Brown sugar plays a crucial role in chocolate chip cookies, affecting flavor, texture, and appearance. Light brown sugar has a milder taste with caramel notes, while dark brown sugar offers a richer, deeper flavor. Chef Jessie Sheehan emphasizes that both types create chewy middles and crispy edges due to their moisture content. Additionally, brown sugar contributes to the gorgeous golden color of cookies, and its molasses content makes them less sweet compared to white sugar. Ultimately, the choice between light and dark brown sugar is subjective, with no incorrect option.
Light brown sugar is more commonly used, providing subtle notes of caramel and a less intense butterscotch-molasses flavor than dark.
Both light and dark brown sugar provide chocolate chip cookies with a caramelized, butterscotch-molasses-ish flavor; they contribute the requisite chewy middles to the cookies.
Brown sugar thickens the dough, which prevents the cookies from spreading as they bake, and the molasses makes it less sweet than white sugar.
Deciding between dark and light brown sugar for chocolate chip cookies is an extremely personal decision and, truly, there is no wrong answer.
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