Go no further! While many have called these the best chocolate chip cookies, I assure you they are actually the worst, and this recipe might actually ruin your life.
Consider yourself warned.
The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies are the Worst
I can only assume that something must have gone horribly wrong to bring you here today.
Amidst a cherry-picked Pinterest Sea of “perfect chocolate chip cookies”, a Google Forest of the “best chocolate chip cookies”, and dog-eared cookbooks of “award winning” and your family favorites, you have somehow found yourself here, face-to-cookie with the actual worst chocolate chip cookie recipe.
Oh, I know what you’re thinking: It’s just a cookie, right?
I mean, sure, they look innocent enough. Golden with melty chocolate chips, crinkled edges and chewy, melt-in-your-mouth interiors… but one bite and you’re positively ruined for life.
These cookies will consume your life, shrink your jeans, and steal your boyfriend (I wouldn’t put it past them, anyway).
They even contain a secret ingredient.
A Secret Ingredient You’ll Wish You Never Discovered
How obnoxiously cliche, and, even more obnoxiously, intriguing.
I won’t drag it out. The secret ingredient is maple syrup. And sure, pure maple syrup (priced per ounce nearly the same as gold) would work just wonderfully here. But, if you have a sticky bottle of Aunt Jemima in your cabinet (as I happened to when I set out on the unholy quest for a secret ingredient for the worst-but-should-be best chocolate chip cookies), that will work just fine, too.
What kind of self-respecting cookie doesn’t demand purity and quality?
Only the worst kind.
Ingredients (& Secret Ingredients)
I credit (or, rather, blame) this “secret ingredient” for being the greatest offender in this positively worst chocolate chip cookie recipe. It gives the cookies a subtle, caramelized flavor as well as long-lasting chewiness and softness (these cookies stay soft for days, and the cornstarch helps with that as well), and the flavor is other-worldly.
And, while anyone who takes a bite will be able to detect the extra richness of flavor, not a single taste-tester was able to identify exactly what the secret ingredient actually is. Just that they were enjoying “really, really good cookies”.
OK, so what’s so bad about really good chocolate chip cookies?
How about the fact that they will consume you as you consume them? I’m not kidding about them wrecking your relationships.
Mom’s favorite chocolate chip cookie? Ditch it. You will snub your nose at every “favorite” cookie (chocolate chip or not) of the past and struggle to hold back scornful laughs at anyone who comments on their own personal best chocolate chip cookies. Nobody likes a cookie snob, and yet here you are.
Here comes that girl again, the one who’s too good for Chips Ahoy.
A Cookie Recipe for Ruining Your Life
Be prepared for weight gain. It creeps up slowly, the cookies gently embracing you at first, then clinging to your thighs, your stomach, tighter and tighter until yoga pants are your only way out of the house. If you’re worried about your significant other noticing, don’t bother. They don’t notice anything anymore, only whether or not there are more chocolate chip cookies readily available for consumption.
Perhaps worst of all is that this recipe can be made so easily. There’s no stand mixer or even an electric hand-held one required. They can be stirred by hand, dirtying only two bowls.
They do need to chill for at least 30 minutes, which would only serve as a deterrent if 25 of those minutes weren’t spent sneaking copious chunks of cookie dough from the refrigerator.
If you’ve made it this far, I fear it may already be too late for you.
It’s too late for me, sadly, and I’ve made these cookies nearly a dozen times in the past two weeks. I’m swapping gym time for cookie time to keep my refrigerator well-stocked with dough, and the photo shoot for this post took three times as long as it should have because I kept eating the subjects.
If you can, stick to the “best” chocolate chip cookies. Stick to Grandma’s chocolate chip cookie recipe and the old family favorites. Those cookies are safe, your friends, made to be consumed by you.
These cookies will consume you, instead.
Good luck out there. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did you run into cookies that spread all over the baking sheet in the oven? Here are your most likely culprits:
The butter was too hot when you added your sugar, causing the sugar to melt and creating a greasy cookie dough that never stood a chance.
You didn’t add enough flour. If the flour was under-measured, your cookies could spread when baking.
Your baking powder/baking soda was bad. These need to be stored properly and often will expire after 6 months, if yours is old, that could be the problem.
The dough didn’t chill long enough. If your dough is still very sticky after 30 minutes, let it chill longer.
You put your cookie dough on a hot cookie sheet. It actually starts to melt before it can even begin baking.
If your cookies are spreading too much, you can try stirring in a bit more flour or just chilling them (covered) for longer.
It could be that your flour was over-measured. Never scoop your flour directly into your measuring cup, it packs the flour into the cup and you end up with way more than the recipe actually calls for. Instead, use a scale (this is the scale that I use) or use a spoon to pour the flour into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a straightedge (like the back of a knife).
Honey or light or dark corn syrup would work instead of the syrup, just note that the flavor will be slightly different.
Easily one of the most-asked questions that I get, I suspect those who ask this question were merely so distracted by the siren call of these cookies that they were unable to read the blog post. Just know that they would be the best chocolate chip cookies… if they didn’t turn you into a cookie obsessed monster at first bite.
If you’re looking for something a little tamer but still delicious, check out my best chocolate chip cookie recipe, instead.
Let’s bake together! Subscribe to my email list to be notified of all my newest recipes and find my video tutorials on YouTube.
The WORST Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter melted and then cooled until no longer warm to the touch (see note)
- 1 ½ cups (300 g) light brown sugar firmly packed
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature preferred
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (60 ml) maple syrup²
- 3 ⅓ cups (415 g) all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups (340 g) chocolate chips I used half regular semisweet chips and half mini semisweet chips
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- In a large bowl, stir together melted butter and sugars.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, 1 ½ cups (300 g) light brown sugar, ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- Add eggs, one at a time, stirring until combined.2 large eggs
- Stir in vanilla extract and maple syrup.1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ¼ cup (60 ml) maple syrup²
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.3 ⅓ cups (415 g) all purpose flour, 2 teaspoons cornstarch, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt
- Gradually add flour mixture to wet ingredients, stirring until completely combined.
- Stir in chocolate chips.2 cups (340 g) chocolate chips
- Cover bowl with clear wrap and allow to chill for at least 30 minutes (chilling!? I told you, this recipe is the worst) and up to 3 days (the cookies look and taste even better after a longer chill. Note the dough will be harder to scoop after a longer chill time, just let it sit at room temperature a bit until it's scoopable)
- While the dough is chilling, preheat oven to 350F (175C) and prepare cookie sheets by lining with parchment paper (if you don’t have parchment paper, you can bake directly on an ungreased cookie sheet).
- Scoop about 2 Tablespoons of cookie dough and roll into balls, making them slightly taller than they are wide. Place them at least 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet.
- Bake about 13 minutes (cookies will appear to be a bit underdone, but edges should be just beginning to turn golden brown).
- Allow cookies to cool completely on cookie sheet. If desired, gently press a few chocolate chips on top of the warm cookies.
- Keep unbaked cookie dough in fridge while waiting to put the next batch in the oven, and do not place cookie dough on a hot cookie sheet.
Notes
¹Butter
You do not want your butter to be too hot or it may melt the sugar and you’ll have a very runny dough. Best practice would be to cut the butter into about Tablespoon-sized pieces, microwave in 10-second increments (stirring after each) until it is just completely melted, and then allow it to sit for 5 minutes. If your butter is too hot it could make your cookie dough or resulting cookies greasy.²Maple Syrup
I don’t recommend leaving out the maple syrup, it is critical to the flavor and is what makes these truly the “worst” chocolate chip cookies. In a pinch, honey or even corn syrup or golden syrup will work as a substitute to give you the same texture, but the flavor will not be the same. Pure maple syrup and imitation “pancake syrup” both work just fine here, the former lends itself to slightly flatter cookies and the latter to slightly thicker ones.Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. Cookie dough may be chilled, scooped, individually wrapped in plastic wrap and then frozen in an airtight container for up to 6 months.Gluten Free
A number of readers have commented that this recipe works well when substituting the flour 1:1 with Cup4Cup Gluten Free Flour, but I have not tested this myself.Nutrition
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.
Related Cookie Recipes That are Also Pretty Terrible But Not As Bad:
I originally published my chocolate chip cookie recipe on 3/21/16. I have since updated it to include new photos and a video, but the recipe has remained unchanged.
Nola
In love. Thanks for posting it! In my last days of pregnancy I shall enjoy these and then hide the recipe!
Nastasha
This recipe is going down in the books!!! Was a big hit with the family, even the picky eaters!! Love it!! Thanks for the amazing recipe!! Oh, and I even used butter flavored syrup cause that’s what I had, didn’t make a difference still was gooey and delicious!
Cait
These are quite literally the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had in my entire life! I have made just about every cookie recipe you can think of and none even rival this recipe. I was skeptical about the maple syrup but I went ahead and used it and I will never go back. Absolutely amazing!
Jay
Any “danger” in using salted butter rather than unsalted? It’s -15 degrees outside and running to the store is painful! If I can swing it with salted butter without botching these amazing sounding cookies I’m all for it. But if not, I’ll brave the tundra. Thanks!
Sam
Salted will be fine, just reduce the salt that the recipe calls for down to 1/2 teaspoon and you’ll be good to go! I hope you love the cookies! 🙂
Jayce
Perfect thank you! (And also, no idea where my crazy icon is coming from?) My 4 year old daughter is pretty pumped about making these. Will report back our results!
Tristan
These are absolutely amazing. The BEST worst cookies out there & your post made me laugh out loud. The dough is to die for, and the cookies come out of the oven perfectly soft. I made mine a little smaller and 10 mins seemed to do the trick—I got 66 cookies! No one in my family could tell the “secret ingredient,” but they loved them. I used some generic syrup, and can’t wait to try with real maple syrup! I’ve been searching for months for a great choco chip recipe, and this one takes the cake! Thanks for sharing your secrets! 🙂
Lynn
We love this recipe! We have renamed these adoption cookies. We took these to as a gift to meeting a potential birth mom and both her and the social worker loved them. Making them again for sure
Karen Ward
These are the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made! The maple syrup is truly a genius addition! You are right about them not lasting long! I couldn’t stop eating them! My 9 year old daughter has requested them on this New Year’s Day, so I am about to prepare another fabulous batch of them right now. I just wanted to post a review before I did! I keep all the ingredients on hand! They are the ONLY chocolate chip cookie recipe I will ever make! Thank you so much Sam!!!
Brad
I’m not sure if I did something wrong but they turned out cake-like for me and my family didn’t like them at all.
Caroline
Delicious! My boyfriend took one bite and said “This is it. This is the recipe to use from now on!” I reduced the maple syrup to 1/8 cup & topped with sea salt right out of the oven!
Danny
I did just want to say, “YOU LED ME TO RUINING MY LIFE! HOW WONDERFUL YOU ARE!” thank you soo much! I will never make another chip cookie recipe ever! How bountiful with adoration my people Have become since these cookies crossed their lips! Too bad I’m hiding in the pantry wolfing down these wicked cookies!
Angela
These are AMAZING and are definitely dangerous! We made a batch the other day and they were gone in minutes. I’m about to make another batch and am going to hide a few just for me 🙂
BRi
I was able to make them as my family likes to call it “Bri friendly”
Used gluten free flour and fake butter
Thank you!
Angie
These are ahhhhhmazing!! My nephew called me the night after I took them over to my moms and requested more because he “only got 4”! Just made him another batch last night….with pecans😋 Favorite choc chip cookie recipe by far!
Nicole
These are simply amazing. I came upon this recipe because of your catchy title. They were a hit. Also I used regular Mrs. Butterworth’s (it’s what I had) and they turned out great. No one knew what the secret was and honestly didn’t care. My college kid brought home some friends and they raved about them as well. Family vote is to add to the family recipe book. Thank you so much.
Winnie L.
This is the ONLY chocolate chip cookie recipe I use now. Instead of 32 large cookies, I make 18 “face-sized” cookies and they’re AWESOME!!
That maple syrup Secret ingredient does make it better! My sister will not eat any other Choco chip cookie, and all my coworkers devour them, not even tasting the maple syrup.
Thanks so much for this recipe! 🙂
Sam
OMG “Face-sized” sounds amazing, I love how you think! So glad to hear that everyone enjoyed the cookies so much!! 🙂