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 and chewy 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 and shortbread are two more favorites!
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!
PrintThe 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 (12 Tbsp; 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 (spooned & 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 handheld 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): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | 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
A great classic cookie recipe !
Thanks Sally !
This is the first cookie recipe I ever tried and it was perfect! I’ll be using it every time. Thank you – can’t wait to try some more recipes!
I added walnuts and it was delicious! Honestly I sort of eye-balled it. I recommend putting less chocolate chips if you’re adding walnuts otherwise you end up with too many fillings and not enough cookie
Made them yesterday for the first time! They turned out amzing and were a hit for the kids and their friends, that they finished them all in less than a hour!
This recipe is THE BEST cookie recipe ever! This is the first recipe of Sally’s I have tried and shes made it so easy to follow with all the tips and photos. Thank you Sally – I don’t think I will ever use another chocolate chip cookie recipe every again. We have a supermarket here in the UK called Lidl – they do amazing freshly baked goodies and one of my friend said they were better than those – this is a huge achievement by the way – if you’re British then you know what I mean!
These cookies are AMAZING!!! This is by far, the best chocolate chip cookie I have ever made. I’ve followed the recipe on the back of the chocolate chip package since I was a kid, and have’t ever been satisfied with how they always spread way out and were thin and sad looking. These are soft, gooey, and perfectly chocolatey. My whole family loved them, and I will be definitely be doubling the recipe in the future because these won’t make it until Wednesday, and I made them late Monday afternoon. Thanks for the great recipe and tips.
Would these soft chocolate chip cookies be a good base for ice cream cookie sandwiches? Thanks so much! All your recipes have been absolutely wonderful! Especially during quarantine! 😉
Absolutely!
Hi Sally, Thanks for always sharing these wonderful recipes! I am an avid follower
I would like to ask, what are the adjustments I would need if I will be making double or up to 4 batches of this same cookie recipe? I know most of the ingredients can be multiplied accordingly on baking but not baking powder/soda.
Hoping you can help me with this. Thanks and more power to you
Hi Diane, for double batches, simply double all of the ingredients. Same goes for triple and quadruple batches- simply 3x or 4x each ingredient, including baking powder/baking soda. If making larger batches, I usually stick to a double batch and make a few double batches.
Thanks for the advice Sally!
We’ve made these cookies a million times, and they’re simply the best!
These cookies were really good!! I followed your instructions exactly, and they turned out great. I will make them again soon. Thank you for the great recipe!!
Hi Sarah! That sounds really good. I haven’t made anything like it before, but you may want to try my chocolate chip cookie cake for that layer.
This is THE chocolate chip cookie recipe! It is the only one I will use forever more. Each time I make them, they disappear quickly and I always hear people saying “these are the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had!”
In a pinch I have brought the butter to room temperature by microwaving for 10 seconds (tsk tsk! They are still delicious, but the do not keep their puffiness), but it truly does make a difference to let the butter and eggs sit out in properly warm to room temperature. It’s also important to make sure that your baking soda is fresh to make sure that the cookies stay fluffy!
I have to make a double batch these days because they go so quickly. Excellent recipe, forever a favorite.
This recipe is SO GOOD. I already know this is going to be my go-to method for cookies going forward. These turned out perfectly round and nicely raised and chunky. I ended up getting 17 gorgeous and tasty cookies. I used a medium-sized cookie scoop, and I think that may help with some of the other commenters who didn’t get ideal results; scooping with a tool instead of molding the dough with your hands may prevent any premature warming prior to baking. That’s just my theory though- Sally is the expert! I also used dark chocolate chunks and a handful of pecans (it’s what I had available in the pantry), and I’m already excited about trying other flavor possibilities! Thank you for another great recipe.
Amazing! I have a tried and true recipe I’ve baked for almost forever (so much so, I don’t require a stained piece of paper to follow) but today I gave your recipe a whirl. It did not disappoint. Cornflower!? Who knew. Highly recommend.
Really good tips on how to prep dough. Turned out really good. I think the next time I make them I’ll add walnuts. Maybe drop the salt to 3/4 tsp
Same for me! It was amazing! My family loves these, and they turn out just like the picture.
Hi Raina, Make sure your butter isn’t too warm. Room temperature butter is cooler than most people think. For more troubleshooting help you can visit my post 10 Guaranteed Tips to Prevent Cookies from Spreading.
This is the second time I have made these cookies and yum! I substitute the all purpose flour for the pastry flour and it just makes them fluffier I found. I never thought of using cornstarch, which is a great idea. 4 days later and cookies are still soft and yummy!
Thanks for sharing
So very delicious!!! I have been searching for really good cookie recipes, and I finally found the perfect recipe!! Thank you so so much for sharing this recipe! Definitely making this again!!! (just the cookie dough alone is very delicious!!)
Would it be different if i use melted butter with room temperature?
Yes, the cookies will over-spread. I recommend my chewy chocolate chip cookies if you’d like to use melted butter.
This is hands down the best choc chip recipe I have ever made! First time ever that my cookies melted down into lovely discs of softness and crunchiness. I highly recommend this recipe, thank you!
I just made these cookies this morning after putting dough in fridge last night. I have to tell you, I did everything you said to do, weighed all of the ingredients. They are absolutely the best chocolate cookies I ever ate. Thank you so much for sharing your recipes with us.
Oh wow!! These are awesome!!!
My family’s favorite cookie recipe and he’s chocolate chip cookies ever!!
I love this recipe so much! Literally the best cookies I’ve ever had in my life.
I just moved to a high altitude location, has anyone made the adjustments before?
AHHHHH-MAZING!!! Super easy to make and seriously one if the best cookies I’ve ever had. Everybody who has tasted my cookie has absolutely loved them! In this case it’s only been 5 people because of the quarantine, but I’m convinced EVERYONE would love these cookies. Absolutely my go-to soft chocolate chip cookie.
Amazing! Truly soft, hubby said as good as store bought. I personally prefer the texture of the chewy chocolate chip cookies the best but that is strictly my personal preference, I would still bake these again and again. Thanks for another great recipe
This recipe makes an EXCELLENT cookie! These are so very good! Perfect! Just the right amount of softness. I got 23 cookies from the recipe. So that they would be even-sized, I weighed the cookie dough balls so that each weighed 37 grams each. I will be making these over and over again! 🙂
This a wonderful recipe, I doubled it and used a small scooper to portion them out. Turned out great!!
Absolutely love this cookie recipe. I have been using it for YEARS and these cookies always turn out amazing! Your tips and tricks are sooo helpful.
I’m wondering if I can form the dough into balls and then refrigerate them for the 1+ hours rather than trying to roll them into balls after they are chilled. Also, do you flatten them a little or just keep them as round balls before baking?
Thank you! I love your website and recipes!
Hi Donna, You can but you may need to re-roll them after they are refrigerated if they have lost their shape. They should just stay in ball form – don’t flatten them out or they will spread too much.
Hi Sally! Would it be possible to swap out some of the chocolate chips with almonds? 🙂
Yes, absolutely!