Crumbl Cookies' Founders Share Secrets For The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie - Exclusive

At Crumbl Cookies, wildly creative and indulgent cookie flavors are the norm. From week to week, customers can pop in for a rotating selection of imaginative treats, from Chilled Cookie and Cream Milkshake cookies, to Peach Cobbler cookies, Key Lime Pie cookies, and everything you can imagine in between (via Crumbl Cookies).

Nearly 200 flavors later, it might be hard to believe that the cookie that started it all for Crumbl was the humble chocolate chip. As Crumbl's founders, Jason McGowan and Sawyer Hemsley, explained to Mashed, the recipe took months of trial and error to perfect. But all the tweaks and taste tests clearly paid off. "We like to say we taste tested our way to the best chocolate chip cookie in the world." And to this today, the founders say chocolate chip is still the top selling cookie flavor at Crumbl.

Now, the resident experts in chocolate chip are sharing their hard-earned secrets for baking a perfect batch of cookies every time. In an exclusive interview with Mashed, McGowan and Hemsley revealed their best tips and tricks for making melt-in-your mouth chocolate chip cookies right at home.

McGowan and Hemsley would be the first to admit that "there's a lot of mistakes that can be made" when it comes to making chocolate chip cookies — probably because they've made all those mistakes themselves at one point. But they've learned a few simple things to keep in mind that will help any level of baker in the kitchen. "The most important thing is what you do with your butter ... it all starts with that very basic butter and mixing process," Hemsley said, adding that "whether you soften it, cut it in cubes, put it in cold, will affect the outcome of your bake. And then also how much you whip your butter and sugar together, whether it's overly whipped and light and fluffy or not as whipped, those will affect your bake."

Whatever you do, Crumbl's founders say there's one important adage to keep in mind. "When in doubt, scrape it out. That's our motto at Crumbl." Basically, make sure you "get underneath the paddle" of your mixing bowl, and make sure every ounce of your ingredients gets incorporated into your dough. And while we're on the subject, it is worth noting that there is such a thing as too much mixing, and McGowan and Hemsley warned, "make sure that you don't over mix your dough at the end because that can make your cookies dense."

Chocolate chip cookies are obviously not complete without their star ingredient. But according to Crumbl Cookies' founders, when you add chocolate chips to your dough can make a big difference in how your cookies turn out. Most chocolate chip cookie recipes instruct bakers to add chocolate chips at the very end of the mixing process, right before the dough is scooped out onto a baking sheet. But apparently, Crumbl's founders have their own secret trick, and they agreed to "let that one cat out of the bag." They said: "Don't wait until the end to add your chocolate chips. Add your chocolate chips a couple seconds after you start mixing your flour ... and then finish your mix." We're not totally sure why this trick works so well, but we're not here to question the experts who claim to make the best chocolate chip cookie money can buy.

You can find your nearest location on the Crumbl website, and keep up with the viral cookie company by following them on TikTok.