Andrew Zimmern: We Asked 5 Celebrity Chefs To Share Their Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Can we just…eat them all?

You’d think there would only be a few ways to bake chocolate chip cookies—but ask five celebrity chefs, and you’ll get five totally different answers. No, really:

For Iron Chef and restaurateur Geoffrey Zakarian, he had his two daughters (Madeline and Anna) do the work, sharing their secret ingredient: brown sugar. For Restaurateur and owner of Millie Peartree Catering Millie Peartree, she goes for quick-cooking oats to get a chewier consistency, while four-time James Beard Award-winning chef Andrew Zimmern uses corn syrup, sugar, and brown sugar to create a crispy cookie. Meanwhile, executive chef and restaurateur Judy Joo aspires for the gigantic Levain-style cookies by making gooey-cakey cookies. Finally, Former Man v. Food host and chef Adam Richman doesn’t mess around with classics and makes the recipe straight off the Toll House cookie bag—no, really.

Andrew Zimmern

ALLIE FOLINO

Andrew has a few recipes he could share, but he chose his family’s favorite recipe: a crunchy, chewy, caramelized cookie. “This is the recipe that I make—not for me—but for my family because it’s the one they love; especially my son,” Andrew said. “I tend to get really crafty and oblique with chocolate chip cookies, but this recipe is tried and true.”

To get the crisp cookie his family loves, he adds sugar, brown sugar, and corn syrup. When the different sweeteners melt and caramelize, it adds layers of crispness. “The corn syrup makes sure there’s chewiness in there.”

Andrew finishes the cookies off with bitter-sweet chocolate (but highly recommends taking your favorite chocolate bar and breaking it off into your dough) and pecans. “I love ’em. Sorry, walnut people,” Andrew joked.

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