Chocolate Chip Cookies

4.58 from 116 votes

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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

close up of a chocolate chip cookie on a cooling wrack

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.
hand holding a chocolate chip cookie with a bite taken out of it

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
chocolate chip cookies cooling on a wire wrack

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.

hand holding a chocolate chip cookie with a bite taken out of it

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.

hand holding up a chocolate chip cookie

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!

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.

close up of a chocolate chip cookie on a cooling wrack
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4.58 from 116 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
Cook Time 9 minutes
Total Time 39 minutes

Ingredients

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

Notes

Adapted from All Recipes.

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

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Recipe Rating




192 Responses
  1. Lindsey

    5 stars
    Just wanted to thank you for this recipe! I tried SO many and these are the first and only to get a thumbs up from my veryyyy picky husband!!

  2. Jessie Roberts

    Ok I made chocolate chip cookies just from a recipe from the back and tuck. They didn’t turn out very well and then I remembered this recipe! Will be my go to next time!

    1. Michele Vaccarello

      Having been baking for 58 years, I ve recently learned that cookies made with butter flatten more because of the water content in the butter. American butter is 20% water by weight. In order to avoid this, I have started to use half shortening, which has no water. Believe me, the cookies taste just as good!

  3. Amber Miller

    These look like my kind of cookie! I absolutely love chocolate chip cookies. My little and I will have to bake these!

  4. DeeAnn

    I gave up chocolate for a month…I’m and idiot…and I cannot wait to make these. I have missed chocolate chip cookies the most. ???? 72 hours to go. ????????

  5. Tam

    I just made these and they are really good just a little flat. If I refrigerated the dough for a few hours would the cookies rise better?

  6. kim

    Guess I’ll be making these again, because out of habit I just put the cookies on the sheet and baked them totally forgetting about the 20mins of rest…oops. Oh well there’s no such thing as too many cookies.

  7. Belle

    5 stars
    These cookies are fantastic! Except I found that baking them for only 9 mins left them soft and too underdone. I baked each sheet for 13 mins and they were perfect. Other than that, great recipe!

  8. paul

    Sorry, but when you melt the butter and mix in with the sugar, you will get cookies that will not have a rise in them, and they will flatten out considerably. When you cream you are incorporating all the fat into the sugar evenly and then when you bake you get a nice rise as is spreads out a bit..still chewy, still light…..

    1. Lauren

      If you let the dough rest before baking, the flour absorbs the melted butter and the dough becomes less sticky, thus preventing the cookies from flattening out.

  9. Jamie

    How do you keep them from spreading since they have melted butter and don’t have to chill? Any recipe I ever make with melted butter and no chilling time ALWAYS spreads and then I get thin crunchy cookies which are super sad. 🙁

  10. Karma

    5 stars
    Goodness all these people saying this is someone elses recipe. Its similar to mine, but i use some corn syrup for a little extra chew. So this must be my recipe… anyway moving on. These cookies are delicious thank u for sharing!! I was neglecting to let mt dough rest, made a difference for sure!!

  11. Krysta Searcy

    Modifications for higher elevations? I am at 7200 feet! I am sooooo excited to try this!!
    -Anxiously waiting in Evergreen Colorado ????

  12. Elizabeth

    5 stars
    These are delicious. I didn’t have a cookie scoop but the shape and size are still just fine. Best CCC from any recipe I’ve tried !!!!

  13. Princess

    I love chocolate chip cookies,this one looks great.But I have to have a good peanut butter cookie recipe to go with it.My husband loves one and I the other.So do you have one, please.lol

  14. Allison Sell

    Hmmm I have never used melted butter. I always use two sugars. Never use egg white and never wait 20 min for dough to sit to meld flour. I always have amazing and soft cookies every time. Unless I forget to check the cookies that are in the oven. Everyone raves about them.

  15. Grace

    5 stars
    I have a melted butter CCC recipe I use all the time, so I was excited to try these. These turned out great! I baked the second pan a minute or two longer and they were still so soft and delicious! Also shared some with a friend and she loved them. Thanks for the recipe!

  16. Superfood Kale Salad | Lauren's Latest

    […] I thought I should put something green in my mouth for a change (instead of cookies) and decided that thing should be kale. I actually googled “super foods” to see what I […]

  17. Judy Kay

    5 stars
    Just made these cookies and they are amazing! I will not be making the toll house recipe anymore, this one is added to my recipe box.????

  18. Anum Ahmed

    I’m going to make this now.. but I’m confuse in milk chocolate chip. Can i add plain milk or .. how to make chocolate chip milk.. please help. Waiting for reply with all other ingredients to mix.. air care

  19. Debi

    C and I feel like these are Under done and that’s why they’re so soft if you gave them another couple of minutes they would not be that way just my opinion

  20. Lene

    I’ve been making this recipe for several years now. I got the recipe from food.com. They are called Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip cookies. The only difference is my recipe calls for a full Tablespoon of vanilla extract and I bake them for 14-15 minutes. Yum!

  21. Jennifer McBride

    5 stars
    Tried these out last night for my famil. I followed your recipe and tips exactly, (except for the 2 tbsp scooper, because I don’t have one, LOL). They came out perfect! I yielded a little less than 36 cookies because of size inconsistency on my end. But, the cookies were soft, chewy, and perfectly chocolatey! My 20yo, 18yo, 16yo, and 11yo all approved!

    Thank you for the perfect recipe!

  22. Kori

    I found a similar recipe in the ‘Americas Test Kitchen’ cookbook and they also swear by using melted and cooled butter. They are currently in my freezer!! I am a CCC fiend and very picky about the finished result.

    I think people who over bake cookies should be shot LOL.

  23. C

    This is the America’s Test Kitchen recipe… Which is very good. I guess you did use 2 cups flour instead of 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons though. Any chance it’s their recipe, not yours?

    1. Lauren

      Are you referring to their Perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe? I can see how you can think that…they are pretty similar! Mine has all the same ingredients but different increments (like all chocolate chip cookie recipes.) My recipe: uses less flour, less butter, more brown sugar, less salt and more chocolate chips.

      Also, I don’t brown my butter, I let the dough sit 20 minutes and I bake my cookies 50 degrees cooler. 🙂

  24. Lucy

    Hi Lauren! I have a question: when you measure the butter, you measure the 3/4 cup solid and then melt it or you melt the butter and then measure it to 3/4 cup?
    They look fantastic!
    Thanks for the recipe! 🙂

      1. Sudie B Gelok

        5 stars
        I have made them three times. It may be similar to “their” recipe, but the directions are what makes them so much better. I never had much luck with “theirs”. Thanks for sharing your recipe.

  25. Brooke Townsend

    I was just contemplating making chocolate chip cookies and your recipe popped up. I love a yummy soft cookie. This recipe looks perfect.

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