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
these cookies are my go to recipe.. my husband request them at least once a week. i have one question? can i double the recipe and if so, would that be one whole egg instead of an egg yolk ?
So glad to hear that, Christy! I’ve tried that before and the cookies turn out okay, but they tend to be a little flat. I have a full batch recipe here that you could cut in half to make about 18 cookies: http://www.livewellbakeoften.com/soft-and-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies-recipe/.
Thanks for the recipe.. those oatmeal raisin cookies from the website look pretty good too.
You’re welcome, Christy! I hope you enjoy the cookies if you try them!
Delicious cookie recipe! I added chopped pecans and extra chocolate chips so I ended up with about 16 little cookies instead of 8. My hubby and stepson ate all of them in one sitting! Yum!
Chopped pecans and extra chocolate chip cookies are always a great idea! So glad everyone loved the cookies! 🙂
Oh my, oh my, my, my! These turned out perfect! Thank you, finally a small batch cookie recipe!
I’m so glad you liked the cookies, Shauna!
Hi, I have a question. I just made these. They were dark/chocolate looking and not white as shown on your picture. The taste wasn’t quite right either. Any idea what I did wrong?
I’m not quite sure, Heather. Did you make any adjustments to the recipe with either the ingredients/baking time?
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again and again: THESE ARE THE BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!!!!! My family loves them and I love that I can whip them up in a snap!
Thank you, Cheryl! They’re one of my favorite recipes to make too 🙂
This recipe was quick and easy to put together, 8 is a perfect number of cookies. They were too sweet for me, and a little too much butter. I like my cookies with dark brown sugar, these were very VERY light I could not tell if they were done. The directions were well written so these baked perfectly. Although they are ok, most likely will not try this recipe again. Thank you for posting, warmest regards.
Sorry to hear you didn’t like the cookies much, Tina. If you make them again you could always use dark brown sugar and maybe add some more flour to see if that helps 🙂
I have searched for quite a few years now to find the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe and ALAS I have finally found it! THANK YOU SO, SO MUCH! This recipe is perfect. We’re a two person household with a puppy who would love to munch on these. Thanks for also sharing the larger batch which will be perfect for the upcoming holidays. My boyfriend is very picky about the texture of chocolate chip cookies and he was very impressed with these beauties. I have made them about 4 times now in the past month and look forward to making them again and again 🙂
This is such a nice compliment, Jonisa! Thank you! We’re a two-person household too, so we make these quite a bit as well 🙂
Thank you so much for this recipe! I know I could have halved some cookie recipe, but just as I was about to grab the calculator, I said to myself someone must’ve come up with a small batch cookie recipe out there on the web! And there it was! Oh how yummy! And I realized too late that I added the whole egg, so I just added a bit more flour and they were perfect! These were perfect after a crazy day of chores and taking care of my 5 year old and 10 month old! Thank you! And I’m so happy to have found your page! 🙂
So glad you enjoyed the cookies, Maria! 🙂
Sooooo amazing! I added a bit of pecans as well. These cookies are absolutely perfect!
Pecans are always a good idea! So happy to hear you liked the cookies, Sarah!
Love this small batch recipe! I’ll definitely be making these again. Though, I may reduce the salt a teeny bit next time.
You’re not alone on eating the choc. chips (dairy free for me) straight from the bag! Lol so good!
So glad you liked the cookies, Shanese!
I was excited to find a small batch recipe! These were ok/good, I tried to follow the recipe exactly. Mine didn’t flatten enough, stayed fairly round and they weren’t chewy as my husband and I prefer. More melt/dissolve in the mouth soft. Still searching for the right recipe.
I just made these for the kids and me- we added green food coloring for St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow. They were so good! I’m thinking of making another batch after the kids go to bed… but they’ll be gone before the kids wake up, so I know I shouldn’t!
What a fun idea, Rachel! I’m so glad you liked the cookies!
Hey Danielle, these look so awesome. I live alone and a full batch of cookies would totally go bad before I ate them all (trying to not go crazy with the treats but its soooo hard). I am also somewhat handicapped (cant stand up for more than a few seconds at a time) so I love to use my toaster oven to cook and bake instead of try to use the big oven. Small batch baking is awesome. Do you think there are any things I should think about using my toaster oven for these like temperature or time changes? Thanks a bunch. I see you added a full batch recipe of these to your blog. 😀
Hey, Cindy! It’s hard to say because everyone oven is different. Do you find that the toaster oven bakes much differently than your regular oven? If so, just keep a close eye on the cookies as they bake. You’ll know they’re done when the tops are set and the edges are just lightly golden brown. It should be fine to leave the temperature the same.
You can also freeze some of the cookie dough too if you don’t want to bake this whole batch at once. Hope that helps 🙂
I just baked these and they were heavenly! A small batch was definitely not enough. Do you have a whole batch recipe?
I don’t have a full batch recipe on my blog yet, but I do plan to post one soon! When I do I’ll update this post and link to it 🙂
This is EXACTLY what I needed. I had a craving for a few chocolate chip cookies tonight and this recipe is perfect!!!!! Thank you so much for sharing. Glad I stumbled upon this one. 🙂
So glad you liked the cookies, Lauren! 🙂
Wow! first chocolate chip cookie recipe my kids have raved about, and they are 15 & 18. What a keeper.
That’s so great to hear, Marla! I’m so glad your family loved the recipe 🙂
will it still work if the butter is melted when i mix it with the brown sugar and granulated sugar?
It would probably work, but you’ll need to chill the dough longer otherwise the cookies will spread a lot. I would suggest just using softened butter to avoid that if you can.
This recipe was amazing!! The cookies were delicious and the small portion it made was perfect.
Thank you so much!
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the cookies, Lilian! Thank you!
trying these tonight. needing something sweet. I got about 10 cookies out of it. they are baking 🙂 mmm.
Hope you enjoyed the cookies, Hannah!
Hey can u forward me this recipe it doesn’t show up ughhhh thanks
Hi Donna, sorry you’re having trouble viewing the recipe I checked and it’s showing up fine for me. Are you on mobile? If so, there’s a button you’ll need to click that says “Read More” to view the full post. I adjusted the colors to make it more visible. If that’s not the case, let me know and I’ll try to figure out what is going on.
Danielle-if you double this do you just use one whole egg or 2 egg yolks?? I’m making cookies in a jar and if I double this is fits perfectly in a pint size jar which I wanted to use for my family gifts that only have a couple people in the home.
I needed another excuse to make some more cookies, so I tested it out! You can double the recipe and use one whole egg, but the cookies do spread more than the recipe as it’s written. They do still taste great, but it does help to chill the dough longer than 10 minutes.
Man!!! You ROCK!! I really do like you! You’re the best! Thanks lady..u saved my Christmas jars!!
You’re welcome! If you get a chance, it may not hurt to test out doubling a batch and see how you like them as well.
Adding a little more flour may help prevent them from spreading as much too. But without testing it, it’s hard to give an exact amount.
I mayyy have made these two nights in a row… I love that they were fresh both times though. Great recipe!
Nothing wrong with making them two nights in a row! 😉 So glad you liked them, Amy!
Oh my gosh I am back again, with just two people in my household this is definitely my go to chocolate chip cookie recipe now.
Yay! There’s just two people in our house too, so this our go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. I’m so glad you love them!
Honestly, I feel guilty writing with mean feedback. I thought the cookies had way to much butter. They could have used possibly a little more sugar aswell. Othaer tha that I thought that these cookies were generally pretty good.
I love the recipe its sooooo YUMMY
So glad you enjoyed the recipe, Amy!
Hi I was just wondering how many cookies does this batch make??
Oops I just read over the info it makes eight cookies
8 what?
The recipe makes eight cookies. I have updated it to include that information.
I was so excited to find a small batch recipe that I had to make them right away! They came out perfectly fluffy, crispy on the bottom, and delicious. I even printed the recipe for future use. Thanks! : )
I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed the recipe, Michelle! 🙂
I made these. They are really good. They did turn out flat(probably because I didn’t chill the dough and the butter was more melted than softened). I’m going to keep this recipe around. It isn’t super sweet like other recipes and I don’t want to keep making batches of cookies over and over.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe, Amber! They will flatten out a bit if the butter is too soft. I always put the dough in the freezer for about 10 minutes before baking, just to prevent them from spreading 🙂
I made these last night and they were so awesome that the kids are begging for more. I think I have enough ingredients to double your recipe but I’m wondering if I should double the salt, egg and baking powder? I’m scared. 😉 I might just do it the original way twice.
Yay! I’m so glad to hear they loved them! I haven’t tried doubling it yet, so I can’t say for sure if it will work or not. If you do give it a try, let me know how it works out! I definitely need to test that out next time I make these! If anything you could just make two batches like you mentioned just to be safe. 🙂
How is this 30 minutes? 10 to freeze, 12 to cook and 10 to cool. 32 minutes without actually making anything. This takes 40-45 minutes when you factor in actually preparing the recipe.
Shawn, you are definitely correct! I did not factor in the cooling time with this recipe. I will get it updated 🙂
These cookies were PERFECT!! Crunchy on the outside and chewy inside!! Perfect for a snow day!! Love them 🙂
So glad you enjoyed the recipe, Meredith! These are definitely perfect for snow days too 🙂