Learn how to make perfect chocolate chip cookies using The Creaming Method. Follow this mixing method along with my best tips and you’ll make perfect chocolate chip cookies every time! 

Chocolate Chip Cookies in a basket

Overview

Chocolate chip cookies can seem like a fairly easy and approachable thing to bake. However, I have found that a cookie recipe can go wrong in many different ways especially if you don’t understand the technique.

The mixing method used for most standard chocolate chip cookies is called The Creaming Method. When this method is executed properly, you can achieve cookies that bake evenly and have the perfect texture.

What is the Creaming Method?

The Creaming Method for cookies is a mixing method that starts by creaming together butter and sugar. This process helps to leaven your cookies and creates a light texture. As a bonus, properly creaming butter and sugar together increases the volume of your cookie dough which means more cookies! 

How to Make Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

This mixing method and these tips can be applied to most any chocolate chip cookie recipe to make them perfect. The recipe below creates cookies that are fairly chewy in the middle and crispy on the edges.

Step 1: Gather Your Ingredients & Equipment (Mise en Place)

Ingredients measured out for a recipe (mise en place)

Because we are using The Creaming Mixing Method for these cookies, it is important that your butter is at room temperature. Butter needs to be around 70ºF (21ºC) to properly cream with the sugar. This temperature of butter will be soft but not melting.

Remove the butter and eggs from your refrigerator about 1 hour (and a minimum of 30 minutes) before making the dough. Measure out all of your other ingredients and get out any equipment you might need.

You will need either a hand mixer or a stand mixer for making chocolate chip cookies. Also, preheat your oven and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Step 2: Cream Together the Butter & Sugar

creaming butter and sugars together

To properly cream together butter and sugar for cookies, your butter must be at room temperature. If you are in a rush and need your butter to come to room temperature quickly, cut the butter into very small pieces and spread them out on a plate.

I do not recommend trying to warm your butter in the microwave because if it starts to melt it will not cream together properly.

Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, or a hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar for about 3-5 minutes. This process will force air to get trapped in a web of fat and sugar particles. This is essential to evenly baked cookies.

Step 3: Add Wet Ingredients

adding wet ingredients to cookie dough

Next you want to add your eggs into your dough one at a time. Adding the eggs to quickly can break the creamed mixture that you just created. You also want to be sure your eggs are at room temperature so they absorb into your batter properly.

After the eggs are added, mix in the vanilla.

Step 4: Add Dry Ingredients

mixing dry ingredients
adding dry ingredients to cookie dough

I like to mix the dry ingredients into a small bowl before adding to the dough. This allows you to properly mix the flour, leaveners, and salt together without worry of over-mixing the dough.

Add the mixed dry ingredients into the dough and mix until just combined. You do not want to over-mix your dough at this point. Mixing too much once the flour is added can over-develop the gluten structure and lead to tough cookies.

Step 5: Add Chocolate Chips

adding chocolate chips to cookie dough

Gently fold in the chocolate chips using a spatula. I don’t recommend using your mixture here or you risk breaking the chips into pieces.

Step 6: Scoop & Bake

scooping cookie dough balls onto sheet pan

Transfer the dough to a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake as your recipe instructs.

Tips for Making Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

Now that you understand the mixing method for making perfect chocolate chip cookies, here are a few tips that will take your cookies to the next level!

Tip #1: Find your Perfect Recipe

Chocolate chip pecan cookies

The recipe in this article is for a fairly standard chocolate chip cookie. It creates cookies that are chewy in the middle and slightly crispy on the edges. The cookies aren’t super thick or incredibly thin. They are middle of the road standard cookies.

But everyone has a definition of what makes their perfect chocolate chip cookie. Here are some of my best recipes to help you find your ideal cookie:

Tip #2: Do Not Skip the Salt!

chocolate chip cookie dough balls sprinkled with salt

Baking with salt is just as important as cooking with salt. Don’t believe me? Try making some cookies without any salt at all, then make another batch with even just a small amount of salt. The cookies without the salt will taste flat and overly sweet while the cookies with salt will have more depth and balance.

Salt rounds out the flavor of chocolate chip cookies. All good cookie recipes should call for some amount of salt and if it doesn’t, then I wouldn’t trust it!

As an added bonus, I like to sprinkle a hit of coarse salt over the top of the cookie dough balls either before or after baking.

Tip #3: Measure the Flour Properly

measuring flour by scooping it into a bowl over a scale

One of the most common mistakes in cookie baking, or any baking really, is measuring the flour improperly. If you have a kitchen scale, measure your flour by weight. It is by far the most accurate way to measure.

scooping flour by spoon into a measuring cup
using the back of a knife to scrape off the excess flour

For those who insist on measuring by volume instead of by weight, be sure to learn the proper way to do so. It is so easy to mess up!

The best way to measure flour by volume is to fluff up the flour with a spoon and then lightly spoon it into the measuring cup and level it off.  Do not pack the flour down into the measuring cup.

Making sure you don’t use too much flour in your dough is imperative to your perfect chocolate chip cookie.

Tip #4: Don’t Over-Mix the Flour

Once you get to the point in a cookie recipe where you are adding the flour to the dough, you want to mix as little as possible. This is a crucial point in the cookie making process.

The more the dough is worked once the flour is added, the more the gluten structure will develop. A stronger gluten structure equals tough cookies. You want to minimize this as much as possible.

I suggest adding all of your flour into the bowl and mixing just until the flour is almost incorporated. Then add your chocolate chips and stir those in to combine and finish mixing in the flour. This will help keep your cookie tender and help with the overall texture.

Tip #5: Use Good Quality Chocolate

A variety of quality chocolate for chocolate chip cookies

As I’m sure you know, not all chocolate is created equal. I suggest looking for a high quality chocolate chip or even a chocolate bar to chop up.

My favorite brands of chocolate are Guittard and Ghiradelli. I prefer bittersweet or dark chocolate but semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips are also delicious for a sweeter, creamier type of cookie.

Chocolate chip cookie dough in a bowl

Resting the dough is not called for in every chocolate chip cookie recipe because it’s not always essential.

However, resting your dough (even if the recipe doesn’t call for it) in the refrigerator for 24 hours and up to 72 hours can greatly improve the flavor and texture of your cookies.

This allows the flour to fully absorb all of the moisture in the cookie dough and keeps the flavor developing. If you are able to plan ahead, definitely give this a try!

Chocolate chip cookies being scooped

I have found that a cookie scoop is the best way to achieve cookies that not only bake evenly but also look beautiful! For most of my recipes, I use a 2 tablespoon or 3 tablespoon scoop.

I wouldn’t go much smaller than that as the cookies won’t bake as evenly and can overcook easily.

Tip #8: Don’t Overcrowd the Pan

Chocolate chip cookies on a baking sheet

When baking large cookies, only place 6-8 dough balls on a sheet pan. For small cookies, you can place 9-12 dough balls on a sheet pan.

Leaving enough room on the sheet pan for the cookies to spread out is crucial. If you try to put too many cookies on the pan at once then the cookies will bake more slowly and less evenly.

Tip #9: Add more Chocolate Chips

Chocolate chip cookie dough topped with more chocolate chips before baking

You know when you see pictures of cookies online and they look almost too perfect to be real? Adding a few more chocolate chips to each mound of dough before baking is the secret.

This ensures that you have ample pieces of gooey chocolate on top of each cookie. This is the secret to bakery-worthy professional looking cookies.

Tip #10: Remove from the Oven When Slightly Under-Baked

Chocolate chip cookies warm out of the oven

Most people love a chocolate chip cookie that is a little bit soft in the middle. To achieve this, pull your cookies out of the oven when the edges look crisp but the middles still look slightly underdone.

When the cookies come out of the oven, they are still hot and sitting on a hot pan meaning they will continue cooking slightly even after they are no longer in the oven. The more often you bake, the better you will get a feel for this.