The best chocolate chip cookies are actually within reach. Soft, chewy, perfect every time. Use melted butter, don’t over mix. Huge cookies made just right.
I’ve been making chocolate chip cookies forever, searching for the perfect recipe. After many years of trying, I’d pretty much given up. I wasn’t even looking anymore, actually… then one day I came across a recipe onPinch of Yumwhere Lindsay shared a recipe for her “most favorite cookie recipe of all time”. Well of course, if she was making that claim, I had to give it a try, and let me just say…
This is now MY favorite cookie recipe of all time. {Thank you, Lindsay!}I’ve made these cookies now for so many people and been getting more compliments than I can count. Here’s my favorite- After taking these cookies to my parents’ house, my stepdad called me… “If you never make anything else for me, just make these cookies for the rest of my life”. Well, there you go.
These are soft cookies with the perfect buttery, creamy, vanilla and chocolate chip flavor combination. They’re so, so good, and (warning) irresistible, but so, so easy. The dough doesn’t need to be chilled before baking like so many other recipes, which is AWESOME because you can bake the cookies on a whim, when you get a craving or want to cheer someone’s day, in a snap, anytime! Like maybe when you want to thank your chocolate-loving neighbor for helping to basically rebuild part of your fence that almost got knocked down by a hard wind, or after your girlfriend said she had “the worst day ever” at work, or when you’ve suddenly got four hungry 14-year old boys hanging out in your house. I’m not saying that all those things happened in the course of one week, but if they did…
…SINCE they did, I made the Best Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies in no time with almost no effort. This is comfort food, thank-you food, and ravenous-teenage boy-food. Let’s get you started now…
I didn’t really change Pinch of Yum’s recipe much at all, but I have some definite “must dos” to insure perfection every single time. Some of the tips I got from the original recipe, and a few I gleened from making the cookies for what now seems like 100 times. This recipe is a snap but you have to follow a few easy rules to get it right. So let’s go…
First off, this recipe uses melted butter. Barely melted but not hot is what you want. 30-40 seconds in your microwave should do it. This is great because you don’t have to think hours ahead and take out butter to soften. Besides, depending on the temp in your kitchen is it ever softened enough, or did it soften too much?
Use good-quality, real vanilla (actually, buy all the ingredients for your baking recipes at the best quality you can afford, you won’t regret it). This Madecasse Madagascar vanilla is my favorite. Use your own preference, just make sure it’s the real deal.
Another tip that Lindsay gives in the original recipe is not to overbeat the egg once it’s added. Only beat if for 10-15 seconds before adding your flour mixture because if you overbeat the egg, your cookies will be too stiff. Next, once the flour mixture has been added and before you toss in the chocolate chips, your dough should look like this, not quite wet but definitely not too dry. It holds together as shown above. Remember my note about using the best possible ingredients for this recipe and all your baking? I have to recommend King Arthur Flour here (they are not a sponsor). I can definitely tell the difference in the quality of their product compared to others I’ve used. To ensure you measure the flour accurately, make sure to use the “spoon-and-level” method.
I’ve tried semi-sweet chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, bitter chocolate, and a combination of chips and chunks. The most popular cookie has come from using semi-sweet chocolate chips. Pinch of Yum uses a combination of chips and chunks and when I did likewise, the cookies seemed no different than when I made them using chips alone, so unless your going for a mixed texture look, use one or the other. Milk chocolate was just too sweet for us, bitter was only liked by my husband who’s a connoisseurof 100% cacao chocolate.
If you make cookies often, then having a cookie scoop is a must. For this recipe, I used my 2″ scooper for nice big cookies. Scoop them loosely and easily. My awesome friend Mel, who’s the writer of another incredible food blog Mel’s Kitchen Cafe, has a great post about the uses for different sizes of cookie scoops.
Like I said, scoop them loosely. You can roll them by hand, just don’t pack them and if you want to make smaller cookies, I’ve done that too. Golf ball size dough is perfect after about 8 minutes baking. If you’re wanting to get even more cookies out of your efforts, this recipe doubles beautifully as well.
Here is probably the most important tip- Don’t overbake the cookies! They need to come out of the oven looking ‘not done’. They’ll be white and poofy and that’s just what you want. Take them out at this point and leave them to continue cooking/cooling on the baking sheet until completely cooled.
As you see, they’ll sink down and darken as they cool. They still look kind of underdone here but will become less wet and more chewy over the next hour or so.
Since discovering this recipe for the Best Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies, I’ve made them so many times I know the recipe by heart and I get them perfect every time. And you can do the same. My printable recipe might seem long to you but don’t fear. The recipe is a snap, I just give very detailed instructions to help you out.
Here’s the cookie sliced after about 30 minutes out of the oven. This is still a bit wet and will become perfectly chewy in no time. Even this wet, I have a hard time keeping them in the kitchen… husband and son can’t resist them.
Now before you go and even though the cookies are for sure the Star of this show, aren’t these sweet porcelain measuring cups adorable? Like them? Want them? Well, I’m giving away a set to one of YOU! I want to say thanks for stopping by, if this is your first time at Good Dinner Mom {welcome!} or if you’ve been here before {thanks, Peeps!}. Enter below, giveaway goes until May 7th at midnight EDT. This is a Sophie Conran Portmeirion Measuring Cup set of 4. Beautiful porcelain nesting cups just in time for you to keep or give for Mother’s Day (they come in a cute box, well wrapped).
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5 from 8 votes
A few important tips ensure the softest, easiest, best chocolate chip cookies you've ever made. Melt the butter; use real, good-quality, vanilla; don't over-beat batter when adding the egg; remove cookies when they don't look ready. Okay, here we go with your soon-to-be favorite cookie recipe. Oh and P.S., this recipe is amazing with white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. See notes in recipe instructions.
Course Cookies
Prep Time 5 minutes minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes minutes
Total Time 15 minutes minutes
Servings 12 people
Calories 157
Author Good Dinner Mom
Ingredients
- ½ cup salted butter, one stick
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, (dark brown is fine too)
- 1 generous teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, (use the spoon-and-level method)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ -¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F degrees, place oven rack at middle position and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
Melt ½ cup butter in microwave for 40 seconds until barely melted. You want the butter melted but not hot.
In a large bowl, using hand mixer, or in bowl of stand mixer, combine ½ cup melted butter, ½ cup granulated sugar, and ¼ cup brown sugar. Mix on low until creamy. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla and mix until incorporated.
Add the egg and mix ONLY for 10-15 seconds, still on low speed. This is important as overbeating the mixture with the egg will make for a too-stiff batter. Turn off the stand mixer or beaters.
In small bowl or parchment envelope, combine 1 ½ cups flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda and ¼ teaspoon salt.
Add about ⅓ of the flour mixture and mix on low for just a few seconds, the flour won't be completely mixed in. Continue to add flour mixture until fully incorporated and beat, still on low until completely mixed. Your cookie dough, at this point, should hold together easily when pressed together, but not be too wet. If it seems too wet, feel free to add another tablespoon of flour at a time until it resembles photos (I've never had to do this, though).
Add ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and mix on low about 5 seconds, just until mixed throughout. If you like a lot of chips in your cookies, add an additional ¼ cup chips.
Cook's Note:
You can also use a combination of chocolate chips and chocolate chunks. If you like really sweet cookies, feel free to use milk chocolate chips. I've experimented with milk chocolate, semi-sweet, and bitter chocolate. Semi-sweet seems to please everyone.
Using a 2" cookie scoop, loosely scoop dough and place 2 ½" apart (6 cookies per baking sheet). Place one cookie sheet in the oven on middle rack and bake for 9-11 minutes until cookies are poofed and still white. They will not look done, you might barely see golden color around edges of some cookies. (I've tested these over and over and with my oven, 10 minutes is exactly perfect. The cookies become completely poofed and white at about 9 ½ minutes, an additional 30-45 seconds ensures additional cooking inside while still being soft when cooled.)
Remove cookies from oven and leave on baking sheet for additional 15-30 minutes. While one baking sheet is cooling, bake the remaining 6 cookies on the second baking sheet in same manner.
While the cookies cool, they will kind of sink and darken on the baking sheet. After 15-30 minutes, they're set and can be served or stored in an air-tight container for up to 3 days. The cookies are absolutely perfect about 4 hours after cooking. During this time, the flavors meld perfectly and the softness settles and becomes less "wet" and more chewy.
FYI- I've made this same cookie recipe, substituting white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. We think they're even better than the semi-sweet chocolate cookies! For this alteration, I use ½ cup good-quality (like Ghiradelli) white chocolate chips, and then I use about ¾ whole macadamia nuts (pre-chopped are chopped a little too finely for my taste), and then rough chop them, leaving some in half for a good nutty bite.
Nutrition Facts
Best Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies {ever!}
Amount Per Serving
Calories 157Calories from Fat 54
% Daily Value*
Fat 6g9%
Saturated Fat 4g25%
Cholesterol 33mg11%
Sodium 168mg7%
Potassium 27mg1%
Carbohydrates 22g7%
Sugar 11g12%
Protein 1g2%
Vitamin A 255IU5%
Calcium 10mg1%
Iron 0.8mg4%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Recipe barely altered from Pinch of Yum.
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