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This recipe actually IS The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe – it’s been the most popular chocolate chip cookie recipe on my entire website for almost a decade now! It made it into my first cookbook and has remained a reader favourite for years now thanks to it having ingredients that you have in your pantry, Just read all the hundreds of rave reviews that have been left over the years, this is the only chocolate chip cookie recipe you’ll ever need! If you don’t believe me – believe the tens of thousands of people that have baked these cookies over the years – they know their stuff!
How to Make Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies From Scratch
These are fast and easy chocolate chip cookies that turn out thick and chewy! Remember to under bake them slightly and they will turn out chewy. These thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies are the base for my Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies with Raisins, my Chocolate Mint Ritz Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies and my personal favourite Walnut Loaded Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookies. This chocolate chip cookie dough is perfect for making stuffed cookies of all types! If you are looking for crispy chocolate chip cookies, try my Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, that one is MY all time favourite!
How to Freeze Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate chip cookies freeze exceptionally well and it’s easy to do! Bake them up and then store them in the freezer for snacks and school lunches.
- You are going to freeze the already baked cookies on a cookie sheet in one layer until they are frozen solid.
- Remove the frozen cookies from the cookie sheets and place into an airtight, freezer safe container.
- Place the cookies layer by layer (putting parchment paper or wax paper between the layers to make sure that they don’t stick together) and then seal with the lid.
- Freeze for up to 3-6 months.
- Defrost on the counter-top and enjoy!
How to Keep Your Cookies Fresh
I learned this trick from a professional bakers daughter! To keep your chocolate chip cookies fresh, seal them in a container with a piece of fresh bread (or at least not stale bread) The chocolate chip cookies will wick the moisture from the bread while they are sealed up in the container and you will have chocolate chip cookies that will last for 4-5 days on your counter top- and still be soft and chewy! I do NOT recommend anything else – I have seen apple slices and wet paper towels recommended – as flavors from the apple WILL wick into your cookies and paper towels are messier.
What type of flour do I use in chocolate chip cookies?
The best type of flour to use in chocolate chip cookies is unbleached, all purpose flour. The brand doesn’t really matter as long as it’s a brand that YOU like to use.
What type of butter do I use in chocolate chip cookies? Can I use salted butter?
The best butter to use in your baking is one that tastes good off the spoon – or you can taste test it on plain toast. You want to use a butter that is good quality and tastes delicious! This is what your cookies are going to taste like, so make sure it’s good! As for salted butter, I use salted butter all the time in my baking, just use a portion of the salt in the recipe if you are doing so. The rule of thumb is that you leave out 1/4 tsp of salt for every 1/2 cup of salted butter you use, so you would only use 3/4 tsp of salt in my recipe.
Do you need brown sugar for chocolate chip cookies? What kind?
You absolutely need brown sugar for chocolate chip cookies, or they will be too sweet and lack a depth of flavour. I use golden or light brown sugar in all of my cookie recipes, but I have a friend who uses dark in almost everything she bakes – and everything she makes turns out great as well! It will be a deeper, more molasses-ey flavor when you use a dark brown sugar. If you don’t have brown sugar, mix in 2 tbsp of molasses to every cup of white sugar that you are substituting.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Troubleshooting
Here is a list of the common problems you might encounter when making chocolate chip cookies – or most cookies, for that matter.
Problem: My cookies spread out and are flat.
- If it’s humid or hot, like with any other cookie recipe, you are going to have to adjust your methods. Chill the dough in the fridge before baking to combat heat, and with humidity add in a couple tbsp of flour until the dough firms up.
- If you have neither heat nor humidity and you have a wet dough – I hate to break it to you but your butter is cheap and has a high water content. It happens, a LOT and is massively important AND always overlooked when it comes to baking. There are 2 1/4 CUPS of flour and only 1/2 cup of butter – this is one of the driest cookie doughs out there.
- You also could have measured wrong, because there is no way 1/2 cup of butter mixed into that large amount of flour can be wet.
- You aren’t measuring the flour correctly OR you are using sifted flour. A lot of people don’t realize that your flour can come pre-sifted, which means that when you are measuring out your flour it will NEVER match recipes on the internet! Never buy pre-sifted flour unless it’s for a recipe that specifies it. Most households buy unsifted and use un-sifted.
- Your oven could be running at a different temperature, check it’s accuracy.
Problem: My cookies are tough and not chewy
Make sure to under bake the cookies. You only have to heat them up to 165 °F, to properly and safely cook the raw eggs in them. You can have ooey gooey chocolate chip cookies without adding honey or corn syrup, just simply under bake and enjoy!
You might have over-beaten the cookies. Don’t beat the dough as much next time
More Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes
- Nothing beats the Original Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe!
- This recipe from Allrecipes has great ratings as well.
- Cakey Chocolate Chip Cookies from Martha Stewart
These chocolate chip cookies are very kid friendly, thick and delicious, strong enough to hold together in children’s lunches and small enough that you don’t feel too guilty sending them to school for a treat. This is a super delicious recipe and my go to for late night “Oh my god, I need a cookie” moments.
Happy baking!
Love,
Karlynn
The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- 12 minutes
- Total Time
- 17 minutes
- Course
- Dessert
- Cuisine
- American
- Servings
- 24
- Calories
- 220
- Author
- Karlynn Johnston
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1 teaspoon salt ( use 1/2 tsp if you are using salted butter)
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 °F. Get out your baking sheets and line with parchment paper.
- Cream together your butter and sugar until it’s light and fluffy. Add in the eggs and vanilla, mixing thoroughly. .
- Whisk together the dry ingredients ,then beat them into the butter mixture until combined completely.
- When that is done, fold in the two cups of chocolate chips by hand, and prepare to put them on the parchment paper lined cookie sheets.
- Drop by rounded tablespoonful onto the baking sheets.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown and slightly underdone. Cool on the sheets completely. Store in closed containers
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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lovehomecooked says
Just finished baking a batch of these cookies and so far so good. I used a mixer to mix all the ingredients and used salted butter. This recipe is a keeper for sure
LauraOstlund says
i made these and i only used 3/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup coconut sugar and completely cut the white sugar out, also i only used 1 cup milk chocolate chips. They turned out amazing, i think these are my new favorite cookies love love loved them!!
Matty says
I made these for a Christmas party, doubled up on the baking soda and substituted 1 of the cups of chocolate chips with crushed assorted nuts. They were ALL gone by the end of the night! Many thanks!
Piedelishes says
I am going to try these for my son, will let you know what he thinks of them lol
TheAwkwardPenguin says
I absolutely love this recipe. I’ve made it so many times and it’s always a crowd pleaser! Family, friends, teachers, everyone seems to love ’em 😀
thekitchenmagpie says
@TheAwkwardPenguin Glad to hear it!
FutureBaker says
Do you happen to have the nutritional facts for these cookies? They came out great, thanks 🙂
holidaybaker says
As far as “flatness” goes, I made two batches. The first batch, I “creamed together” the butter and sugars with a fork. Probably should say “beat together” because my second batch creamed together with a mixer came out a lot plumper and delicious as ever! Not as plump as these, but definitely plumper than my first batch. Perhaps a bit longer beating would have given a plumper result. Family loved them! Definitely a keeper!
Cheryl Wudrick Johnstone says
These are hands down the best chocolate chip cookies! Thank you so much for posting such an easy and tasty recipe. The only problem I find with these is you can’t just eat only one or two..
Dissapointed says
Cookies did NOT turn out they are so flat…. terrible….
love5sos says
where are you supposed to add the brown sugar?
AmyThompson1 says
Where it says to cream the butter and sugar. It’s referring to both sugars. 🙂
fanficfan44 says
Just tried this recipe. I moved to a new place and my old recipe wasn’t seeming to work the way I wanted in the new oven. This was great, perfectly dense and chewy, that is how my family likes chocolate chip cookies.
hatethiscookie says
all of this is lies, it not only took us 15 min for prep time (2 young amazing bakers), but it also needed to be baked for at least 15 minutes, as well instead of 36 cookies we ended uo with a little over 20. I wish this cookie recipe would be updated with actual facts. Let you know how it tastes.
hatethiscookie says
it ale lacks taste or even yumminess (scientific word right there)
scrapcrazy62 says
Crossing my fingers and diving in to my mixing bowl in just a bit, hoping that these cookies are what I’m looking for since tonight I’ll be bringing them to an event. I love a thick, chewy cookie, here’s hoping this is the one. Thanks for sharing.
scrapcrazy62 says
Crossing my fingers and diving in, these cookies are being made for an event that I’m going to this evening. I love a thick, soft chocolate chip cookie and you’re recipe looks like it made be the one.
anitamaxb says
a
anitamaxb says
Can I replace butter with margarine without problems?
AllisonAmanda says
anitamaxb i did and they were still amazingly good
lil_MissKerri says
TaliaTab Sirenaty10 SarahAngelz those look amazing Talia. I’m going to swap out the stuff for gluten free stuff & see if it works.
lovethesecookies says
We have made these cookies so many times we know the recipe by heart. This is the best recipe I have come across for chocolate chip cookies. They always turn out thick and fluffy by following the directions perfectly and baking them at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. We have some in the oven right now!
taylormbiebs says
Didn’t turn out as I had hoped, Ithought I could go without brown sugar cause I had no more but I was wrong. They don’t taste too good
Mpco28 says
Recipe fail. I made them twice and both times they are flat. The second time we quadruple checked every step and measurement. May be the altitude in Denver, but these are not thick in any way.
saintuana says
@Mpco28 Lol someone doesn’t know about baking at altitude…
Maggie_Shay says
I am about to start baking these cookies right now.. Maggies way lol. Im sure they will be delicious either way but will comment when finished.. =).. My children will love them.. can’t wait!!
kyarajack says
Made these for the second time today and one of them turned out EXACTLY like the picture! It’s the little things that make me extremely proud to be a baker 🙂
Karlynn Johnston says
It should read 36!
amy says
I want to make these but it says only 12 servings…this recipe only makes 12 cookies?
LizziBeans says
Just made them for a birthday gift: put in a large pickling jar with some ribbon. She will love this recipe! I cant help but admit there is one or three less cookies that are going to her. Great recipe!!
LizziBeans says
Just made them for a birthday gift: put in a large pickling jar with some ribbon. She will love this recipe! I cant help but admit there is one or three less cookies that are going to her. Great recipe!!
Karlynn Johnston says
Farenheit!
IronPeaches says
i will be the first to say, i definitely like all the positive comments, im a newbie at baking though so is that 350 Fahrenheit or Celsius
Amy says
I just made these, and they are the absolute BEST chocolate chip cookies I have ever had. LOVE!
thekitchenmagpie says
@Amy Fabulous to hear that!
Ichelle18 says
I will be trying these tomorrow!