How to Bake Soft, Moist Chocolate Chip Cookies

Some people love flat, chewy chocolate chip cookies. Others would rather have soft, moist cookies. Unfortunately it's all too easy to bake chocolate chip cookies that are thin and crunchy when you don't want to. How do you ensure they always come out soft, thick, and moist?

Your cookies need a high moisture content. Brown sugar contributes much of the moisture, while flour helps keep the moisture from evaporating while the cookies bake. You need to make sure you measure the brown sugar and flour properly. Don't scoop the flour out of the bag; you don't want to pack it down like that. Stir up the flour before spooning it into a measuring cup, then scrape off the excess. With brown sugar, pack it into the measuring cup tightly. You don't have to pack white sugar; scooping it is fine.

The kind of fat you use can affect the quality of the cookie. Fat refers to butter, margarine, or shortening. Although shortening can help keep a cookie from spreading flat as it bakes, margarine and low-fat butter are poor choices. They contain too much water, which can cause cookies to spread more. Use real butter or shortening.

Chill the cookie dough and only drop spoonfuls of it on a cool baking sheet. If the baking sheet is hot, the cookie dough will immediately start spreading before it has time to retain its shape during the baking process. Give the baking sheet time to cool down between each batch.

Don't bake the cookies too long. You might even want to try increasing the temperature slightly and baking the cookies for a shorter amount of time. When the edges are brown and 1/3 of each cookie is still pale, take them out.