These chocolate chip cookies are extra soft, thick, and chewy. This is my FAVORITE recipe for chocolate chips cookies and they turn out perfect every time!
I feel like a good chocolate chip cookie recipe is one that everyone should have in their recipe box. I’ve had several requests for a full batch chocolate chip cookie recipe over the last couple months. So I decided it was time to roll up my sleeves and get to work on perfecting a recipe.
And let me tell you, these cookies are good. In fact, I made these cookies for a party and every single one of them were gone by the end of the night. That’s when you know you have a good recipe for chocolate chip cookies.
So let’s talk about what makes a good chocolate chip cookie. To start, you’ll be using some simple dry ingredients like all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt. One important thing with the flour is to make sure to measure it correctly by spooning it into the cup and leveling it off with the back of a knife. You don’t want to scoop the flour out of the container with your measuring cup because the flour can become packed inside of the cup. I have a full post about how to measure flour with the spoon and level method here.
You’ll also be using one cup of unsalted butter in this recipe. Have you ever wondered why some recipes specifically call for unsalted butter? It’s because the amount of salt in salted butter can vary quite a bit between brands. By using unsalted butter in a recipe, you can control the amount of salt in it. You can use salted butter in this recipe if you like, but I suggest reducing the amount of salt to about 1/2 teaspoon if you do.
Another thing that makes this chocolate chip cookie recipe so delicious is the amount of brown sugar. I prefer to use more brown sugar than granulated sugar in most of my cookie recipes because it adds moisture and more flavor. I like to use 1 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup of granulated sugar in these cookies. Brown sugar is a wonderful ingredient to bake with, especially when it comes to cookies!
You’ll also be using a couple of room temperature eggs. Just make sure to set your eggs out with the butter and let them both come to room temperature before getting started on your cookies. If a recipe calls for room temperature butter, it’s best to make sure your other ingredients are room temperature as well.
And the chocolate chips? I use an entire 12-ounce bag (or 2 cups) of semi-sweet chocolate chips in this recipe. It may seem like a lot, but keep in mind that this recipe will make about 38 cookies. Plus, you can’t have a good chocolate chip cookie recipe without a good amount of chocolate chips in each cookie. Am I right?
Another important that with this recipe is that you need to chill the cookie dough. I know it can be a pain to have to wait to chill cookie dough, but trust me here. Not only will the cookies taste better, but they’ll bake up so much thicker. I’ve found that 2 hours is the perfect amount of time to chill this cookie dough.
And if you want soft cookies, I suggest taking these cookies out of the oven as soon as the edges are lightly golden brown and the tops are set. Then, let them cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes and transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling. I do this all the time with my cookies and they turn out perfectly soft every single time!
Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 and 3/4 cups (345 grams) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (230 grams) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200 grams) brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 12-ounce package (2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar for 1-2 minutes until well combined. Add in the eggs and vanilla extract one at a time and mix until fully combined.
- Slowly mix in the flour mixture and continue mixing until just combined, then mix in the chocolate chips, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Cover the cookie dough tightly and transfer to the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours.
- Once the dough is almost chilled, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside.
- Remove the cookie dough from the refrigerator, using a 1.5-2 tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop the cookie dough and drop onto the prepared baking sheets. Make sure to leave a little room between each ball of cookie dough as they will spread a little while they bake.
- Bake in separate batches at 350°F for 10-12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are lightly golden brown and the top is set. Remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Notes
Love cookies?
Try my Soft & Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies next!
Hi…is the brown sugar packed or applied loosely? Most recipes call for packed…
I pack the brown sugar.
Why do these cookies only stay for 3 days ? , all my ingredients are room temperature
I’m not sure what you mean by 3 days? I have a note in the recipe that they will stay fresh up to 5 days. They’ll keep a little longer than that, but I find after 5 days they aren’t quite as fresh.
Tried this recipe the other day. It’s pretty spot on. They were fluffy, moist, and chewy. I love, love, love that you gave the measurements in weight. I didn’t use an electric mixer, just a whisk and wood spoon, I have no idea why I decided to do this (I have a 2 year old running around?) and I used a splatmat instead of parchment paper anyway, I do not think it made any difference. I would recommend chilling before baking. I tried with chilled dough and without. They taste the same, but hold their shape better chilled. I do not write reviews, ever, but it’s so hard to find a good recipe (that I don’t have to tweak), hopefully this will help others.
So glad the cookies turned out great for you!
Can I use salted butter and eliminate the teaspoon of salt?
I would still use about 1/2 teaspoon of salt. A good rule of thumb when substituting salted butter for unsalted butter is to reduce the salt by 1/4 teaspoon per stick of butter.
Loved this recipe sooooo much! I only had half the amount of chocolate so added some raisins to compensate – they were so gooey and delicious went down a treat in our home!
Is it ok to add pecans …will they get soft after 2 hrs. Or chilling the dough?
Yes, that’s fine. It shouldn’t affect the pecans.
Hi there! I’ve only recently gotten into baking, and the first cookie I’ve decided to try was the classic chocolate chip cookies. I ended up going over tens of cookie recipes, but none of them has been as spot on as this one! Anytime I bake these they are always well received by my family and my classmates.
So happy to hear that, Anna!
Is it best to use dark brown sugar or yellow brown sugar in the recipe?
I use light brown sugar, but dark brown sugar is fine too.
I made these cookies today and they came out to perfection! Chilling is a must. I used a small scoop and was afraid they would spread too much, but they didn’t, holding their form quite well, remaining thick. They were moist and chewy at 11 minutes. Your instructions were great! Thank you!
Is it necessary to use an electric mixer for the butter, sugar, and eggs? I don’t have one 🙁
As long as the butter is soft enough, you can use a fork or whisk to cream together the butter and sugars and then just use a spoon to mix in the rest of the ingredients as stated in the recipe.
No, you can use a whisk and bowl to mix it. Remember to soften your butter though. I’ve done this recipe and couple times and I have not used an electric mixer more than once. It is a bit hard to mix sometimes.
Hi, this recepe looks amazing I’m gonna definitely try it. What does packed means exactly? How do you pack brown sugar? Every recepe for cookies I have ever read calls for it but I’m Italian and it’s not something that we do. 🙏 Please explain
It just means to lightly press the brown sugar into your measuring cup.
Hi. I would like to thank you for such an amazing recipe. I LOVE these cookies and so does my entire family. Thank you so much for sharing.
Thank you, Zoe! So glad you liked the cookies!
hi danielle… i wonder why my cookies are never flat like yours.. they always have dome .. i used ice cream scoop as well to form the dough… warm regards from indonesia..
Did you make sure to spoon and level your flour or weigh it? If so, try slightly flattening the cookies before you bake them and that should help them spread.
Is it okay to leave the dough in the fridge for a day?
Yes, that would be fine! If it’s too hard to scoop, just leave it on the counter for 20-30 minutes and that should help.
Can i use pure granulated sugar?
Do you mean in place of the brown sugar? If so, I don’t suggest it. You do need the brown sugar in these cookies. You can add 1 tablespoon of molasses to 1 cup of granulated sugar and mix well to make 1 cup of brown sugar.
I don’t have brown sugar is there something else I can use instead?
You do need brown sugar for these cookies. If you don’t have any brown sugar, you can add 1 tablespoon of molasses to 1 cup of granulated sugar and mix well to make 1 cup of brown sugar.
I loved this recipe! Chilling the dough for the minimum of 2 hours was a wonderful suggestion and indeed a MUST. They turned out delicious and held their shape. I made them for Valentine’s Day yesterday and family loved them (left out the nuts as I have picky eaters). I used a Silicone mat and put 12 small scoops on the first cookie pan. I thought I put enough space between them, but they ran together. The rest of the batches, I only put 6 on each sheet and they were beautiful. The cookies that ran together were still delicious, I just had to cut them apart and some appeared to be more square than round. This recipe will definitely be my go to from now. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Followed this recipe to the letter.right cooling temp,cooking time(left for a few extra minutes) and the centre of the cookies were still doughy/raw.
Put back in for another 10 minutes but didnt make a difference.
Not sure what went wrong
The cookies will still be soft when you take them out of the oven. Did you let them cool completely?
Yeah completely and still doughy in the middle.bit raw
I’m not sure what would cause that unless your oven temperature is off. Have you checked it with an oven thermometer?
Tried these this weekend. They were very good. Held their shape, were a good thickness and nice and chewy. I’m tired of cookies that get hard as rocks. I’m going to freeze half and see how they hold up,
Hello,
So I just went out and bought all the ingredients but I got milk chocolate chips they’re not semi sweet chocolate chips. Does the chocolate chips have to be semi sweet
That will be fine. Milk chocolate chips are sweeter, so the cookies will just be a bit sweeter. You can use less chocolate chips if you prefer.
Ok thank you sooo much!
My new favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe! Excellent!
I LOVE this recipe. I could hardly cool the cookies down between batches before my family members were snatching them off the cooling rack. I will definitely be bookmarking this recipe to use again!
Absolutely delicious! I wanted to try a new chocolate chip cookie recipe rather than using the one on the Nestle bag. So glad that I did and will use this from now on. I followed the recipe exactly as it is and I wouldn’t change a thing.
I have never made really good chocolate chip cookies until now. Thank you for this recipe and tips!
can i use palm sugar instead of brown sugar?
That should be fine.