. I hope that helps solve the mystery. Thanks!
In the directions for this recipe it’s says, “2. Once butter is cooled add brown sugar and sugar and cream.” When you say “cream” you mean combine the butter and sugars til it’s a creamy texture right? Not add cream (liquid). Wanted to make sure.
Hi Brittany! You got it! It just means the verb “to cream” which means to mix until it is creamed together. I hope that helps!
I just took these cookies out of the oven and they’re puffy and not flat . The only thing I did different from the recipe was I used apf only. What happened?
Hi Tammy! Thank you for trying my recipe. It could be that the dough was too cold. If it is straight out of the refrigerator, it will hold its shape longer than if the dough was at room temperature. I would suggest bringing it to room temp for about 20-30 minutes before placing in the oven.
Another thought could be that some of the liquid evaporated from the butter. If the butter is browned too long, the waters from the butter can evaporate and leave you with a more crumbly dough which wouldn’t spread as much. I hope that helps solve the mystery. Thanks!
Is the butter salted or unsalted, the brown sugar light brown or dark brown, and is the brown sugar packed firmly or not?
These cookies are absolutely amazing. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. Seriously, they are just perfect.
These cookies are amazing and I think I have a new favorite recipe. I do need some input though. I followed the recipe to the letter, gave the dough about 36 hours in the fridge, but when it came to top temp it is really crumbly and they hold their shape instead of flattening when cooking.
I now see the error I made….too long browning. Even still these were the best cookies I have ever made.
I literally give this recipe 8 out of 5 stars!!! Delicious cookies that didnt last long out of the oven.
My cookies aren’t spreading out. They’re more cake like. I used all the ingredients called for. What did I do wrong?
Hi Tammy! I am so sorry to hear this. My guess is that the butter browned too long and too high of heat and some of the liquid evaporated. The issue with browning butter is that it can turn from perfect to not-so-perfect pretty quickly. I would suggest browning it for half of the time (so a quick browning) and see how it goes. These are definitely thin cookies so if they are cakey at all, they must be missing some of the liquid. I hope that helps! — Melissa
Recently baked these cookies and they are Amazing! I was cautious on browning my butter and did not want butter to burn or loose water. Idid notice the butter seemed to seperate but I just dumped it all into the sugar and it was fine. Cookies had great texture and flavor was much better than typical recipes. Made half batch and got well over 20cookies small to medim. I used scharfen beger chocolate which helped add to the deep rich flavor. Thanks for the great recipe!
What constitutes 3 cubes of butter?
So I am usually very good in making your average everyday chocolate chip cookie, but this one has stumped me. I followed the recipe exactly and my cookies simply refuse to flatten! They puff up instead. They taste excellent, but they don’t have to texture and consistency that I’m looking for. Is there anything I can try to get a perfect flatter cookie?
Hi Katlin! It sounds like the butter may have browned too long and some of the liquids evaporated. This can easily happen when browning butter. I have learned the hard way! If my dough comes out crumbly and slightly dry then I know it was an issue with the butter. If you make them again, brown the butter for less time and once you roll them out and place the dough on the cookie sheet, slightly flatten them with your hand. You can also bang the cookie sheet on the counter once you remove them from the oven. With the high butter to flour ratio and the amount of sugars called for, it should be a thin, ooey gooey cookie. Thanks for trying the recipe! — Melissa
Thank you for the recipe. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. I have been simmering my butter for 10 minutes now and it has not changed color. It is still a pale yellow and it’s been on medium to low heat. I can tell that it’s lost moister but it is still yellow.
I’ve made these twice now, and I’m making them for my sister for Christmas (yup, she wants these specific chocolate chip cookies, not any other traditional xmas baking! Haha). I love a nice chewy crispy cookie, and these are the best I have EVER had. Thanks for the tip to let them mature in the fridge too – I leave them for 24 hours, and they are so yummy! All the heart eyes!
The recipe says to bake on “prepared baking pans”. How do they need to be prepared? Cooking spray? Parchment paper? Etc. Thank you
If you’re too lazy to chill the butter, make a ice bath with ice, water and salt in a seperate bowl and put your butter bowl into the ice bath and swirl your bowl to cool the butter
My batter seems to have turned out dry? Is there anyway to fix that?
Absolutely amazing! I only used self raising flour and still used the bi carb and baking powder and still so good and thin and crispy. I also just did a splash of vanilla essence because it was in the cupboard and worked well. I used about 3/4th of the mixture and put the rest as a roll in the freezer. With what I used it’s made over 40 cookies all roughly the size of a small glass. So happy with them! Thank you!!
Just made these and I am at the step of letting the dough sit in the fridge for a bit, then I will take them out and bring them to room temp – then bake. My question is, why do I chill the dough first if I’m just going to take it out and let it come back to room temp? Really excited (maybe a little to eager) to bake these, I hope they turn out!
such a great recipe! it’s exactly the texture cookie i have been searching for. a real hit with my entire family. i accidentally left out 1/2 cup of white sugar and thought they were ruined but they still turned out great. thanks so much!
I have made these twice now, may mix a batch up tonight as well. The addition of brown butter really adds to the flavor, I added chopped pecans as well. Everyone I have shared these with has commented how good these are, however, they have yet to turn out thin and chewy. They were not cakey and puffed up just not as thin as I would like but they are great tasting. Probably browned butter too long.