This post will teach you how to make perfect chocolate chip cookies from scratch. It is a detailed guide, full of tips and tricks to help you make amazing homemade chocolate chip cookies. This easy chocolate chip cookie recipe makes a great base, so you can customise your chocolate chip cookies as you like!
I am not claiming that these are 'the best chocolate chip cookies' ever, but to me, this easy chocolate chip cookie recipe has everything I look for in a chocolate chip cookie. As a baking blogger, I have made my fair share of homemade chocolate chip cookies, and this cookie recipe is my back pocket, everyday simple chocolate chip cookie recipe. It is the one I go back to time and time again, for so many reasons:
- The dough comes together super quickly with no additional steps.
- Three kinds of sugar gives you amazing texture and chew.
- Huge chocolate puddles (which are optional), are my favorite.
- Crispy outsides, and a chewy chocolate chip cookie middle
- The dough freezes amazingly, so it is great to keep on hand.
To me, these are the perfect chocolate chip cookies. I have also stuffed this post full of tips and tricks for making the best chocolate chip cookies - a lot of these tips can be applied to any chocolate chip cookie recipe, I just wanted a place for them all to live!
If you love this simple chocolate chip cookie recipe, make sure to check out my brown butter chocolate chip cookie recipe! For a quick and easy cookie situation with no scooping and rolling needed, my chocolate chip cookie bars are the perfect thing.
How to make the best chocolate chip cookies
There are a few steps to make sure these perfect chocolate chip cookies work out as well as possible:
Make sure your butter and sugar are properly creamed.
This chocolate chip cookie recipe yields a slightly thicker cookie, and part of that comes from the beating of the butter and sugars. This aerates the mixture, providing both lift in the recipe and texture.
It is important to ensure that the mixture is light and fluffy before adding in the eggs. Using melted butter in a recipe such as in my M&M cookie recipe and my mini egg cookie recipe, or brown butter like I use in my small batch chocolate chip cookie recipe gives a slightly denser, chewier cookie.
Measure your ingredients properly.
I think we all know now how important baking with a scale is to ensure accuracy - this applies here too.
Portion with a scoop.
Having nice evenly sized cookies means that they are going to bake evenly. I like to use a spring loaded cookie scoop to scoop out my cookie dough, but if you do not have one, you can weigh the balls of dough - each one should weigh about 55g.
Chill the cookie dough.
This is an important step for this recipe - chilling the cookie dough allows the flavours in the cookie batter to develop, the flour to hydrate slightly, and the butter to chill down. Give the cookie dough at least an hour in the fridge, or up to overnight.
How to make gooey chocolate chip cookies - bake until just set.
The level of doneness on a chocolate chip cookie is obviously personal preference. I prefer mine only just baked. Removing the cookies from the oven when they are just done gives you a nice gooey inside and a slightly crispy edge - remember they will set up on the pan a little too.
How to make chewy chocolate chip cookies
The role of sugar in cookies is important - both the amount in terms of the ratio of sugar to other ingredients, and the ratio of brown to white sugar.
When I am testing, I will play around with the quantities of white and brown sugar in a recipe - if i want the cookie to be thicker, a little chewier, and spread less, I will use more brown sugar, whereas if I want slightly crispier edges and more spread, I will increase the ratio of brown to white sugar.
I often get asked if it is possible to reduce the quantity of sugar in a cookie without compromising the texture - the short answer to this is no. Sugar plays an important role in the structure of the cookie, as it contributes to the moisture level while also interacting with the fat to provide lift within the cookie.
If you want to make a cookie appear less sweet, you can make sure that the dough is properly salted, and use darker chocolate in the cookie to offset the sweetness.
This recipe has brown, white, and raw / turbinado sugar in it. The brown and white sugar provide texture, while the turbinado gives a little crunch that I love so much.
Adding an extra yolk to chocolate chip cookies can also help provide chew - I do this in my egg yolk chocolate chip cookie recipe.
What is the best chocolate to use in chocolate chip cookies?
I almost always use chopped chocolate in my chocolate chip cookies. There are a few reasons for this:
- Sizing - Cutting up chocolate into chunks gives you a great range of size in your chocolate. This means you get a good distribution throughout
- Melty Pockets of chocolate - Chocolate chips often have a stabiliser in them which means they don't melt. This makes them great for things like muffins, but I much prefer using chopped chocolate for cookies because the chocolate melts, and you get pockets of chocolate throughout.
- Quality - if you use chopped chocolate, you can use whatever quality you like. It's also a great way to mix up the types of chocolate you use too - I like doing a mix of dark and then sometimes a fun flavour
- Chocolate Dust - This is a name I made up, but the dust is what's left from chopping chocolate. It all goes into the bowl and you get tiny chocolate specks all throughout the cookies.
- Melty Chocolate Puddles - Chopped chocolate means you can press extra chocolate onto the top of the cookies to get big chocolate puddles!
- If you want to use chocolate chips instead of chopped chocolate, by all means go ahead?
How to get big puddles on chocolate chip cookies
I like to use a little trick to get those big puddles on the tops of my chocolate chip cookies. Just before the dough goes in the oven, I take each ball of dough, and flatten it slightly. I then press chunks of chopped chocolate onto the top. You can add some of the chocolate dust from chopping too. Then I squeeze it back into a ball, and place it on the baking sheet.
This means that when the cookie bakes, the chocolate will end up spread across the top of the cookie, and give you those big chocolate puddles on the tops. If you are freezing your cookie dough, do this step before they go into the freezer. You can't squish frozen dough!
How to keep cookies fresh
Store chocolate chip cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. To keep them fresh, you can place a marshmallow or a piece of bread in the container with them to help stop them from going stale.
However, I prefer to only bake of the amount of cookie dough that I need, and freeze the rest for another time.
How to freeze chocolate chip cookie dough
This dough freezes perfectly. Scoop it out, chill for an hour, and then bake off whatever you are wanting to bake off. Transfer the rest to a parchment lined baking sheet, and freeze until solid.
This is a flash freeze and should take 30 minutes to an hour. Then, transfer to a ziploc bag and label with the type of cookie dough you have. You can bake it directly from frozen - decrease the baking temperature to 325°f / 165°c and bake for the same amount of time - you may need to add an additional minute or so.
For all my tips and tricks on freezing cookie dough and baking from frozen, check out my post: how to freeze cookie dough
How long does cookie dough last in the fridge?
You can chill your cookie dough for a minimum of an hour before baking, or up to overnight. If you want to make it in advance, cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days, although if I know I will not be needing it for some time, I will freeze my cookie dough and bake from frozen.
If you want a no chill cookie recipe my olive oil chocolate chip cookies are great for this - they are also a dairy free variation of a chocolate chip cookie if you need that!
The 'Cookie Scoot' - for perfectly round cookies every time.
The "Cookie Scoot" is my secret weapon to perfectly round cookies. It's a totally optional step, but one that I really love. All you do is take a round object slightly larger than the cookie.
As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, while they are still hot, put the cutter over the cookie and 'scoot' it into a perfectly round shape. The best. I do it basically every time now.
I use a cookie cutter slightly larger than the cookie. I have a set of all different sizes which is made by ateco - it is super handy to just grab the one that you need!
Cookie troubleshooting
There are a couple of things that can go wrong with cookies - they will likely still taste delicious, but there are a few common issues?
Why are my cookies flat?
- Your baking powder / baking soda is expired so it is not doing the job it is meant to.
- You did not chill the cookie dough sufficiently before baking
- The ingredients were too warm, so the cooling period was not enough to chill the dough enough for it to not spread.
- Your oven is running hot - this is the most common issue. If your oven temperature is off, this will greatly affect the spread of your cookies. Make sure you are baking the recipe according to the oven directions (my recipes are all conventional bake), and make sure your oven is calibrated.
- You didn't use a scale - time to get one! Baking in cups isn't accurate, and cookies need accuracy!
- You used a silpat / silicone baking sheet - this causes cookies to spread a lot more than parchment paper due to how slippery they are.
Why did my cookies not spread?
This is a much less common issue, the main culprit is usually oven temperature. I bake my cookies straight from balls of dough - no need to flatten!
- Your oven temperature is off. If your oven is running cold, it will slow the spread of the cookies.
- You didn't use a scale - time to get one!
How to customise your chocolate chip cookies
I love to use this easy chocolate chip cookie recipe as a base, and mix things up when it comes to mix-ins.
Feel free to add in things such as candy, peanut butter cups, nuts, etc. I use this recipe as a base for my peanut butter cup cookies and my popcorn cookies, as well as my peanut butter stuffed chocolate chip cookies. I usually keep the weight of the mix-ins the same if I am swapping in things like candy or nuts, and replace some of the chocolate for whatever I am adding. You could also add things like salted caramel chunks like I did in my salted caramel cookies, or pieces of Nutella, piped out and frozen - I did this for my Nutella Cookies and it is amazing.
If you want to play around with the texture, ratio of sugars etc you are welcome to try, but please know I have not tested these so if you make changes, you are making your own recipe, not following mine. I am happy to help suggest other recipes if this one for my perfect chocolate chip cookies does not suit!
For more chocolate chip cookie recipes, check out:
Made this recipe and love it?
If you made this recipe then I would LOVE for you to leave me a review below to let me know how you liked it! Also, please make sure to tag me on Instagram if you make it!
A note on salt and oven temperature
It is important to note the type of salt that is called for in a recipe. I use Diamond Crystal salt throughout my recipes - if you use a different sort of kosher salt or regular table salt you will need to adjust accordingly as some salt is 'saltier' than others. Morton's salt is twice as salty, so you will need half the quantity. Same goes for a regular table salt. I am working to get gram measurements throughout my recipes for salt but still getting there.
All oven temperatures are conventional unless otherwise stated. If you are baking on fan / convection, you will need to adjust the temperature. An oven thermometer is a great investment to ensure that your oven is the correct temperature.
Using the double / triple function in the recipe card
You will notice that there is a '1X' '2X' '3X' button in my recipe card. This can be used for doubling or tripling a recipe. However, please note that this only doubles the ingredient quantities in the ingredients list and NOT in the method. If there are quantities or pan sizes in the method of the recipe (for example weigh out 150g brown butter), you will need to scale this number manually. It will also not change the baking time in the recipe so you will need to adjust this yourself too. It is always a good idea to read through a recipe fully before doubling it just to check this. If you would like to scale this recipe or convert for another pan size, use my calculator!
Tools and equipment
For a list of my go-to tools and equipment, I have a post you can refer to here.
Why is this recipe in grams?
I post my recipes in grams as it is the most accurate way to bake. Cups are not only inaccurate but they vary in volume worldwide. There is no way for me to provide one cup measure that works for everyone. However, posting in weight fixes this issue. If you would like the recipe in cups you are welcome to convert it yourself via google, but please do not ask me to do it for you as I am not comfortable providing a recipe using a method that I have not tested. Baking with a scale is easy, accurate, and also makes cleanup super simple. Here is the scale that I use if you would like a recommendation! Here's to accurate baking!
Print
How to make Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 28 cookies 1x
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This post will teach you how to make perfect chocolate chip cookies from scratch. It is a detailed guide, full of tips and tricks to help you make amazing homemade chocolate chip cookies. This easy chocolate chip cookie recipe makes a great base, so you can customise your chocolate chip cookies as you like!
Ingredients
- 225g Unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 170g Dark Brown or Muscovado Sugar
- 100g Granulated / White Sugar
- 50g Raw / Turbinado Sugar
- 1 large egg (about 50g not including shell)
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 300g All-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 3g salt (1 tsp kosher or ½ tsp table salt)
- 350 g good quality dark chocolate, roughly chopped, plus a little extra for chocolate puddles (see body of post)
- Flaky Sea Salt such as Maldon for finishing
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or with an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugars on high speed for 5 minutes, until pale, and light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, and mix to combine, scraping down the bowl when necessary.
- Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add to the mixing bowl, and mix on low to just combine (you still want a few streaks of flour remaining that will get mixed in when you add the chocolate).
- Add the chopped chocolate and mix until just incorporated. Remove the bowl from the mixer and give a few mixes by hand using a flexible spatula, to ensure even incorporation of the chocolate.
- Using a 2 Tbsp Cookie scoop, scoop out balls of dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (you can place them close together). If you want big puddles on the top of your cookies, you flatten a ball of dough, press the chocolate onto the top side, then continue as usual and roll it into a ball, which then gives you even chocolate distribution as the cookie bakes.
- If you are not adding additional chocolate, there is no need to re-shape into a ball - you can bake right from the scooped shape. Cover the sheet pan with plastic wrap and chill the dough balls for an hour in the fridge, or up to overnight.
- Toward the end of the chilling process, preheat the oven to 350°f / 180°c. Line 2-3 baking sheets with parchment paper (you can bake these in batches)
- Arrange 6 cookie dough balls on a baking sheet, leaving room for spreading. Leave the remainder of the dough balls in the fridge.
- Bake for 13-14 minutes, or until lightly golden and beginning to set. Baking time depends on personal preference - if you like them quite soft, bake for 13 mins, if you like them a tiny bit crispy then bake for 14. Remove from the oven, and if desired, use a round cookie cutter slightly larger than the cookie to scoot them into a perfectly round shape.
- Sprinkle liberally with flaky sea salt. Allow to cool on the pan - the cookies will deflate slightly as they cool. Repeat the baking process with the remaining cookies.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.
Notes
If you cannot find raw / turbinado sugar, it can be substituted with 25g white and 25g brown sugar.
Keywords: cookies, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate puddles, chocolate chunk cookies, muscovado sugar
Comments
Hi! I'm thinking of making these with molasses powder somehow as I have some lying around and think the flavour could be interesting! Do you recommend that I sub the muscovado or turbinado sugar for that? Or would you totally just not sub it? Im aware they are different and will probably act different..
Hi! I’ve never used it sorry so I’m not too sure
I made a test batch of these, then a big double batch which I froze as dough balls to bake last minute for a bake sale. Perfect both times and I got great feedback. Thanks Erin for your scientist's rigour, love the thoroughness and weighed accuracy!
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I love these cookies. I tried these with the replacements but they were still amazing. I will be buying the actual sugars for my next bake but these were amazing regardless.
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Yay so happy you loved!
Do these cookies become hard after baking? I’m searching for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe but the thousands of recipes I’ve tried become rock hard after a day or two even after storing them in a air tight container.
Thousands! Wow that's impressive! These don't go hard if they are baked well - you may be over baking?
Put a slice of white bread in the container with your cookies. The bread keeps them soft and maintains moisture.
These are AMAZING!! I’ve made a few of your recipes and they’re all delicious! Thank you for sharing them.
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I have made these so many times and people often ask me for the recipe because they really are so perfect. Thank you so much for perfecting this recipe. I've made all your versions since you started so many years ago and they just keep getting better. X
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Ahhh so so happy you loved! Thank you so much x
Best cookies in the world! So delish and easy to make and always a fan favourite. Always remember to scoot scoot.
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haha yesssss! xx
Hello,
Could I prepare these ahead of time & leave them in the fridge over night?
Tia
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Yep 🙂 that's just fine!
I just want to begin with, these cookies taste SO GOOD. The first time I made them, they came out great! However, the second time I made them, they spread a lot! I don't know what may have gone wrong, they were bubbling in the oven 🙁 . Any tips and tricks would be helpful 🙂
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Hi! So happy you love! So sorry to hear you had an issue - did you make the recipe by weight?
Hiya
Just wanted to know if it was ok to keep the cookies balls in the fridge for longer then an hour like if it was okay to keep over night & bake in the morning.
Thanks
Hi! Yep that's just fine 🙂
Yes I did make them by weight. I had let the butter sit at room temp all day, do you think that could have made the cookies spread, become really thin and chewy? Also once i added the chopped chocolate chunk, I noticed the batter became a little sticky. IF I add some more flour to the flour, do you think it could help?
I had the same problem. First time trying this recipe. Followed everything by weight and they spread too much, at least comparing with Erin’s
Hi! Did you bake on conventional bake or fan? Have you got an oven thermometer in your oven? spreading issues is usually from your oven running too hot!
These are the best cookies ! I get compliments every time that I make them !
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My daughter asked if we had any cookies and I was able to whip these up super fast. Total crowd pleaser. Thank you for another great recipe!
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I don't eat regular sugar (call me crazy) so I substituted date sugar and coconut sugar to equal the 320g and added 1 tablespoon of molasses. I only had 1 Lindt bar of no sugar added chocolate, so I chopped it up and mixed it with 75g of chopped pecans and used your "pool" method to add the chocolate and nuts to the batter. They came out so good, especially when they were still warm!!! Thank you for the recipe!
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Made these after getting the recipe from a friend and oh my gosh they are the best cookies I've ever made or tasted. New favourite 100%
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I am so happy you loved them!
Made these yesterday and it’s so good! I love the combination of the three sugars. I like that the recipe goes into details about the time the dough should be chilled and for making the gooey chocolate on top. Definitely made my cookies look pretty although they taste great regardless of looks!
What brand chocolate is your favorite to use where making these?
*when
Hi! Anything you're happy eating is good! In nz I use whittaker's, in the US I often used Trader Joe's pound plus 🙂
These are the most delicious cookies ever, can't thank you enough for how much detail you go into for your recipes, it makes them so easy to follow and I love being able to measure in grams! I was hoping to use this recipe to make 1 giant cookie as a birthday present and was wondering if you had tried it or had any tips on baking time or temp changes? Thanks!
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I haven't tried it before but it should be ok! You shouldn't need to adjust baking temp, I would just watch carefully for baking time!
These are the absolute best chocolate chip/chunk cookies I've EVER had! This has quickly become my go to cookie recipe!!
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After trying just about every chocolate chip cookie recipe I've come across for the past few years, this is the one I come back to again and again (I actually have it almost memorized)... it doesn't make you split up eggs (1 egg + 1 yolk etc.), call for specialty flours, or use any out-of-the-way ingredients (feves). I enjoy those recipes too (though most of them seriously don't come out as good as this one), but the simplicity of this recipe makes its perfect outcome seem like magic. Thank you Erin!
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So happy you love them! 🙂
These honestly are perfect!! I’ve tried lots of different chocolate chips cookies recipes (NY times, SBA, Tasty, BA) and this is by FAR my favourite - and also easy? Double win! They look incredible and are such a crowd pleaser. I always have some in my freezer ready for a quick treat or for when guests come over.
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Again another go to recipe. I usually have some of these in the freezer for a cookie emergency.
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My go to recipe. Absolutely delish. Hits the spot every single time.
Thanks for sharing Erin!
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This is now my go to recipe for cookies & they always turn out 👌 in fact, Cloudy Kitchen is now my go to baking site because I know the recipes are always so well tested & reliable, not to mention seriously yum. You've also inspired me to finally buy digital scales!!
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My go to cookie recipe, has never let me down!
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WOW!
First time baking this recipe and the cookies came out perfectly.
Love the step by step easy to follow instructions.
I enjoy reading (and following online) your recipe creations.
The kids are very excited to have these cookies in their school lunch boxes this week.
I have so many more recipes on my to try list now.
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This is my go to chocolate chip cookie. Just made a batch to freeze, so easy and tasty! Thanks Erin.
Lol forgot I’d already commented on this! Just goes to show how often I’m here though. 😂
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OMG, these are legit the best. No competition. Easy to follow recipe, and one which I can use with 100% assurance thanks to Erin’s incredibly thorough testing and her amazingly helpful hints. With so many recipes I feel like I need to ‘tinker’ to make the recipe ‘better’. But with these wee babies (and all of the other CK recipes I’ve tried), tinkering is redundant as they are already perfect. 😍
Are you holding back some of the chocolate to add to each individual cookie or using more than the 350g for the puddles? Thanks!
Hi! No I usually add extra!
I have made these cookies 5 or 6 times now and can say with confidence that they are exquisite! I always get tons of compliments on them, they are no harder to made than your run of the mill cookies but the quality and taste is a whole different level. I’ll be making these as my go to chocolate chip cookies for many years to come!
This is my go to recipe for cookies when I want to impress people! They are perfect. I recently made these, and decided they also would make a perfect ice cream sandwich. So I slapped homemade vanilla bean ice cream between two of these perfectly salty, chocolatey cookies.
Thanks so much for all the work that went into developing this recipe! 💞
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Hands down the best cookie recipe I have come across. I know (from following her on Instagram) that the author puts in way too much effort in meticulously trying to come up with the ultimate best recipe and her notes and tips are life changing. This recipe is definitely a crowd pleaser just try it and you won’t look back ever!
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Hi,
I have made these before and they are amazing!!! I have some white chocolate and cranberries would that work?
Hi! Yep that should work just fine - it's a super versatile base!
I have tried many chocolate chip cookie recipes over the years. I made these today- I think they are my favourite! Recipe is a keeper. Thank you - delicious!
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Hi thank you so much I just bake the brown butter chocolate cookies . Wow so tasty .I tried so many recipe but your recipe and you are mentioned about the butter it’s really a big difference after I bake the cookies. I just followed your recipe nothing I change.
I didn’t put in the rectangle tray to bake I put in the cup cake tray the shapes was very nice .
Thank you God bless you.♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️🙏👍
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I just made these this evening… SO GOOD!! I need to write this recipe down a my go-to recipe cause they ended up being the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie! (Ok… I should disclose that I used mini M&Ms cause I prefer those over chocolate chips…).
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This recipe could not be better. I’ve seriously tried them all when it comes to cc cookies. No brown butter thank goodness because those turn hard in a day. You can either bake after one hour or longer in the fridge overnight. The different sugars give such a good mix of crunch and crew— very worth the time and effort! This will forever be my go-to!
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I make these cookies all the time and every time I get the same compliment “this is the best cookie ever”. Thanks for making everyone think I’m an amazing baker. I make a big batch and keep them in the fridge/freezer with the intention of keeping them for a few weeks, but they usually only last a few days. Love that I can impress unexpected visitors with freshly baked cookies!
Oh also, I bake the cookies for 10 minutes and then take them out and bang them on the counter and add grated chocolate on top and then cook for another 3 minutes, I find it makes the cookies super thin (which I like) and I find the rolling the chocolate puddles into the balls a bit fiddly and I’m too impatient for that, sorry!
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