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.
Dara
See they crispy? I love a crispy cookie
Sam
Hi Dara! These are soft and chewy cookies.
Lance
I was so hopeful, but alas, these were as flat as tortillas when they came out of the oven. And no, I didn’t put the dough on a hot cookie sheet, and yes, I had the dough refrigerated for over an hour, and yes, I mounded the dough, and all the rest of the recipe I followed to the letter. I fear my double oven doesn’t keep temperature and so I have to manually monitor it – which I may not have done perfectly.
I still have half the batch that I’ll leave in the refrigerator over night and then try again tomorrow.
Sam
Hi Lance! I’m so sorry they flattened out. There may not be enough flour, or the leaveners may be bad. I hope this helps! 🙂
susan
i didn’t like them. they had WAY to much flour to the point the uncooked dough and the finished cookies tasted like flour. it was bad.
Sam
Are you sure you didn’t over-measure the flour? That seems really weird and I’ve never had that problem or even had anyone else complain of it (and this recipe has been reviewed over 1,000 times).
Lily
I made your recipe the first time and was horrified by the giant rocks that came out of the oven afterwards.
A couple of tweaks later (making my own all-purpose flour which you cant get here in Japan it’s a long story, and buying REAL butter, again, Japan, it’s a long story) and now they are bloody beautiful.
I added spices, real butter, the correct flour and finally bought a scale and weighed my ingredients and they practically danced out of the oven deliciously crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Just the way I like them.
Thank you!
Sam
I am so glad you were able to enjoy them, Lily! 🙂
Norma McAndrew
I made white beans tonight and as part of my challenge of trying to step away from my normal recipes. Your cornbread was the best ever. I actually did not have time to go to the store due to DH shingles so I used some heavy cream and sour cream. It was so good and moist. I was so full from dinner I didn’t not have room for the cookies, but my son had three and husband has had two so far. I am spreading the sin by sending some cookies with my son to work tomorrow. Hee, hee, hee! Can I challenge you to a white bean winning recipe?
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed everything! I’m impressed you were able to pass on the cookies. That is something I have never figured out how to do. 😂 I will put this in my list of things to make. It’s a long list, but I should be able to get to it one day. 🙂
Mary
Oh my goodness! For years I have searched for a chocolate chip cookie recipe coming in a step above the “usual”. This recipe is it!!!! It’s perfection! No more searching. The best thing is, the day after and the day after that the cookies held the moist chewy texture as well as the flavor only got better. This recipe goes in the book of most prized family recipes. Thanks Sam!!!!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Mary! 🙂
Norma McAndrew
Curses! Curses! Curses! I wasn’t even looking for a cookie recipe, but cornbread. But with a name like “The Worst Chocolate Chips Cookies” of course I had to hit the link. After putting your cornbread recipe in the oven, I had to make the cookie dough. Of course, I had to taste the dough. This is the devil incarnate. So much cost for so much pleasure. And I have not even cooked them yet. I will let you know how they taste once cooked. Thanks again for a spot on recipe. I will also let you know about the cornbread when eaten as well.
My husband developed shingles yesterday and this should be a nice comfort food for him while enduring his “hellish” experience.
Sam
O no!! I hope your husband recovers quickly! I am so sorry about the delicious recipes! 😉 I hope you loved everything. 🙂
Selina V
Hi, I would like to make the cookie dough ahead of time, how long can they stay in the fridge?
Sam
Hi Selina! Up to a week if stored covered in the refrigerator.
Sue C Lindeman
Do you hand stir this or can you use a electric mixer?
Sam
Hi Sue! You can do either, but I usually stir it in by hand because it’s pretty easy to mix. 😃
Sue C Lindeman
Thank you. I also mixed them by hand and it worked great.I made them and they are super great. I will make them again so I can share them with family. My Grandchildren will love them.
Sam
Yay! I hope the grandkids do love them! 🙂
Jill T
Oh my GAWRSH are these cookies fabulous! This recipe has replaced one I used for years that includes instant pudding powder and that I thought yielded the best cookies in the world. I agree that the secret ingredient really takes these babies over the top. These cookies are absolutely bombacious (way, waaaay beyond the bomb) and in that regard they truly are the worst chocolate chip cookies ever! I think I love them as much as I love my cat. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe, Sam.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed enjoyed the cookies, Jill! 😃
PLB
Does the cookie dough freeze well? Would love to be able to have fresh cookies after making and shaping the dough! Thanks!
Sam
Yes it does, I freeze it all the time. You’ll still want to chill the dough for at least 30 minutes before portioning and then just make sure to portion out the dough and then freeze in an airtight container (I usually wrap each dough ball in a small piee of plastic wrap and then toss it in a Ziploc bag). The cookies may need to bake a minute or so longer when you go to bake them. Enjoy! 🙂
Trish Andrews
These cookies are amazing. I followed your recipe to the tee, and I was pleasantly surprised. My husband and I make our own maple syrup so I couldn’t imagine using imitation maple syrup. I just made them this morning and I think I will be making more tomorrow too!
Sam
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed them, Trish! And I bet it is AMAZING with your own maple syrup, that’s so cool! Thank you for commenting 🙂
Marina
Thanks from Italy 😃
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed! Thanks for commenting, Marina! <3
Gayatri
This is the second time I am baking from one of your recipes. The cookies cake out awesome. Finger licking. Thank you for sharing this recipe and the detailed instructions esp. how to put some chips in the end once it’s baked.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed! Thank you for commenting 🙂
Vicki
I found your recipe at Christmas this year, and my family LOVED (devoured) them! Every year for Valentines Day, I make my kiddos a heart-shaped chocolate chip pan cookie. Any advice for using this recipe for pan/bar form?
Sam
Hi Vicki! I haven’t tried this recipe in a pan but i don’t think it would be a problem. How long it will need to bake will depend on the size of the pan you’re using, I’d bake on 350 and watch for the edges to be beginning to turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center to come out clean or with a few moist crumbs (be careful not to overbake or it will be dry/crumbly). I hope that helps!