Move over, Toll House, this chocolate chip cookie recipe is so good you’ll fall in love at first bite. They’re chewy with slightly crispy edges, have just a hint of salt to balance the sweetness, and nutty notes of brown butter. They truly are exceptional chocolate chip cookies! The best part? You don’t need fancy ingredients, just a few tricks.
Ingredients for Chocolate Chip Cookies
The beauty of chocolate chip cookies is that they don’t require any special ingredients, just a few pantry staples. Here’s what you’ll need to make this amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe:
- Butter: Butter is what makes cookies so lusciously delicious and these chocolate chip cookies have plenty! We used salted butter because that’s what we keep stocked in our pantry, then browned the butter to maximize the naturally nutty, caramel flavor.
- Sugar: A mix of white granulated sugar and brown sugar gives these chocolate chip cookies an amazing texture and flavor. The white sugar helps create those crispy edges while the molasses in the brown sugar makes the cookies extra flavorful.
- Vanilla Extract: Vanilla pairs beautifully with the chocolate to give the cookies a warm, creamy flavor.
- Eggs: Eggs help bind the ingredients together so the cookies don’t fall apart, and they add an extra little boost of leavening.
- All-Purpose Flour: Flour gives the cookies body and something for the butter to soak into.
- Baking Soda: Baking soda helps the cookies rise just a bit so they’re not super flat.
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips: Chocolate chips are the star of the show! We use semi-sweet to give a nice bite to the cookie and balance the sweetness of the cookie.
Freeze THe Cookie Dough
This chocolate chip cookie recipe is perfect for making ahead of time and freezing for later. Once the dough is made, simply portion the dough with a small cookie scoop or in 2 tablespoon-sized cookie dough balls. Freeze them on a sheet pan with a bit of separation so they don’t stick together. Once frozen solid, add the dough balls to a freezer-safe bag and remove as much air as possible. If using a container, top each layer of dough balls with plastic wrap to prevent exposure to air.
To bake the previously frozen cookie dough, make sure to thaw the dough first in the refrigerator, and then bake as usual.
How To Store Chocolate Chip Cookies
Allow the cookies to cool completely to room temperature before storing. Placing a warm cookie in an air-tight container will make it mushy, and you worked too hard for that. Once cooled, place them in an air-tight container lined with a paper towel. Separate layers with wax paper to prevent them from sticking together. They will last at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. Refrigerating baked cookies will dry them out. Instead, freeze them for longer storage, up to 3 months.
Tips for the BestChocolate Chip Cookies
Here are my Top 5 Tips for making the best chocolate chip cookies you’ve ever had:
- Brown the butter. Browning the butter first adds a deep, nutty flavor that takes the humble chocolate chip cookie to a whole new level.
- Sift the flour. Humidity and packaging affect the volume of flour. If you don’t use a scale, get a correct measurement by sifting it first.
- Use granulated sugar and brown sugar. Granulated sugar adds color and crispness, while brown sugar makes the dough moist and chewy.
- Rest the dough. Chilling the dough uncovered helps create a dough with concentrated flavors, a firm texture with less spread, and deeper browns.
- Use an oven thermometer. Most ovens can be off by up to 50°. A basic oven thermometer can be the difference between a cookie win and a big, fat fail.
- Don’t overbake the cookies. To keep a deliciously soft and chewy center, make sure not to overbake your cookies. The centers should still look slightly soft when you remove them from the oven.
- Let the cookies cool a minute. Allow the cookies to firm up just a bit before transferring them from the cookie sheet to a cooling rack to prevent them breaking.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Servings 18 cookiesIngredients
- 12 Tbsp salted butter* ($1.50)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar ($0.22)
- 1/4 cup granulated white sugar ($0.08)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract ($0.57)
- 2 large eggs ($0.42)
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour ($0.18)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda ($0.03)
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips ($1.58)
Instructions
- Melt the butter over medium heat in a light-colored pan, stirring often, until the solids separate and turn golden brown and you can smell a nutty aroma. Place the brown butter in a large bowl and transfer it to the refrigerator or freezer until it hardens.
- Once the butter has hardened, break it into pieces, and add the white and brown sugar to the bowl. Use a hand mixer to cream the butter and the sugars on low speed until incorporated.
- Add the vanilla extract and one egg to the bowl. Mix on low speed until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the second egg. Mix on low speed until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- In a separate bowl, combine the all-purpose flour and baking soda.
- Pour half of the flour mixture into the creamed butter mixture and mix on low speed until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add in the remaining flour, and mix on low speed until a dough forms. Fold in the chocolate chips until evenly combined.
- Divide and roll the dough into balls about 2 Tbsp in size. Place the dough balls on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper about two inches apart. Chill the dough in your refrigerator, uncovered, for at least an hour, but preferably overnight.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Press the chilled cookie dough balls down with two fingers to flatten slightly.
- Bake the cookies for 4 minutes, rotate the sheet pan front to back, then bake for an additional 4 minutes, or until the edges are a light golden brown. Let the cookies cool on the sheet pan for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
Notes
Nutrition
How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies – Step by Step Photos
Melt the 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) of butter over medium heat in a light-colored pan, stirring often. When it starts to foam, the milk solids will separate and sink to the bottom. Continue to cook the solids until they have turned golden brown and you can smell the nutty aroma.
Once the butter has browned, immediately remove it from the heat and place it in a bowl. Transfer the bowl to the refrigerator or freezer until the brown butter has solidified.
Break the butter up into pieces and add 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/4 cup of granulated white sugar to the bowl.
Use a hand mixer to cream the butter and sugars on low speed until incorporated.
Add one teaspoon of vanilla extract and one egg to the bowl. Mix on low speed until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the second egg. Mix on low speed until combined, and scrape down the bowl again.
In a separate bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour and 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda.
Pour half of the flour mixture into the creamed butter mixture and mix on low speed until it barely comes together. Next, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add in the remaining flour. Continue to mix on low speed until the dough barely comes together. Do not over-mix, as this will give you a tough cookie.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add 1 cup of chocolate chips. Fold the chocolate chips into the dough until evenly combined.
Portion and roll the dough into 2-tablespoon balls and place them 2 inches apart on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Chill the dough in your refrigerator, uncovered, for at least an hour, but preferably overnight.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Press the chilled cookie dough balls down with two fingers to flatten slightly.
Bake the cookies for 4 minutes. Rotate the sheet pan, front to back. Bake for an additional 4 minutes, until the edges are a light golden brown. Let the cookies cool on the sheet pan for at least 5 minutes before taking them off and cooling them on a rack.
Enjoy the best chocolate chip you’ve ever had while still warm, or allow them to cool completely and enjoy later. …But why wait?!
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The cookies were good, but I felt that the amount of time and effort that was needed to make them did not justify the end result.
Well. I just tried one and it is not very good. Super dry due to the size and long cooking time.
Oh well. It was trying something new.
But I already have a favorite chocolate chip recipe. I’m always looking for one to top it. This is defiantly NOT it.
Omg I am having the exact same problem. I used a regular cookie sheet, not sure how that impacts it. But 2 tbsp size cookies?!!!! That’s huge. I have turned this same sheet ever 4 minutes 4 times now so we are at 12 minutes and they are still doughy. So….I’m glad I’m not alone
Reduced the cookie size to 1 TH and 8 minutes was WAAAY too little time. Increased to 10-11 minutes even with less dough to get to doneness seen in photo.
Hi, Barb Alli! Sorry the recipe didn’t turn out for you. Do you frequently have this problem with your oven? We tested this recipe quite a few times to ensure success, which leads me to wonder: have you checked your oven’s temperature calibration? It’s very common for ovens to run up to 50*F hotter/colder than the set temperature. You can check this easily with an oven thermometer, which can be found in the kitchen tools section of your supermarket or on Amazon. Once you know your oven, you can adjust the temperatures in recipes from there. — Marion :)
I’m running into the same issue now! Been baking them for about 10 minutes and they’re still not close to ready (2 tbsp each). I wonder if they got too cold in my fridge? I’ll keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t over-bake.
How much flour should we use if measuring by weight?
Hi, Lynnie! I’m new to Budget Bytes and come from a background in pastry — and while it’s not something we expect from all of our readers, I definitely prefer to use a scale to measure ingredients when baking! My go-to app (for iPhone) is called Kitchen Pro. I think it costs a few dollars, but it is well worth it!
While we have not tested these measurements here in our kitchen, and I can’t promise you will achieve the exact same results as the tested recipe, I’ve done some conversions for you using the app mentioned above for this chocolate chip cookie recipe:
– 188g AP Flour
– 110g brown sugar
– 50g white sugar
Let me know how it goes!
Best, Marion :)
I also use this chart from King Arthur, it has weights for common ingredients:
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart
Great resource! Thanks for sharing!
— Marion:)
These look great! If you freeze the dough, do you need to thaw before baking? And, if so, can it thaw on the counter or should it be in the fridge?
I would definitely thaw it in the fridge so that it thaws and bakes more evenly. Cooking straight from the freezer might cause the center to be slightly under cooked and the outside edges to be overcooked, but I haven’t tested it to know for sure!