The Best Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

5 from 8 votes

The Best Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

These soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies are buttery, bakery-style, and incredibly easy to make. With melted butter, no dough chilling, and a few simple tips, they bake up perfectly thick and gooey every time. This is the chocolate chip cookie recipe my family and friends request more than any other.

Prep Time5

Cook Time10

Total Time15

Course: Cookies, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: cookies

Calories: 157kcal

Author: Sally Humeniuk

Ingredients

½ cup salted butter one stick
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup light or dark brown sugar
1 generous teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour use the spoon-and-level method
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp 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 melted butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Mix on low until creamy. Add vanilla and mix until incorporated.
½ cup salted butter, ½ cup granulated sugar, ¼ cup light or dark brown sugar, 1 generous teaspoon vanilla
Add the egg and mix only for 10-15 seconds, still on low speed. This is important as over beating the mixture with the egg will make for a too-stiff batter. Turn off the stand mixer or beaters.
1 egg
In small bowl or parchment envelope, combine flour, baking soda salt.
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, ½ tsp baking soda, ¼ tsp 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 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.
½ -¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
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.

Notes

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.

Nutrition