Even soft chocolate chip cookie lovers will reach for these crispy chocolate chip cookies. Crackly and buttery, you’ll love the satisfying crunch you get in every bite. They’re so irresistible that it’s almost impossible to eat just one.
Crispy vs. Chewy: The Different Types of Chocolate Chip Cookies
All chocolate chip cookies—whether they’re soft, chewy, or crispy—are made from the same ingredients. It is the ratio of ingredients and a few simple modifications that create the textural differences. Let’s take a look at some of our chocolate chip cookie recipes and how the proportion of ingredients can make or break your cookie. (Literally!)
- Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies: Creamed butter, cornstarch, and a higher ratio of brown sugar to white work together to achieve this cookie’s perfect melt-in-your-mouth softness.
- Chewy chocolate chip cookies: Melted butter, an extra egg yolk, and more brown sugar than white sugar will help you bake a supremely chewy cookie. The melted butter is the secret to this dense, indulgent treat.
- Crispy-edged chocolate chip cookies from Sally’s Cookie Addiction cookbook (page 26): Milk plus a higher ratio of white sugar to brown help create the spread needed for a crispier cookie. The creamed butter and sugar create a soft and light center. These are the perfect blend of soft, chewy, and crispy. Definitely a favorite around here.
If you love extra crispy cookies, you’ll want to try my chocolate chip cookie bark, too!
Tell Me About These Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Texture: For that pleasing buttery CRUNCH when you take a bite, let the cookies cool completely. The longer the cookies cool, the crispier they will be. I suggest using a cooling rack if you have one. It circulates air to the bottoms of cookies and, as a result, cools them quicker and more evenly.
- Flavor: Crispy chocolate chip cookie fans will love the rich, buttery flavor contrasted with sweet chocolate chips in every bite.
- Ease: This quick and easy recipe makes a lot of cookies in a short amount of time. Perfect for no-fuss bakers who want big flavor without a big mess.
- Time: Unlike many cookie doughs, chilling isn’t required (see Note), so this recipe comes together in minutes. Here are all of our cookie recipes without dough chilling.
Recipe Testing Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies: What Works & What Doesn’t
Chocolate chip cookies can turn out differently depending on a few different factors, particularly the proportion of ingredients. Every ingredient has a job to do. That’s cookie science! The good news is that as long as you know which type of cookie you want, you can learn how to make it successfully each and every time. Here are the secrets to making a crispy chocolate chip cookie:
- Melted butter. Creaming butter and sugar together, like you do for most cake recipes, aerates the cookie dough, creating a softer, fluffier cookie. Since we crave a crispy cookie here, we’re using melted butter instead. Melted butter = a chewy and dense center.
- Sugars. Since brown sugar is soft, we want to use more white sugar for a crispy cookie.
- Milk. Just like melted butter, milk helps the cookies spread in the oven which produces crispier edges.
- Honey. This natural sweetener crisps and melts in the oven, creating a crackly top on your cookie. If you don’t have honey, you can substitute light corn syrup instead.
- Egg yolk. One egg yolk adds richness and structure but leave out the egg white. Why? Egg whites fluff up when beaten or whisked. We want to avoid the fluff in this crispy cookie
- Smaller cookies, hotter oven. Roll the cookies smaller and bake at a higher temperature so the whole cookie crisps up perfectly.
To Chill or Not to Chill?
It’s entirely up to you—baker’s choice! The first time I made these cookies, I chilled the cookie dough for my usual 2 hours, and the cookies had a lovely crisp edge with a chewy center. They were delicious but tasted like my soft chocolate chip cookies. I wanted something different: a thinner cookie with an overall crunch so I continued testing the recipe. Here’s what I discovered:
- No chilling: For thin and mega-crispy cookies, skip chilling the dough entirely.
- Chill for 1 hour: For cookies that are a little thicker, have a little chew and a lot of crisp, chill the dough for 1 hour.
- Chill for 2+ hours: For thicker cookies with less crisp, chill the dough for 2 hours or longer.
I appreciate that this cookie recipe works all 3 ways.
More Cookie Recipes
- Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
- White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cookies
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Crisp Molasses Cookies
- Sugar Cookies
For a gluten free cookie, try my flourless almond butter chocolate chip cookies or flourless peanut butter oatmeal cookies. The latter are chock full of chocolate chips, too!
Print
Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 25 minutes
- Yield: 32-36 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Crispy chocolate chip cookies with a satisfying crunch. With their crackly tops, crisp buttery edges, and overflow of chocolate chips, I have a feeling even soft chocolate chip cookie fans will get a kick out of these.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 10 Tablespoons (142g) unsalted butter, melted + slightly cooled
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons (43g) honey or light corn syrup
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) milk
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/4 cups (225g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- See step 4. If not chilling the cookie dough, preheat oven to 375°F (191°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Whisk the melted butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, honey, egg yolk, milk, and vanilla extract together until combined. Pour into dry ingredients and mix everything together until completely combined. Fold in the chocolate chips. (You can use a mixer for this step if needed.) Dough will be soft.
- For thin and crisp cookies, do not chill the cookie dough and proceed with step 5. For slightly thicker and crisp cookies, cover and chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour then preheat the oven. For slightly thicker cookies with soft centers and crisp edges, cover and chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator for 2 hours then preheat the oven.
- Roll cookie dough into balls, 1 scant Tablespoon of dough per cookie, and arrange 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 10-11 minutes or until browned on top and around the sides.
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies crisp up as they cool.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Cookies stay fresh lightly covered at room temperature for up to 1 week. You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Allow to come to room temperature, preheat the oven, then continue with step 5. Keep in mind that cookies are the thinnest and crispiest when baked right away. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Silicone Spatula | Cooling Rack
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Thanks for your recipe and explanation. The family wanted crisp biscuits and that is exactly what this recipe delivered!
I don’t know what went wrong but I think it might be the humidity? I ended with browned flat cookies that stayed so soft you couldn’t pick them up without them drooping over your fingers. I measured
and weighed everything, chilled for one hour but still a disaster. Thoughts?
Hi Rachel, here’s our best tips to prevent cookies from spreading – hope they help!
These turned out so well! I had almost given up trying because my cookies never come out well. I followed the recipe to the letter except I’m in Italy so I chose to use malto d’orzo in place of honey which works perfectly. I don’t have an oven thermometer so I turned it down just slightly to make sure they didn’t melt too fast. Tasty, crispy perfection without spreading too much! So good!
No crunch except edges 🙁
Baked for 14mins at 160C fan…
These were a DISASTER. I am a good baker. Followed the recipe. Chilled 2 hours.
So soft and soggy I actually had to throw the 1st batch away. Terrible texture, way too sweet.
I’m going to try to salvage rest of batter by adding flour and more leavening maybe an extra
Egg.
Hi Sally! Whenever I bake this cookies after a while the crispness disappears and it becomes a soft cookie instead. Yes I chilled overnight or several hours before baking after cooling its crispy but yeah after several hours turns soft. Is there a secret to keep the cookies crispy?
Hi Karen, we’re happy to help troubleshoot. Humidity/moisture in the air will definitely keep the cookies soft. If you try the recipe again, see if you can slightly reduce the flour. The cookies will spread more, but should crisp up nicely on the edges. Make sure you skip chilling the cookie dough, too, for the crispiest cookies. Baking for an additional minute or so will also help. Let us know how these tips work for you!
Any changes needed if I want chopped walnuts and chocolate chips?
We recommend about 2/3 cup of chopped walnuts.
Hello, can I replace the honey with maple syrup?
Thank you.
That should be fine, Sylvie!
Do I have to do anything different if I want to use M&Ms instead of the chips, or a combo of both?
Hi Edwin! No changes needed if using M&Ms.
Well, I made this new recipe and my normal (back of the chips bag) recipe. The family members took a taste of both cookies, and your’s won by a landslide! No offense to that chocolate chip bag recipe! our family preferred the richness and crispiness of these. My old recipe has been replaced!
My new favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe! I used heavy cream instead of milk bc that’s what I had. I used corn syrup. I refrigerated for half and hour, used a small cookie scoop, and baked for 9 minutes. They came out exactly how I love them! Crispy on the bottom and edges but still soft/chewy in the middle. Thank you!
These are the best chocolate chip cookies! They are crisp on the bottom but have a soft texture in every bite! I used corn syrup. Oh my goodness– I made these yesterday and they are gone! Time to bake a bigger batch. Thank you for a terrific recipe.
These are the best! Sally, you are the best! These crispy chocolate chip cookies are my family’s favorite. I always double the recipe and triple or quadruple when I have to share with others. But today, Sally, I browned the butter and the cookies when to an insanely delicious level!! Thank you for posting the best recipes and making us home bakers look and feel like bakehouse pattissiers.
Hi Sally,
I made these cookies today, and I must’ve done something wrong. My cookies were almost as thin as tuiles. Do you know what I could’ve done to get such thin cookies? The flavor was phenomenal, but they were just way too thin!
Hi Marilu, this is a thinner cookie, but if it was excessively thin, it’s possible the flour was under measured. Be sure to spoon and level or use a food scale to ensure just the right amount of flour to soak up the wet ingredients. For a slightly thicker cookie, you can chill the cookie dough before baking. Hope this helps for next time!
Wow this one knocks every other recipe away! I can’t believe how good they are and snuck a few while they were still hot because the smell was overwhelming. Incredible!
yummy
Hi Sally! Just wanted to ask if these cookies are entirely crunchy/crispy or just the edges and have chewy centers. Thanks!
Hi Caroline, these are crisp throughout, particularly if you follow the directions without dough chilling. Hope you enjoy them!
Extremely sweet and didn’t spread much, disappointed but I suspect I must have measured wrong, would definitely skip the honey and a third of the sugar next time. Would be nice with orange rind, great tip!
i’ve made these cookies with both honey and corn syrup- much prefer the corn syrup – just creates a crunchier texture i think plus unless you always use the exact same honey different honeys add different flavor profiles each time – i prefer the lackluster flavor of the corn syrup and let it do its thing as a crisping agent
Can you replace the two tablespoons of milk with oatmilk?
Absolutely!
Thank you for sharing this crispy recipe! The result is so wonderful. I will definitely do it again and again.
I added the juice and the rind of two navel Oranges, left out only one tablespoon of milk, and added two heaping tablespoons of extra flour. Came out amazing… my partner loves orange chocolate. Thank you for the best base chocolate chip recipe!
Hi, I just realized I don’t have any white sugar, only brown and coconut sugars. Can I use coconut instead of white, or will it alter the texture and flavor too much?
Hi Malia, we don’t recommend swapping with coconut sugar, as it will change the overall taste and texture of the cookies too much. You might enjoy these chocolate chip cookies with unrefined sugar instead—you can use coconut sugar instead of the sucanat.
This is my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe! It is chewy and crunchy and the honey gives it great extra flavor.
Loved these cookies. So easy to make and turned out crisp and delicious. Will definitely make this one again.
Delicious! By far the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve made in a while. Beautifully crispy, and they didn’t spread too much! I omitted the milk because I felt that it would make the dough too soft, and they turned out great. Will definitely come back to this recipe next time the chocolate chip cookie craving hits!
Easy peezie – husband’s favorite
These are our new favorite chocolate chip cookies! I am always nervous when doing a recipe that calls for melted butter. The first batch I chilled for 2hrs and even though they were delicious my son asked if I could make a crispy batch which is funny because that’s what I thought I was doing! Ha! So the next batch I made was so sticky and that I chilled the dough in the stainless steel mixing bowl I used to make it with saran wrap to cover the top. After 30 minutes I was able to roll enough cookies for a full sheet pan or 2 half sheets before it started to get sticky again. So what works for me is to return the dough back to the fridge until the batch in the oven is done. All the cookies are gone in less than 48hrs! People tell me that I am such a wonderful baker now and this is all due to Sally’s in depth instructions and tips. I gave up on baking years ago after countless failed projects. I actually thought that baking was something I just didn’t gave the gift for but I found Sally’s site about 2 years ago and it is the only site I trust for a no fail project.
Hi Sally and Team, I’m having a bit of trouble with the dough for this recipe. It’s very sticky and I’m worried that will lead to my cookies spreading. Any suggestions?
Completely normal. You want a thinner, stickier dough here. The cookies need to spread so they obtain that crispy edge.
The cookies even with 1 hr in frig are soooo flat/ not what I hoped for
Hi Michele, thanks so much for giving these cookies a try. These 10 tips to prevent cookies from spreading will be helpful for troubleshooting!
I felt the urge to make cookies this evening and found this recipe…which I basically screwed up and it still came out great! The f irst thing I did wrong was just dumping everything in the mixing bowl without remembering to whisk the dry ingredients, or whip up the butter and sugar. Then, I realized my bag of chips was too small. I attempted to compensate for that by adding a tiny bit of chocolate powder, and it did give the cookie dough a flavor boost, so it all came out fine. The cookies really flattened out, so they’re thin, crispy and delicious! I know I’ve eaten five so far, and I think my wife may have even surpassed that number!
Not sure what I did wrong because I love all of Sally’s recipes I’ve made. Admittedly, I’m not a great baker and prefer to cook but these cookies turned out like fluff balls. No offense intended, seems like anytime a make cookies they don’t turn out the right texture. Can’t figure out what I’m doing because I follow the recipe’s precisely and read them over and over about 6x.