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.
Amanda
How funny, you are my new favorite blog!
Sam
Well thank you, Amanda! 🙂
Kaitlynd McQueen
I added 3 ripe bananas and took out 3 tbs of butter and they turned out sooooo delicious!
Sam
I never would’ve thought to add bananas, great idea! Thanks for coming back and commenting, Kaitlynd! 🙂
Erin
OOOOHHH MY! Yes, please! Quick question- did you use salted, or unsalted, butter? I was just about to grab the ingredients to make these, and have both types in my fridge, so figured it best to ask before I use one over the other… 🙂
Erin
Disregard! I just searched for the word butter (figured I wasn’t the only person who had asked… lol) and found my answer! I’m “BTWCCCE” (before the worst chocolate chip cookies ever), but the butters out and I’m excited to get these started!! YUM!!! I’ll post my “ATWCCCE” (after the worst chocolate chip cookies ever) soon 🙂
Sam
Glad your found the answer, Erin! Can’t wait to hear how you like them!!!! 🙂 🙂
Sara
Ok, so back on May 5th, I wrote that I was going to try the cookies with pancake syrup to see if the artificial maple syrup flavor lends any more caramelized flavor. My final synopsis is: Stick with the regular maple syrup, if you can; the flavor is better. Also, I learned that my 2nd oven (Yes, I am spoiled with 2 ovens but I cook every day and never eat out. A family of 8 eats a lot of food so I appreciate the luxury that my neighbor afforded me when she moved away-a 2nd oven), which is great for cooking foods like meat, fish, rice–you know the boring food groups, is not so great at baking the best food group, cookies, (sigh), now I need to get an oven thermometer. Either way, I still will make these again but will definitely stick with real maple syrup. By the way, I doubled the recipe and used a small cookie scoop and made aprox 16 dozen cookies. These remind me of Entemann’s–a flavor of my youth 🙂
Sam
Thank you for the feedback, Sara! I am super jealous of your second oven, I keep telling my husband that our next house HAS to have two ovens! I’m glad that you liked them enough to make again, and thank you so much for coming back and commenting! 🙂
Sara
Oven was off by 30(!) degrees…now trying a 3rd time! Real maple syrup, still parve margarine. Good thing people (read neighbors, sisters…) raid my freezer on a regular basis; I’ve got a lot to go round.
Sam
These just came out of the oven and good grief they are amazing! We baked half of the dough and froze the rest, but I’m sure that it won’t stay in the freezer for long. Thanks for sharing!
Sam
I’m so glad to hear it! Yeah that cookie dough doesn’t stay around for long 😉
Thank you for commenting, Sam (it feels weird writing to another Sam, haha)!! 🙂
Angela
OMG!!!! You warned us, but I had no idea how very, very bad these could be. They are by far the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had! My family and co-workers absolutely loved these and want me to make them all the time. Now I crave them just like you said. Loved your post and thank you for sharing this recipe.
Sam
Haha! I did warn you 😉
I’m so, so glad that you, your family, and your co-workers loved them, Angela! Thanks so much for commenting and letting me know, I really do appreciate it 🙂
Lacey
If I wanted to lessen the amount of chocolate chips, would I need to adjust anything in the recipe or cooking time?
I’m very excited to try these… I am always on the search for the best chocolate chip cookie!
Sam
Nope, keep everything else the same 🙂
I hope you love them, Lacey!!
Ashley
I just made these today and they are AMAZING!!!! I can’t stop eating them. This is not good. Worst cookies ever!!!! Lol.
Sam
Haha, I warned you!! Thanks for commenting, Ashley! 🙂
Renee
I made a batch of these and I’ll tell you my results. After the 30 minute wait I took them out and baked them in a 350 degree oven for 13 minutes on my top rack. They came out very flat. They had crispy edges and were soft centers but still very flat. The second tray I made I put in the direct center of the oven and then the cookie was a little bit puffier but not much and the edges were darker (at this point my daughter loved them and couldn’t stop eating them). At this point I decided they needed refrigeration for a full 24 hours because I wanted them to look like your cookies in the picture. So the next day I lowered the heat to 325 degrees and put them in the dead center of the oven and baked them for 6 minutes then turned the pan and baked another 6 minutes and they came out perfect. This is not my ideal chocolate chip cookie because I like a thick chewy soft cookie but I had to try because of your clever wording. This is extremely good if you like your cookies thin with a crsp exterior and chewy middle. I thought we’d take the cookies that were extra crisp and we made ice sandwiches with them. They were fantastic! Hopes this helps the people that had too much spreading when baked. Just refrigerate your dough longer. I made the dough scooped it out then refrigerated so I wouldn’t have to ball hard dough.
Sam
Thank you so much for this feedback, Renee! I’m glad that the extra refrigeration worked out so well, and I’m sure other people will appreciate these tips. One thing I might suggest, though, would be keeping the temperature at 350 rather than reducing it to 325, as the lower temperature actually could cause the cookies to spread more than they would otherwise (I know that may seem a bit counter-intuitive). However, if you are looking for that crisp exterior and very soft center the lower temperature is a great idea!
Thank you so much for taking the time to give this feedback, and I’m glad that ultimately you were happy with them (and making ice cream sandwiches sounds like a FANTASTIC way to use up the crisper cookies!)! 🙂
Renee
Sam I have a convection oven so I’m supposed to turn down the temperature by 25 degrees with every recipe. Also today the cookies were not crisp and super soft and chewy. My daughter says they are crack. I wish I could add a pic of how pretty they are. Thanks for the recipe.
Sam
Oh, I see, thank you for explaining! I’m glad to hear that they are still nice and chewy, I totally agree with your daughter 😉 Thank you, Renee, I really appreciate your comments!! 🙂
Heather
Awesome, awesome, awesome. Let me tell you, I always seemed to mess up chocolate chip cookies, until your recipe. I literally just had 2 and couldn’t wait for them to cool. Batch 2 is in oven as I type. I did change (but not anything major).. I added Mac nuts and to half batch I added coconut (hubby hates coconut). Amaaaaaaazing. Love your recipe and my cookies came out pretty and perfect.
Sam
That really is awesome, Heather! 🙂
I’m so glad you loved them and yum the nuts and coconut sound like a great addition (my husband also hates coconut, so I’d have to do it as a half batch, too).
Thanks so much for letting me know how they turned out!!
Kristin
Amazingly well-written!
Sam
🙂 Thank you so much, Kristen! I am glad you enjoyed it.
Kristin
I saved this to Pinterest, but I had no idea I’d be trying them so soon. 🙂 So I’m back. The fam and I decided to picnic tomorrow, so I used my favorite peanut butter oatmeal cookie recipe and then decided to try this one. I have a favorite CCC recipe that I’ve been using forever, but the syrup was an intriguing idea, so I couldn’t let it slip by. And oh, my, are they delicious. And pretty. I don’t know if I prefer these or the other ones I usually make. I might have to start just making a half batch of each when I want CC cookies.
Sam
I’m so glad that you liked them, Kristen! And that they rank up there with your favorites! Thanks so much for coming back and commenting, Kristen! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Mary
I had high hopes for these cookies! The dough truly was delicious, they baked up beautifully, tasted so good out of the oven…….then they got rock hard! Any thoughts? I adjusted them slightly for high altitude.
Sam
Omg! I have no idea why they might have gotten hard, mine stay soft for days (a big reason I love them so much). I don’t know much about high altitude baking, but I’d suggest removing them from the oven when they still seem just slightly underbaked and allowing them to cool completely and finish baking on the pan. Still,though, between the cornstarch and syrup and melted butter they should stay soft unless they’re really over baked, so it’s strange.
I hope that helps!
Renee
Add pudding to the mix or store it in Tupperware with a slice of bread.
Kristin
If you allowed these to cool completely on the pan, try only allowing them to cool long enough to firm up enough to get the spatula underneath them without smooshing them. That’s what I do, and my cookies stay soft forever and ever amen.
Kimmy
Will definitely try this recipe next weekend. ^_^
Sam
Awesome, I hope you love it! 🙂
jim
Made these today. Awesome recipe. Only took me about 15 minutes to put together. This will be my go to recipe for cookies now! Thank you.
Sam
Awesome! So glad you loved them, thank you for coming back and commenting to let me know!! 🙂
Stacy
Today is National Chocolate Chip Cookie day – NOT THAT I NEED A REASON! These are a perfect solution to the snow that showed up today!
Sam
Omg! I didn’t even know! And snow!? Are you in the US, because snow in May should be criminal?!
Sara
Actually just National Chocolate Chip day…but a good reason to bake some Chocolate Chip Cookies!