These crispy, rippled Pan-Banging Chocolate Chip cookies are everything you want in a chocolate chip cookie. They’re perfect for holidays and cookie platters, but easy enough to make any time you’re craving a sweet treat.
Tara and I have been baking together for years and just recently stumbled upon our new favorite way to make chocolate chip cookies.
Pan-Banging Chocolate Chip Cookies were created and made famous by Sarah Kieffer of The Vanilla Bean Blog.
While we are using our own chocolate chip cookie recipe, we’re relying on the pan-banging method she popularized to transform these cookies into rippling discs of chocolatey goodness.
The cookies are banged in the pan while still in the oven and the results are crisp golden edges with soft, chocolatey centers.
These chocolate chip pan-banged cookies make the perfect addition to holiday cookie platters along with oatmeal raisin pecan cookies, pignoli cookies, lemon ricotta cookies, and linzer tart cookies, to name a few.
They’re also the perfect cookies to stuff with ice cream and make homemade cookie ice cream sandwiches!
If you’re looking for a heartier chocolate chip cookie, try my Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies!
Table of Contents
Recipe Ingredients
All ingredients for this recipe are shown in the pic below and special notes are made in this bulleted list to assist you.
- Flour. I used King Arthur’s All-Purpose flour and do so for most of our cookie recipes. As far as flour goes, it has a medium protein content giving it a good balanced chew. You can make these cookies with bread flour, though you might not be able to get ripples in the cookies due to the strength of the dough.
- Granulated sugar. For sweetness and since it’s dry, it helps the cookies to spread.
- Light brown sugar. For sweetness, and moisture.
- Butter. Unsalted and at room temperature.
- Eggs. 2 large eggs at room temperature.
- Chocolate chips. I used semi-sweet chocolate chips for these pan-banging chocolate chip cookies, but you can use dark or milk chocolate, or a combination if preferred.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to make it
Each number corresponds to the numbered written steps below.
- Preheat the oven to 375f and set the rack to the middle level. Line 4 half-sheet pans with parchment paper. In a small bowl combine ~2 1/4 cups (300g) of all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder, and 1 teaspoon of fine sea salt and set aside. (Photo #1)
- In a large bowl use a hand mixer (or break out the KitchenAid if you like) on medium speed to cream together 2 sticks (226g) of unsalted room temperature butter, 1 cup (213g) of packed light brown sugar, 3/4 cup (150g) of granulated sugar, and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract until smooth. (Photo #2)
- Add 2 large room-temperature eggs to the creamed butter mixture and beat on medium speed until smooth. (Photo #3)
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and continue to beat on low-medium speed until combined. Add 2 cups (320g) of semisweet chocolate chips and mix with a spoon or spatula until evenly distributed. (Photo #4)
- Using a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop, spread 8-10 balls of cookie dough onto the lined cookie sheet placed 3-4 inches apart. (Photo #5)
- Bake the cookies for 7-9 minutes or until the edges turn lightly brown. To make the “pan-banged” rippled appearance, open the oven after the first 3 minutes of baking and bang the pan against the rack or another flat surface such as a wood cutting board a few times to form ripples. Repeat 1 more time during the baking process and one last time after removing the cookies from the oven. After removing from the oven, wait 3 minutes before moving the cookies to a wire rack to cool. Repeat the process until all cookies are baked. (Photo #6) Enjoy!
Top tips
- Use a cookie scoop. Using a cookie scoop will help provide relatively uniform-sized cookies. A cookie scoop also has a spring release making it very easy to drop the cookies from the spoon onto the pan.
- Pan-banging technique. I found that removing the cookies from the oven and banging them on a hard surface, like a wood cutting board, yields better results than just banging them on the rack in the oven. Simply remove the cookies from the oven, give them a few bangs, then return to the oven.
- Flour. King Arthur all-purpose flour is an 11.7% protein flour which is pretty high for an all-purpose flour. The ripples turned out fine with this flour, though many other brands of all-purpose flour will be around 10%. A lower protein flour works better at forming the ripples, so keep that in mind when banging your cookies!
- Use room-temperature butter and eggs. I’m often asked if the temperature of ingredients is important. Most of the time, if we’ve indicated an ingredient should be cold, melted, or at room temperature, it’s for good reason. In this case, the butter and eggs should be at room temperature. This enables them to bond together and emulsify yielding a more uniform textured batter.
More cookie recipes
Here are a few more of our favorite cookie recipes. These are all great for the holidays or anytime you’re craving something sweet!
- Snickerdoodles – soft and fluffy cookies with cinnamon and sugar.
- Almond biscotti – dipped in dark chocolate.
- Snowball cookies – with walnuts and powdered sugar.
- Regina cookies – with lemon and sesame seeds.
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Pan Banging Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 sticks (226.8g) unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 1/4 cups (300g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 packed cup (213g) light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 2 cups (320g) semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375f and set the rack to the middle level. Line 4 half-sheet pans with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, combine the salt, flour, baking powder, and baking soda and set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream the sugar, butter, and vanilla until smooth.
- Add the eggs to the cream mixture and beat until smooth.
- Mix the contents of the small bowl into the large bowl until combined.
- Add the chocolate chips and mix well to distribute.
- Using a cookie scoop, spread out 8-10 balls of cookie dough. Bake for 7-9 minutes or until the edges turn lightly brown. To make the "pan-banged" cookie appearance, open the oven after 3 minutes and bang the pan against the rack a few times to form ripples. Repeat 1 more time during baking, and one last time after removing the cookies from the oven.
- After removing from the oven, wait 3 minutes then the place cookies onto a wire rack to cool. Enjoy!
Notes
- A ~1 tablespoon ball from a standard cookie scoop will make a small cookie, a 2 tablespoon ball will make a medium-sized cookie, and 3 tablespoon balls will produce extra large cookies.
- Banging the cookies on a hard surface like a cutting board works better than using the rack of the oven. Simply remove the sheets and bang a few times on a hard surface and return to the oven.
- Baking time will change slightly based on the size, but cook until the sides just start to turn golden brown.
- This recipe was written for a conventional oven. For convection ovens, reduce the temperature by 25 degrees and begin checking for doneness at the 75% mark.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Always perfect!!
I’m waiting for your cookbook!!!
Every recipe I use of yours is yummy.
I have never made one of your recipes I would not give a 5 star rating.
Love your interaction with your wife and kids. Merry Christmas!
Hi Liz, we’re so happy you’re enjoying the recipes! Thanks for the comment and Merry Christmas to you too!