Chocolate Chip Cookies

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This is the best recipe for chocolate chip cookies! Soft baked, extra sweet with two kinds of chocolate, and nearly impossible to ruin.

Looking for safe-to-eat cookie dough? I’ve got you covered: Edible Cookie Dough

Chocolate Chip Cookies | Ultimate Recipe

I am in love with these cookies. After googling and searching and researching and testing (yum!) I’ve figured out the perfect combination of ingredients and baking methods to get the softest, chewiest, best chocolate chip cookies. I hate making and eating crispy cookies. I think they should be illegal, plus, who wants to eat those? What a waste of calories. So, I’ve formulated this chocolate chip cookie recipe to be the exact opposite. Soft baked and extra sweet!

When I set out to find/make the best chocolate chip cookie recipe, I meant it! I started with some classic recipes, some very highly rated recipes, and other random recipes, like from my brother-in-law, or friend of a friend. It was delicious testing, and a lot of them came out decently well but I wanted ULTIMATE status, so that’s when I started testing and tweaking different recipes to see if I could make them better.

I feel that the most important part of making these cookies is the METHOD. While it’s easy to think all chocolate cookie recipes are basically the same because they all use the same ingredients, it’s simply not true. Method plays a huge part. Don’t believe me? Try this recipe!

Main Ingredients Needed

No special or secret ingredients here! Pretty sure the vast majority of us have these common culprits in our kitchen 24/7 so we can make chocolate chip cookies whenever the craving strikes! Here’s what you’ll need:

• Butter – I melt butter for this recipe, usually salted. I know salted butter is controversial because all the celebrity chefs say you should use unsalted, but I don’t care. I like salted better. But if you have unsalted, use what you have!
• Brown Sugar and Granulated Sugar – obviously you need both to make these sweet. More brown sugar than white to keep these moist!
• Egg + Egg yolk – you need an egg for the protein/structure and an egg yolk for a little extra creaminess.
• Vanilla – if you can find real vanilla extract, use that. But again, if you only have artificial, by all means, use that.
• All-Purpose Flour – of course, cookies need flour. I use unbleached all-purpose flour (but bleached is fine too). Be sure to read my flour section. Flour can make or break your chocolate chip cookie recipe.
• Baking Soda – the leavening for our cookies.
• Salt -to offset all the sweet going on.
• Chocolate Chips – my recipe calls for two kinds of chocolate chips and I highly *highly* recommend using both semi-sweet and milk chocolate. See my chocolate section below for more details and substitutions.

The Importance of Flour

Have you ever made chocolate chip cookies and they don’t spread out after baking? OR have they spread too much and turned into very dark and crispy pancakes? Both problems happen because of the butter to flour ratios. Too much flour will give you baked lumps and not enough will give you a big, melty mess.

How can we all have the same recipe and get such vastly different results? Well, friends, it comes down to how you measure your flour. Here’s how to do it:

1. Fluff your flour to get air into it. Take your measuring cup and scoop some flour into it, then dump it out back into the bag. Do this 5-6 times to fluff your flour.
2. Spoon your flour into the measuring cup.
3. Use the back of the spoon or a butter knife to level the top.
4. That’s it! You have now correctly measured flour.

Let’s Talk Chocolate

In this recipe, I suggest using a combination of semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips for maximum impact. The Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chips are my go-to for both kinds. I love the combination of the two flavors and they work really well in these chocolate chip cookies. Can you substitute them with something else? Of course, you can! Chocolate is chocolate and it’s all delicious. Here are some other delicious choices:

• dark chocolate chips
• bittersweet chocolate chips (a great substitute for semi-sweet, Ghirardelli are my favorite)
• white chocolate chips
• chocolate chunks (any kind)
• any good quality bar of chocolate that you can chop up

How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies

So, if you read the recipe card through (see below), you’ll notice the differences listed above. I suppose there are a lot of similarities too, but the small and minor tweaks are what set this recipe apart! With every chocolate chip cookie recipe available on the internet, they are all basically the same ingredients used in different ways. All the more reason why directions are just as important as the ingredients list!

Step 1: Make the Dough

Stir the melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together. Add in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla until well mixed. Slowly incorporate the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the milk and semi-sweet chocolate chips by hand.

Let the dough sit 20 minutes to let the flour soak into the rest of the batter. (If your oven tends to run hot (aka flattens cookies) refrigerate the dough for 20 minutes).

Step 2: Bake

Preheat oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and scoop cookie dough onto prepared pans, using a two-tablespoon cookie scoop.

Bake, rotating sheets halfway through baking. When you pull your cookies out of the oven, they will look cooked around the edges and undercooked in the center.

Step 3: Cool and Enjoy!

Leave the cookies on the hot baking pans until you can remove them without falling apart. Place onto cooling racks and cool to room temperature before enjoying or storing in airtight containers.

Storing Chocolate Chip Cookies

Since I love a soft cookie and do everything I can to bake these and keep them soft, I like to store them a certain way to ensure that work doesn’t go to waste. If you have leftover chocolate chip cookies, store the cooled cookies in an airtight container with a slice of plain sandwich bread resting on top. Store-bought white or whole wheat is perfect!

Cookies should stay fresh for 2 days and are passable after 3 days, though, who still has chocolate chip cookies sitting on their counter 3 days after they have made them? They don’t last that long at my house.

Freezing Instructions

You can essentially make and freeze these chocolate chip cookies baked or unbaked. Here are the directions for both.

Baked

If you want to bake these in advance, follow the recipe instructions listed below and cool completely. Then store in an airtight container or zip-top plastic bags and freeze.

As long as they are in an airtight container, the baked cookies should last 1-2 months in the freezer.

To reheat, simply microwave one or two chocolate chip cookies 10-15 seconds each until warmed and melty.

Unbaked

To store unbaked chocolate chip cookie dough, simply scoop into cookies, place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, and freeze.

After 3 hours, the dough should be hard enough to transfer to an airtight container or zip-top plastic bag. This cookie dough will last 1-2 months in the freezer.

To bake, simply remove your dough balls, defrost on the counter for 30 minutes to 1 hour and bake as listed in the recipe card below.

Love Chocolate Chip Cookies? Try these out too!

If you are a cookie lover like me, you’ll know a good cookie recipe when you see it. Check these ones out to see if they are up to the test!

• Peanut Butter Cookies
• The Best Sugar Cookies
• No Bake Cookies
• Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

If you love a classic and soft chocolate chip cookie, you MUST give this recipe a try!! It will blow your minds.

The printable recipe card is down below! Have a great day, friends.

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4.59 from 118 votes

Actually Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe! Soft baked, very chocolatey and impossible to ruin. All chocolate chip cookies should be this good!

servings 36 cookies

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 9 minutes mins

Total Time 39 minutes mins

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

• ▢ 3/4 cup butter melted
• ▢ 1 cup brown sugar packed
• ▢ 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 large egg
• ▢ 1 egg yolk
• ▢ 2 tsp vanilla extract
• ▢ 2 cups all purpose flour
• ▢ 1/2 tsp baking soda
• ▢ 1/2 tsp salt
• ▢ 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• ▢ 1 cup milk chocolate chips

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

• Stir melted butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well combined.
• Add in egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Mix until lighter in color.
• Add in the flour, baking soda and salt. Scrape the sides of the bowl and the bottom really well to ensure a smooth, well stirred batter.
• Hand stir the chocolate chips into the batter and let it sit 20 minutes to let the flour soak into the rest of the batter. (If your oven tends to run hot (aka flattens cookies) refrigerate the dough for 20 minutes).
• Preheat oven to 325. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and scoop cookie dough onto prepared pans, using a two tablespoon cookie scoop.
• Bake 8-9 minutes, rotating sheets half way through baking. When you pull your cookies out of the oven, they will looked cooked around the edges and undercooked in the center.
• Leave the cookies on the hot baking pans for 5-7 minutes or until you can remove them without falling apart. Place onto cooling racks and cool to room temperature before storing in air tight containers.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 149kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 15mg | Sodium: 88mg | Potassium: 46mg | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 140IU | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 0.8mg

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chocolate chip cookie recipe, chocolate chip cookies