Chocolate Chip Cookies

Truly Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is what happens when you grab a cookbook to flip through the pages in the evening. You see a really good cookie photo that causes you to run into the kitchen and make easy chocolate chip cookies!

You see, this is not called the easiest chocolate chip cookie recipe for nothing. They can be baked at the spur of the moment. We switched up the cookie recipe we saw to make it quick and easy. Plus, we're not a fan of loads of sugar in chocolate chip cookies, so we had to make the recipe our own.

A random cookie picture is seen of a cookie with a soft texture and gooey chocolate chips. Craving sets in. Precious runs to the kitchen. 30 minutes later, perfect chocolate chip cookies are made and she is one happy girl eating some warm cookies and drinking a glass of cold milk. Ah, life is good!

Recipe Testing Process

We published this easy chocolate chip cookie recipe a few years back and it worked well then. Then back in 2020, when we made the recipe again, it wasn’t just working as we wanted it to. We are sure some of you experienced this too and we apologize.

So this year we really zoomed in and focused on this classic chocolate chip cookie recipe, making it several times and tweaking it until we finally achieved the chocolate chip cookies we are super proud of.

In the last few days, we have baked about 12 batches of chocolate chip cookies. Baking each batch came with learning something new.

We have experienced all sorts of cookies: not-soft-enough cookies, overmixed-dough cookies, flat cookies that spread too much, cookies that don’t have enough chocolate chips, and the list goes on.

It was a tedious process but, in the end, very rewarding because we now have a chocolate chip cookie recipe that we hope will bring joy to your home. We hope you will make it each year, and each Christmas, and you can confidently share it with your family and friends.

Special thanks to our daughter, Salma, for her invaluable contributions during recipe testing. Salma is only 10, but that girl has a future with food! She helped mix one batch of cookie dough, taste the cookies together with our other girls, and make suggestions.

So, friends, we present to you our new and improved chocolate chip cookies. This recipe can be your go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. Every single time you make and eat them, you’ll want to make a second batch immediately.

Ingredients For Easiest Chocolate Chip Cookies

You only need 8 ingredients for these chocolate chip cookies. This recipe makes 2 dozens of cookies. Here are the ingredients you need:

Here are some notes on key ingredients:

• Unsalted Butter: Good quality butter is key when making cookies as the butter you use can make or break the cookies. We love getting organic butter for our cookies. It should be softened butter. You don’t want melted butter.
• White Sugar: Granulated sugar not only provides sweetness but also contributes to the structure of cookies. We have tried making cookies with less sugar and the texture of the cookies turn out way off.
• Egg: One egg helps bind the dough together, without which the dough will be weird and crumbly.
• Salt: Enough salt in the cookie dough balances the sugar well, resulting in really tasty cookies. We use a good one teaspoon of salt in this recipe. Yes, one teaspoon.
• Chocolate chips: Semisweet chocolate chips tend to work best with sweet cookies. You need enough chocolate chip cookies to inundate the dough so that every bite contains chocolate chips.
• Vanilla: A good one tablespoon of vanilla extract adds flavor to the cookie dough. Check out our homemade vanilla extract recipe.

You will also need all-purpose flour and a couple of other ingredients (table, sea salt, or kosher salt and baking soda). We don’t suggest using bread flour or another type. Make sure to check the recipe card for the full ingredient list and quantities of each.

How To Quickly Soften Butter For Cookies

It is often best to soften butter on the countertop at room temperature. However, sometimes you don’t just have the time to do it. So here are our tried and proven methods for softening butter quickly to use in a cookie recipe:

1. In a zipper bag: Unwrap the quantity of butter you need and place it in a zipper storage bag or slider storage bag. Close the bag with its zipper or slider. Place the bag on the countertop and hit the butter several times using a rolling pin until it softens. Tear open the bag from its sides, clean out the butter using a spatula, and proceed with the recipe.
2. In a mixer: Cut the cold butter into half-inch thick slices and place the cut butter into the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on low for 3 minutes or until the butter softens. Proceed with the recipe. In the case of this recipe, add the sugar and start creaming together the sugar and butter.
3. In the microwave: Microwave one stick of butter for five to ten SECONDS to soften the butter. Be careful with this method as the microwave could quickly melt the butter.

How it comes together

This recipe is beginner-friendly and has simple steps. It doesn’t take a long time at all! Here’s how to make this easy recipe for the best homemade chocolate chip cookies, step-by-step:

1. Set the oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine flour, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside.

2. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the wet ingredients (egg and vanilla extract), and mix to combine then add the dry ingredients and mix to form a dough.

3. Add chocolate chips and combine to finish the chocolate chip cookie dough.

4. Scoop the cookie dough and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Press more chocolate chips onto the scooped cookie dough. Now you are ready to bake the best cookies of your life!

After scooping the cookie dough, take each piece and mold them into neater dough balls with your hands. This will make the cookies have more even shapes after baking.

5. Bake the cookies in a preheated 350 F oven for the suggested baking time (8 minutes), then let them cool on the baking sheet for 2-5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. If you end up having leftovers, store them in an airtight container or sealed plastic bag to keep them fresh.

Once the cookies come out of the oven, they will be doughy in the middle. They’ll be extremely soft chocolate chip cookies, but this is totally okay. The cookies will set as they cool and have crisp edges.

Are you a chocolate fan? Also make our Chocolate Cupcakes With Chocolate Frosting.

Other ways

• Bigger cookies: To make bigger cookies, use two to three tablespoons of cookie dough to form one cookie and bake them for about 10-12 minutes. You can use an ice cream scoop to scoop them. Fewer big cookies will fit on one cookie sheet so you’ll have to bake them in several batches.
• Adding nuts: Add 3/4 cup of chopped walnuts or other nuts to make nutty chocolate chip cookies with some crunch from the nuts.
• Type of Chocolate: Try using chocolate chunks or chopped chocolate instead of chocolate chips, or a combination of chocolate chunks and chips, or a combination of M&Ms and chocolate chips. Experiment with chip flavors too, such as white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, or milk or dark chocolate.
• Chewier cookies: Add one more egg to the cookie dough, or use a measuring cup to swap half of the granulated sugar for dark or light brown sugar. Then, chill the cookie dough for one hour before scooping and baking.
• Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies: For a deeper flavor, you can use half brown butter and half regular butter. The brown butter must be entirely cooled before using it. It will make the dough soft, so we suggest letting the dough balls rest in the refrigerator after scooping them, so that the butter can harden again and they will bake right.
• Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies: For a sweet and salty treat, add a pinch of salt to the top of the cookies before you bake them!

Also, check out our Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cookies (a fun twist on classic chocolate chip cookies), Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies, Brown Butter Pecan Cookies, Chocolate Chip Butterscotch Chip Cookies, and Easy Coconut Macaroons.

Cook notes

• Creaming the butter and sugar: Creaming the butter and sugar is an important process that aerates the mixture and adds rise as the cookies bake. Cream the mixture until the butter and sugar mixture goes from an off-white-looking color to a brighter white-looking color. It takes about 3 minutes to achieve this using a stand mixer on medium speed.
• Better cookie shapes: After scooping the cookie dough, using a cookie scoop, use your hands to form the scoops into rounder balls. This makes for more even-looking cookies after they are baked.
• Never overbake cookies: When the cookies are done, they will have golden brown edges but will still look doughy around the middle. They will also be very soft to the touch. Resist the temptation to place them back into the oven. They will be set as they cool. Overbaking the cookies will make them toughen up, resulting in hard cookies.
• Chilling the dough: If you over-soften the butter and the cookie dough turns out too soft, or for whatever reason, your cookie dough turns out too soft, refrigerate the dough before proceeding. If your dough is too soft, your cookie dough will spread too quickly creating a mess. So in that case, refrigerate the dough for one hour first before proceeding. Or scoop the cookies onto a baking sheet and refrigerate for 30 minutes before baking.
• Freezing cookie dough: To freeze cookie dough, place scoops of cookie onto a baking sheet, flash freeze the scoops for one hour, or up to a couple of hours, then place the scoops into an airtight bag and freeze for up to a month. To bake frozen cookie dough, let the cookie scoops rest on a baking sheet at room temperature for one hour then proceed to bake. You might need to bake frozen cookie dough for an additional minute or 2.
• Even baking: Bake cookies in the middle rack of the oven. Some ovens are hotter than others, so rotate the baking sheet halfway through for even baking.

Recipe FAQs

Easiest and Best Chocolate Chip Cookies!

You’ll love this recipe. It is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe and also the easiest! They are:

• Sweet
• Chocolatey
• Vanilla-y
• Quick to make
• Well-loved by both kids and adults.

• Yield: 24 cookies
• Prep: 20 minutes
• Cook: 10 minutes
• Total: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 – 1½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips or chocolate chunks, use more or less depending on preference
• More chocolate chips for pressing into cookie balls

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius). Line an 11 by 13 inch baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, with a wooden spoon, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. About 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix to combine. Add half of the flour and mix to combine, then add the remaining half of the flour and mix to form the dough.
4. Add the chocolate chips to the dough and combine so the chocolate chips are evenly distributed across the dough.
5. Using a medium cookie scoop (or measuring 1.5 tablespoons of dough with measuring spoons,) scoop the cookie dough into balls and place them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Take each ball of dough and mold it into a neater ball with your hands. This will make the cookies have more even-looking shapes after baking. One 11 by 13 inch baking sheet will hold about 12 cookies at a time.
6. Press about 3 more chocolate chips onto each ball of cookie dough.
7. Place the cookies into the preheated oven and bake for about 8-10 minutes until slightly golden around the edges. The cookies will still look doughy in the middle and that's okay. They will continue to set as they sit out of the oven.
8. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for two to five minutes then place them on a cooling rack and let them cool completely.
9. While the first badge of cookies bakes, place the remaining cooking dough in the fridge to chill. Once the first badge is done baking, take out the other half of the cookie dough and proceed with following the instructions above for scooping and baking.