The Perfect Cookie Base is one cookie dough recipe that you can use to make TONS of cookie recipes! Crisp, buttery edges with soft centers, this cookie dough is the perfect canvas to get creative with your add-ins. Chocolate chips, chopped candy, sprinkles, and nuts this foolproof cookie recipe is so adaptable!
One Cookie Dough = Endless Possibilities!
I feel like I’m over here solving the world’s problems one cookie at a time. I have created the actual ONLY cookie dough recipe that you will ever need. Let me explain…
This cookie recipe will give you buttery, crisp edges with thick, soft centers. The texture is sturdy enough to stand up to pretty much anything you want to mix into the dough, while still being soft and tender. Basically it’s magic.
You can keep it simple and make these into chocolate chip cookies, or you can chop up your favorite candy bar and mix that right into the dough too! Or even keep it simple and roll them in cinnamon sugar for an easy twist on a snickerdoodle.
How Do You Make Perfect Cookies?
The recipe for these cookies is pretty basic, with just a few tweaks to allow it to work as a base for lots of adaptations. The beauty of these cookies, like I said before, is they hold up to just about any type of mix-in, while still being soft and tender. I have found that sometimes cookies with lots of mix-ins can get a little dry and hard. This happens because you need a thicker dough to encompass what is added in, and an easy way to make a dough thicker is to add more flour. This can work in very small amounts, but too much flour will give you a dry, hard cookie.
The perfect amounts of flour, sugar, and cornstarch stabilize the dough, while still keeping it tender and gooey!
Why Do You Add Cornstarch?
Cornstarch is a secret ingredient that you see in some cookie recipes that helps add to the thickness of the dough without having to add too much flour. Ot stabilizes the dough and keeps it thick, while adding a soft, slightly melty texture.
You can definitely overdo it with cornstarch if you add too much and it will give your cookies a strange, chalky texture. So stick to the recipe and know that 1 tablespoon is all you need!
What Can You Add Into This Cookie Dough?
Ok, this is the fun part! Now is the time to get creative! You can keep these simple, because this recipe makes a delicious chocolate chip cookie…BUT let’s push it to its limits. Here are a few ideas of yummy add-ins. Mix and match flavors to make your own unique cookie. AND this is a great way to get the kids involved in the baking too! Everyone will love their own custom flavor!
- Chips: chocolate, white chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter…or any combination of them all!
- M&Ms are an easy add-in. And with all the fun flavors of M&Ms out now, the sky is the limit!
- Peanut Butter Cups. Use regular sized cups and chop them up or minis. You could even swirl in 1/2 cup of peanut butter to the dough if you want!
- Pretzels or potato chips. A salty/sweet combo would be delicious!
- Candy Bars…really you could chop up just about any kind! Beware if you use a candy bar with a lot of caramel it will ooze out and could burn while baking, so I like to freeze caramel candies before adding to the dough, to help minimize this!
- Sprinkles…because don’t sprinkles always make everything more fun?!
- Crushed Cookies like Oreos, Circus Cookies, or Nutter Butters! Turn these into a Cookies and Cream dream with crushed Oreos and white chocolate chips!
- Cereal. I mean why not? Add in Golden Grahams, milk chocolate and marshmallow bits for a s’mores cookie…or Fruity Pebbles and white chocolate chips for a creamy, fruity party cookie!
Can You Freeze The Perfect Cookie Base?
Yes! You can freeze the dough unbaked OR you can freeze the cookies after they’ve been baked!
To freeze the dough:
- Portion out the dough with a cookie scoop.
- Place all the dough onto a baking sheet.
- Freeze the portioned dough for 30 minutes.
- Remove the tray from the freezer and transfer the dough into a large zip-top bag to freeze for up to 30 days.
- Bake according to recipe instructions, but add 2 minutes to the bake time. No need to thaw!
To freeze baked cookies:
- Allow the cookies to cool completely.
- Place the cookies in a large zip-top bag in a single layer, or a large airtight container stacked, with parchment or wax paper in between the layers.
- Freeze for up to 30 days.
- Thaw at room temperature. Microwave each cookie for 10 seconds to get it warm and gooey.
Enjoy and get creative!
Looking For More Cookie Recipes? Here Are A Few Of My Favorites:
This recipe was originally published in 2013. The photos and recipe tips have been updated in 2020. The original recipe remains the same!
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The Perfect Cookie Base
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 9 minutes
- Total Time: 19 minutes
- Yield: 24 cookies 1x
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Dessert
Description
The perfect cookie base recipe that you can use time and time again!
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoons kosher salt
- 3/4 cup butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups your favorite candy or chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper, set aside
- In medium bowl whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on medium speed for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
- And add in egg and vanilla and mix for 1 minute until smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Turn the mixer to low and add in flour mixture until dough just comes together.
- Stir in candy until evenly incorporated.
- Using a medium (2- tablespoon) cookie scoop, drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet 2- inches apart.
- Bake for 8-9 minutes until edges are golden. Make sure not to over-bake.
- Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes, and then transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.
Notes
When adapting this recipe feel free to swap out vanilla extract for another flavor for an extra twist!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 198
- Sugar: 16.7 g
- Sodium: 130.4 mg
- Fat: 10.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 25.9 g
- Protein: 2.4 g
- Cholesterol: 23 mg
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Hands down the best cookie base. I don’t use any other when making chocolate chip cookies ?
Love hearing that!! Thank you!
I have not tried this…yet. I was looking for a cookie base, dry, that I could have on hand for when the urge hits. I am disabled, so I was thinking a pan cookie may be right up my alley, and to be honest, making individual cookies has never been my favorite thing to do. I love, and loved, to bake and cook, still do, but limitations are part of my every day now.
Can I add peanut butter to this if so how much??????
You can sub in peanut butter for butter in baking if you combine equal parts peanut butter and oil, as peanut butter alone doesn’t have a high enough fat content. So since this recipe calls for 3/4 cup butter, I might suggest using 1/2 cup butter and 1/4 cup peanut butter mixture. So you would need 1/8 cup peanut butter mixed with 1/8 cup oil. You could use this same formula if you wanted to replace all the butter as well, adding in 1/4 peanut butter and 1/4 oil. Hope this helps!
You just said that the recipe calls for 1/2 cup butter but in the recipe for the cookie dough it says 3/4 cup butter. Which one is the correct one to use?
Sorry about that over-site! It is 3/4 cup 🙂
I just made these with all kinds of weird substitutes (because I was using only what I had on hand), and they still turned out delicious! They aren’t too pretty (it turned out more like a cookie ‘cake’, but I’m confident that was due to my adjustments and laziness. ?
I’m no baker, but I just tried this and it’s perfect! I usually don’t do well with cookies.
Hi do you think these could have gluten free flour substituted for the other flour?
I have used the brand cup4cup and have had great results with baking!
Just made this recipe tonight and I have a few thoughts. 1- I doubled the recipe and made 3 different mixture add-ins. The dough worked beautifully for each element. But the salt was really overpowering. I will make this again tomorrow with 1/3 of the salt. I’m also curious about the vanilla. If this resolves my issue, I will leave it as is, but the next step will be to tweak the vanilla amount. Overall- fantastic.
Thank you for sharing. This recipe was easy to make and my cookies came out perfectly. I followed the directions as written. This will be my new go to basic cookie dough recipe.
This Recipe was great, however, I was worried about the salt being too much for the recipe, and indeed it turned out tasting too salty for my liking. Next time I’m using 1/2 tsp salt instead instead of 3/4 tsp. ~I used white whole wheat flour, and used coconut sugar instead of the white and brown sugar. For the extra 1 1/2 cup “candies” I added were 1/2 sliced almonds, 1/2 unsweetened coconut, and 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips. This is my favorite recipe, and I’ll use it again… however with a little less salt. Thank you!
Mine are in the oven right now, I used heath toffee and resse chips. Super stoked on the turn out!