How to make the best homemade chocolate chip cookies. This easy recipe makes cookies with crisp edges and chewy middles. The moment you try one of these chocolate chip cookies, you will fall in love. Jump to the Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
How to Make the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
We cannot get enough of these cookies. There’s a good bet that you’ll find a big bag of cookie dough in our freezer right now. Definitely check below for our tips on freezing this cookie dough.
These homemade chocolate chip cookies are easy to make. We prefer to use our stand mixer, but you can also make these cookies with a handheld mixer. If you are short on time, try our quicker chocolate chip cookies recipe that calls for melted butter instead of creaming the butter to make the dough.
To make the cookie dough, start by creaming butter, sugar, and vanilla extract together. We use granulated sugar and brown sugar in this recipe. The granulated sugar makes the edges crispy and the brown sugar keeps them chewy and tender. We do this a lot when making cookies. I know it seems excessive to use more than one type of sugar, but it truly makes a difference.
For the creaming to be successful, you will need room temperature butter, otherwise it will be too hard to mix. If you forget to take the butter out in advance, remove it from the packaging and cut into small pieces. Spread them out onto a plate. After 15 to 20 minutes, the butter will have softened.
When the butter, both sugars, and vanilla are light and fluffy, it’s time to add eggs. Room temperature eggs are best since they incorporate better into the batter.
I am famous for forgetting to take my eggs out of the fridge in advance so to quickly get my eggs to room temperature, I fill a bowl with warm (not hot) water and submerge the eggs into the water. After a few minutes the eggs will be the correct temperature.
The dry ingredients come next — just flour, baking soda, and salt. And finally, the chocolate. Feel free to use chocolate chips or chunks and play around with what kind of chocolate. We love bittersweet chocolate chips, but semi-sweet, milk, or a combination are all delicious.
At this point you can bake, chill, or freeze the cookie dough.
The dough will keep in the refrigerator up to 3 days. Even though you can bake straight away, chilling cookie dough actually makes better cookies.
As chocolate chip cookie batter chills, it improves. A night or two in the refrigerator helps the flour absorb moisture in the dough from the egg. This makes the cookies even more chewy, thicker, and they taste even better.
You can also freeze the dough. I mentioned above that we keep frozen dough for cookie cravings.
How to Freeze Cookie Dough
Since it’s just the two of us, we freeze cookie dough all the time. Frozen cookie dough will last in the freezer up to 3 months. Here’s how to do it:
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Scoop out cookie dough mounds onto the baking sheet. You can crowd the cookie mounds together, just do not let them touch.
- Freeze until hard.
- Transfer the frozen dough mounds to an airtight container or plastic bag. Store in the freezer up to 3 months.
Then, when a craving hits, bake the frozen cookies without thawing. It will add an extra 3 to 5 minutes of bake time.
More Easy Cookie Recipes
Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Cookies — Oatmeal raisin cookies that are soft in the middle, a little chewy on the outside and full of warm flavors like cinnamon and vanilla.
Easy Chewy Double Chocolate Cookies — We love these easy double chocolate cookies with butter, cocoa powder and extra chocolate chunks.
Soft Ginger Cookies with Chocolate Chips — I love the spiciness of these ginger cookies and they can be made in under 30 minutes.
Ridiculously Easy Peanut Butter Cookies — Delicious peanut butter cookies that are naturally free of flour, butter, and dairy.
Edible Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough — See how to make safe-to-eat edible cookie dough in five delicious variations including chocolate chip cookie dough, double chocolate chip, peanut butter, oatmeal cookie, and snickerdoodle.
Snickerdoodle Cookies — Our favorite recipe for snickerdoodles that makes cookies with crispy edges and soft, chewy centers.
Recipe updated, originally posted September 2013. Since posting this in 2013, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear. – Adam and Joanne
How to Make The Best Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
These easy chocolate chip cookies have the perfect balance of crisp edges and chewy middles. We prefer using our stand mixer, but you can use a handheld mixer if that is all you have. We love to use bittersweet chocolate chips since they are not as sweet. Semi-sweet chips are also a great option.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
2 ½ cups (315 grams) all-purpose flour
1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
16 tablespoons (230 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature (2 sticks)
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
1 cup (200 grams) packed brown sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups (340 grams or 12 ounces) chocolate chips
Directions
- Make Batter
1Position a rack in the lower third of the oven. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or use a silicon baking mat.
2Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.
3Add the butter, both sugars, and the vanilla to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. (Or, in a mixing bowl, using a handheld mixer). Cream the butter and sugars together on medium speed (speed 4 on our mixer) until light and fluffy; 3 to 5 minutes.
4Scrape the side and bottom of the bowl then add the eggs. Mix on medium-low speed for 30 seconds. The eggs will not be completely incorporated.
5Turn the speed down to lowest setting and add the dry ingredients in thirds, beating until just combined; 1 to 2 minutes.
6With the mixer on low, sprinkle the chocolate chips until just incorporated.
- Bake Cookies
1Drop 3 tablespoon-mounds or use a large cookie scoop onto baking sheets. Leave 2 inches between the cookies to allow for spreading.
2Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time and rotating once during cooking, for 15 to 18 minutes. The cookies should be golden brown around the edges but light in the middles. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
3Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature or up to a week in the refrigerator.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Make Ahead Tip: Refrigerate unbaked cookie dough up to 3 days. Or, freeze cookie dough up to 3 months.
- How to Freeze Cookies: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and prepare the dough as usual. Scoop out cookie mounds onto the baking sheet. You can crowd the dough mounds together, just do not let them touch. Freeze until hard. Transfer the frozen dough mounds to an airtight container or plastic bag. Store in the freezer. Bake frozen cookies without thawing, it will add an extra 3 to 5 minutes of bake time.
- Make Smaller Cookies: Drop 1 1/2 tablespoon mounds or use a medium cookie scoop onto the baking sheet. Bake for 9 to 13 minutes.
- We use kosher salt. If you don’t have it on hand, keep this in mind: 1 teaspoon fine sea or table salt = about 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt.
- Recipe adapted and inspired by The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook and the Nestle Original Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste
Hi Joanne and Adam – thanks so much for the great recipes. These cookies were a hit at home ! From the time I’ve started to bake with your recipes, I’ve stopped going to bakeries!! Thanks so much for your recipes and the instructions !! You’ve made novices like me feel like seasoned bakers! Much thanks!
Best cookies I’ve ever made! Thanks for the recipe. I let my batter sit in the fridge for a few hours and boy oh boy was I happy.
I made these cookies with less sugar, my own preference, 250 g total. I used slightly salted butter so would reduce salt ingredient a lot if did this next time. Oh and I used 2 100 g bars of chocolate – chopped – and just over 100 g pecans -also chopped. However, as with the double chocolate walnut cookies, this is a great recipe. Thank you.
Hello Joanne, first off. These cookies look super amazing & delicious. I was just wondering… what if I only have a medium cookie scooper? Does it matter the time I leave them in?
Hi Amanda, The cookies will be smaller and will likely need less time in the oven. Go by visual cues — the cookies should be light brown and look dry on top and golden around the edges.
Hi i made these today for the first time and very pleased with the outcome. I did find them a bit sweet, could i cut both sugars to half a cup instead of the full cup.? Thank you for the extra tips..
Hi Ann, You can cut the sugar, just keep in mind that this will not only reduce the sweetness of the cookies, they will spread less. The texture will be slightly different, too.
Hi again, I have continued to make them your way and they are really the absolute best, also tried the double chocolate cookies, absolutely amazing.. thank you for sharing.
hi Joanne and Adam, I’m a great fan of your website and have tried a number of your recipes and made quite a success on most occasion. For this recipe , taste-wise i got it! however, i failed to achieve the same rough texture/look of the cookie. Mine is a bit smooth on top and the bottom part is almost toasty. I followed baking instruction to a T, including temp and bake time. Any tips or corrections i need to do? Thanks much!
Hi, I find that the colour of the cookie sheet makes tremendous difference. Dark coloured sheets will yield darker cookies with toasty bottoms while light coloured sheets will only yield pale cookies that are soft in the middle. I also find the cookies on the dark sheets also spread more. Not sure if this helps
I love cookies and watching your video of the chocolate chip cookies, I would like very much to try.
However, I am lactose intolerant, hence cannot take any diary product. Can I replace butter with corn or vegetable oil? If so, the measurement please.Thank you very much and I hope to hear from you soon.
Hi Anna, You might be able to replace the butter with coconut oil, but since I have never personally done this, I cannot say it will work out as well as when butter is used.
You could try blue bonnet light it doesn’t contain milk
Hi, what is the brand of your cookie scooper?
Hi Mila, I believe this one is from OXO.
hey perfect! quick n easy to make. thnx for sharing!
Hi Joanne and Adam, once again you have shared with us a perfect recipe. I made these last night, using half the ingredients for half a batch. I only used brown sugar (I didn’t have granulated sugar on hand) and they were DELICIOUS. Thanks for sharing another simple, easy to follow recipe!