Let’s take a deep dive into the absolutely awesome world of cookies. There are literally hundreds of ways to make chocolate chip cookies and I’m reviewing three of my best (and very different) recipes so YOU can find your favorite. There’s also reader reviews, cookie baking tips, and a dozen chocolate chip cookie recipe variations. Eat up!
Happy National Chocolate Chip Day! Yes, today is chocolate chip day. And if you’re reading this any other day of the year, go ahead and call it national chocolate chip day too. Obviously chocolate chip cookies don’t need a specific date; they’re timeless and should be celebrated EVERY FREAKING DAY.
I have several cookie variations on my website plus an entire cookbook devoted to just cookie recipes. Cookies are my favorite dessert to bake because there’s literally no limit! They’re relatively easy, approachable, and don’t require a ton of special equipment. If you can follow a recipe, you can make cookies. They’re an easy treat to share, perfect for gifting, totally portable, and don’t require a fork or plate. (Just a few napkins!!!)
Cookies also have an undeniable allure. I mean… I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t appreciate homemade chocolate chip cookies… have you?
Two pictures above: giant chocolate chip cookies
Let’s use today as an opportunity to dive into the vast world of cookies. I have 3 main chocolate chip cookie recipes on my website, plus several variations linked below. I explain each in detail so you can find your favorite– I know it can get overwhelming searching for new cookie recipes! Whether you like chewy cookies, soft cookies, crispy cookies, cookie bars, or even oatmeal cookies, I have you covered. These chocolate chip cookie recipes are some of my best and if you’ve tried ANY of them, tell me about it in the comments below. And if you have any cookie recipe requests, let me know too.
Clearly I can’t get enough. And I know you can’t either!!!
Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
This recipe for chewy chocolate chip cookies is my personal favorite. They’re included in Sally’s Cookie Addiction cookbook (page 25) and have stood the test of time– they’ve been the most popular cookie recipe on my website since 2013!
An extra egg yolk, melted butter, more brown sugar than white, cornstarch, and a careful amount of all-purpose flour each create exceptional flavor and texture.
Make these cookies if you like:
- Mega chewy cookies
- Thick and soft centers
- Very dense texture
- Buttery brown sugar flavor
- Slightly crisp edges
Christen says: “Just wanted to say that I make these on the regular for friends/family, and they have gotten comments such as ‘these are literally the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had’ sooo many times!”
Kristi says: “YES YES YES, thank you, yes. My search is over. I FINALLY found the best, perfect chocolate chip recipe. It took me a few trial and error recipes before I found this one. Now I finally have the amazing one.”
Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
This recipe produces extra soft chocolate chip cookies. They’re not quite as chewy and dense as the cookies above, but they’re way softer. Cornstarch creates a soft and thick cookie, while creamed butter produces a fluffy, soft center with crisp edges. I love using this as a base recipe for white chocolate cranberry cookies!
Make these cookies if you like:
- Thick and super soft centers
- Classic chocolate chip cookie taste
- Brown sugar flavor
- Buttery crisp edges
- Lots of chocolate chips
Emily says: “I made these last night, doubling the recipe all in one and just followed the other steps. They were fabulous! Slightly crispy on the outside with soft middles, good butter flavor, and tons of chocolate chips. I baked a dozen and froze about 40 balls for later! Thank you Sally – family approved! This recipe is definitely going into the rotation!”
Anne-Marie says: “I’ve been in search for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe and THIS IS IT! I made it exactly as the recipe directs and they were awesome. Definitely making again…thank you, Sally!”
Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies
These crispy chocolate chip cookies are my latest chocolate chip cookie creation. They’re packed with chocolate chips, have a lovely crackly surface and delicious overall crisp. Melted butter and liquid sugar (honey) stretches the edges out so they crisp up, while 1 egg yolk provides richness and structure. One mega tip: roll cookies smaller so the entire cookie can crisp up in the oven!
Make these cookies if you like:
- Chewy centers
- Crispy, not crunchy
- Extra buttery flavor
- Lots of chocolate chips
Carla says: “Absolutely delicious! Love the crisp and the hint of honey to them too! Will definitely be making these again.”
Erica says: “Made these last night for the first time and they’re great! The small size and flavor make them dangerously addicting. My husband and I kept finding ourselves walking back to the cooling rack to grab one.”
Each of these 3 recipes start with the same exact ingredients like butter, flour, sugar, baking soda, and egg. But each produces extremely different results! Maybe I’m just a huge cookie nerd, but isn’t that fascinating?!
And heck, add cake mix and sprinkles and you have cake batter chocolate chip cookies!
If you’re interested, I also have a few cookie tutorials including how to prevent cookies from spreading, how to ship cookies, and how to freeze cookie dough. But before you get started baking ANY cookie recipe, let’s review some of my top cookie baking tips.
3 Cookie Baking Tips
- Chill the cookie dough: I normally determine if cookie dough needs chilling by how it feels. If the cookie dough is particularly sticky or greasy, chilling is best. Chilling cookie dough helps prevent spreading. The colder the dough, the less likely the cookies will over-spread into greasy puddles. As a result, you’ll have thicker and sturdier cookies. After chilling, let your cookie dough sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes before baking. (Or longer depending on how long the dough has chilled.) Your cookie dough may be a solid rock, so letting it slightly loosen up helps.
- Ignore the recipe’s baking time: When I bake cookies, I never look at recipe times– I look at the cookies! You see, all ovens are different and maybe your oven is a convection oven, while the recipe author’s is a conventional oven. (I bake with conventional.) Always go with your instincts: the cookies are done when the edges are set and lightly browned. Keep in mind that a cookie’s center will continue to cook for a few minutes as it cools.
- Room temperature ingredients: I wrote a whole post about room temperature ingredients and another specifically about room temperature butter. Both are important, but let me sum them up. Room temperature ingredients properly emulsify into cookie dough, which creates a uniform structure throughout your cookies. If a recipe calls for room temperature butter, make sure it’s not straight from the fridge or overly greasy. You can’t cream cold butter and you can’t cream partially melted butter either. As for the eggs, room temperature eggs whip into a higher volume compared to cold eggs. And if a recipe calls for melted butter, it’s imperative the eggs are room temperature as well. Otherwise, the cold eggs will solidify the melted butter in the dough.
Tip for room temperature: Does the recipe require room temperature butter and eggs? Place butter on the counter 1 hour before starting the recipe or use my trick to soften butter quickly. For the eggs, place them in a glass of warm water for 5-10 minutes.
What About a Chocolate Base?
I have you covered. These double chocolate chip cookies use a basic dough and produce soft, chewy, and extra fudge-like cookies.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Variations:
Cancel all your plans and start baking.
- Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (pictured above)
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Layer Cake
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies (no dough chilling required!)
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies (no egg!)
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Pizza
- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
- Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (GF)
- Cake Batter Chocolate Chip Cookies
In a rush? Here are all of my no chill cookie recipes. Shortbread and snickerdoodles are two favorites of the bunch!
Find your favorite and have fun celebrating the mighty chocolate chip cookie!
You never fail to deliver. I have tried all your chocolate chip cookie recipes and used all more than once or twice, however, my favorite all time is the 6 giant chocolate chip cookie recipe. Have been making that one a minimum of 2 times a week to give to friends who absolutely love them. One said when trying it for the first time “incredible” I make them sometimes into small cookies, absolutely beautiful and incredibly delicious….
I love❤ your chewy chocolate chip recipe so much that I made it on my sister’s birthday and the whole family loved it. Thank you Sally.
I just made them for the first time for Mother’s Day- the whole family loved them. Thanks Sally!!
Making the cake batter cookies today! I love baking I’m aplpling for kids baking championship . My dream is to be a pastry chef, I did your Chew cookies, sadly the looked and tasted nothing like the photos! However your red velvet cake is so pretty, I made it into a drip cake for my photos. Its my last year to get on the show because I’m turning 14 in the fall! Making your cake batter cookies soon! I had to beg my dad to go out and buy some cake mix! They awesome!! Sending in my application this week!! Wish me luck! Its a TV show on foodnetwork and the winner gets 25 thousand dollars. If I win I’d give some to the ASPCA, I adore dogs! And give some to orphans in Ethopia(born there) and then some to homeless pepole! and then spend more on some Nintendo games!! I’m super excited to make this cake batter cookies! Have a wonderful day!!
-Olive O
I have a ton of house guests coming for Thanksgiving and am looking for a dessert for dinner the night before. I’m thinking individual Chocolate chip cookies, hot out of the oven with a scoop of ice cream and chocolate sauce on the top. Question is; what size cookie ball/scoop would I need for a 5″ diameter cast iron skillet?
Loving your site. I have never baked because it is too precise and I am not known for patience. Your site is helping me over these hurdles. Where have you been for the last 70 years?
Hi Janice, thank you so much for visiting my site and asking! I’m unsure of the exact size cookie scoop you need for that size cast iron skillet. However, just press enough dough into the skillets so they’re half full of dough.
Hi Sally, Can you please guide me on baking of cookies. That is when we remove the chilled cookie dough should we wait for baking till it comes to room temperature. If not till what time approximately should we wait.
Hi Viola, You can bake your cookie dough right from the refrigerator. You can even bake it right from the freezer if you have frozen the dough balls (just add an extra minute to your bake time). You might enjoy reading this post 5 Cookie Baking Tips to Improve Your Next Batch.
I am on a search for the chocolate chip cookies recipe that I absolutely love. I tried your crispy edged chocolate chip cookie last week. It was really good. I stored them in the freezer so I’d be less likely to eat them all. Turns out, they taste even better right out of the freezer! I think I am going to try your chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe next.
I have made these twice and I have to say that they are delicious. My oven is not the greatest nor is it forgiving and I have to monitor closely anything I bake and I have to tell ya these cookies turned out perfect each and every time. Simple to make with great instructions!
Thanks Sally!
I’m so happy you enjoyed them!
I have a bag of milk chocolate chips, is it OK to substitute the semi sweet for the milk chocolate?
I made your chewy chocolate chip cookies, they were a major hit with everyone! Thank you very much for that recipe!
Yes, absolutely! The cookies will just be even sweeter 🙂
Silly question alert????? Which of these 3 would you consider the CLASSIC chocolate chip cookie recipe?
Definitely my soft chocolate chip cookies. 🙂
You Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies are my all time favorite cookie. I always have prepared dough balls in the freezer in case of an “emergency”.
Love this! So glad you enjoy my peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies! 🙂
My favorite as well. I won the cookie division of our bake-off at work last month using that recipe!
I love the chewy ones, but I have made your chocolate chip cookie cake and every time is a hit. I bake it to the chewy stage and it comes out deliciciously moist. Thanks for sharing all these recipes and taking personal care of your followers.
I can’t wait to try the chewy chocolate chip cookies! Based off of all the descriptions, that is most tasty for me!
I LOVE your Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies! They’re so perfectly thick, soft, and delightfully chewy and flavourful! And I’m planning on trying your Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies sometime…they look ammmazing! As for cookie recipe requests…I would looo-ooove more recipes for cake pops! I know those aren’t technically cookies, but after making your chocolate cake pops, I fell in love with them. Some flavours I thought of were gingerbread cake pops (which I think would be so good with a white chocolate coating for Christmas! Like your amazing gingerbread swirl fudge), red velvet cake pops, funfetti cake pops, etc. Cake pops are just so fun and delicious, I would love to have a whole lot of different recipes with which to make them! 🙂 And actually, I’d also love to see more thumbprint cookie recipes. I’m thinking chocolate and peppermint, or coconut, or nutty ones, or something… 😀
The chewy choc chip cookies are utterly ridiculous!!! Could eat them all day long!!!
SO good! Glad you love them, Jackie!