In a kitchen full of cookies, these are the best ever chocolate chip cookies! Soft, chewy, packed with mini chocolate chips and hinted with crunchy sea salt, they’re perfect in every way. I share my easy tricks to make homemade chocolate chip cookies that always stand out.
I’ve been making these cookies for years (as far back as 2012!), and it’s my tried-and-true, best-ever chocolate chip cookies recipe. From holidays to Christmas cookie baking and everyday cravings, my classic chocolate chip cookies have seen it all. They’re thick and soft in the center, with buttery, crisp edges.
Everyone who tastes them immediately understands why these cookies are an all-time favorite. I even included this recipe in my book because so many of you have made them and loved them as much as I do!
- Three types of sugar. Granulated, light brown, AND dark brown sugars. The combination of all three gives these cookies great depth of flavor without adding too much moisture.
- Sea salt and salted butter. Coarse sea salt creates tiny, salty pockets throughout the sweet, chocolatey cookies. It’s game-changing!
- Mini chocolate chips. Smaller chocolate chips mean more even distribution throughout the cookie dough, and a perfect chocolate-to-cookie ratio. I actually borrowed this trick from Panera Bread (who make amazing chocolate chip cookies, by the way, second only to these ones!). Of course, any size chocolate chip will work just fine.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Here’s what you’ll need to make these cookies. See the recipe card below the post for the full, printable recipe amounts and a detailed step-by-step.
- Salted butter – I always bake with salted butter, and I love the extra hint of saltiness it lends to these cookies. If you are sensitive to salt, use unsalted butter instead.
- Sugar – Many classic chocolate chip cookie recipes use a mix of white and brown sugar for added moisture. I take it up a notch with three types of sugar: light brown and white granulated sugar, plus dark brown sugar to really lean into those rich, caramelized flavors.
- Eggs and Vanilla – Make sure to use pure vanilla extract and not imitation vanilla. The flavoring extract is a great way to adapt this chocolate chip cookies recipe. Try a mix of peppermint and vanilla extract for a festive twist.
- Baking Soda and Baking Powder – Check the expiration dates on your leavening. If it’s old or expired, replace it with fresh packages so your cookies rise properly.
- Coarse Sea Salt – Using coarse or flaked sea salt instead of kosher salt adds a little salty crunch throughout the cookie dough. It’s the BEST contrast with the sweetness of the cookies and chocolate. I like to sprinkle extra salt on top of the cookies as a garnish.
- All-purpose Flour – Make sure to measure the flour correctly using a kitchen scale or the spoon and level method. Under or over-measuring the flour impacts the texture of the cookies.
- Mini Chocolate Chips – As mentioned, mini chocolate chips are great for more even distribution. Feel free to use regular-sized chocolate chips, either semisweet, dark, or milk chocolate. You can also use a mix of different chocolate, like in these triple chocolate cookies.
With a few small tweaks, you can take your homemade chocolate chip cookies to bakery-level status. Follow the steps below:
- Combine the wet ingredients. First, beat the butter and all three sugars together until fluffy. Then, mix in the eggs, vanilla, leavening, and sea salt.
- Add the dry ingredients. Next, slowly mix in the flour, followed by the chocolate chips.
- Chill the dough. Wrap your cookie dough tightly in plastic wrap and pop it into the fridge. I usually let the dough chill overnight, though you can do this up to 48 hours in advance.
- Bake. When it’s time to bake your cookies, scoop the dough into balls using a 3-tablespoon cookie scoop. Arrange the cookies on a lined baking sheet and bake at 350ºF for 12 minutes until the cookies are golden at the edges.
Why You Should Chill Cookie Dough
You don’t necessarily need to chill the cookie dough for this recipe, though you should. Just like when I made the famous New York Times Jacques Torres chocolate chip cookies, chilling is an important step for the best classic chocolate chip cookies, too. Here’s why:
- Chilling cookie dough develops the flavor. Just like some recipes (soups, sauces, etc.) taste better the day after they’re made, chilling helps the flavors in these cookies develop.
- Crispy, buttery edges. Also, chilling the dough dries it out ever so slightly, giving you crispier, chewier edges.
- Better overall texture. Chilling the dough relaxes the gluten for chewy cookies with soft-baked centers. Not to mention, chilling even deepens the color of the dough! So, you’ll have a darker, browner cookie as opposed to a pale one.
- Bake while the dough is still chilled. I like to bake these cookies with the dough still chilled. This does make it a little harder to scoop out, so I allow it to sit out, after being chilled for 15-ish minutes, to make it a little easier to scoop! I have broken many a cookie scoop trying to pry out rock-hard cookie dough, so let it sit out for a few minutes to make it scoopable!
- Or, pre-scoop your dough. You can also scoop the dough into portions as soon as you make it and then chill the scoops together on a large baking sheet. You can also freeze the dough in portions.
- Don’t skimp on the chocolate chips! I always say, the more, the merrier (if my ultimate chocolate chip cookies are any indication!)
- Measure your flour accurately. Whether you use the scoop and shake method or the scoop and level method, be sure you use the right amount of flour in this recipe. Never scoop the flour directly from the bag, which risks overmeasuring.
- Don’t over-bake. Chocolate chip cookies won’t look “done” when you pull them out of the oven. As long as the edges are golden, they are ready to be pulled. The centers will firm up as the cookies cool.
- Store the cookies airtight. Let your cookies cool to room temperature, then transfer them to an airtight container and store them on the counter for up to 3 days. You can also store these cookies in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 6 days.
- Freeze. You can freeze the baked cookies for up to 2 months and thaw them at room temperature when it’s time to serve. Want to make the cookie dough ahead to bake later? See my tutorial on how to freeze cookie dough.
Note: The recipe I make in the video is the recipe from my book, which is slightly different from this recipe, using a bit more baking soda and baking powder. I like both versions, but have found that adding a little, as I’ve written the recipe here, produces a thicker, chewier cookie, which I prefer. Also note, I used the convection setting in the video, which bakes a bit faster than non-convection. The recipe, as written below, is for a non-convection oven.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 22 minutes
- Yield: 24 cookies 1x
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Dessert
Description
This recipe makes the best ever chocolate chip cookies! They’re soft, chewy, made with mini chocolate chips and sea salt, and perfect in every way.
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
- 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 (12 oz) bag mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
- optional – flaked sea salt to garnish
Instructions
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix the butter and sugars together for 2 minutes on medium speed, until fluffy and light.
- Add in the eggs, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, and continue mixing until incorporated, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Turn the mixer to low and add in flour, mixing until just combined.
- Stir in all chocolate chips until evenly distributed.
- Cover dough plastic wrap and and refrigerate overnight, or up to 48 hours.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Using a large (3- tablespoon) cookie scoop drop the dough 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.
- Bake for 12 minutes, or until the edges are golden.
- Remove from the oven and let cool on baking sheet for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Notes
Store the airtight for up to 3 days.
You can use regular sized chocolate chips if you prefer
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 226
- Sugar: 16.9 g
- Sodium: 192.1 mg
- Fat: 11.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 28.8 g
- Protein: 2.9 g
- Cholesterol: 35.8 mg
This is the only recipe that I use for my cookies and people go nuts for them! I use 1 cup of light brown sugar and 1/2 cup cane sugar in mine. They turn out amazing every time!
I’ve been making this recipe for a long time…potentially since its original post in 2012 and I can say with confidence that it is my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. And I enjoy baking so I’ve tried many. The combination of 3 sugars and the full Tbsp of vanilla really set it apart. The texture is perfect- dense but chewy, soft in the middle and crispy at the edge (when baked until “almost” done, when the center still looks a bit wet), sweet, buttery, salty…perfection. And I know we’re not supposed to eat raw cookie dough but this is the best raw cookie dough ever. Every time I share these with others they compliment the cookies and ask for the recipe. This recipe is *it.*
I’m surprised to see some comments that they didn’t turn out because I’ve made them dozens and dozens of times and never had a problem. Keep these tips in mind: make sure your butter is room temp and not too melty or too cold. Eggs room temp. Do NOT over-mix once the flour is in. Chill them overnight. And bake from chilled or even frozen (I do both). Measure your sugar and flour by weight (344g all purpose flour, 150g light brown sugar, 50g dark brown sugar, 100g granulated sugar). One of my favorite bakers always bangs her cookie tray on the counter when they’re fresh out of the oven and it gives a slight ripple on the outer edges. I like doing that with this recipe.
I don’t understand what I did wrong on this recipe. I made the one from the book but my cookies did not spread out and flatten, they were big and chunky looking and I had to cook them longer to give them time to spread out so I think I slightly overcooked them 🙁 It didn’t look like in the video that she squished them down from the big ball shape before putting in the oven, so I just don’t get it. 🙁
It looks like too much flour. Most recipes use the same proportions of butter/eggs/sugar but 2 1/4 C flour.
cakey and not delicious
I made the batter and put it in the refrigerator overnight. I couldn’t wait to bake them the next day because the batter tasted amazing. Unfortunately I was disappointed with how they turned out. The batter didn’t spread when baked. I tried leaving them out longer but still didn’t spread. I tried to flatten them but this made the cookies taste awful. I don’t know if it is too much flour in this recipe or what went wrong but the cookies do taste like there’s too much flour. Why didn’t the cookies spread when baked? Please help!
It’s the butter. Next time try butter flavored crisco and the spread beautifully.
Made at large batch of these cookies. They’re delicious and that salt really does make a difference! I’m making a ton of cookies for my Husband for his Student Holiday Party! And some for us!
I followed the recipe to a tee and the cookies did not spread. I chilled the dough for 24 hours. I started with the 3 Tbsp. scoop and then moved to a 2 Tbsp. scoop. Still didn’t spread much. I left the dough out for over an hour and it was still pretty hard to scoop. If I made these again I don’t think I would chill the dough very long. Maybe an hour or so.
Scoop and shake method of flour differs than gently placing and leveling flour (which is the correct way if not weighing). Scooping and shaking will allow the flour to settle and will add more flour to the dough.
I haven’t made these yet but am excited to try them. My question is about baking these in an air fryer and if they need time or temp adjustment? I like my cookies fresh and warm and this seems like it could be a great idea.
I have an air fryer chocolate chip cookie coming up next week! stay tuned!
Great! I did try these in the air fryer on the bake setting and they got a little too done. I also put them on the perforated tray. Not a good idea. Next time I’ll try them on the flat tray and reduce the time. I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with!
I also tried a few in the oven from partially thawed allowing some additional time however, they didn’t spread and I had to smash them with a spatula. Did I do something wrong in the recipe? They still tasted great!
Hi! Big fan of this page. Do you have any advice if the cookies come out really flat and mushy? I thought I followed the recipe closely, refrigerated overnight, and only baked for 12 minutes. But I must have done something wrong as even after the cookies cooled off, they immediately fell apart when I tried picking them up. Do you know what might cause that to happen?
Sounds like a potential mis-measurement of flour for the cookies to be so flat and if they were mushy, just add a few extra minutes to the bake time. The can be a variance in the ways ovens bake. I wish I could be of more help!