All of us have a chocolate chip cookie recipe we swear by as our long-standing, all-time best, go-to favorite.
And for this obsessed cookie lover, trying each and every one of those recipes has been a feat worth doing.
I’ve had them all. Thin, crispy, fluffy, cakey.
But the ultimate recipe that I’m constantly craving?
A mind-blowing chocolate chip cookie that’s soft, chewy, and unapologetically ooey-gooey.
I want that melt-in-your mouth center. I want the crisp, buttery edges. I want large bites of rich chocolate chips and the flirtatious surprise of crunchy, coarse salt.
Achieving such a crazy-good dessert is simple. With less than 10 ingredients, my recipe won’t make you feel frustrated, or confused, or overwhelmed.
It wants to help you – to help you indulge in this decadent delight as soon as you possibly can!
Enjoy them still warm from the oven, while the chips are still melted and drool-worthy.
And I fully support you removing them just a minute or so earlier from the oven, if you can’t wait the full 10 minutes to bake them.
I’ve always liked mine on the gooier side, just like you…
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Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 12-15 cookies 1x
Description
Want the perfect chocolate chip cookie? With crispy edges and gooey insides, this classic recipe is the indulgence you need.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
- 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Beat on low speed just until the mixture is fully incorporated.
- Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed just until everything is fully combined. Do not overmix. Add the chocolate chips and mix on low speed just until incorporated.
- Form 12-15 small dough balls by hand or with a cookie scooper. Place on the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches in between each mound.
- Before baking, chill the shaped cookie dough mounds on the trays in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes.
- Bake 8-10 minutes, or just until lightly golden around the bottom and edges. They will look under-baked, but will continue to set as they cool.
- Let cookies cool for 5 minutes on the pan before transferring to a wire rack to continue cooling for another 15 minutes. Serve while still warm and ooey-gooey!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Dessert
Keywords: chocolate chip cookies, dessert, baking, butter, holiday baking
Cooking by the Numbers…
Step 1 – Prep
Line two baking sheet pans with parchment paper or silicone mats.
Measure the all-purpose flour, baking powder and soda, salt, brown sugar, vanilla, and chocolate chips.
Break one egg and place it in a bowl. Break the other egg, and separate the yolk from the white. Add the yolk to the bowl with the other egg. Reserve the white for another use (like in our coconut macaroons!).
Measure and heat the unsalted butter in the microwave until just softened, not melted.
Step 2 – Whisk Dry Ingredients
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until completely incorporated. Set aside as you continue to the next steps.
Step 3 – Cream Butter and Sugar
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the unsalted butter and brown sugar. Using a medium-high speed on the mixer, mix until the ingredients are completely incorporated and become light and fluffy.
You’ll need to scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice to make sure any ingredients stuck to the sides of the bowl and paddle are mixed in thoroughly.
No granulated sugar? That’s right! With the high molasses content in brown sugar, the cookies will be extra soft and chewy, with plenty of flavor.
Step 4 – Add Liquid Ingredients
To the butter and sugar mixture, add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Beat on low speed just until the mixture is fully incorporated, without overmixing.
Step 5 – Add Dry Mixture
Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed just until the mixture is fully combined. Do not overmix! It’s important to keep gluten development to a minimum in order for the cookies to stay soft.
Step 6 – Add Chocolate Chips
Add the chocolate chips and mix on low speed just until incorporated. No overmixing!
Step 7 – Shape and Chill
Form small dough balls by hand or with a cookie scooper. Place on the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches in between each mound.
Chill the mounds on the trays in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes. This helps to re-solidify the butter before baking, minimizing spread. Chilling keeps the cookies plump and soft!
Step 8 – Bake
This is the most important step to achieving the softest, chewiest cookie: do NOT overbake! Bake 8-10 minutes, or just until golden around the edges and bottoms. They will still look white, under-baked, and a little wet in the center, but they will continue to cook as they cool out of the oven.
Want a crispier cookie? Bake for a couple more minutes for a golden-brown exterior.
Step 9 – Cool and Serve
Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes in the pan before transferring to a wire rack to continue cooling.
Serve while still warm and ooey-gooey!
A Dessert You’ll Always Love
It’s true. Will there ever be a day that you WON’T enjoy a warm, gooey cookie?
Of course not, silly.
Try these sweet mounds of chocolaty perfection, and you’re set for life – the best go-to recipe you’ll use whenever that craving strikes.
What do you think of this recipe? Do you prefer thin and crispy, or chewy and gooey? Let me know in the comments below, after you rate the recipe!
And for more variations of this classic, save room for the following good eats:
- Vegan Chocolate Chip
- Soft and Chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip
- Death by Chocolate Cookies
- Paleo Chocolate Chip
- Classic Einkorn Chocolate Chip
Photos by Nikki Cervone, © Ask the Experts, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. See our TOS for more details. Originally published by Shanna Mallon on September 1, 2008. Last updated: December 29, 2019 at 1:14 am.
Nutritional information derived from a database of known generic and branded foods and ingredients and was not compiled by a registered dietitian or submitted for lab testing. It should be viewed as an approximation.
About Nikki Cervone
Nikki Cervone is an ACS Certified Cheese Professional and cheesemonger living in Pittsburgh. Nikki holds an AAS in baking/pastry from Westmoreland County Community College, a BA in Communications from Duquesne University, and an MLA in Gastronomy from Boston University. When she's not nibbling on her favorite cheeses or testing a batch of cupcakes, Nikki enjoys a healthy dose of yoga, wine, hiking, singing in the shower, and chocolate. Lots of chocolate.
Oh my goodness! You are going to have me in the kitchen for days. I must try these one day. Yesterday, I spent quite some time in the kitchen. I cleaned out my freezer, poured out old wheat flour (I know it’s healthier, but it made everything really gritty), cleaned a few cabinets, made a new marinate for chicken (I’ll have to let you know how it comes out), tried a new makeshift recipe (ground turkey stroganoff), cut up some watermelon, and made my favorite blueberry muffins (I’ll have to share the recipe I got from foodtv.com). And now I want to bake chocolate-chip cookies, but, alas, I must get ready for work!
woo! what a long recipe!
sounds so wonderful… Im just imagining what the health inspector would say about uncooked food in the fridge for so long. we have to give up certain things as foster parents. Ill have to try this out real soooon!! before the health inspection! hah
that first photo looks SO LOVELY and yummy. mmm…..
You are such an awesome writer. I always enjoy your posts.
love you.
oh, i really LOVED making these cookies – and i agree that they are better the longer you wait, but seriously? thought the whole waiting thing? yeah, not so much!
Rachel, No health inspector will get after you for having cookie dough in the fridge, it and many other dishes require refrigeration prior to cooking, if you doubt me go to any restaurant and ask them,
almost every restaurant stores prepared parts of meals in the fridge and then cooks up on request.
think about it? were else would you store a steak while its marinating? or what about defrosting a turkey in your fridge ( the proper way to do it ), or for that matter defrosting any meat ( all should be done in your fridge ) all of this is uncooked food in your fridge
I mean what about eggs? aren’t they uncooked food? I think that it is impossible to both cook food at home and not store “uncooked food” in your fridge
These cookies are mouth-watering, I want one right now =)
Is it necessary to use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment? I want to makes these cookies but only have a hand mixer .
Caylie, I am a recent convert to the stand mixer, and, though I love it, I’m sure a regular hand mixer would work beautifully. best wishes!
And don’t forget that Pillsbury dough is refrigerated for who knows how long.
I’ve made these cookies a few times, and they rock.
The dough is not any stiffer than regular chocolate chip cookie dough.
I was planning on making these last night and then realized I was missing tons of the ingredients. I don’t have cake or bread flour in the house, we were out of brown sugar and sea salt so I wound up not making them. Buying all those ingredients sounds too expensive but I’m dying to give these a try. Think it’s worth it?
Hillary, Yes, yes, yes! Even if you have to substitute a few things, I’d say it’s worth it. (Or, I guess now that it’s tomorrow, so to speak, you could grab them.)
I’d do without the sea salt and just use kosher if you have it; do use some version of coarse salt, though, as it gives the cookies a great bite and contrast of flavors.
The cake/bread flours may not be necessary. Molly of Orangette just used all-purpose and said the results were fantastic.
Whatever the case, TRY THEM! You won’t regret it!
Oh you must must must try sea salt, once you do you wont go back… compared to sea salt, table salt tastes metallic and stale and one dimensional. Sea salt tastes so much better that you can use less of it and get better flavor, and its very easy to find, most grocery stores carry lots of different kinds of sea salts. Dorie Greenspan makes a chocolate cookie called world peace cookies that calls for fluer de sal and wowwww, table salt would destroy this unbelievably delicious chocolate creation. The sea salt sort makes the flavors of the chocolate bloom in your mouth. Its remarkable really. The cookies look sooooo good.
Nicole, ok, ok, you’ve talked me into it. I purchased the sea salt this weekend and plan to try it soon. Thanks for the tips!
Ah, these look delish! Definitely going to have to try it out! Thanks for the heads up!
yummity yum.
sprinkling course/sea salt is a nice touch
These are THE best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had. 5 stars, 2 thumbs up, Siskel and Ebert approved.
★★★★★
It’s my go to cookie recipe
★★★★★