The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

You deserve better than the recipe on the back of the yellow bag. You deserve cookies that are perfectly soft and chewy with a rich, buttery flavor, easy to make and guaranteed to wow anyone lucky enough to receive one. Hundreds of recipe reviewers agree — these are the BEST chocolate chip cookie recipe you’ll ever try! So, what are you waiting for?

What Makes These Cookies the BEST

• No waiting for butter to soften! The best chocolate chip cookies start with melted butter for the butteriest flavor and the softest, chewiest texture. This means you can mix up this dough on a whim without any advance preparation (don’t get too excited, though, there’s a bit of chilling required).
• No fancy ingredients. We’re using basic pantry staples you’re already familiar with (it’s all about how we use them).
• Heavy on the brown sugar. The higher ratio of brown sugar not only gives us a deep, caramel-y flavor but it also helps the cookies stay soft for days.
• The dough is perfect for freezing. You can keep some on hand to have fresh baked chocolate chip cookies on demand anytime.

If you’ve tried my worst chocolate chip cookie recipe, you already know that when it comes to chocolate chip cookies, that life-ruining version is hard to beat! There’s a reason the video has been viewed over 8 million times and I get dozens of e-mails and comments about it every day!

However, I also get lot of e-mails from those of you who either don’t have maple syrup on hand or want to leave it out for one reason or another (oh, please don’t!). So, here’s an alternative instead of sending you off to the back of a Tollhouse bag.

A sister recipe to my “worst” cookies, these are appropriately named the best chocolate chip cookie recipe. There’s not a drop of maple syrup in this recipe, yet the flavor and texture are still just as incredible (and it’s my own sisters’ favorite version)!

Try them both and tell me which you prefer (I know which one is my favorite!) 😉

Ingredients

What do you need to make incredible chocolate chip cookies? Surprisingly, just basics (it’s more about how we use them)!

• Melted butter. Melting the butter infuses flavor into the cookies in a much different way than creaming it with the sugar does (and gives you cookies that are chewier and stay chewier). So melt your butter, but make sure to let it cool before adding the sugars; if your butter is scorching hot, it will melt the sugars and you’ll end up with a greasy, runny mess rather than cookie dough.
• Egg + egg yolk. Adding just the yolk and omitting the white enriches the dough and encourages that tender, chewy texture we all love.
• Brown sugar. While you could use all light brown, I prefer using a mixture of light and dark brown sugar here (when I happen to have both in my pantry). This blend adds a more complex flavor. All dark brown will be richer, though it will still “work” technically, but it isn’t my favorite.
• Cornstarch. Cornstarch helps the cookies hold their shape and creates a super soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture. If you don’t have it or can’t use cornstarch, subbing it for a Tablespoon of flour will “work”, it’s just not the best option.
• Vanilla. A hefty pour (half a tablespoon!) adds such a nice flavor here, just like in my buttermilk pancakes. Bonus points if you use homemade vanilla extract!

SAM’S TIP: Reserve a few of your chocolate chips for pressing into the top of your cookies after they come out of the oven. This will give them a bakery-style look!

This is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!

How to Make Them

Make & chill the dough

Stir together the cooled melted butter (this is very important–it cannot be even a little bit warm) and sugars until combined, then add the egg and yolk (room temp are best) and vanilla.

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl, then gradually add them to the wet ingredients. Doing this gradually allows the flour mixture to fully absorb into the dough; it will make combining much easier than if you were to dump it all in at once!

Finally, fold in your chocolate chips, saving a few for pressing into the tops of the cookies when they finish baking if desired. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. You can prep your cookie sheets with parchment and gather your cooling racks and cookie scoop while you wait.

Scoop & bake

Roll about 2 Tablespoons of dough between your palms (makes them more round and uniform after baking, if you don’t care about such things simply drop them right on the baking sheet, unformed). Give the cookies some room on the baking sheet so they don’t spread into each other.

Bake until the edges are just starting to turn a very light golden brown, then remove from the oven (bonus points if the centers of the cookies look almost underdone still). If desired, you can and should press a few additional chocolate chips in the tops of your cookies now.

Let the cookies cool completely on the warm baking sheets for perfectly soft and chewy results!

SAM’S TIP: Don’t over-bake your cookies! Pull them out when the centers are still slightly underdone; they’ll finish baking outside the oven on the hot cookie sheets. I use this trick for so many of my soft and chewy cookie recipes, like my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and M&M cookies.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you are feeling especially lazy, my chocolate chip cookie bars taste very similar but require zero chilling or scooping.

Alright, when you try them, please leave me comment and let me know what you think of them! I always love your feedback 💜

Let’s bake together! Subscribe to my newsletter to be notified of all the newest recipes, and find my free recipe tutorials on YouTube 💜

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Perfectly soft and chewy with a rich, buttery flavor, these are the BEST chocolate chip cookies you'll ever try! This is a simple recipe that requires just 30 minutes of chilling before scooping.

Recipe includes a how-to video!

4.99 from 59 votes

Print Pin Rate

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Course: Cookies, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 11 minutes minutes

Total Time: 26 minutes minutes

Servings: 25 cookies

Calories: 138kcal

Author: Sam Merritt

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled until no longer warm to the touch
• ▢ 1 ¼ cup (250 g) brown sugar firmly packed (see note)
• ▢ ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk room temperature preferred
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 2 ¾ cups (350 g) all-purpose flour
• ▢ 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ 1 teaspoon table salt
• ▢ 1 ¾ cup (300 g) semisweet chocolate chips plus additional for tops, optional

Recommended Equipment

• ▢
  Mixing bowls
• ▢
  Cookie sheet
• ▢
  Parchment Paper
• ▢
  1 ½ Tablespoon cookie scoop

Instructions

• Combine melted butter and sugars in a large bowl. Stir very well.
  1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, 1 ¼ cup (250 g) brown sugar, ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
• Add egg and egg yolk, and vanilla extract and stir well.
  1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk, 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt.
  2 ¾ cups (350 g) all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons cornstarch, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon table salt
• Gradually add flour mixture to wet ingredients — stir well so that all the flour is absorbed.
• Stir in chocolate chips.
  1 ¾ cup (300 g) semisweet chocolate chips
• Place dough in refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350F (177C) and prepare cookie sheets by lining with parchment paper.
• Scoop dough by rounded 1 ½ Tablespoon (47g) onto prepared cookie sheets, placing at least 2″ apart.
• Bake on 350F (177C) for 11 minutes — cookies may still seem slightly soft in the centers, that is OK, they will cook completely on the cookie sheets. Don’t over-bake or your cookies will be too hard.
• If desired, gently press additional chocolate chips into the tops of the warm cookies.
• Allow to cool completely on cookie sheets.

Notes

Brown sugar

You can use all light brown sugar or a 50/50 blend of light and dark brown sugar (my preference and recommendation, if you have both available). This gives the cookies an even deeper, richer flavor.

Chilling

Cookie dough may be tightly covered and stored in the fridge for up to 3 days before scooping and baking. Just note that the dough gets pretty firm, you may need to let it sit at room temperature a bit before you’re able to scoop it.

Storing

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 138kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 15mg | Sodium: 68mg | Potassium: 59mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 135IU | Calcium: 12mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.

Tried this recipe? Show me on Instagram!Mention @SugarSpun_Sam or tag #sugarspunrun!

I originally shared this recipe for perfect chocolate chip cookies over on Spend with Pennies! I shared it on my blog as the “second best” chocolate chip cookies, too, and have updated it with new photos and a new video (the recipe remain the same).

Related Recipes