Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
These chocolate chip cookies are extra soft, chewy, and they turn out perfect every time. This is the only chocolate chip cookie recipe you will ever need!
I feel like a homemade chocolate chip cookie recipe is something that everyone should have in their recipe box. Several years ago I spent quite a bit of time working on creating the perfect chocolate chip cookies and after several attempts I finally landed on the perfect recipe.
So today I wanted to share this classic cookie recipe with you again because it’s one that I make all of the time! Not only are these the best chocolate chip cookies you’ll every try, but they’re also:
- Easy to make
- Incredibly soft and chewy
- Full of melted chocolate chips
- Super delicious!
Every single time I make a batch of these cookies, people go crazy for them and ask how to make them. That’s when you know you have a good recipe!
Recipe Ingredients
First things first, you’ll want to gather all of your ingredients for these cookies. Let’s discuss each one and why it’s important to this recipe:
- All-Purpose Flour: The flour is what provides the structure and helps them hold their shape. Just be sure to measure your flour correctly. Too much flour can lead to cookies that won’t spread in the oven.
- Baking Soda & Salt: The baking soda helps give the cookies a little lift and the salt enhances the flavors.
- Unsalted Butter: I prefer to stick with unsalted butter in all of my recipes, since the amount of salt in salted butters can vary quite a bit between different brands. Only have salted butter on hand? Simply reduce the salt in this recipe to 1/2 teaspoon.
- Brown Sugar & Granulated Sugar: The brown sugar adds moisture and creates chewy chocolate chip cookies while the granulated sugar helps them spread.
- Eggs & Vanilla Extract: There are two eggs in these cookies to bind everything together plus a little vanilla extract. I also recommend using room temperature eggs as they will disperse more evenly into the dough.
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips: I find that semi-sweet chocolate chips work best because they’re not too sweet and not too bitter. Feel free to use any kind that you prefer though!
How To Make Chocolate Chip Cookies
Once you’ve gathered all of your ingredients, it’s time to prepare these easy chocolate chip cookies. Here’s a simple breakdown on how to make the cookie dough and bake the cookies.
- Whisk together your dry ingredients: Whisking the dry ingredients separately will help ensure that the baking soda and salt are evenly dispersed in your dough.
- Beat the butter and sugars together: I like to mix the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together for 1 to 2 minutes or until they’re well combined.
- Mix in the eggs and vanilla extract: It’s best to mix in the eggs one at a time, then mix in the vanilla. I also suggest stopping to scrape down the sides of your bowl at this point and mix one more time before adding the dry ingredients.
- Add the dry ingredients: You only need to mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined.
- Mix in the chocolate chips: You can either gently fold in the chocolate chips or mix them in on low-speed until they’re fully incorporated into the cookie dough.
- Chill the cookie dough: This will help ensure that your cookies don’t spread too much in the oven. I find that two hours is the perfect amount of time!
- Scoop and bake the cookie dough: I suggest using a 1.5 tablespoon cookie scoop because it creates the perfect cookie. The cookies will also take about 10 to 12 minutes in a 350°F (177°C) oven. You’ll know they’re done when the tops are set and the edges are lightly golden brown.
- Allow the cookies to cool: I prefer to let them cool on the baking sheets for 5 to 10 minutes, since the residual heat helps the cookies finish setting up. Then, transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Quick tip: If you want perfectly round cookies, use a spoon to shape the warm cookies once they come out of the oven.
FAQ’s
How do you prevent your cookies from being flat?
If your cookie dough is too warm your cookies may spread more in the oven. If you find that they’re spreading too much, chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator longer. You can also place the balls of cookie dough in the freezer for 20 minutes to speed up the process.
What do I do if my cookies don’t spread in the oven?
Too much flour in your cookie dough can lead to cookies that won’t spread very much. If you find that your cookies aren’t spreading very well, simply press the cookie dough down to flatten them some before baking.
Can you freeze the cookie dough or baked cookies?
Yes! I suggest scooping the cookie dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and place the baking sheet in the freezer. Once the cookie dough is frozen, you can store it in a freezer bag or container in the freezer for up to 3 months. To bake the cookie dough from frozen, add an additional 1 to 2 minutes of baking time.
Baked cookies that have cooled completely will freeze well for up to 3 months too. Simply place the cookies on the counter and thaw to room temperature before serving.
Can I prepare the cookie dough ahead of time and refrigerate it?
Yes, you can! The cookie dough may be covered tightly and stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. If it’s too hard to scoop, let it sit at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes and that should make it easier.
Baking Tips
- When measuring your flour, make sure to stir your flour around, spoon it into your measuring cup, and level it off with the back of a knife.
- If you forget to bring your eggs to room temperature, simply place them in a bowl of warm water for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Feel free to swap out the semi-sweet chocolate chips for dark chocolate or even milk chocolate chips.
More Homemade Cookie Recipes!
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Soft & Chewy Snickerdoodle Cookies
- Soft Peanut Butter Cookies
- Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Classic No-Bake Cookies
Video Tutorial
Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 and 3/4 cups (345 grams) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (230 grams; 2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup (200 grams) light brown sugar packed
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 12-ounce package (2 cups; 340g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using a handheld mixer, cream the butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar together for 1 to 2 minutes or until well combined. Mix in the eggs and vanilla extract one at a time until fully combined, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Slowly mix in the dry ingredients and continue mixing until just combined, then mix in the chocolate chips on low-speed until fully incorporated into the cookie dough.
- Cover the cookie dough tightly and transfer to the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours.
- Once the dough is almost chilled, preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line three large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside.
- Remove the cookie dough from the refrigerator, using a 1.5 tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop the cookie dough and drop onto the prepared baking sheets. Make sure to leave a little room between each ball of cookie dough.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are lightly golden brown and the tops are set. Remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Is it ok to chill the dough overnight?
That would be fine! If it’s too firm to scoop, you can let it sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes and that should help.
Hi, will the chocolate on the baked cookies stay melty after a few days in room temp?
As long as it’s not too warm, they shouldn’t be melty.
LOVE this recipe! I’m not a fan of flat crispy chocolate chip cookies, and so these are perfect! I make smaller 2-bite cookies and can usually get about 4 dozen cookies. They are gone in a matter of days, though! Smaller cookies means I can eat 4, right? Even my mother-in-law recently commented on how good these were… and that’s a HUGE accomplishment! 🙂
So happy to hear that, Julie!
I make a lot of chocolate chip cookies as they are my favorites, and this recipe is the best I have used to date. They are wonderful and stay up nicely. Followed the recipe to the ‘t’, didn’t change it at all.
Nicely done Danielle!
Thank you, Shari! Glad you liked the cookies!
Hi I want to try this recipe with my daughter but I don’t have semi sweet chocolate chips. How would this affect the sweetness of the cookie if I use milk chocolate chips? Would I have to decrease the amt of sugar?
It will make them sweeter. You can reduce the sugar by a few tablespoons or just use fewer chocolate chips.
My kids love to bake, and this is their go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies!
Have you heard of using the addition of cream of tartar to make a cookie soft/chewy ??
I haven’t ever heard of that, Sue. Will have to look into it!
Can these cookies be frozen (after baked)? If yes, how long may they be frozen?
Yes, that’s fine! They’ll freeze well for up to 3 months.
This has been my favorite chocolate chip cookies recipe for a few months now!
Hi, me again 🙂
do you think I can use this recipe in a cast-iron skillet to make sort of a pizzokie? Or do you think it would come out too dry / not chewy?
You could certainly use a cast-iron skillet, but this may be a bit too much cookie dough. I have a chocolate chip cookie cake recipe here, you could use that and bake it in a skillet.
If I use half of the dough for the skillet and the rest to make cookies would it work? Or just it wouldn’t bake correctly in the skillet?
It would be fine to do that!
If I want to lower the granulated sugar content for whatever reason…….. will it drastically affect the outcome of my cookie? Or can you sub granulated sugar for like a splenda or something similar?
The granulated sugar helps the cookies spread, so reducing it too much may cause them to not spread very well. I haven’t tried using Splenda, but I imagine you could use some. I probably wouldn’t substitute all of the sugar for Splenda though.
I have one additional question. If I want my cookies to be more chewier, can I substitute all-purpose flour with bread flour? What would be the prefect ratio between the two? Is there any other alternations I need to consider if I use bread flour?
If you want them chewier, you can use bread flour. I would probably use half all-purpose and half-bread flour though. Or maybe like 1.5 cups of all-purpose and 1.25 cups of bread flour.
Thank you!!:D I just try to bake a batch using the ratio of bread flour and AP flour like you suggested. It tastes kind of cakey after 5 minutes out of the oven. Is this normal? Will it become chewier the longer it sits after being brought out from the oven?
Bread flour has a higher protein content than all-purpose, so I’d imagine that it would just make them chewier. Did you make sure to spoon and level the flour too?
Thank you! I think that explains why my cookies were too cakey! I measured the flour wrong. Need to remember to spoon and level next time.
I love your recipe and I made a lot of cookies a few days ago. It was delicious! The only question I have is is it possible to make less sweet but still keep the cookie crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside?
Glad you liked the cookies! You could probably reduce the sugar slightly, about 1/4 cup. If you reduce it any more than that it will affect the chewiness and they won’t spread as well either.
Hi! Thanks for your response! Should I reduce the white sugar and brown sugar by 1/4 cup each (e.g., white sugar 1/4 cup and brown sugar 3/4) or reduce sugar (white and brown) total of 1/4? Thanks!
I would probably just reduce the brown sugar or the granulated sugar by 1/4 cup, not both of them.
Could this be made in a 12″ pizza pan for a giant birthday cookie?
Yes, that would be fine! I’m not sure on baking time, but you’ll know it’s done when the top is set and lightly browned.
Thanks for your response. When I made the 12″ cookie, the batter overflowed my pizza pan as the batter rose so next time I will just use less batter. Turned out great! Cookie was moist and delicious. Will definitely make again. Kids loved it.
Oh no! Glad it still turned out great for you though, Susan. You can freeze any extra cookie dough too.
This is hands down the best cookies recipe I’ve ever made… I’ve been looking for the perfect one and I can finally let a breath out (yes cookies are that important for me!!) and say that this is the one. I followed all the instructions and even a day later they’re still soft and chewy (I also added a piece of semisweet chocolate in every cookie).
So glad you liked the cookies, Isabelle!
I did not have 2 hours to chill the dough, so I put it in the freezer for 1/2 hour, stirring it every 10 minutes. It still worked out great, and will certainly go into my (digital) recipe box. Also I didn’t have parchment paper, so used the old-fashioned lightly grease & flour. Not as good as the parchment paper, but still OK.
Hi! This is my FAVORITE chocolate chip cookie recipe and the ONLY one I’ll make from now on..question…I’d like to add raspberries to this. Would you suggest fresh or frozen? Any tips to ensure they come out perfectly?
Thanks!
Hi, Jillian! Fresh raspberries would probably be okay, just keep in mind that they’re pretty soft so you’ll want to stir them in gently. I would avoid frozen raspberries just because they may add too much moisture to the cookie dough as they’re baking.
My cookies came out absolutely amazing thank you, but I had to add an extra egg due to the fact that the dough was super thick but otherwise came out perfect I love this recipe, oh I managed to get 42 cookies instead of 38
Great recipe! I’ve been looking for a simple one that produces chewy cookies but I haven’t been satisfied. Until now! Just baked a batch and they are great. Five stars
If i wanted it to spread, do i still have to put it into the refrigerator? Thanks
The cookies will still spread even if you refrigerate them, it just helps them from flattening out too much. If you want a thinner cookie then you can skip the dough chilling.
Hi! I’m in a hurry, so is it OK if I put the cookies in the freezer for 1 hour instead of the refrigerator for 2? Thanks.
Do you mean just freeze the cookie dough? It would be too hard to scoop if you do that. You can scoop it and freeze the balls of cookie dough for 20-30 minutes and then bake them.
These cookies are the absolute best. They come out very big with the right amount of thickness, sweetness and chewiness! My husband and I are in love with this recipe.
Great recipe! I followed the steps closely and the cookies turned out perfect. In addition to the chocolate I also added some chopped almonds, dried cranberries and a little cinnamon.
I made these for a banquet and I was very pleased at not only how they baked but how good they tasted. I would recommend these to anyone!!
Big hit with my family. I substituted half coconut oil for 1/2 the butter and they turned out amazing!
That sounds delicious!
Thank you for this coconut oil suggestion!!!
My absolute favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe!! The only problem, they never last more than 2 days in my house!! Lol
I love these cookies! I make them vegan with vegan butter, eggs, and chocolate chips and they still come out amazing!
I’m so glad I found this recipe! I have searched for a good chocolate chip cookie recipe that my family would enjoy, and this is it! Thank you so much for sharing!
Hi, I have a lot of leftover Almond Flour from making macarons, could I substitute the AP flour for Almond Flour?
I haven’t tried it, so I’m not quite sure. Almond flour is much different than all-purpose flour though, so I don’t think it would substitute 1:1 very well.
I dont know what happened. I chilled dough and still the cookies came out flat and huge!
Sorry to hear that, Kate. Was the cookie dough still cold when you put it into the oven?
Should the cookie dough be still chilled when put in the oven?
It shouldn’t be warm, otherwise, the cookies may spread. I suggest leaving it chilled until right before you bake them.
I’ve been baking chocolate chip cookies for years and this is by far the best recipe I’ve ever found. My husband noticed the amazing delicious difference when I switched to your recipe and I have never looked back. I’m also at high altitude (almost 5500 feet) and they still turn out great! Thanks again!
So happy to hear that, Sammy!