Martha Stewart's Most Popular Cookie is Soft, Chewy, Chocolatey—and Super Simple
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Martha Stewart and her chocolate chip cookies
The quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie seems never-ending. And tastes, of course, vary widely. It seems the internet is in a constant cookie conundrum: the battle over thin, thick, chewy or crispy cookies dominates the comments sections of recipes, social media and Reddit (take a trip down a r/chocolatechipcookies/ or r/baking rabbit hole and you'll see what we mean).
It’s tough to find a universal cookie that suits all tastebuds, but Martha Stewart gives it a try with her Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies, which have a 3.8-star rating and 350 reviews, most of which are raving about how good these treats are. With all of that goodwill, we knew we had to give the recipe a try. Here's what happened when we baked up a batch.
Get the Recipe: Martha Stewart's Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients for Martha Stewart’s Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
For this recipe, you’ll need butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, kosher salt, vanilla, baking soda, flour, eggs and chocolate chips, of course. Also, grab a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat and a stand (or hand) mixer.
Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel
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How to make Martha Stewart’s Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Preheat your oven to 350°. Martha says to whisk the salt and flour in a separate bowl first before moving on to cream the sugars and butter with the paddle attachment on a KitchenAid. Add in the eggs, vanilla and salt and mix to combine, then add in the dry ingredients before adding in the chocolate chips.
Because I’m a slight rebel in the kitchen, I creamed my butter and sugars in a bowl using a hand mixer first, then added the eggs, vanilla and salt and then topped with my flour, salt and baking soda (if I can use one bowl instead of two, I always will). Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, then cool on the baking sheet for 1 to 2 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. And get ready for the best mid-day treat: "I promptly poured myself a glass of milk and tried not to eat a dozen 😊" said one reviewer.
Where I didn’t skimp on the directions was the spacing of my cookies. Instead of cramming 12 dough balls onto my parchment-lined sheet, I listened to Martha and only baked six at a time. I'm glad I did—the cookies were perfectly rounded and didn’t bake together into one giant cookie (which is delicious, sure, but not the goal here).
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What I thought of Martha Stewart’s Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
These cookies differ slightly from Martha's other recipes for chocolate chip cookies: the Thin and Crisp Chocolate Chip Cookies and the Cakey Chocolate Chip Cookies. The major differences come down to the amount of butter and sugar in the recipe. The more brown sugar, the chewier the cookie will be; the more granulated sugar and butter, the crispier the cookie will be.
Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel
My number one go-to for chocolate chip cookies is Julia Moskin's adaptation of The Vanilla Bean Blog's Pan-Banging Chocolate Chip Cookies (and those are tough to top in terms of perfection, both in the cookie world and just otherwise). However, these were a very close second place—chewy on the inside from the brown sugar, slightly crispy at the edges and perfectly browned on the bottom. They had just the right amount of chocolate chips sprinkled throughout, which melted into ooey gooey delightful little bites straight from the oven.
The only thing that would have made these cookies even better would have been the addition of a super high-quality chocolate, like Valrhona in the form of fèves, or discs. I didn’t have any on hand but semi-sweet chips did the trick just fine. So I could try a range of textures, I underbaked one batch and overbaked another. Both batches were buttery, chocolatey and really just the best treat alongside an afternoon cup of coffee on a frigid winter's day.
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Tips for making Martha Stewart’s Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Read the comments section. Bakers take their cookies very seriously, and most don't shy away from sharing their genius tips with others for a perfect dozen. Commenters on this particular recipe noted that if you only have salted butter, that's fine, but remember to cut the salt in the recipe in half. Others noted that adding in chopped pecans gave the cookies a pleasant texture and another commented "It is a very forgiving recipe. It even allows for variations and my own imagination with ingredients." So go ahead and use some creative liberties!
Adjust the ingredients to your liking. Martha doesn't specify whether to use light or brown sugar in this recipe, and while the two are generally interchangeable, keep in mind for your own personal preference using dark brown sugar will yield cookies with a deeper caramel flavor that are slightly puffier (due to the extra molasses reacting with the baking soda). I used light brown because that's what I had on hand, but next time, I'll be using dark brown sugar and experimenting with some brown butter too.
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