The best chocolate chip cookies are actually within reach. Soft, chewy, perfect every time. Use melted butter, don’t over mix. Huge cookies made just right.
I’ve been making chocolate chip cookies forever, searching for the perfect recipe. After many years of trying, I’d pretty much given up. I wasn’t even looking anymore, actually… then one day I came across a recipe on Pinch of Yum where Lindsay shared a recipe for her “most favorite cookie recipe of all time”. Well of course, if she was making that claim, I had to give it a try, and let me just say…
This is now MY favorite cookie recipe of all time. {Thank you, Lindsay!} I’ve made these cookies now for so many people and been getting more compliments than I can count. Here’s my favorite- After taking these cookies to my parents’ house, my stepdad called me… “If you never make anything else for me, just make these cookies for the rest of my life”. Well, there you go.
These are soft cookies with the perfect buttery, creamy, vanilla and chocolate chip flavor combination. They’re so, so good, and (warning) irresistible, but so, so easy. The dough doesn’t need to be chilled before baking like so many other recipes, which is AWESOME because you can bake the cookies on a whim, when you get a craving or want to cheer someone’s day, in a snap, anytime! Like maybe when you want to thank your chocolate-loving neighbor for helping to basically rebuild part of your fence that almost got knocked down by a hard wind, or after your girlfriend said she had “the worst day ever” at work, or when you’ve suddenly got four hungry 14-year old boys hanging out in your house. I’m not saying that all those things happened in the course of one week, but if they did…
…SINCE they did, I made the Best Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies in no time with almost no effort. This is comfort food, thank-you food, and ravenous-teenage boy-food. Let’s get you started now…
I didn’t really change Pinch of Yum’s recipe much at all, but I have some definite “must dos” to insure perfection every single time. Some of the tips I got from the original recipe, and a few I gleened from making the cookies for what now seems like 100 times. This recipe is a snap but you have to follow a few easy rules to get it right. So let’s go…
First off, this recipe uses melted butter. Barely melted but not hot is what you want. 30-40 seconds in your microwave should do it. This is great because you don’t have to think hours ahead and take out butter to soften. Besides, depending on the temp in your kitchen is it ever softened enough, or did it soften too much?
Use good-quality, real vanilla (actually, buy all the ingredients for your baking recipes at the best quality you can afford, you won’t regret it). This Madecasse Madagascar vanilla is my favorite. Use your own preference, just make sure it’s the real deal.
Another tip that Lindsay gives in the original recipe is not to overbeat the egg once it’s added. Only beat if for 10-15 seconds before adding your flour mixture because if you overbeat the egg, your cookies will be too stiff. Next, once the flour mixture has been added and before you toss in the chocolate chips, your dough should look like this, not quite wet but definitely not too dry. It holds together as shown above. Remember my note about using the best possible ingredients for this recipe and all your baking? I have to recommend King Arthur Flour here (they are not a sponsor). I can definitely tell the difference in the quality of their product compared to others I’ve used. To ensure you measure the flour accurately, make sure to use the “spoon-and-level” method.
I’ve tried semi-sweet chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, bitter chocolate, and a combination of chips and chunks. The most popular cookie has come from using semi-sweet chocolate chips. Pinch of Yum uses a combination of chips and chunks and when I did likewise, the cookies seemed no different than when I made them using chips alone, so unless your going for a mixed texture look, use one or the other. Milk chocolate was just too sweet for us, bitter was only liked by my husband who’s a connoisseur of 100% cacao chocolate.
If you make cookies often, then having a cookie scoop is a must. For this recipe, I used my 2″ scooper for nice big cookies. Scoop them loosely and easily. My awesome friend Mel, who’s the writer of another incredible food blog Mel’s Kitchen Cafe, has a great post about the uses for different sizes of cookie scoops.
Like I said, scoop them loosely. You can roll them by hand, just don’t pack them and if you want to make smaller cookies, I’ve done that too. Golf ball size dough is perfect after about 8 minutes baking. If you’re wanting to get even more cookies out of your efforts, this recipe doubles beautifully as well.
Here is probably the most important tip- Don’t overbake the cookies! They need to come out of the oven looking ‘not done’. They’ll be white and poofy and that’s just what you want. Take them out at this point and leave them to continue cooking/cooling on the baking sheet until completely cooled.
As you see, they’ll sink down and darken as they cool. They still look kind of underdone here but will become less wet and more chewy over the next hour or so.
Since discovering this recipe for the Best Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies, I’ve made them so many times I know the recipe by heart and I get them perfect every time. And you can do the same. My printable recipe might seem long to you but don’t fear. The recipe is a snap, I just give very detailed instructions to help you out.
Here’s the cookie sliced after about 30 minutes out of the oven. This is still a bit wet and will become perfectly chewy in no time. Even this wet, I have a hard time keeping them in the kitchen… husband and son can’t resist them.
Now before you go and even though the cookies are for sure the Star of this show, aren’t these sweet porcelain measuring cups adorable? Like them? Want them? Well, I’m giving away a set to one of YOU! I want to say thanks for stopping by, if this is your first time at Good Dinner Mom {welcome!} or if you’ve been here before {thanks, Peeps!}. Enter below, giveaway goes until May 7th at midnight EDT. This is a Sophie Conran Portmeirion Measuring Cup set of 4. Beautiful porcelain nesting cups just in time for you to keep or give for Mother’s Day (they come in a cute box, well wrapped).
Best Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies {ever!}
Ingredients
- ½ cup salted butter, one stick
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, (dark brown is fine too)
- 1 generous teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, (use the spoon-and-level method)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ -¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F degrees, place oven rack at middle position and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Melt ½ cup butter in microwave for 40 seconds until barely melted. You want the butter melted but not hot.
- In a large bowl, using hand mixer, or in bowl of stand mixer, combine ½ cup melted butter, ½ cup granulated sugar, and ¼ cup brown sugar. Mix on low until creamy. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla and mix until incorporated.
- Add the egg and mix ONLY for 10-15 seconds, still on low speed. This is important as overbeating the mixture with the egg will make for a too-stiff batter. Turn off the stand mixer or beaters.
- In small bowl or parchment envelope, combine 1 ½ cups flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda and ¼ teaspoon salt.
- Add about ⅓ of the flour mixture and mix on low for just a few seconds, the flour won't be completely mixed in. Continue to add flour mixture until fully incorporated and beat, still on low until completely mixed. Your cookie dough, at this point, should hold together easily when pressed together, but not be too wet. If it seems too wet, feel free to add another tablespoon of flour at a time until it resembles photos (I've never had to do this, though).
- Add ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and mix on low about 5 seconds, just until mixed throughout. If you like a lot of chips in your cookies, add an additional ¼ cup chips.
Cook's Note:
- You can also use a combination of chocolate chips and chocolate chunks. If you like really sweet cookies, feel free to use milk chocolate chips. I've experimented with milk chocolate, semi-sweet, and bitter chocolate. Semi-sweet seems to please everyone.
- Using a 2" cookie scoop, loosely scoop dough and place 2 ½" apart (6 cookies per baking sheet). Place one cookie sheet in the oven on middle rack and bake for 9-11 minutes until cookies are poofed and still white. They will not look done, you might barely see golden color around edges of some cookies. (I've tested these over and over and with my oven, 10 minutes is exactly perfect. The cookies become completely poofed and white at about 9 ½ minutes, an additional 30-45 seconds ensures additional cooking inside while still being soft when cooled.)
- Remove cookies from oven and leave on baking sheet for additional 15-30 minutes. While one baking sheet is cooling, bake the remaining 6 cookies on the second baking sheet in same manner.
- While the cookies cool, they will kind of sink and darken on the baking sheet. After 15-30 minutes, they're set and can be served or stored in an air-tight container for up to 3 days. The cookies are absolutely perfect about 4 hours after cooking. During this time, the flavors meld perfectly and the softness settles and becomes less "wet" and more chewy.
- FYI- I've made this same cookie recipe, substituting white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. We think they're even better than the semi-sweet chocolate cookies! For this alteration, I use ½ cup good-quality (like Ghiradelli) white chocolate chips, and then I use about ¾ whole macadamia nuts (pre-chopped are chopped a little too finely for my taste), and then rough chop them, leaving some in half for a good nutty bite.
Recipe barely altered from Pinch of Yum.
These are my go-to last minute dessert. Takes only a few mins to make the dough and they always come out perfectly! I like to double the recipe and freeze half the scooped dough for an even easier go-to dessert. Thanks Sally 💜
Hello, ive done your recipe around 3 times, and just did one batch to help with the quarantine jitters we all get, thank you for having this blog still and providing such useful information, greetings from Santiago, Chile! P.s
How much is a serving? One cookie? That’s definitely Not what I want you to answer, how about 5!
Naty, hello to you in Santiago! Thanks for this great comment and I’m so glad the cookies are helping you get through quarantine. I’m going to make a batch here soon, myself. Yes, a serving is one cookie ;D
Hello, I tried to enter your giveaway however was only directed to a site to purchase them. If there is any way you could enter me into the contest I would so appreciate it, I would love to win. These Chocolate chip cookies sound delicious and I am going to make them this evening. Thank you so much Jacque Zannini.
Jacque, I’m sorry as you will see on the post, the giveaway is from a few years ago. The cookies are delicious, I hope you try them.
My family absolutely loved these cookies, great quatentine snack. I accidentally made a mistake for one of the steps but they still turned out lovely and delicious. I would definitely recommend these to everyone I know.
That’s awesome, Alyssa. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment. I’m glad they turned out for you!
These cookies are insanely delicious! I’ve always been looking for a good soft cookie recipe, and I’ve finally found it! Thank you ☺️
Bridget, you just made my day! I’m so glad you liked the recipe and I have to agree with you. They’re my family’s absolute favorite. Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever!!! So easy, and so perfectly soft and chewy. I love these too much.
Thank you for this 🙂
Thanks so much, Kristen! 🙂
These were PERFECT!
I took them to my daughter’s bday party in school and all the kids asked if there was more! Definitely my go to cookie 👌🏻
Thanks Jaclyn! That is so great to hear. It means a lot that you’d use it for your daughter’s birthday party. I’m honored. 🙂
Hello, I would love to try this recipe, however, I realized I only have salted butter. Is there a way to substitute salted to unsalted butter?
Hi Sophia, my recipe calls for salted butter. If you meant that you only have unsalted butter, I’d add 1/2 teaspoon salt to the dough, rather than 1/4 as mentioned.
i’m a lil confused cuz my cookies turned out like dry domes, idk what i did wrong. I’m pissed. I followed the directions perfectly
Wes, try baking them for less time. Oven temperatures can vary and maybe (like mine) yours bakes hot? Try giving them a look around the 8 minute mark and take them out when they are domed but still look kind of wet. Also, maybe remove about a tablespoon of flour before adding to the ingredients to make sure your dough is wet enough as well. Hope this helps.
Hello! I’ve made this recipe multiple times, and the cookies are delicious. However, mine always end up coming out a bit dry, and dont spread as much as the picture shows. I make sure I don’t overbeat when adding the eggs, and I follow the ingredients list to a t. Do you have any idea as to why the cookies aren’t turning out the same? Maybe I’m adding too much flour? If anyone could get back to me on this, it would greatly appreciated! I want my cookies to live up to their full potenional 🙂 thanks!
Hi Rachelle! Thanks so much for trying my recipe and I do have a couple of thoughts. Strangely enough, I just made these yesterday and they turned out exactly how you described your cookies. I make them on a regular basis and less than 10% of the time, they’ll do exactly what you described with your batches. I decided that yesterday mine definitely had too much flour. I was in a rush and didn’t use the usual method when scooping my flour (check out the link for the best method in the recipe). Also, I don’t know if this matters and I’ve not mentioned this in the recipe before but for the first time ever, I didn’t line the pan with parchment paper as I was out. I don’t know if the parchment helps the cookies spread more but it is worth noting and I’m going to add this thought to the recipe. But in the past, the very few times my cookies haven’t spread enough like in my pictures it’s because of two things: 1) too much flour, or 2) overbaking. Only 30 seconds too much can do it. I hope this helps you. Thanks again for making the recipe and let me know if my reply helps you. Sally 🙂
It does thank you! I’ll definitely try being more careful with my flour measurements and maybe reducing the cooking time next time around. Thank you so much!
I’ve been looking for a perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe to bake at elevation for years. I live in Mammoth Lakes, CA, at around a 7,895 feet. The search for a chocolate chip recipe is over. These cookies are the tiniest bit crispy on the outside and so soft and chewy on the inside. Simply said, AMAZING!!!!
Janel, I’m SO glad these worked out for you especially because they’re pretty much our favorite cookie. Thanks for taking the time to comment and rate the recipe!
Looks delicious and the cups are so cute! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
30 or 40 seconds in the microwave to melt the butter seems like a real long time… Is that at full power in your microwave?
Hi Laura, Yes that is at full power. Of course the time it takes could depend on individual microwave wattage, etc. but I’ve made this recipe a LOT and 30 seconds is good for me. Obviously, just keep an eye on it. Thanks for considering my recipe!
So I made them according to recipe however I try to take them out looking like they are still not done just like you advise, but the shape does not flatten out. They still stay semi round and not completely flat- any advice?
Hi Merna, how long was the baking time for these cookies? It sometimes takes a little tweaking but don’t give up. Once you reach the perfect combination of baking time, flour in the recipe, etc. they are worth it and you’ll have them right every time. Try to take them out about 30 seconds sooner and make sure the dough looks like shown in the pictures after adding flour. Maybe add all but about a tablespoon of flour, check the dough and then add the rest of the flour if it seems too wet. Let me know how this does for you. I’ve had many, many friends and readers make this recipe with success and I’m thinking just a touch sooner to come out of the oven will be perfect for you.
I saw these on Pinterest tonight and they looked so good I had to try them. I have to tell you they are my new ‘go to’ Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe!! They were sooo good!! I almost never write reviews, but these were the best cookies I have made in a long time. Thank you for sharing them!
Hello Tara! I’m honored that you took the time to write a review here and so glad you like the cookie recipe. 🙂 Hopefully you received my email response when I was out of town and unable to access the comments on this recipe.
I’ve made these cookies twice this weekend already. The BEST cookie recipe I’ve ever made/eaten!!!
Hi Megan, I know what you mean. I can’t even count how many times I’ve made these cookies for my family or friends now. Be prepared for them to be requested often! I’m glad you liked them and thanks so much for taking the time to comment. It means a lot. 🙂
At last we made a batch. Scrumptious!
Thanks for taking the time to comment, Ann. And I must agree with you!
I have made a lot (and ate a lot) of chocolate chip cookies in my day and this recipe is hands down the best I have ever made. The recipe is so easy it makes these cookies almost dangerous because they are so easy and so good! You will be a favorite for sure for everyone you make these for!!
This just might be my favorite comment on this recipe. Thanks so much, Ronnie! 🙂
These look amazing! I love chewy chocolate chip cookies. I can’t be bothered with chilling the dough so this seems like the perfect recipe for me.
So excited to try these!
I am still searching for the best beef stew recipe for my crock pot!
They look relish! Always looking for new chicken recipes because hubby is allergic to beef?
Kathy Jo, you should give my Chicken with Tomato Basil Cream Sauce a try. http://gooddinnermom.com/chicken-with-tomato-and-basil-cream-sauce/
Look at the comments. It’s a good one. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by, it means a lot. And good luck in the giveaway.
I’m still looking for a perfect beef chili recipe. I’ve made plenty that are good, but I still haven’t found “the one!”
Sally, please check the weight measurement of the flour in this recipe. 12 ounces is way more than 1 1/2 cups. Thank you!
Done! Thanks, Ruth.
Yummy! We all loved them!
I just made these cookies, they are AMAZING!! Followed the recipe to a T. Thanks Sally!!
Jessica! Thanks for making them and taking the time to stop by and comment. Glad you liked them. 🙂
For me, I am often on the search for vegan, paleo baked good recipes. Most require eggs at the very least, and although I know how to cook with egg replacers, I can never quite replicate the original. So I continue to search for the perfect ones!
We had a local place in my town that had a delicious beef dish. It was thinly sliced strips of beef that were so tender! The sauce on them was sweet but savory. They closed down 2 years ago and I am still trying to recreate it!
These are amazing cookies! Definitely a recipe to memorize! Comfort cookies make bad days brighter!
I couldn’t agree more, my friend. 🙂
I am always searching for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe, I can’t wait to try these! I’ve seen them on POY but have not tried them yet…now I definitely will. Also, your method for making hard boiled eggs has changed my life, thank you!!??
Excellent, Jill! And I’m so glad the hard boiled eggs worked out for you too. 🙂
Oh yum! The recipe from Americas test kitchen uses melted butter, too! These look awesome and I especially liked you Father in Law’s response to the cookies!
Looks delicious and the cups are so cute!