These homemade Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies are thick, soft yet chewy, and loaded with chocolate chips. This is my absolute favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, and it’s made with simple pantry staple ingredients.
If you love thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies, then you’ll love these ones that have soft, chewy centers with plenty of chocolate chips.
While it’s safe to say chocolate chip cookies are a classic recipe everyone has probably made at least once with a tried and true recipe they love, I felt it was time to share my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.
It might not be something brand new or conceptually ingenious, but it’s a recipe I love and use so frequently I figured someone here could find this helpful.
It’s taken me a long time to find a trusty homemade chocolate chip cookie recipe that uses normal ingredients and doesn’t take 10 years to chill in the fridge.
So, let’s get baking what I consider the best Chocolate Chip Cookies!
Reasons Why You’ll Love This Recipe:
- These are chewy yet soft chocolate chip cookies with a lightly crisp edge.
- They’re made entirely in one bowl! You can do it by hand or with a mixer.
- You can chill the dough if you want to, but you can also make these chocolate chip cookies without chilling. A very flexible recipe, and I’ll give more details on chilling/not chilling below.
- Make a double batch and store the rest in the freezer! Bake them up whenever you need a chocolate fix.
I’ve used versions of this recipe in other recipes here, including this Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake and this Chocolate Chip Cookie Peanut Butter Pie, but I haven’t shared it as the classic chocolate chip cookie recipe until now (and I’m embarrassed it’s taken me so long!).
Ingredients:
- unsalted butter: this recipe uses a little more butter than other chocolate chip cookie recipes, and it shows. 😉 This recipe is way more flavorful in my opinion!
- brown sugar and granulated sugar: the molasses in the brown sugar keeps these cookies flavorful and soft while the granulated sugar keeps them chewy with a crisp edge.
- eggs
- all purpose flour
- baking soda
- salt
- espresso powder: an optional ingredients, but espresso enhances the flavor of chocolate without overpowering the flavor. I use espresso powder in tons of recipes!
- vanilla extract: definitely use pure vanilla extract (not the imitation kind)—the flavor makes all of the difference in these cookies.
- chocolate chips: I use semi-sweet chocolate chips, because I think they’re the perfect blend of richness and sweetness. However, you could use milk chocolate chips or dark chocolate too.
Apart from the espresso powder, which is optional, these use typical baking ingredients most people have in their pantries. No cornstarch or instant pudding in these cookies—and they don’t need it! They’re perfect chocolate chip cookies as is.
Let’s talk about chilling the cookie dough and what your options are.
Once the cookie dough is made you have 3 options when it comes to chilling and baking them.
- Bake them without chilling
- If you don’t want to chill the cookie dough or don’t have time, you can immediately bake these cookies after making the dough.
- If you choose to make these chocolate chip cookies without chilling, they will still be chewy, but they won’t be as thick as they would be if they were chilled.
- Why won’t they be as thick? The warmer butter is, the more cookies spread.
2. Chill the dough in the fridge
- If I have the time, I like to chill the dough for 30-45 minutes or so; just enough time to get the butter nice and cold again.
3. Chill the dough in the freezer
- This is my favorite method! It’s quick and effective.
- Scoop the dough and space them evenly on the cookie sheet. Place in the freezer for 5-8 minutes.
- Yes, this does require you make room in your freezer. 😉 But, it’s the quickest way to get those thick and chewy cookies!
FAQ’S
- How do I freeze the dough for later?
- Once the you have made the cookie dough, shape cookies into balls and place them (evenly spaced apart) in an airtight container lined with parchment paper (this keeps the cookies from sticking to the container as they freeze). Store in the freezer.
- When ready to bake, take them out of the freezer, place them on a cookie tray and bake immediately. Since they’re frozen, you will need to add a couple of minutes to the baking time.
- Can I use this dough for other baking recipes?
- Yes! You can use this dough to make chocolate chip cookie bars (spread the dough in an 8×8 baking dish and bake), turn it into a cookie cake, or use it as a crust for a pie.
- Here are some examples of other recipes that use this recipe as the base:
Quick and Easy Chocolate Chip Cookie Baking Tips:
- If you love soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies, you’ll want to take these cookies out of the oven when they are just *barely* starting to brown on top. They might still look slightly underdone, but they will firm up as they cool and have that perfect chewy texture.
- If you like your cookies chewy with a crisp edge (my personal fav!), take the cookies out of the oven when they are lightly golden brown on top.
- For extra chocolate decadence, I like to add some extra chocolate chips on top of the cookies as they cool.
Chocolate therapy. ❤️
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp espresso powder
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1 + 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- With a hand mixer or a standing mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
- Add in the granulated sugar and the brown sugar, and mix until well combined.
- Add in the egg, and mix until well combined.
- Next, add in the salt, baking soda, espresso powder and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
- Add in flour, mixing until combined.
- Lastly, mix in 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips.
- Chill the dough for 20-30 minutes (you can bake these right away, but the cookies will spread more and won’t be as thick).*
- Scoop your cookies with a large cookie scoop and evenly space them apart on your parchment lined cookie sheet. (You want the cookies to be about 1 1/2 Tbsp to 2 Tbsp in size, which is usually the size of a large cookie scoop).
Bake for 12-13 minutes. You want the cookies to be just *barely* golden brown on top (this will make sure they are soft and chewy in the centers).**
- If desired, use the remaining 1/4 cup of chocolate chips to add some extra chips on top of the cookies (I do this after the cookies have cooled for about 1-2 minutes).
- Allow the cookies to cool at least 5-10 minutes before serving.
*Alternately, you can immediately form the dough into balls, place on your cookie sheet, and freeze for 5-10 minutes before baking. There are more instructions in the post on this.
**If you prefer your cookies chewy with a bit of a crisp edge, allow the cookies to bake until they are lightly golden brown, about 1 minute longer or so.
Here are some other recipes you might love:
Marshmallow Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Double Chocolate Chip Cookie Nutella Cream Pie
Funny Aprons says
Omg these are amazing but one of my kids is gluten intolerant, how would you substitute the flour? Thank you
Kara