Living Wildly Well

🍪 Save these tips and thank me later when Santa leaves you extra presents. 😘🎅🍪✨

My favorite chocolate chip recipe is the good, old fashioned, simple Nestle Tollhouse recipe. It reminds me of childhood and I don’t have to get fancy to make a cookie that I really enjoy.

Ever wonder why two people can follow the exact same recipe and still get totally different cookies? It all comes down to a few tiny baking tweaks that make a huge difference.

🧈 Properly Creaming Your Butter

What does this even mean, and how could it possibly matter? Well, when done right, the sharp edges of the sugar crystals cut into the butter and create tiny air pockets. In the oven, those air pockets expand with steam and CO₂, resulting in fluffier cookies.

Don’t melt your butter! Too cold? Won’t cream. Too warm? Won’t cream. The perfectbutter temp is 65–68°F (yes, I looked it up! 😂). You can do this by hand, but it’s much easier with a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Run it for 3–5 minutes until the sugar looks melded into the butter. It should not look sandy anymore but shouldn’t be super fluffy either.

🍰 Hydrate the Dough

If you throw your cookies into the oven immediately, they will spread. If you want them to be taller and cake-y-er, chewier, let the dough rest and hydrate for at least an hour, overnight is better. The sugar and flour hydrate, the flavors meld, and the gluten relaxes. It’s like resting a bread dough. Or if you can’t wait, bake a half a dozen now, and throw a half sheet tray into the refrigerator, covered and bake the rest tomorrow! 

🍪 Shape Matters

Tip two for tall, bakery-style cookies, drop your dough in ball shapes and leave them alone. If you prefer cookies that spread more, like me, give them a gentle smoosh before baking.

🔥 Don’t Open the Oven!

Every time you open the oven, you let out heat and mess with the temperature. Instead, turn on the light and peek through the window. Trust me—it makes a difference.

⏲️ Underbake Slightly

Take your cookies out when they’re just barely set in the middle. The residual heat will finish baking them, leaving you with soft, chewy perfection.

🍬 Bonus Tip for Toffee Lovers

For a toffee-like crunch in your chocolate chip cookies, reduce the brown sugar slightly and stir in crushed toffee when you add the chocolate chips at the end. 

If the pieces are small enough, most people won’t even notice—they’ll just get that perfect caramelized crunch.

Do you have a baking secret of your own? Drop it in the comments below, and don’t forget to save this post for your next cookie session! 🍪✨ Let me know if you want to see more baking tips!