If you love Tate’s thin and crispy chocolate chip cookies you’re absolutely going to flip for this recipe. The cookies bake up super crisp and buttery, it’s nearly impossible to eat just one!
thin and crispy chocolate chip cookies are a new favorite
What’s your chocolate chip cookie style? Do you love them soft and plush, or are you a classic chocolate chip fan all the way? I think if most of us are honest we’d take them any which way, although thin and crispy is on my radar ever since I casually grabbed a bag of Tate’s last week at the supermarket. Thin and crispy cookies rock! They’re so light you (almost) don’t feel guilty downing an extra one or two. I’m so glad I nailed this recipe because mine are even better than the commercial variety.
“These might be the best chocolate chip cookies I have made. They also look exactly like the Tate’s cookies. I’m in cookie heaven. Just sayin’!“
Marsha
what makes a cookie thin and crispy?
Most of the time, I’m going for a nice chew factor in my cookies, like my Favorite Chewy Ginger Cookies or my Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies. But here the goal is crispy all the way through. How to achieve that? The basic answer is that thin crispy cookies have a higher proportion of butter and sugar than regular cookies. This allows them to spread out while baking and develop that crunchy texture. They get even crispier as they cool.
If you google thin and crispy chocolate chip cookies you should immediately switch to ‘image’ search, because that’s where you’ll be able to distinguish the winners from the losers. Pass on anything that looks pale or ‘puffed’. Follow the cookies that look flat, golden, and slightly wrinkly around the edges (like these!) That signals the real deal.
ingredients you’ll need
The ingredient list will look familiar because it’s basically the same for most chocolate chip cookies. The difference here will be in the proportions.
- butter
- sugar, both granulated and brown
- flour
- egg
- chocolate chips
- baking soda
- salt
- cinnamon
- vanilla extract
tips for baking Tate’s style crispy chocolate chip cookies
Since this recipe is all about achieving a very specific texture, the details count. Here are my most important tips for success…
- Be precise, don’t be tempted to mess with the ingredients or amounts. The ratio of butter and sugar to the rest of the ingredients is what makes for a cookie that spreads in the oven to a thin, crisp texture.
- Line your baking sheets with parchment paper so these cookies don’t get stuck to your pan.
- Keep to the written size for these cookies (about 1 heaping tablespoon of dough). It may seems like a fairly small amount of dough, but they’ll spread quite a bit in the oven, achieving the perfect thin and crispy result. If you use more dough they will take longer to cook and you will get a chewier cookie ~ still good, but not what we’re going for here.
- Give the cookies space on the baking sheet, they need plenty of room to spread. I could only fit 5-6 cookies at a time on my pan.
- I bake these one pan at a time, which helps the cookies bake evenly.
- Cookies are notoriously finicky, so be sure your oven is at the correct temperature, most of ours are not properly calibrated, so get an inexpensive oven thermometer to be sure.
- Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before attempting to move them, they will be very soft when they are first out of the oven but will crisp up as they cool.
- Wait until the cookies are fully cool before packaging them. These cookies keep their ‘crisp’ well, but be sure to let them cool completely before storing away.
- If you want to make the dough ahead, be sure to let it come to room temperature before baking. If the dough is chilled it won’t spread as well.
so which is better, Tate’s or my cookies?
I have the utmost respect for Tate’s, and in fact our ingredient lists are exactly the same. But if you love to bake, these homemade cookies make sense on a few different levels. First, even though I don’t have the mental energy right now to calculate the details, it is more economical to make a fresh batch of these cookies than to buy 12 for around $6. Second, the flavor of homemade cookies always trumps store-bought, no matter how good they are. And once you’ve mastered the recipe, you can have them any time you want, and you can customize them in all sorts of ways. I’m planning to tackle Tate’s coconut crisps next 🙂
let’s fill that cookie jar
- Classic Peanut Butter Cookies
- Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Favorite Chewy Ginger Cookies
- Maple Glazed Oatmeal Cookies
- Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
- Acorn Meringue Cookies!
- Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies
Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- baking sheet
- parchment paper
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, Soft butter is important for these cookies to spread properly. See my post on How to Bring Cold ingredients to Room Temperature for tips.
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour, Measure your flour carefully, too much flour will result in chewier cookies. First fluff your flour, then scoop it into your measuring cup, then level it off with the back of a knife.
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Note: the parchment paper is important for preventing sticking, and getting the right texture in these cookies. Don't substitute silicone mats.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or with electric beaters, cream together the butter and sugars until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.
- Add the egg and vanilla to the butter mixture, and mix until well combined.
- Add the flour to the bowl in two batches, mixing after each addition just until everything is combined. Add the chocolate chips, and mix briefly once more to incorporate them evenly.
- Scoop the cookie dough into balls a little more than 1 tablespoon, and roll them into a ball. Space them evenly on your cookie sheet, leaving about 2-3 inches between each cookie to allow for spreading in the oven.
- Bake for about 14-15 minutes until the cookies are a rich golden brown.
- Allow to partially cool on the baking sheet, they will be very soft when they come out of the oven but will crisp up as they cool. Then transfer to a baking rack to completely cool.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing recipe with us!! Just made these cookies today and they taste just like Tates’ cookies!! They’re so crispy, airy, delicious, super easy to make, and dangerously addictive ??? I reduced the amount of white sugar by 1/4, and scooped the cookie dough into balls using a teaspoon. They’re just perfect ??
I’ve tried a LOT of flat crispy cookie recipes and this one is by far the best. I bit into one and said out loud to myself “oh my god???” Id give it 6 stars if I could. And yes, it tastes identical to tates!
I followed this recipe exactly. The cookies taste good but did not spread and have the correct texture. So I experimented with it in some different ways. I tried making the cookie smaller. Still not quite right. So I decided to use the smaller size scoop and turn the oven down to 325. Still left them in between 10:00 and 12 minutes. So far that worked the best. I will try this recipe again.
This recipe was exactly as stated. They definitely taste like Tates. The only thing I would change is dropping the size of the cookie down to teaspoon instead of tablespoon. They spread too much that I had to cut them apart before they cooled. Other than that they were delicious!
Tried baking this today and turned out great! we love them. Can i cut down on the sugar to make it less sweet?
So so good! My boyfriend loves thin and crispy cookies. Pretty sure he fell in love with me because of them. I was using a modified recipe for the last 2 years, which was always a pain and required a lot of guesswork with varying successes. FINALLY I decided to try something different and I am so glad I did. These are foolproof, so quick and easy, and way better than anything I had managed to make before. Incredible. Just incredible
So, I made these and thought the overall flavor was good but with a very baking-soda-like aftertaste. But I brought them to the event I made them for because it was too late to make anything else! I found out there that my opinion is unpopular. Everyone adored them. I had people approaching me as I tried to leave with my dish to ask if there were any left and if they could have one more. All but a few cookies of a double batch disappeared.
So definitely try this recipe. Apparently 99 out of 100 people love it!
I’m happy about the 99% ~ but if you’re sensitive to baking soda you could use less soda, or mix with baking powder next time. It also could be that the cookie(s) you ate had some clumps of baking soda in them, which can happen if it doesn’t get really well whisked into the dry ingredients. Some people like to sift it for that reason.
Thanks so much! I think I may just be sensitive to it. My husband said he wouldn’t have classified the flavor as baking soda if I hadn’t said anything. He said he actually thinks that kind of salty flavor with a slight “bite” is what everyone loves about it. So I wouldn’t change a thing about it! People were seriously raving. I wouldn’t mess with a good thing!
The best recipe ever for America’s treasured cookie….but much more than that the cookie batter has become a magnet for seeing my grandkids. I make the batter at home, put it in a zip lock and magically, they find time to mold them and secretly add a few more chips here and there and bake them…this is as good as it gets in the ” baking together” adventure and greatly cherish the moments being part of their busy schedule.