Chocolate chip cookies with ooey, gooey centers and crispy edges that literally melt in your mouth? Yes please. 🙂 These is seriously the best chocolate chip cookies recipe ever. Or, check out our equally delicious gluten-free chocolate chip cookie recipe!
Who doesn't love soft and chewy homemade chocolate chip cookies, right? This is a recipe that I've made sooooo many times over the years and I think it's pretty close to the perfect chocolate chip cookie now (if I may say so myself.) 😉 I've been on a lifelong mission to create the best easy chocolate chip cookies recipe, and I'm so excited to share it with you.
Craving chocolate chip muffins instead? You'll love these chocolate chip muffins or banana chocolate chip muffins. 😉
The ingredients
No weird ingredients in this recipe--these are all widely available and may be in your pantry right now just begging to be baked.
- all-purpose flour
- sugar (2 kinds, white + light brown)
- cornstarch
- sea salt
- baking soda
- butter (unsalted, room temperature)
- eggs (also room temperature)
- vanilla
- semi-sweet chocolate chips + dark chocolate, chopped into chunks
I've tested all the combinations of different sugar ratios, flour to butter ratios, and baking temps and times and I can assure you, this recipe has the perfect balance of crispy edges and soft middles--and it's really hard to mess it up!
How to make chocolate chip cookies
There are a few things you should know so that you can make the perfect batch too...
Prep tips
- When you measure out your flour, make sure you don't just scoop out the flour from the bag or container directly with a measuring cup; instead, use a regular spoon to scoop flour out into a measuring cup, then level off with a knife (this will prevent over-measuring your flour)
- Use a whisk to incorporate the dry ingredients together, and a stand mixer or hand mixer to cream the wet ingredients and incorporate the dry
- The brown sugar should be packed when you measure it; you can use the back of a spoon or a knife to pack down
- The combo of sugars is the key in this recipe; the white sugar creates the crispy edges, and the brown sugar gives them their rich caramelly flavor
- The cornstarch helps soften the flour and gives these cookies a little chewiness--so if you love chewy chocolate chip cookies you'll definitely want to make the effort to add this to your grocery list if you don't already have some on hand
- Sea salt is preferred for this recipe, but you can also substitute regular table salt
- Make sure your baking soda is fresh and hasn't expired!
- The butter and eggs should be at room temperature; if you do need to slowly warm the butter in the microwave in a pinch just make sure it's not runny when you make the dough
- Use real vanilla extract
- You can use any kind of chocolate chips or chunks you like--I love chopping up a dark chocolate bar in addition to the chips because I'm sort of a chocolate snob;)
- The dough should be refrigerated for at least 2 hours for best results (one hour if you just can't wait any longer!)--if you don't chill the dough, the cookies will spread too much
Baking tips
- Keep in mind that oven temps will vary across different ovens, so if this is your first batch just keep an eye on the cookies and take them out of the oven once the edges just start to brown and the tops are golden (if anything, err on the shorter side; they will continue to cook when you take them out)
- Let the cookies rest on the cookie sheet for a good five minutes once you take them out of the oven to let the centers continue to finish baking out of the oven
- Then, you can transfer to cooling racks and store for up to five days in an airtight container in the fridge
Pro tip: If desired, you can chill the dough up to 5 days in the fridge and cook small one-off batches of cookies if you love straight-from the oven fresh cookies (who doesn't?!) Or, you can freeze formed balls of dough for future baking up to 2 months. To freeze, place the balls on a lined cookie sheet into the freezer until they're solid, then you can transfer the balls into a freezer-safe bag. When you decide to bake the dough balls, just add an extra minute or two to the cooking time; no need to defrost first.
Enjoy your cookies! 🙂
You might also like:
- Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Soft and Chewy Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe Ever
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour or make gluten free chocolate chip cookies
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
- ⅔ cup white sugar
- ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips or mini chips
- 4 ounces dark chocolate chopped into small chunks
Instructions
- Prepare the dry ingredients: Whisk the flour, cornstarch, salt and baking soda in a large bowl and set aside.
- Prepare the wet ingredients: Place the room temperature butter and both sugars into a second mixing bowl and beat together until creamy using either a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or a hand mixer. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then add the vanilla and eggs one at a time while beating for at least 30 seconds after each egg is added.
- Incorporate: Add half of the dry mixture to the wet ingredients and mix on low for about 20 seconds; add the rest of the dry mixture and continue to mix just until incorporated. Use a silicone spatula or wooden spoon to fold in the chocolate chips and chunks.
- Chill: Place the batter in the refrigerator and chill for a minimum of 2 hours, or overnight. Tip: to chill the dough faster, divide into 2 separate bowls.
- Bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place rounded tablespoonfuls of batter onto each sheet at least 2 inches apart and bake for 11-12 minutes, rotating the cookie sheet once. Remove the from the oven once the edges are just starting to brown and the tops are golden (the middle should still look soft.)
- Cool: Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a cooling rack using a spatula. Place the second cookie sheet in the oven to bake (if you're using the same sheet, let it cool before you place the next batch on it.)
- Enjoy: Enjoy the cookies while they're warm; there's nothing better! The rest of the cookies can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
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