I’ve made many, many chocolate cookies in my time but this is my BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe. Like, ever. Mini Chocolate Chips, three kinds of sugar and coarse sea salt are easy tricks that make these homemade chocolate chip cookies stand out.
Table of Contents
- My Favorite Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Why Are These the BEST Cookies?
- What Makes this Recipe Different?
- So What’s in these Cookies?
- How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Do I Have to Chill the Cookie Dough?
- Tips for Soft & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
- How to Store
- More Chocolate Chip Cookie to Try
- Get the Recipe
So these chocolate chip cookies. You guys. These cookies are everything. I have been making this same exact recipe for 8-ish years? I mean, I try ALL sorts of chocolate chip cookie recipes, trust me. I’ve posted a lot of different recipes here on my site as well – 83 and counting! BUTTTT these are my all time, most favorite, tried and true, SHELLY chocolate chip cookies.
These cookies thick, but not too thick. They’re soft but still have buttery, crisp edges. They have the perfect balance of salty/sweet. They have the perfect chocolate to cookie ratio…should I keep going?
If you make these cookies you’ll immediately see why these are my FAVORITE and we’ll be best friends forever because of it. AND if you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, you know I posted this recipe WAY back in 2012. I decided the pictures needed a little facelift, and I wanted to include a few how-tos that I’ve learned over the years.
This recipe was also included in my book because so many of you guys have made them and loved them as much as I do.
Ok, let’s talk all things chocolate chip cookies!!
What Makes this Recipe Different?
Honestly, it’s simple. I am not reinventing the wheel here. I just found there are a few small changes you can make to a cookie recipe that can take it from here to HERE.
- I use three kinds of sugar in my recipe. Granulated, light brown, and dark brown sugars. The combo of the three give it the perfect depth of flavor without adding too much moisture.
- I use coarse sea salt along with salted butter. Now stay with me. If you are sensitive to salt you can use unsalted butter. But the coarse sea salt is really important here. You get these little tiny pockets or salt in the cookie that is LIFE CHANGING. Now, I went the extra mile in the pictures and added a little flaked sea salt as a garnish. This is TOTALLY optional. I’m just a salty girl.
- Mini Chocolate Chips. I stole this trick from Panera. They make amazing chocolate chip cookies, and they also use mini chips. I decided to really prefer the smaller, more even distribution of chocolate via the mini chip vs regular sized chips. Try it, I swear it’s better.
Here’s what you’ll need to make these cookies. See the recipe card below for specific amounts.
- Salted butter – You can use unsalted if you prefer, but the hint of saltiness really makes the sweetness of these cookies pop!
- 3 Kinds of Sugar – I use light brown, dark brown and white sugar.
- Eggs
- Vanilla
- Baking Soda & Baking Powder
- Coarse Sea Salt – This adds little hints of saltiness mixed in with the sweetness of every bite. It tastes amazing!
- All Purpose Flour
- Mini Chocolate Chips – These let you distribute the chocolate more evenly through your cookies.
- Flaked Sea Salt – This one is optional for a garnish on top of the cookies.
Even though these cookies taste like they came from the most fancy artisanal bakery ever, they are very easy to make. Here’s how to do it:
- Beat butter and sugars. Combine the butter and sugars together in a stand mixer bowl with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Continue mixing until the dough is well incorporated, scrapping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add flour. Turn your mixer to low and add the flour.
- Stir in chocolate chips. Mix until they are just evenly distributed throughout the dough.
- Chill. Cover the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or up to 48 hours.
- Prep tools. Preheat your oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Bake. Use a 3-tablespoon cookie scoop to form dough into balls. Place on a baking sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for 12 minutes, or until the edges are golden.
Well, long story short, you don’t HAVE to…you just should. I talked about why you should chill the dough when I made the NY Times, Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe…but I’ll do it again here, because same rules apply.
- Chilling cookie dough develops the flavor. Think of soup. NOW think of leftover soup. We all know leftover soup is better than same day soup. Why? Let’s say it together, the flavors develop, Same concept with cookies.
- Also, chilling the dough dries out ever so slightly concentrating the flavor, and giving you crispier, chewier edges.
- And chilling the dough gives the gluten in the dough a chance to relax, adding to the crispier texture of the edges, which is the goal…a softer center, with crispy, buttery edges.
- When you chill the dough, the color deepens as well, so you have a beautiful deep colored 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 scoop-able!
- OR pre-scoop your dough. You can also scoop the dough into portions as soon as you make it and then chill it in scoops on a large baking sheet. You can also freeze the dough in portions, which is a great trick! I have a whole post about how to freeze cookie dough.
- Don’t skimp on the chocolate chips!
- 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.
- 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.
How to Store
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.
Want to save some cookie dough for baking later? Check out my tutorial on how to freeze cookie dough.
I know you guys love cookies as much as I do and hope you LOVE this chocolate chip cookie recipe! BUT if you’re looking for more chocolate chip cookie recipes, I have so many! Here are a few:
- Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Malted Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Rainbow Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Dunkers
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.
Print
- 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 my all time favorite chocolate chip cookies! Mini chips and coarse sea salt make them the best!
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!