I have a few tricks that make these the best soft chocolate chip cookies that you’ll ever try. With hundreds of positive reviews from bakers around the world, I’m confident you’ll fall in love with this chocolate chip cookie recipe too. Chilling the cookie dough is imperative and cornstarch makes them extra soft and thick!
Chocolate chip cookies are a household favorite, a timeless classic, an unparalleled snack… warm, cold, dunked in milk, in dough form, or in baked form. No one can resist the comfort of a chocolate chip cookie and everyone has their favorite recipe, whether it’s on the back of the yellow chocolate chips bag or scribbled in your grandmother’s recipe book.
Heck, I even have separate recipes for crispy chocolate chip cookies and chewy chocolate chip cookies!
Like many of you, I’ve searched far and wide for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe: the best chocolate chip cookies, a recipe I can bake again and again for years. I’ve lost sleep, I’ve burnt dough, I’ve tested and retested and retested… and retested, countless times. And I’m so happy to report that I finally found a chocolate chip cookie recipe that I’ll treasure for years. And I know you’ll enjoy these cookies too!
How to Make Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Start With Butter: Use room temperature butter. You can soften butter quickly with this trick or set the butter out 1–2 hours before you begin.
- Use a Mix of Sugars: Cream the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar together. This process aerates the butter, which promises soft chocolate chip cookies. Brown sugar yields soft chocolate chip cookies, and white sugar helps the cookies spread. For chewier and more flavorful cookies, use more brown sugar than white sugar.
- Dark Brown Sugar: Light brown sugar and dark brown sugar are interchangeable in most recipes. Though either works in this chocolate chip cookie recipe, I love using dark brown sugar for extra flavor because it contains more molasses.
- Add Egg & Vanilla Extract: Eggs provide structure and richness, while vanilla adds flavor.
- Use Cornstarch in Dry Ingredients: Cornstarch, a thickening ingredient, is the secret weapon in this cookie recipe, just like in shortbread cookies. 2 teaspoons give the cookies extra lift and leave them extra soft. You can’t taste it! You also need all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Add Dry Ingredients to Wet Ingredients: Combine all the ingredients, then add the chocolate chips.
- Chill the Cookie Dough: For extra thick chocolate chip cookies, chill the cookie dough for at least 1 hour. Chilling cookie dough will make or break the recipe! The colder the cookie dough, the less the cookies will over-spread. If you’re interested, here are 10 tips on how to prevent cookies from spreading.
- Extra Chocolate Chips: This is optional, but as soon as the cookies come out of the oven, press a few chocolate chips on top. They’ll melt right down into the cookie, making them extra pretty. And melted chocolate is never a bad thing! I recommend doing the same with double chocolate chip cookies.
Room temperature butter is cool to touch and about 65°F (18°C), which may be cooler than your kitchen. To test it, poke it with your finger. Your finger should make an indent without sinking into the butter. The butter should not be shiny or greasy. You can’t cream cold butter and you can’t cream partially melted butter, either. Room temperature butter is imperative to the outcome of these cookies! You need 3/4 cup, which is 1.5 sticks, 12 Tablespoons, or 170g.
Don’t Have Time to Chill Cookie Dough?
If you don’t have time to chill the chocolate chip cookie dough, try my crispy chocolate chip cookies, giant chocolate chip cookies, or Nutella chocolate chip cookies. Or even these soft chocolate chip cookie bars or cookie dough frosted cookie cups, which don’t require individual cookie rolling, either!
I also have an entire section of no-chill cookie recipes. 🙂 Snickerdoodles are a favorite!
How to Freeze Cookie Dough
Freezing chocolate chip cookie dough is really easy. I have a whole post dedicated to how to freeze cookie dough, but here’s a recap:
- After the cookie dough has chilled in the refrigerator, roll the cookie dough into balls. Chill the cookie dough balls in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
- Place the solid and cold cookie dough balls into a plastic zipped-top freezer bag.
- Label the bag with the month and the baking temperature, and place the bag in the freezer.
- Freeze cookie dough for up to 3 months. The date will help you determine when the cookie dough is fresh, and the temperature is written for obvious reasons. Really, you can write whatever is helpful to you. The date, temperature, time, recipe name, etc.
- When it’s time to bake the cookies, remove them from the freezer. Preheat the oven according to the recipe’s instructions.
- Bake the cookies for a minute or 2 longer, since the dough is frozen.
Bake the frozen cookie dough balls whenever that chocolate chip cookie craving hits, or when you need a big batch of fresh-baked cookies. I do it all the time!
Sometimes the simplest recipes are what stick. I really don’t need to convince you—it’s a chocolate chip cookie. THE chocolate chip cookie!
Print
The Best Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
- Yield: 2 dozen
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
I have a few tricks that make these the best soft chocolate chip cookies that you’ll ever try. With hundreds of positive reviews from bakers around the world, I’m confident you’ll fall in love with this chocolate chip cookie recipe too. Chilling the cookie dough is imperative and cornstarch makes them extra soft and thick!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (1.5 sticks or 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 and 1/4 cup (225g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, and sugar together on medium speed until combined and creamy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- In a separate bowl, whisk flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt together. Add into the wet ingredients, then beat on low speed until combined. The cookie dough will be slightly thick. On low speed, beat in the chocolate chips.
- Cover dough tightly and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to 3–4 days. Chilling is imperative for this cookie dough.
- Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Once chilled, the dough will be slightly crumbly, but will come together when you work the dough with your hands. Roll cookie dough, about a heaping 1.5 Tablespoons of dough per cookie (I use this medium-size cookie scoop), and place 3 inches apart on baking sheets.
- Bake for 11–12 minutes, until barely golden brown around the edges. The cookies will look extremely soft when you remove them from the oven. Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet. If the cookies are too puffy, try gently pressing down on them with the back of a spoon. They will slightly deflate as you let them cool. If desired, while the cookies are still warm, press a few extra chocolate chips into the tops. This is optional, just for looks.
- Transfer cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely. Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3–4 days. Allow to come to room temperature, then continue with preheating the oven in step 4. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Stand Mixer or Handheld Mixer | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
- Adapted from Anna Olson
Keywords: soft chocolate chip cookies
I made these cookies today , they are absolutely the best chocolate chip I have ever eaten! My family and friends loved them .thank you for the great recipe I will definitely make this again
★★★★
I forgot to mention, thanks Sally for the tasty recipe!!
★★★★★
Where is the temperature for the recipe??? I didn’t see it??
Hi Jess, 350°F (177°C).
I love to experience with different recipes, but when it comes to any kind of cookie, I’ve found myself coming back to this recipe exclusively since I found it about 3-4 years ago. These are SO good! The texture is great, the flavor is great, and the only change I usually make is using milk chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet. Both are delicious though! I’ve personally never had a batch turn out poorly or end up being flavorless. This also works great as a base for other cookie recipes – for example, my most-requested cookie is made by halving the chocolate chips, adding a half cup of chopped snickers, and stuffing a soft caramel inside the cookies! <3 Baking is my love language, and I love that this is a recipe I can share with everyone I care about the most. Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipes with us!
★★★★★
Thank you so much for your kind words, Ashlee! We’re so thrilled to hear how much you love this recipe – we love it too!
I forgot to mention, I’ve used both silicone baking mats and parchment paper, and I prefer parchment paper.
I haven’t made this particular chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I have made others. First of all, refrigerating the dough is NOT necessary and the eggs do not HAVE to be at room temperature. If you forget to take the eggs out of the fridge, it’s OK to use them cold. You don’t HAVE to use unsalted butter. If all you have is salted butter, use that and just leave out the 1/2 tsp. salt. Packing down brown sugar is such a bother. Use 3/4 cup granulated brown sugar instead. Granulated brown sugar and regular brown sugar measure exactly the same. I prefer to use a combination of milk chocolate and semisweet chips. In this recipe, I’d use 1 cup of milk chocolate chips and 1/4 cup semisweet.
If you have not made this recipe, your opinion is not needed here. This Baker has proven she has a qualified opinion through many articles which detail why the recipes work best the way she suggests. I do not feel my life hanging in the balance of some random person affirming it is ok to substitute. If you feel unable to keep all your baking wealth to yourself, maybe try starting your own baking website?
Love her recipes and I own her Baking Addiction book. But these cookies are missing sabor! wish they were better because I had to wait after chilling to find out they need a lil more sweetness. Made the non chill recipe and they were kinda same.
★★★
The only basic chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ll be making from now on. Forget Tollhouse! Everyone asked what I did differently, if I did something special, used a different recipe, etc. Everyone likes chocolate chip cookies, but there are top notch!
★★★★★
Made cookies today for my grandson . These are the best chocolate chip cookies turn out perfect every time. My whole family loves them.
Love this recipe. I used peanut butter chips instead of chocolate chips. This is the first time ever using any recipe that my cookies didn’t spread out and get thin. This recipe is perfect. The cookies were puffy and soft. I couldn’t stop eating the dough or the cookies. A big hit. I’ll use this recipe for chocolate chip cookies as well and stop using the directions printed on the packages.
★★★★★
I just made these for the second time and they turned out just the same, absolutely delicious!
★★★★★
Was very excited to make these cause I read somewhere that using more brown sugar would make a big difference. While the dough was delicious, yes I eat it raw lol I have to say the cookies have a very strange taste. I thought it was me but my daughter tried them and said the same thing. Can’t put my finger on it as to why. It’s a really weird. The texture is great and they are light and fluffy but I’m sooo disappointed.
Do ya’ll remember Mrs. Fields cookies in the mall? These taste exactly like them! The best i have ever made. I am only allowed to cook these when my hubby is home so that he can have them hot out of the oven…lol. The first time i made them, he literally at a dozen in one sitting. i had to yell at him to STOP..lol. The greatest ever!
★★★★★
Hi Monica, We are so glad that you and your husband both love these!
Can I add nuts and do I need to change anything in the recipe to accommodate the nuts?
Hi Patricia, You can add 3/4 – 1 cup of chopped nuts to the cookie dough when you add the chocolate chips. Enjoy!
I made these tonight and they were incredible. How did I not know about cornstarch! Life changing!
This is my go-to recipe for Chocolate Chip cookies. I have been making these for over 2 years now since I found the recipe. My son said these are better than the Toll House cookies you find at the mall and I have to agree. Jumping back in and see if I can’t find a Macadamian Nut cookie recipe.
★★★★★
We’re so glad these were a hit, Celia — let us know if you do give our Macadamia Nut Cookies a try, too!
I followed the recipe to a T and they turned out so well. Next time I might try some nuts too. Also, I may drizzle a little frosting on them to put on a tray of cookies for Christmas!
★★★★★
Love, love, love this recipe! Sally NEVER disappoints. I’ve been following her recipes for a few years now and I’m known in my family as the Master Baker, haha! Cookies were soft and delicious! Will definitely be making them again this holiday season.
★★★★★
Can I double this recipe? If so, do I need to adjust anything? Love this recipe and get rave reviews from all who eat them!!! I do use Ghiradelli grand chocolate chips and they are great! Thanks for your help, in advance.
Hazel
Hi Hazel, this cookie recipe doubles well – enjoy!
My dough came out really clumpy from the mixer but looked normal when I added chocolate chips and mixed with my hands, the recipe said this could happen AFTER refrigerating. I doubled the recipe but otherwise followed it step by step. Probably should wait for this comment until I actually bake them.
Hi Sally, LOVE your recipes!! Can I use salted butter if I don’t have unsalted on hand?
Hi Bella, Yes, and you can leave the recipe as is or reduce the salt down to 1/4 teaspoon. Depends if you like sweet/salty or not.
I’ve made this recipe multiple times and browned the butter instead just using softened butter. It really makes a difference in flavor and is super easy. Also the longer you let them chill, the more the flavor develops; at least in my experience. It might be worth a shot if you don’t want to give up on this recipe 🙂
These cookies are the best! Every time I make them and some one new is trying them for the first time I always get a request for the recipe.
Just made these and am SUPER happy so far! Always look forward to what new cookies will be like in a day or so..if they last that long lol. I’m curious though, how would/could one go about adding some health? Maybe some ground flaxseed? Thoughts would be much appreciated
Hi June! Adding ground flax seed would run the risk of drying these cookies out and would take some testing to get right. You can add chopped heath in the place of some or all of the chocolate chips is desired. Enjoy!
Awesome thanks for your response!!
★★★★★
Question;
This is exactly the recipe and end result I am after, thank you! I just checked, and realized my only flour is bread flour. Will this work? Maybe cookies will just be a bit chewier?
★★★★★
Hi Kate, Bread flour isn’t ideal for cookies but should work OK – let us know how they go if you give it a try!
Thanks so much for the quick response! I decided cookies are too important to take chances, so I ran out and purchased the AP flour. 🙂
They turned out amazing! Followed recipe exactly. I didn’t “trust” one sheet, and left in a little too long, my bad. They were still soft and wonderful, but the other sheets were pillowy, chocolatey, goodness. My go-to choc chip recipe now!
Hi Sally, have you ever tried a chocolate chip cookie recipe, which has the same ingredients as your soft chocolate chip, except they use 3 cups of flour instead of 2? It says it is a soft moist cookie. To me it seems like a lot of flour. I would think with that much flour they wouldn’t spread much and would stay thick, but I wonder about the texture of it.
Hi Chris, sounds like that would be a thicker, drier cookie – let us know if you give them a try!
Hi! I’ve been making these cookies for years and always love them! Just made a batch today and I’m not sure why they didn’t “puff up” like usual. I chilled the dough appropriately and followed the recipe. Any ideas why they’re flatter than normal? Thank you!
★★★★★
Hi Barb! Is your baking soda fresh? We find it starts to lose its power after 3 months of so. Also be sure that your butter is not too soft, which can cause the cookies to spread a little more. So glad to hear this recipe is a favorite for you!
Thank you for the response! The baking soda may be the culprit because the butter was not too soft. I’ll definitely get myself some fresh baking soda! Thanks again! ☺
I have made these cookies no fewer than 25 times and without fail, people say they are the best chocolate chip cookies they’ve ever had. Sally is my go-to for everything. Made the buttermilk biscuits tonight and it was completely silent at the table while people were eating…..so good.
I love these cookies! Made them now 3 times and there perfect. Wanted to try almond flour this time? can I do that with these cookies?
Hi Laura, we don’t recommend using almond flour for these cookies. Almond flour soaks up wet ingredients much differently than all-purpose flour and would take a bit of recipe testing in order to guarantee results. If you do decide to do some experimenting, let us know how it goes!
I am celiac and dairy intolerant, and have adapted these cookies successfully using 1 c. almond flour, 0.5 c tapioca flour & 0.5 c millet or brown rice flour; while replacing the butter with veg. oil. They have been such a success they are now my “go-to” gf cookie! Thanks for the good work 🙂
Sally is my go-to for all desserts. She has never failed me, and is always the first source I go to for everything from cheesecake to cinnamon rolls. Everything comes out perfectly the first time… usually. These are unfortunately gummy, flavorless cookies. Vaguely play-doh textured and no flavor aside from the chocolate chips. I followed the recipe exactly and honestly, I don’t know what would make them better. This is just a warning to other hardcore Sally fans to maybe try a different recipe.
★
I have to agree. These had zero flavor unless it was a chocolate chip. Very disappointed in this recipe. AND yes, I followed the recipe to a “T”.
★
Super strange that you had that experience… I have been making these for years now for xmas gifting and they are perfect every time. Are you at a high altitude? eggs and butter at room temp (not too mushy)? Just stabbing in the dark…
★★★★★
Totally disagree. I have made this recipe and taken it to gatherings in three different states to rave reviews.
Best chocolate chip cookie recipe Ive ever used. Never fails and having been using for ages.
★★★★★
I so wish I had read your review BEFORE I made these cookies Jay! Sally is also my go-to site for all things cooking but these cookies are not what I was hoping for! Yes, they are “gummy” and somewhat flavorless except for chocolate chips. Sally, maybe you could rethink this recipe ?
★★★
No, wrong. I’ve been using this recipe for years and it never fails. You need to check back and find out what you did wrong. You clearly screwed up somewhere. Just saying
Thought these were amazing! Have made them a few times now, including freezing the dough for when I need a cookie or 3 at the end of the day 🙂
★★★★★
So strange! I’ve been making these cookies for years and everyone always tells me they are the best cookies they’ve ever had to the point that I’ve been asked to make these cookies instead of bringing a gift…to someone’s wedding! I’m not sure why you had this experience. Are you cooking them too long? My cookies are done in 8-9 minutes.