When it comes to the chocolate chip cookie, it doesn't take much to achieve face-melting levels of deliciousness. After all, it's a dessert that tastes pretty amazing even when made with the recipe on the bag of chocolate chips. But that doesn't mean that you should be content with mere excellence. Fact is, since these cookies start out brilliant, you only need one or two simple tricks to make them even better—and customize them to suit your taste.
Here are our seven favorite ways to gild the chocolate-chip-cookie lily:
1. Brown your butter
Most chocolate chip cookie recipes start by creaming softened butter with sugar. But what happens when you brown the butter until golden brown and let it cool until solid before blending it with the sugar? You get nutty depth that works perfectly with the cookies' butterscotch flavor. And that's a good thing.
2. Whisk coffee grounds or espresso powder into the flour
Almost every chocolate chip cookie recipe calls for whisking together the dry ingredients—and that's the perfect opportunity to add a little coffee to the mix. Just add a teaspoon or two of freshly ground coffee or instant espresso powder, and you'll score amazing mocha notes.
Photo by Linda Pugliese, food styling by Chelsea Zimmer
3. Use hand-chopped chunks, not chips
Sure, you can buy chunks of chocolate and fold them in instead. But why deprive yourself of the joy of random large and small bits of chocolate running through your cookie? Chopping it yourself creates a range of sizes, and that means surprise in every bite.
4. Stir crunchy cereal into the dough
When you think about it, cereal and chocolate chip cookies already have plenty in common: They're both best with plenty of milk. Take that affinity even further by folding a handful of your favorite crunchy cereal into the dough. You'll get a great dose of crunchy-chewy texture, along with the flavors of the cereal you choose. (Pro tip: crispy rice cereal wins.)
