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
love this recipe for those late night cravings. I didn’t want to wait for the dough to chill (to eager for choc chip cookies, obviously) so I baked at 325 to start then bumped up to 350 at the end to brown! turned out perfectly!
I made these with half semi-sweet chocolate chips and half dark-chocolate chips. These are to die for!
This is my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. I sometimes double it. To save time, I press it into a cookie sheet to make cookie bars (bake 325 for 22 min) and then cut them into squares .
Best cookie recipe I’ve had in ages!!!!! Followed the steps exactly! Sooo delicious!
Amazing! So dang good. Best chocolate chip cookie recipe that I have ever used. Yummy!
By far best and easiest chocolate chip cookie recipe! No need to mess with what works 🙂 thank you for sharing!
These are the BEST chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made! They are perfect in every way. Crisp on the edges, soft in the middle. Just the right amount of chocolate chips. Just AMAZING!
Where are the measurements?
In the recipe card towards the bottom of the post. There’s a jump to recipe button at the top of each post as well.
This is the greatest thing ever!! So easy and so delicious! Thank you so much for this! It is the perfect amount for 2 people if you are wanting something sweet but don’t want it hanging around.
Way too much baking soda, unfortunately. I could really taste it in every bite. Other than that, the recipe worked really well, so I’ll be using it again, just with less baking soda. Thanks!
Did you make sure to only use 1/4 teaspoon? It’s honestly not very much, so I’m not sure how you would taste it unless there were a few clumps that didn’t get mixed in well.
Sky, I have not tried the recipe yet, but wanted to share that I learned the hard way that some salts contain Sodium Bicarbonate. Sodium Bicarbonate is baking soda. So the salt you may have used may have contained Sodium Bicarbonate. I learned this after making over 100 peanut butter cookies (not from this site) that had an overwhelming taste of baking soda. Hope this may help.
I just tries this recipe today and it was the best cookies Ive done in a long time, it’s simple and doesn’t contain that much calories !! Everyone liked them !!
I hate to leave a negative review, but these cookies did not taste like a classic chocolate chip cookie in my personal peferences. There is nothing wrong with this recipe because I followed the exact measurements and steps, I’m just letting you know that it doesn’t compare well to store-bought chocolate chip cookies. All I tasted in the cookie was butter and it was too savory for me. To be frank, the only thing that made these cookies reminiscent of the original cookie were the chocolate chips. I did not like how cakey and crumbly the cookie was either and preferred it chewier, but that’s just my preference.
I came across this recipe because I went to the store for more butter but didn’t think I needed eggs for the classic Toll House cookie recipe. I only had 1 egg! So I needed a small batch recipe and omg….My boyfriend ate 4 in one sitting. I will most definitely be making these for now on! The perfect recipe for a couple who can’t finish 20 cookies in good time!
I love this recipe and use it often when I want something sweet. I make them gluten free with King Arthur’s measure for measure gluten free flour. I also use a little less sugar than called for; I use about 1 tbsp of white sugar and a little less than 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Add some walnuts and a little drizzle of maple syrup if you want a really yummy fall version.
These cookies are wonderful! I adapted them by using Carbquick baking mix and forgoing the baking soda and baking powder. Used SOLO sweetener and Swerve sugars. Will try with coconut brown sugar next! This batch is the PERFECT size to keep you in delicious cookies for a week. Super tasty! Thanks for this downsized recipe! I am going to share this recipe with my son so he can make the real deal. Will be great for toaster oven baking in college!
I loved this so much so did my family and they were so easy to make
I’ve been looking for a small chocolate chip cookie recipe. I Just made these and they came out amazing ! I did put 1/4 sugar , the same as brown sugar and it came out real good . I recommend this recipe .
Perfect choc chip cookie recipe when I don’t want to overindulge and just fix a craving. Thanks!
I just made these for the first time and they are so delicious and so perfect!
I was too impatient to let them freeze for a bit so I went ahead and cooked them. It did give me a good idea to roll some in small balls and freeze them for ice team toppings because it’s the perfect texture.
Can’t wait to use this recipe again. ?
Amazing I was at us over at my cousins we’re both 13 and we wanted cookies these turned out perfect
Best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made. Love that the salt ratio is higher— for me it balances out the sweetness perfectly. Won’t be trying any new cc recipes for a while!!
This is my GO-TO cookie recipe when I just want to make a small batch. Which, for a toddler mom, has been about once a week for the past few weeks. We all love them!
Made these with my mother, it was very fun. The cookies also taste very rich and tasty.
So good!!
This is the first cookie recipe I’ve found that my partner loves and makes the perfect amount for us to not completely overindulge! I did sub half the chocolate chips with butterscotch chips, and I’m excited to try more variations!
I made these this evening because I had all of the ingredients on hand, and they turned out perfectly! Really easy, quick and SO delicious. Definitely my new go-to cookie recipe!
FIRST RECIPE TO NOT TASTE EGGY! ALSO, PERFECT SIZE FOR 3/4 PEOPLE!!! 🙂
I changed the sugar amount to the same as the brown sugar amount. Cause every chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve ever heard of the brown sugar amount is the same as the sugar amount. They were wonderful once I did this. First time wasn’t sweet enough.
Every single time I make these cookies everyone asks me for the recipe. These are phenomenal!!
I just made this recipe – as I was looking for a way to finish some butter I had left – and they came out perfectly! The steps were really easy to follow and the end result is delicious. Thanks for posting this!