Original Perfect American Cookies Recipe. All the Secrets
This year, the trend in the food world, from after summer onwards, has been the American chocolate chip cookies (Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies), I got curious about their success and finally – after various tests that didn’t completely satisfy me – I found the definitive original recipe for real American chocolate chip cookies, these cookies are the best I’ve ever tried, they are truly irresistible: soft and chewy like American ones.
Actually, chewy literally translates to “gummy,” but it almost sounds like a negative adjective. However, in this case, it means these American cookies are crispy outside and velvety soft inside, they melt in your mouth.
I confess that the dough is so good, I was finishing it raw, the best chocolate chip cookies ever! Search no more. I assure you this is the perfect recipe for American cookies, follow me step by step and you can’t go wrong.
These homemade American cookies are delicious all year round, but they are also ideal to give as a homemade Christmas gift.
I’ll give you two secrets essential for the success of these cookies:
1) Once ready, the dough must rest in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, this way the cookies won’t flatten during baking;
2) The cookies should be formed not as balls, but as small towers, barrels (see photo in the procedure) so they don’t thin out during baking and take on the shape of classic American cookies with slightly wrinkled thick grooves.
They disappear in a flash, one leads to another.
If you’re looking for cookie recipes (sweet or savory), click on my Special: “Cookies“
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 40 Minutes
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 13 Pieces
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: American
- Seasonality: All seasons, Christmas
Ingredients for the American Cookies
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I use Caputo blue)
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 3/4 cup butter (quality, melted and unsalted)
- 3/4 cup brown sugar (light Demerara)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg (whole)
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp fine salt
- 1 1/4 cups dark chocolate chips (quality)
Tools
- Stand Mixer kenwood with illuminated bowl and 1400 W power
- Parchment paper
- Baking sheet micro-perforated
Steps for American Cookies
Melt the butter in a double boiler.
The eggs must be at room temperature
Take a bowl and mix together the flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt. Set aside.
In the stand mixer’s bowl (but you can also do everything by hand), with the paddle attachment, mix together the pre-melted and cooled butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until no lumps remain (for a few minutes).
Add the whole egg and then the yolk and vanilla extract, then also add the dry ingredient mixture and mix again with the paddle attachment (or by hand). Finally, incorporate the chocolate chips, working the dough until they are well incorporated.
The dough anyway should not be worked for too long, it will take a maximum of 5 minutes in total, they should not incorporate too much air.
Form a ball, cover the dough well and cool it in the refrigerator for at least 2-3 hours, better yet if overnight. This is a crucial step that cannot be skipped and a secret for the success of real American cookies.
Then remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it soften at room temperature for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 340°F. Line a baking sheet (preferably micro-perforated) with parchment paper or silicone micro-perforated mats. Set aside.
Form balls of about 50 g each and then roll them between your hands developing height, forming almost cylinders (like towers or barrels) as in the photo below, this secret will prevent the cookies from flattening too much during baking.
Place the cookies spaced apart on the prepared baking sheet (I spaced 12, see photo below).
With these doses you get about 12-13 cookies (I don’t like them too small) and place the tray back in the fridge for about 10 minutes, to stabilize the given shape.I also tried making a double batch, yielding about 50 cookies: 34 cookies of about 30 g each + 16 cookies with 50 g of dough each.
Then bake the cookies in the oven for about 12-13 minutes, they should not bake too long otherwise they harden, they should be only slightly golden.
Do not worry if, once out of the oven, the cookies seem very soft, because the cookies will continue to solidify as they cool. Let cool on the tray for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, press some extra chocolate chips on top of the still warm cookies (they will look nicer aesthetically). While they are still warm, with a teaspoon you can adjust them by highlighting the grooves more (see photo below), finally wait until they are completely cooled.
American cookies stay fresh up to 10 days if stored at room temperature, in food bags or special cookie boxes.
Notes and Tips
If you need to bake several trays of cookies, NEVER place the cookies on hot trays, let the trays cool to room temperature first or use another cold tray.
They are ideal cookies to prepare between Christmas and Epiphany, also as DIY Christmas gifts or to put in the Befana’s stocking, properly packaged, but they are so good that I make them very often throughout the year, not by chance this cookie recipe is a real success, among the most viewed on my Blog!
They are ideal cookies to prepare between Christmas and Epiphany, also as DIY Christmas gifts or to put in the Befana’s stocking, properly packaged, but they are so good that I make them very often throughout the year, not by chance this cookie recipe is a real success, among the most viewed on my Blog!
Shopping Tips!!!
To knead perfectly and with convenience, I often use my Kenwood Titanium Chef Patissier XL stand mixer with illuminated 7L bowl, integrated scale, and blender with 1400W power, a faithful kitchen ally for: kneading, weighing, whipping, melting chocolate, pasteurizing eggs.
If, instead, you’re looking for a more economical and smaller stand mixer model, you can safely choose to buy Kenwood Titanium Chef Baker, with double bowl 5L and 3.5L, 1200W power.
You can find both mixers on Amazon, at a special price.
Cookies in general, bake perfectly on micro-perforated baking trays covered with micro-perforated silicone mats.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
Can you freeze the American cookie dough?
After you have cooled the dough in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, shape the cookies into barrels (see procedure above). Place them separated on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and put them back in the refrigerator for 1 hour. This will set the shape of the cookies and prevent them from sticking together, then transfer the cookies to a container or food bag, at this point it doesn’t matter if they touch each other, as the shape is now set and store them in the freezer (they can last up to 3 months).
When you want, take the cookies from the freezer you want to eat and bake them directly frozen in a preheated oven at 340°F for about 15 minutes (it takes a few more minutes because they are frozen).
This way you will always have a spare dessert, ready to be eaten, for sudden cravings for comfort food or last-minute guests.
