Crispy crunchy mini chocolate chip cookies with an amazing toffee aroma you will absolutely love. Every mini bite of these chocolate chip cookies will leave you begging for more! No kidding!
I have tried A LOT of different recipes for copycat Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies this past one year. They were all good in their own ways, but I felt like something was missing, until this last batch that I’ve tried I feel like the texture and the aroma are the closest to the original Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies. In fact, I may like them even more than the original Famous Amos? LOL. My daughter absolutely loves this copycat Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies.
What are Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies?
Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies are invented by Wally Amos. He enjoyed baking chocolate chip cookies using a modified version of his Aunt Della’s recipe. The cookies are characterized by their small size, crunchy texture, and amazing molasses and toffee aroma to them. The fact that they are mini in size, it’s hard to stop eating just a few of them. You want to eat the entire batch! LOL!
Ingredients
If you look at the ingredient list on Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies, these are what they use:
Enriched Wheat Flour, Semisweet Chocolate Chips, Sugar, Vegetable Oil, Contains 2% or Less of Molasses, Salt, Eggs, Baking Soda, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Whey.
Here are the ingredients I used. They aren’t exactly the same as what Famous Amos has. They did not use butter and brown sugar, but there are molasses and other artificial flavors and whey in their ingredients.
1. Butter
I used unsalted butter. The butter needs to be soft at room temperature
2. Light brown sugar
Brown sugar gives a nice molasses aroma without having to add molasses
3. Salt
A pinch of salt definitely bring out the overall aroma in the cookies
4. Vanilla extract
5. Egg
6. All-purpose flour
The all-purpose flour I use has a gluten content of 10-11%
7. Cornstarch
Cornstarch helps to give cookies that nice crumbs without falling apart
8. Baking powder
This is one of the leavening agents in this recipe
9. Baking soda
Baking soda is also added not only to leaven the cookies, but it gives the cookies that airy and crunchy texture that baking powder alone won’t be able to achieve. The baking soda also works together with the acidic brown sugar that we use in the recipe
10. Oil
A little bit of oil in a cookie recipe also gives the cookies that crunchy texture. You don’t want a lot of oil but using it together with butter gives a great result
11. Semi-sweet chocolate chips
I would personally go for 1/2 dark and 1/2 semi-sweet chocolate chips, simply because I’m a dark chocolate person. But since Famous Amos uses semi-sweet chocolate chips, I would stick with semi-sweet chocolate chips
12. Instant coffee powder
I don’t know if I can say this, but instant coffee is the “secret” ingredient in this recipe that gives this Famous Amos cookies that distinct “toffee-ish / caramel-ish” aroma that I really love. I strongly suggest not to omit this for real!
How to make copycat Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies at home
1. You don’t need a mixer to prepare the cookie dough. Mash the softened butter with a rubber spatula
2. Then add the room-temperature egg and mix again until combined. Add the instant coffee mixture and vanilla extract and mix again
3. Sift the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Add oil. Use a spatula to start mixing. The mixture will still be dry at first. Just keep mixing and when you get a rough dough, meaning you still see some flour here and there
4. Fold in the chocolate chips and continue to mix into a dough. It will be sticky
5. Cover and refrigerate the cookie dough for at least 1 hour. If you can do it overnight, that’s even better because the flavor gets even better (I know waiting can be a pain, but this is worth waiting). They can be kept in the fridge for 3-4 days
6. Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C) for a conventional oven. For convection oven, lower the temperature by 20 F or 15 C. Scoop about 8 grams of the cookie dough and roll it into a round ball and put them about 1/2-inch apart as it will spread some during baking. If the cookie dough has gotten soft after all the handling, put the whole tray in the freezer again for 15 minutes before baking. This helps to prevent the cookies from spreading too much
7. I suggest baking one tray at a time. Put the baking sheet on the middle rack. Bake for 20 minutes for a lighter color pan and about 15 minutes for a darker color pan. Let the cookies cool down on the rack for 5 minutes and then remove and cool down completely at a cooling rack. The cookies may look soft at first but will crisp up once cooled down
Look at the airy crumb texture at the back of the cookie. These copycat Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies are seriously crunchy and airy with a deep intense aroma you will love!
My little experiment for crunchy Famous Amos cookies that stays crispy
1. The sugar
Famous Amos cookies with all brown sugar: Crunchy on the same day, maybe less crunchy the next day (especially if it’s humid where you are. They stay crispy for days in the winter weather where I am). The best flavor hands down.
Famous Amos cookies with all white sugar: Crunchy on the same day and the next day. The flavor is my least favorite. My family is not fond of Famous Amos cookies made with all white sugar. I would not recommend using all white sugar.
Famous Amos cookies with half brown sugar, half white sugar: Crunchy on the same day and the next day. The flavor was a bit better compared to using only all-white sugar, but my daughter could tell immediately that it was still not as good as the one using all brown sugar
2. Baking temperature
All three varieties I mentioned above were baked at 320 F (160 C) for 15 minutes and 20 minutes with my conventional oven, one tray at a time, and were crunchy, but when I presented the cookies baked at 350 F (180 C) for 18 minutes, these batches won the votes!! They are super crunchy and they stay crunchy!
My conclusion: Because I don’t want to sacrifice the flavor, I decided that the recipe should still be made with all brown sugar. The crunchy texture that everyone’s looking for in these Famous Amos cookies can be achieved by altering the baking temperature and time. I, now, bake these cookies at 350 F (180 C) for 18 minutes using an aluminum pan (which is light in color). Please understand that every oven is different. What I listed here is just for reference, you may have to experiment a bit with your oven.
How to store unbaked Famous Amos cookies
Once you have chilled the dough for at least 1 hour or longer, roll into 10-gram dough ball and then keep in the freezer for 15 minutes and then transfer it to a freezer bag and they won’t stick to each other anymore. They can be kept frozen for 1-2 months. When ready to bake, they go straight from the freezer to the oven. If they have been kept frozen for more than 2-3 days, add an extra 2-3 minutes to the baking time.
How to store baked Famous Amos cookies
Let the baked cookies cool down completely. Then transfer to a freezer bag. They can be kept frozen for a maximum 1 month for the best result.
Did you make this copycat Famous Amos chocolate chip cookie recipe?
I love it when you guys snap a photo and tag to show me what you’ve made 🙂 Simply tag me @WhatToCookToday #WhatToCookToday on Instagram and I’ll be sure to stop by and take a peek for real!
The baking temperature and time have been updated on November 15, 2022 after several rounds of testing (and overeating Famous Amos cookies LOL!)
Really Good Copycat Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
Please measure ingredients by weight and not volume
- 125 gr butter unsalted, softened
- 125 gr light brown sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 25 gr egg
- 25 gr oil
Dry ingredients:
- 155 gr all-purpose flour
- 30 gr cornstarch
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 175 gr semi-sweet chocolate chips
This adds amazing aroma to the cookies (please do not omit):
- 1 tsp instant coffee see notes
- ½ tsp water
Instructions
- Please make sure that the egg and butter are at room temperature. The butter should be soft but NOT melty
- Crack one whole egg in a bowl and whisk to loosen up the egg. Measure out 25 grams of egg to be used in the recipe. It is important to measure by weight
- Mix instant coffee with water and set aside
Prepare cookie dough:
- You don't need a mixer to prepare the cookie dough. Mash the softened butter with the brown sugar using a rubber spatula. Then add the room-temperature egg and mix again until combined. Add the instant coffee mixture and vanilla extract and mix again
- Sift the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Add oil. Use a spatula to start mixing. The mixture will still be dry at first. Just keep mixing and when you get a rough dough, meaning you still see some flour here and there, fold in the chocolate chips and continue to mix into a dough. It will be sticky
Chill the cookie dough (do not skip this step)
- Cover and refrigerate the cookie dough for at least 1 hour. If you can do it overnight, that's even better because the flavor gets even better (I know waiting can be a pain, but this is worth waiting). They can be kept in the fridge for 3-4 days
When ready to bake: (updates on baking temperature and time, read my post above for details)
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C) for a conventional oven. For a convection oven, lower the temperature by 20 F or 15 C
- I no longer recommend baking two trays at one go. It's so hard to get both trays of cookies to turn out right. Everyone's oven is different. Please bake one tray at a time
- Line the baking pan with parchment paper
- Scoop about 8 grams of the cookie dough and roll into a round ball and put them about 1 inch apart as they will spread some during baking
- If the cookies have gotten too soft after all the handling, you can put the whole tray in the freezer again for 15 minutes before baking. This helps to prevent the cookies from spreading too much
- Bake for 18 minutes for a lighter color pan and about 15 minutes for a darker color pan. The timing is just for your reference. It also depends on how big you size the cookies. You know your oven better and so please adjust accordingly. If you want the cookie really crunchy, add a minute or two (or could be 5 minutes longer, depending on your oven)
Cooling:
- The cookies appear very soft when they are out from the oven. Let the cookies cool down on the rack for 5 minutes and then remove and cool down completely at a cooling rack. They will crisp up further
- If your cookies do not stay crispy after the next day, they can be easily re-crisp in the oven at 350 F (180 C) for 3-5 minutes and then let them cool down and they will be crispy again
Age the cookies for a day:
- Usually cookies (or pretty much any baked goods) won't taste as good on the same day you bake them. If you can wait until the next day, you will be rewarded with a much better flavor and texture.
Storage:
- Store the cookies in an air-tight cookie jar. They can be kept this way at room temperature for weeks (They didn't last more than 3 days at our house!)
31 comments
Can you use espresso powder?
Yes, you can. It’s going to be stronger if you are ok with that!