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
Could you use self rising flour in crispy chocolate chip cookies
Hi Poppy, we don’t recommend self raising flour since they have varying amounts of leavener. It’s best to use all-purpose flour as written.
This is my new favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. The flavor, texture, and crunch was amazing. Though I would say the number of cookies it would make is exaggerated. I made a double recipe of these and it only made 31. Though over all a great cookie. Sally you make awesome recipes. I love you blog!
I like to add chopped pecans to my crispy chocolate chip cookies. How should I alter my recipe for this added ingredient?
Hi Poppy, We would try 3/4 cups chocolate chips and 1/2 cups pecans. Enjoy!
Ive never had a recipe fail me from Sally until today. I use a scale to measure ingredients but this whipped up into a soup not a cookie dough. I ended up needing to add an additional 100 grams of flour and 50g of sugar to make it workable (barely) and they still spread very thin even after chilling. Otherwise the flavor was good.
Just made these wonderful cookies! Talk about easy-I did all the mixing by hand. I weighed all the ingredients that could be weighed. Accuracy makes a huge difference in the outcome of the cookies! They are just what they’re supposed to be-thin and crispy. I found the baking time to be a bit long for my oven. I used 3/4 cup Nestle’s dark morsels and 1/2 cup toasted and chopped walnuts. These are my new go-to for chocolate chip cookies! Thanks Sally!
Hi Sally! I’m planning to use this recipe with my preschool students, but for simplicity would it be possible to remove the honey? The less steps/ingredients, the better! 🙂
Hi Carmen, you can omit if needed. Enjoy!
Hi there! Can I replace the milk with milk powder instead, and if so, how much?
Love the cookie, best I have ever made. however it is on the sweeter side for me, I’d like to reduce the sugar (both brown and white) by 25%. The cookie dough became really wet. Should I add more flour or reduce the butter to balance the ratio? Thanks team.
Hi Joyce! Sugar is used for moisture and texture in baked goods as well as taste. You can certainly try reducing the sugar, but the resulting texture will be different than intended. This dough should be quite loose (see video tutorial and photos above), as long as the cookies baked up properly, there’s no changes needed.
Your information for each receipe is fantastic!
This is my favorite cookie recipe. Question, can I add walnut to this recipe? If I can what changes should I make? Thanks!
Hi Mel, you can! We would try 3/4 cups chocolate chips and 1/2 cups walnuts.
Hi Sally! I tried most of the chocolate chip cookie recipe that you share, and my kids ABSOLUTELY love it. I’m from the Philippines, btw, and thank you so much for your recipes!
Is it possible if you can create a recipe for a soft, chewy, and crispy chocolate chip cookie? I mean all of these amazing cookie recipes that you share. Have you tried to combine the crispy on the outside, then chewy, but soft on the inside, and the chocolates are melted?
Pleaseeee. Thank you!
Hi Eunice, Crispy-edged chocolate chip cookies from Sally’s Cookie Addiction cookbook (page 26) might be exactly what you are looking for if you happen to have the book. 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.
These came out great! Crispy outside soft inside, I weighed out the ingredients as directed and used parchment on a sheet pan to bake – cooked for 10 minutes at 375.
Hello, the taste is superb but I had a problem on baking, inside the oven the dough was unified all in one so I had to cut them when cooled. I wonder what went wrong? Thank you
Hi Loukia, sounds like your cookies spread. Here are our best tips to prevent cookies from spreading – hope they help for next time!
Hi Sally & Team, can I simply leave the milk out? I don’t keep milk on hand and the beauty of cookie recipes for me is that I can whip them together last minute without having to go to the store to buy extra ingredients. Thank you for your advice!
Hi Emma, milk helps the cookies spread in the oven which produces crispier edges, so we don’t recommend leaving it out. You could use a non-dairy milk instead, if you keep that on hand. Hope you enjoy the cookies!
I love making this recipe! It’s so easy and tastes so good but I end up with the cookies being a little flat? any tips?
Hi Marisa, To help troubleshoot flat cookies you can take a look at these 10 Guaranteed Tips to Prevent Cookies from Spreading. I hope it helps!
I made a double batch of these crispy chocolate chip cookies. I weight all the dry ingredients on my kitchen scale. I baked the first batch without chilling the dough. They came out burnt on the edges. Then I chilled the dough and made a few more which also came out burnt on the edges. I also tried lowering the oven temp a little with the same result. I hate to waste all these ingredients. What am I doing wrong? Also, none of the cookies I baked was even near crispy. Thank you for any help to get this right.
Hi Lynn, are you using particularly dark pans by chance? Darker pans will conduct heat more quickly and often cause cookies to burn on the bottoms/edges. Lowering the oven temperature should help, and you can also try moving the pan a rack further from the heating element.
Not the least bit crisp. Cake like and almost underdone in the middle after 12 min. and another 5 in the hot oven (but turned off). They were ok, my choc chip fans devoured them. Still on the hunt for that elusive crispy cookie recipe though.
Mine too! Not the slightest bit crispy. Good, just not what I expected.
I have found that flour brands really matters with cookies. Some flours like White Lily contain a protein level that is great for breads and fluffy biscuits but cause fluffy cookies. Try King Arthur or Pilsbury and see if that makes a difference. Also, spoon and level four or weigh it out to be sure you are not using to much flour.
I made the recipe with flax egg instead of yoke. They didn’t spread enough and weren’t has crispy as I’d like, is there anything I can do to fix the doe and make it more crispy?
My go to cookie recipe to take to people! The kids can help, no softening of butter, and always gets rave reviews!
I’d give it a hundred stars if I could! I’ve made this recipe numerous times and been satisfied each time. The only bad thing about these cookies is how quickly they dissappear!!
Love you’re quick recipes yummy always
This is my favorite cookie recipe! Thank you! I have questions though – can I use brown butter vs regular butter? If yes, how much brown butter should I use for this recipe? 🙂
Hi Mel! You could use brown butter here – you’ll need to brown a little extra so you have the correct amount of butter. More on that in our how to brown butter post! Or, here’s our brown butter chocolate chip cookies recipe.
Hey there, I have four questions about the ingredients. Can I use white Chocolate instead of semi-sweet? Can I add walnuts to the recipe? I only have salted butter. Can I split the salt in half and only use 1/4 tsp salt? And last but not least, do I have to use an egg yolk? Can I use a whole egg?
Sorry for all the questions! Thank you!
Hi Elliana, you can use a mix of white chocolate and walnuts to replace the chocolate chips here (1 and 1/4 cups total). We would try 3/4 cups chocolate chips and 1/2 cups walnuts. If you use salted butter, reduce added salt to 1/4 tsp, yes. Aa extra egg yolk gives these cookies a nice chew, we do recommend keeping that!
This is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe
I normally make Sally’s chewy chocolate chip cookies but I didn’t have time to chill them so I decided to try these. I did end up chilling for an hour. They have crispy edges and a soft center! My kids liked them because they were “giant” . I used mini eggs and omitted the chocolate chips for Easter and I found with the honey they were too sweet. I would try again with only chocolate chips to see if they would be less sweet.
If I want to double the recipe, is it just straight double all ingredients, and is it ok to combine chips and mm’s?
Hi Edwin, correct, you can double all ingredients and use a combination of chocolate chips and M&Ms.
The best cookies I ever made, this recipe is definitely outrageous!!!’
Chocolate chip cookies like the olden days.. Just FYI, I used Miyokos plant based butter, and since I don’t use eggs or milks, I substituted 2 Tbs. applesauce for both, and they turned out perfectly!
So basically I veganized the recipe except for the chocolate chips.
Ok how do you do it??? Every recipe I have tried from your website is sooooooo good!!!!
Girl, the cookies are good. Again, your recipes are technically perfect.
Great recipe! It made me realize I was going for more of a soft cookie with crispy edges though. This is more of what I expect buying cookies from the grocery store. I froze leftovers and they were great when thawed too.