The Best Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

This is the Best Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe EVER! The secret is in melting the butter. No chilling time required, no funny ingredients, just simple, homemade chewy chocolate chip cookies!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are little morsels of memories. I’m sure you, too, have more than one memory that has a chocolate chip cookie wrapped up in it. I know my family adores them, and with this easy and fast recipe (no dough chilling time in sight!) you’ll have a batch whipped up in no time. I love making a big batch of dough and keeping some frozen in case visitors come by or we get an unexpected sweet tooth calling.

If you’ve been on the hunt for a great recipe for chocolate chip cookies, look no more. This is the last chocolate chip cookie recipe you will ever try. If you don’t love them the first time, make them again; you made a mistake somewhere. 🙂 Seriously though, for being a very basic chocolate chip cookie recipe (no extensive chilling time needed, no cornstarch needed, etc.) this is the best recipe out there.

Here’s what the butter and sugar should look like before you add anything else (right). It will be light and fluffy, and this will take a full 5-8 minutes of mixing. Don’t skip this step!

What Makes These The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies?

It is made with 100% butter, melted to give the cookies a hint of caramel flavor.

The secret key to this chocolate chip cookie recipe is the melted butter. I LOVE that it uses melted butter because you don’t have to wait for the butter to come to room temperature. When you beat the melted butter and the sugars together you beat and beat until the mixture gets light and fluffy (pictures in the post for reference!); the process takes several minutes but it’s where the cookie magic happens! The cookies have a caramel undertone that is so delicious and they turn out great every time you make them. They are crisp on the edges, a little soft in the middle, and the perfect cookie texture all around.

You don’t have to chill the cookie dough.

Also, you don’t have to chill the dough like many other recipes. The reason is because this dough is sturdy enough to spread a bit as the cookies bake, but not enough to totally flatten the cookies into one another. They hold their shape well, so the extra time spent refrigerating is unnecessary!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Ingredients

• Flour: To bind and fill the cookies. You could also have good luck using gluten free flour, almond flour, or whole wheat flour.
• Baking soda: For the cookies to rise and puff up a bit as they bake.
• Salt: To round out the sweet flavors.
• Butter: And lots of it! Melting it is the key to perfectly soft, chewy, amazing chocolate chip cookies.
• Egg + an egg yolk: Eggs help add volume to cookies and extra yolk makes them more tender.
• Vanilla: For a subtle warming flavor.
• Chocolate chips: Of course! This adds the morsels of chocolate necessary for these cookies. You can use any chocolate chip variety you like here; I use semisweet.

How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies:

You are going to love making these cookies! They’re SO delish and fun to bake.

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• Beat the melted butter and sugars together with an electric mixer on medium. Until smooth and light and fluffy in color, around 5 minutes.
• Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined.

• Reduce the speed to low and slowly add flour, the salt and baking soda.
• Mix in the chips until incorporated.
• Roll them into 1/4-inch balls. And place them on a cookie sheet (lined with parchment paper or a baking mat) about 2 inches apart.
• Bake the cookies. Until the edges are set and beginning to brown but the middles are still soft and puffy, around 10 minutes.
• Cool cookies. Keep on baking sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to let cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough, and enjoy!

Why I Bake These Cookies at 325 Degrees F. Instead of 350 Degrees F.

Baking cookies at 325 helps to make sure the inside and outside bake evenly. The outside doesn’t get crunchy while the inside remains gooey; instead, you have a chewy, but fully baked, cookie from inside out.

Possible Add-in Ideas:

• Oatmeal: Use a half-cup less of flour and add 1 cup of oats to the dough at the same time as the flour for a grainy, oatmeal chocolate chip cookie.
• Chopped walnuts or pecans: Fold in 3/4 cup of chopped nuts to the dough when you add the chocolate chips for an added crunch and nuttiness.
• Toffee: Break toffee into small bits and fold 3/4 cup in with the chocolate chips to add a bit of crunch and sweetness from the toffee candy.
• Mini M&M’s: Want a burst of color and an added chocolate boost? Mix in 3/4 cup of mini M&M’s when you add the chocolate chips.
• Cocoa powder: For double chocolate chip cookies and chocolatey cookie dough, add a 1/2 cup of cocoa to the dough with the flour.

How to Store Chocolate Chip Cookies:

These cookies will stay fresh stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. After that, store in the fridge for up to a week or the freezer for up to 3 months.

Cookie FAQs

How Do You Get Perfectly Shaped Cookies?

Invest in a cookie scoop ! It’s a game changer. I also like using baking mats. Everyone needs both in their kitchen.

Can I Freeze Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough?

Yes! I always double this recipe, bake a couple dozen, then form and freeze the rest.

How to freeze the dough: Form the dough into the balls, stick them in a single layer in an airtight container, and freeze for up to a month.

How to bake frozen dough: Just bake the frozen dough for a few minutes longer at 350 degrees F. (instead of 325 degrees F.). They turn out perfect every time. Now I always have cookies in the freezer ready to pop in the oven on a whim. I haven’t said no to a request for cookies in months!

I love having the cookie dough in the freezer, too, for unexpected guests or when I want to take some dinner over to a friend. Hot cookies are always welcome with a meal!

Troubleshooting Chocolate Chip Cookies

• How can I tell my cookies are underdone?
  • They will still look like dough (glistening, soft) and won’t be golden-brown around the edges.
• Why are my cookies spreading too much?
  • Too little flour is often the culprit of flat cookies — make sure you measure it well!
• Why didn’t my cookies flatten?
  • Too much flour or not melting the butter can cause them to remain in their cylinder shape.

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Recipe from America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book

Did you know I’m a little cookie obsessed? Try these too:

• Healthy Applesauce Cookies
•  M&M Oatmeal Cookies
• Old Fashioned Iced Oatmeal Cookies
• Extra Soft Snickerdoodle Cookies
• Easy Mexican Wedding Cookies
• Homemade Mint Oreo Cookies
• Homemade Girl Scout Cookies: Thin Mints
• Perfect Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
• Extra Buttery Spritz Cookies
• Soft and Puffy Greek Yogurt Sugar Cookies

The recipe was originally published in February 2012. It was rephotographed, rewritten, and republished for your enjoyment in February 2020.