Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies
These small batch chocolate chip cookies are perfect for when you’re craving a cookie, but don’t want to make a full batch. This simple recipe yields just 8 to 10 cookies and includes several recipe variations too!
Do you ever find yourself craving a chocolate chip cookie, but not wanting to make a full batch? If so, I think you’re going to love this small batch chocolate chip cookie recipe!
I originally published this recipe in 2014 and it quickly became a reader favorite and one of mine too. Over the past few months I’ve been working on a cookie cookbook (yes, a cookbook is finally happening!) and I knew that this is one recipe that needed to be included in it. So today I wanted to update this recipe to make it even better and and share it with you again.
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Requires only one bowl
- Makes just 8 to 10 cookies
- The cookies turn out super soft and chewy
- Just 10 minutes of dough chilling time
This recipe also makes a fantastic base for other cookies, so I’ve included instructions for how to make these cookies 4 different ways!
Recipe Ingredients
These easy small batch chocolate chip cookies use similar ingredients to my regular chocolate chip cookies with a few minor adjustments. Here’s what you will be using:
- Unsalted Butter: I highly recommend sticking with unsalted butter in this recipe. Since it makes such a small amount of cookies, this will allow you to control the amount of salt going into them.
- Sugar: You’ll be using a mixture of brown sugar and granulated sugar. The brown sugar adds moisture and creates a chewy cookie while the granulated sugar helps them spread.
- Egg Yolk: Since this recipe doesn’t make too many cookies, a whole egg is far too much. An egg yolk is the perfect amount to bind the dough together and add some moisture to it too. You can use the leftover egg white in another recipe like my candied pecans.
- Pure Vanilla Extract: For a little extra flavor.
- All-Purpose Flour: This provides the structure for your cookies so that they don’t fall apart when you pick them up. I found that 1/2 cup of flour wasn’t quite enough and 2/3 cup was just a bit too much, so this recipe calls for 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon of flour.
- Baking Soda & Salt: The baking soda helps lift the cookies and the salt enhances the flavors.
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips: When I originally posted this recipe, I only used 1/3 cup of chocolate chips. I’ve increased the amount to 1/2 cup so that you get some chocolate chips in every single bite!
How To Make A Small Batch Of Chocolate Chip Cookies
Once you’ve gathered your ingredients, it’s time to prepare the cookies. To start, preheat your oven to 350°F (177°C) and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set the baking sheet aside and prepare your cookie dough.
To make the cookie dough, you’ll beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together for a minute or two or until they’re well combined. You can also skip the mixer and just cream the butter and sugars together with a fork, so feel free to do whatever is easiest for you! Next, mix in the egg yolk and pure vanilla extract.
Once the wet ingredients are thoroughly combined, add the flour, baking soda, and salt and mix them in until just combined. Then, add the semi-sweet chocolate chips (or your favorite mix-ins) and fold them into the cookie dough. At this point, you want to cover the cookie dough tightly and place it in the freezer to chill for 10 minutes.
After the 10 minutes, remove the cookie dough from the freezer and use a 1.5 tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop the cookie dough onto your baking sheet. You should get about 8 to 10 cookies depending on how small or large you scoop them, but I usually get about 10.
Then, just bake the cookies for 10 t0 12 minutes or until they’re lightly browned around the edges and the tops are set. I suggest letting them cool on the baking sheet for 5 to 10 minutes, but they’re delicious right out of the oven too!
Recipe Variations
Want to try these cookies another way? You can leave out the 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips and mix in the following ingredients for each type of cookie:
- White Chocolate Macadamia Nut: Add 1/3 cup white chocolate chips and 1/4 cup of chopped macadamia nuts
- Chocolate M&M: Add 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1/4 cup of mini M&M’s
- Funfetti: Add 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips and 1 tablespoon of sprinkles
Baking Tips
- When measuring your flour, make sure to use the spoon and level method. Too much flour can lead to cookies that don’t spread very much in the oven.
- Feel free to use milk chocolate or dark chocolate chips in place of the semi-sweet chocolate chips.
- Don’t skip chilling the cookie dough in the freezer for 10 minutes. This will help ensure that the cookies don’t spread too much in the oven.
More Small Batch Recipes To Try!
- Chocolate Mug Cake
- Apple Crisp For Two
- Small Batch Peanut Butter Cookies
- Single Serving Deep Dish Chocolate Chip Cookie
- Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes For Two
Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup (60 grams) unsalted butter softened
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) light brown sugar packed
- 2 tablespoons (25 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg yolk at room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon (70 grams) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (90 grams) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and set aside.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl using an electric mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together for 1 to 2 minutes or until well combined.
- Mix in the egg yolk and vanilla extract until fully combined, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and mix until just combined. Then, mix in the semi-sweet chocolate chips on low-speed until fully incorporated into the cookie dough.
- Cover tightly and transfer to the freezer to chill for 10 minutes.
- Using a 1.5 tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet, making sure to leave a little room between each one.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are lightly golden brown and the tops are set.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 to 10 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
From the taste to the texture, The cookies came out perfect! I am not a baker and Nothing I bake ever comes out correctly except for these cookies! The recipe is easy and gives perfect measurements and only called for 10 minutes of freezer time, so easy!
These cookies were so chewy & delicious! I added Trader Joe’s dark chocolate instead of Semi sweet and it absolutely blew my mind away! I ended up making 7 cookies and that was definitely more than enough for me considering they were gone within 15 minutes 🙂 Thank you for this delicious recipe🤍
I have tried other chocolate chip cookie recipes and this is by far the best one! They are dangerously good.
I didn’t expect to actually find a recipe when I googled “cookie recipe for 1/2 cup chocolate chips”….but I wanted cookies and that’s all I had! These were so good, I added pecans because I had a few. These were possibly the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve had. Thank you!
Thank you for sharing this! My kid has been really interested in cooking and baking. So, with a little supervision I let them try out this cookie recipe.
It was a big success. And, we ended up with almost 15 mini cookies. Of course, they didn’t last long once they got out of the oven and cooled off a bit.
A delightful option when you want to make a quick half batch of cookies to treat yourself. ❤️
These are certainly the most dreamy chocolate chip cookies I have ever had. I thought I was crazy with how noticeably perfect they are. Thin, crispy edges and great texture.
Danielle – HELP!
These turn out much different than your large batch chocolate chip cookie. How can I recreate the thin, crispy edge, soft middle effect of this recipe while quadrupling the output?
I’ve been testing and would love your opinion.
Next up I’ll try.. 2 egg yolks to replace one full egg. After that, increasing the half of the difference between the 2 recipes
Hi, Rachel! My larger batch of chocolate chip cookies does use more flour, so the cookies are thicker. You could probably reduce the flour in that recipe by 1/4 to 1/3 cup of flour for thinner cookies, so they’re similar to this recipe. You could also try quadrupling this small batch recipe, baking one cookie to see how it looks, and if it’s spreading too much add a little extra flour to the rest of the dough.
These are the absolute best chocolate chip cookies! And the perfect amount, definitely will double the recipe in the future to share will others! LOL
These turned out so delicious. I’ve been trying different chocolate chip cookie recipes for a while and this one has become my top favorite easy and quick for me and my husband! Thank you!!
Great recipe. I left out the 25g granulated sugar – with no impact to taste or texture.
Thanks loads
These are SO DELICIOUS!!! I didn’t have a stand mixer, so I made them with a hand whisk, but they still turned out great!
We LOVE this recipe. It makes just enough to last us one day (lol) and it’s simple enough my 3 year old can help. We make it all the time!!
everyone loved them!!!
These came out so good! I did not have any unsalted butter so I just used salted butter and did not add the extra salt, and it worked perfectly fine. Thanks for the recipe.
Best chocolate chip cookies I’ve made! The recipe was easy to follow and the perfect small batch amount. This is now my go to recipe!
The best cookie that I ever taste
Sooo sooo good! My favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve found!
So good! Nuff’ said!
I have made these cookies twice, once before I started baking my own bread and once after. Before I started baking bread, I figured measuring would be good enough, no need to weigh… Welp, ended up with dry cookies. Then I started baking bread and realized just how important weighing ingredients is. So, I made these cookies again, and weighed each ingredient… Best cookies ever.
Takes a little more time but weigh it out, people!
Amazing and worked out really well.
We love this recipe. If I make too many cookies at once my kids eat them all. This recipe helps keep us all accountable. 😂
Has anyone used ghee in place of unsalted butter?
So glad you love the cookies, Suzanne! I haven’t tried ghee in these cookies, so I’m not quite sure. Butter has water in it, but ghee is cooked to remove all of the water. I would guess you’d need to reduce it by about 1 tablespoon and possibly add a little extra water to the dough if it seems dry. Keep in mind that the cookies may be crispier too.
Omgosh these were incredible. I had to adjust the baking time down a bit for my oven and the size cookies we were making – but these were so good we made them two nights in a row! My 6 and 4 year old daughters loved baking with me, and we all devoured the cookies!!
I have searched for a good recipe for a long time. I finally found it!
What’s crazy is you so small batch….but when I make the cookies small it’s a large batch Hahahha! And now I have 18 small cookies and I’ve eaten them all. When I tell you I’ve made this recipie 6 times in the last two weeks! Thank you!
thank you so much for this recipe. they are easily the best cookies I’ve ever made. every time i make them everyone loves them! i wanted to make a bunch for a super bowl party. if i triple or quadruple all the ingredients, will they turn out the same? xo
I haven’t tried it, so it’s hard to say. If you want a larger batch of cookies, I recommend using my chocolate chip cookie recipe here. It’s very similar to this one, just scaled up 🙂
These ended up being pretty good after following the recipe exactly as written. My only complaint is that they are too salty. 1/4 teaspoon salt is just too much when your also using baking soda. I would cut it down to just a pinch next time. This recipe also makes gooey cookies – don’t expect any crispiness.
I make these all the time and freeze the dough. They are the best cookies I’ve ever made. I never have had a problem and I double the recipe too.
Can I double the recipe and if so are there any changes with the egg yolks. Thank you.
Yes, you can double it and use two egg yolks. I find that they do tend to spread a little more doubling it though. If you want a larger batch, you can use my regular chocolate chip cookie recipe here. That recipe can also be cut in half to make about 20 cookies.
Delicious, simple, and just the right amount!
OMG they came out exactly how I like my cookies…crispy edges and a soft, chewy center that is not “cakey”. They taste exactly like Mrs. Fields but better. I added some walnuts and they are the bomb! I love how this recipe is for a small batch. I am a single girl so it’s perfect for me. My search for the perfect cookie is over. Thank you for sharing.