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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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Erin JC says
This has become my go-to cookie recipe! They turn out perfectly every time I make them, and I get so many compliments on how soft and chewy they are. I will never use another chocolate chip cookie recipe again!
Suzyq3862 says
Love these cookies! Turn out great every time! I use frozen chocolate chips in mine so that might make a difference for those having problems with their dough. Thanks for the great recipe!
Uwinco says
Hello – I also live in Edmonton and followed the recipe as you instructed but my cookies turned out flat! So you think these need to be fridgerated before baking or anything else?
thekitchenmagpie says
Uwinco Did you bake these recently during all of our rain and humidity? That’s exactly what will happen to cookies when we get high humidity! Try refrigerating them and adding an extra TBSP or two of flour on rainy days!
HennyDyMaglalang says
These are absolutely perfect. Thank you so much!
Maralynn says
Whenever I make this recipe everyone just loves it! Most comments are that they are the best Chocolate Chip cookies they’ve had! I love the biscuit like look and taste they have, when they come out right. Unfortunately, my batches are inconsistent in shape, ranging from fluffy biscuit (my favorite) to flat (boo). Did you make a video tutorial for this recipe? I would love to see step by step how you make them and what I might be doing wrong (sometimes).
thekitchenmagpie says
Maralynn Oh, that’s everything from the weather and the humidity to the ingredients you’re using! I’m betting that you aren’t doing anything wrong, you can’t control the elements!
jinkiescooby says
Maralynn freezing or chilling the dough might help. butter is the main reason the cookie will spread, which is why room temperature or melted butter will cause cookies to flatten. you could try using cold butter, or freezing/chilling the dough for at least an hour before baking. i know many people who swear by letting the dough chill for 24 hours. i’m way too impatient for that, so i just let thr dough chill for at least an hour, or scoop and then chill for maybe 20 minutes at a time.
Kirsten says
How many cookies are made in this recipe?
ValerieMyers says
Love this recipe! I wanted a chocolate chip cookie recipe with real butter (my mom made her cookies with Crisco). I tried many recipes that used butter and my cookies would always melt into cookie pancakes. Finally I found this recipe, it has less butter in it and they come out perfect everytime!
thekitchenmagpie says
ValerieMyers Awesome! I am so glad that you loved them!
Terri says
I made these they were amazing they stayed soft for 5 days in a Tupperware container. Mine turned out soft and fluffy. I used an ice cream scoop to put them on the cookie sheet so they were all the same size. They cooked evenly and didn’t flatten at all! Best chocolate chip cookie recipe I have found!
thekitchenmagpie says
@Terri I’m so glad to hear it!
MandiC says
Every single time I make these they’re gone in 10 minutes. I have to hide them if I want any for myself! AMAZING!
Amani says
Ah-Mazing!!!!! Thank you thank you! My search for the ultimate chocolate chip recipe is finally over. Followed the instructions precisely, subbing one cup of milk chocolate chips for semi sweet. Outstanding, delicious, gorgeous, fluffy, soft, melt in your mouth, chocolatey goodness. You made our family of six very happy!
Cooke says
This recipe always turns out perfect for me! The cookies are perfectly soft and they stay that way! It’s impossible to eat just one.
Marie says
Omg!! This is so delicious!! I didn’t have enough semi sweet dark choc chips so I also added 1 cup white choc chip.
I was worried at first because the batter was so thick but it was perfect!!! I’m going to try the same batter for white choc macadamia cookies. And m&m’s.
What I notice though is the round ones that I just drop in the baking sheet turned out thicker and like the cookies in the pics and the ones I press a bit turned out Not fluffy at all. I press the second batch with a fork prior to putting it in the oven because while the first batch was baking I got worried its too thick and will not cook properly and will burn lol but nope that didn’t happen.
I won’t be using any other recipes for my cookies!!!
Tara says
These cookies are the best ever. It is my go to cookie recipe. I follow the recipe exactly and they are delicious!! Sometimes I’ll use M&Ms instead of chocolate chips and they still come out great. If I don’t want them to be too sweet, I’ll measure brown sugar without packing it down and I’ll put a little less white sugar. Either way, they are so good!!!
Misha Minute says
This recipe made me really happy. I am so behind with my Christmas preparation, it was really refreshing when one’s efforts looks close to the recipe. These cookies will be pressies. For me, I am incapable of following directions…..so what I did is have the butter sit for an hour on the counter before I prepared the dough. This way the knife is able to cut through without resistance and then used a fork and dining room table knife to create a fluffy sugar butter pre-dough. Next I prepared all the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda and a dash of Himalayan salt) in a separate bowl and mixed all the dry ingredients.
Next I added veggie-fed chicken eggs and real vanilla, again all room temperature to the butter sugar pre-dough mixture.
I then gradually added all the flour-baking soda-salt mixture to the wet mixture and made sure everything was well incorporated before adding more of the dry-flour mixture.
Once done, the dough was a beautiful soft texture where I add the chocolate chips. It all worked !!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. It is nice when things go right.
tanis says
maybe you could chill the dough for 30 mins? a little chilling usually makes cookies fluffier (except peanut butter cookies) i LOVE this recipe, it is my official chocolate chip cookie recipe!
Nursemomed says
I have issues getting them to look like the picture also. They are very tasty but not at all fluffy. I live in Pennsylvania. I also follow the directions exactly.
ChrissyT says
Hi! I have made these cookies several times! They are delicious but I am having some issues getting them fluffy.. Does anyone know what I’m doing wrong? I have been using the butter straight out of the fridge & mixing in with the sugars using a spoon. Would the mixer make them more fluffy? Other than that I am following the directions step by step. They aren’t terribly flat but not fluffy like in the picture. It drives me nuts! They will look semi fluffy in the oven then when they cool they flatten quite a bit.
thekitchenmagpie says
ChrissyT IT might be where you live, is it humid at all? Even your altitude can affect how cookies bake up.
ChrissyT says
I live in Texas it’s been really cold & dry here. I just realized I’ve been using country crock margarine instead of real butter. Could that be the problem?
ChrissyT says
@thekitchenmagpie
thekitchenmagpie says
ChrissyT Oh, it could be for sure. Margarine has a high water content compared to butter. This dough should be a pretty dry dough. Try it again with pure butter!
ChrissyT says
Thank you so much! I’m going to try them again tomorrow! Everyone has loved them so far & a few have asked for the recipe! 🙂 I’m making these for friends & family for Christmas!
Sammi says
ChrissyT – I always get better results when leaving the butter and eggs out of the fridge for a while. The closer to room temperature the better.
J Kitch says
Yuck! Will not make again! I think there’s an obscene ammount of chocolate chips to cover up the horrible flavor of the dough. Very bland very blah waste of ingredients
MichelleTurner1 says
J Kitch 2 cups of chocolate chips is rather normal for chocolate chip cookies. It is rather rare to see a recipe ask for less unless it is just out of personal preference. I will say I am really glad I did not take your review at face value when making these cookies because mine turned out perfect. My cookies came out with a good crips to them and they were still soft. Perfect mix of crips and soft.
I would suggest you try this recipe again, maybe you did something incorrect or did not use the best quality ingredients. What I personally like most about this recipe is that it has way less sugar compared to the average cookie recipe.
LoriRichard says
J Kitch Wow really, mine turned out excellent. Maybe your ingredients are old. I will definitely be making these again but next time i will hide them.
tasteusa says
Yeah!!!!!!!! Finally, I love this recipe. Never before have I baked chocolate chip cookies that I haven’t burned a dozen or cooked unevenly, until NOW!!!!!!
Nick says
I often use a muffin top baking sheet in order to create a round cookie, do the cookies spread out enough to have to do this? If so, would it be advised to lightly grease the pan given the absence of parchment paper? Furthermore, is it dark or light brown sugar?
Nick says
I often use a muffin top baking sheet when baking cookies in order to maintain a round shape, do the cookies spread out enough to have to do this? If so, would it be advised to lightly grease the pan given the absence of parchment paper? Furthermore, is it dark or light brown sugar?
-Nick
ChrissyT says
That’s not a bad idea!
thekitchenmagpie says
@Nick It might work in a muffin top pan, greasing a pan makes the cookies spread out more though…
Rachel says
awesome recipe! turned out exactly like pic lol that don’t happen often! delicious thank you, I will for sure make them again 🙂
thekitchenmagpie says
@Rachel Awesome! I’m glad they turned out and look like the pic!
Bay says
The recipe seems too easy for something to go wrong, but I somehow managed to still mess it up. I got big, flat, thin cookies… Cooked them at the said time which resulted in half baked cookies, which is what my family likes. A little bummed out on the shape and look of the cookies though. Any ideas?
thekitchenmagpie says
@Bay Humidity, sea level, all sorts of things can affect the cookies. Try refrigerating them on the sheets first, they should turn out thicker.
ChrissyT says
If I baked mine at 10 minutes they would burn! I bake mine for 7. How weird!
CelestialJ says
Will I still get the same results if I cut the amount of ingredients in half? I only want half of the serving that’s why I’m asking.
thekitchenmagpie says
CelestialJ If it’s exactly half then yes, the same results.
Dawn says
I have made these several times now and my husband loves them. he says they are better than Chaps Ahoy and that is his absolute favorite. The first time I used milk chocolate chip because we like real sweet and we Al really liked hem. After that I have used semi-sweet, and still just as good. Thank for sharing the recipe.
thekitchenmagpie says
@Dawn Aw thanks so much for the kind words! I am so glad that you and your family love them so much! Thanks for letting me know!
AshleyKatlynFletcher says
BEST. COOKIES. EVER. Only thing I changed was I used Becel olive oil margarine because it was all i had. will be making these with butter later this week. these cookies did not survive a full 2 days in this house haha
thekitchenmagpie says
AshleyKatlynFletcher LOL! Cookies don’t last long in my house either! Glad that you liked them!
AshleyKatlynFletcher says
I made these…..they were gone in like…..24-48 hours. that was WITH restraint. Lol I personally did not chill them in the oven and found it didn’t hurt them one bit!!
EleanorLambert says
These are seriously the best chocolate chip cookie I have ever baked, I did chill the dough and mine only needed 9 minutes in the oven, but they didn’t go flat, they are chewy, I’ve ate way too many and I’m about to eat more haha, Thanks so much!
StacyZimmer says
I made these and did make a few minor changes! I used half the amount of brown sugar and instead of white sugar, I used palm sugar. I also used half he amount of chocolate chips as I truly didn’t want an overly sweet cookie. They turned out amazing! So amazing I went and made another batch to freeze.
I took it one step further a third time and used coconut oil and butter blend, ALSO very good!
I don’t think you can really go wrong with this recipe, it’s that versatile! Make them! You won’t regret it.
Banana says
I tried these because I don’t have a chocolate chip cookie recipe (try not to have cookies in the house or I eat them!–even frozen from the freezer). Anyway, these are nice cookies with the perfect texture. I will admit that they are too sweet for me and I only used 3/4 of the called for chocolate chips. I’m happy that I find them too sweet because it means I won’t eat as many! My kids like them and thats who they are for. I wonder if the type of chocolate chip you use makes a difference though? I used Kirkland semi-sweet. Perhaps another brand would taste less sweet.
thekitchenmagpie says
@Banana The chips can make a difference, I like a true semi-sweet that’s got that tang to it. Some semi-sweet are SO sweet it hurts my teeth! PC at Superstore makes a GREAT semi-sweet chip if you live in Canada….