Here's a recipe for classic chocolate chip cookies that are super chewy and salty-sweet, including tips for adapting this recipe with different flours (whole wheat, rye, spelt, and even gluten-free flours like oat, corn, and buckwheat).
Preheat the oven to 400 ºF (200 °C). Line two large sheet pans with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer, cream together the butter, the granulated sugar, and the brown sugar until it's very light and fluffy.
Add the egg and the vanilla, and mix well until the mixture is light and fluffy again. Make sure to clean down the sides of the bowl as needed with a big spatula.
Dump in the whisked dry ingredients, and incorporate them either with the hand mixer on low, or by hand with a big wooden spoon.
Mix in the chocolate. The dough should be quite thick.
Scoop approximately 50 gram portions of the dough, rolling them into balls.
Place 7 cookies per cookie sheet, being sure to space them apart and stagger them.
Bake the cookies one sheet pan at a time until the edges just begin to brown (this takes about 12 to 14 minutes). You might want to rotate the pan partway through the baking to make sure the cookies brown evenly.
Let the cookies cool completely on the sheet pan while you bake the second pan.
Store in an airtight container.
Notes
replace the all-purpose flour with:
whole wheat flour: 190 grams (1.5 cups) whole wheat flour to make whole wheat chocolate chip cookies—note that at 190 grams (1.5 cups) of whole wheat flour, the cookies spread out more than they would with the same weight of all-purpose, but they are still on the thicker side so I don't think you should add more flour than this.
rye flour: 190 grams (1.5 cups) rye flour to make rye chocolate chip cookies (basically replace with the same amount)—any more rye flour makes the cookies too thick and way too chewy, and less rye flour results in a much thinner cookie that spreads out. Also note that chocolate chip cookies made with 100 % rye flour will be quite chewy, even freshly baked.
spelt flour: 220 grams–250 grams (1.75 cups to 2 cups) spelt flour to make spelt chocolate chip cookies— at 250 grams of spelt flour, the freshly baked cookies are quite thick, with a crispy light exterior and a gooey interior. Use just slightly less if you prefer you cookies a little more spread out (so 30 grams or ¼ cup less)
oat flour: 220 grams–250 grams (1.75 cups to 2 cups) oat flour depending on how thick a cookie you want (note you can also replace the chopped chocolate with raisins to make them gluten-free oat flour raisin cookies )
corn flour: 220 grams–250 grams (1.75 cups to 2 cups) corn flour, depending on how thick a cookie you want
buckwheat flour: 310 grams (2.5 cups) buckwheat flour to make gluten-free buckwheat chocolate chip cookies—less works, but the cookies spread quite a bit!
add oats:
add 95 grams (1 cup) of rolled oats, along with peanuts and swapping milk chocolate for dark chocolate to make these thick chewy oatmeal cookies with milk chocolate and peanuts
If you want to add nuts: when you add in the chocolate, also mix in 110 grams (1 cup) chopped nuts like pecans, walnuts, or even peanuts or pistachios.
If you want to add seeds: when you add in the chocolate, also mix in 110 grams (1 cup) sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds.
If you want to add sprinkles: if you want a funfetti chocolate chip cookie or a "birthday cake" style cookie, mix sprinkles in with the cookie dough. I like adding rainbow jimmies to cookie dough.
If you want to add peanut butter: when you cream the butter with the sugars, you can add 125 grams (½ cup) of all-natural peanut butter because the recipe below is VERY similar to this recipe for classic peanut butter cookies.
If you want to change the chocolate: I love to make chocolate chip cookies with chopped dark chocolate that is preferably 70 % cocoa and not too sweet, but you can also use milk chocolate, white chocolate, or a combination of the three. Make sure you stick to the same total quantity of chocolate though. Try adding toffee bits, butterscotch chips, or even peanut butter chips for a completely different flavour.
If you want to replace the chocolate with chopped dried fruit: you can replace the chocolate with raisins, dried cranberries, dried blueberries, dried sour cherries, chopped crystallized ginger, chopped dates, etc. Substitute cup-for-cup, or do a mixture of chocolate and dried fruit. Up to you!
If you want to add in something crazy: take inspiration from Christina Tosi's Milk Bar compost cookie recipe and her compost pound cake and throw in some salty potato chips, chopped pretzels, coffee grinds!
If you want to garnish: you can't go wrong with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt which will help balance out the sweetness of the cookie dough.