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You’ll love this easy Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe made with melted butter, it only takes 10 minutes to prepare! These cookies is are little dense, crispy on the edges, and soft and chewy in the middle.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- The Best Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
- What Makes This Recipe So Good?
- What Do I Need?
- How to make chewy chocolate chips cookies
- Tips for making the best Chocolate Chip Cookies
- How do I keep cookies from burning on the bottom?
- Behind the recipe testing
- Can I freeze this cookie dough?
- Can I refrigerate this cookie dough?
- How to freeze baked cookies
- Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Everyone has a favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, and it’s usually the one your mom made for you when you were growing up, but no matter what, you can’t seem to ever make them the same. I’ve been there. My mom uses the Toll House recipe, and it never came out the same for me. I wanted my own chocolate chip cookie that was special to me, one that I will share with my kids when they grow up.
I couldn’t be more excited to share this recipe with you! I’ve been working on it for weeks, polling friends and readers to find out just want the perfect chocolate chip cookie means. It’s finally time to share! The best part is, you can even make them gluten-free.
This cookie is a little bit dense and chewy in the middle because it’s slightly underbaked. It’s a little crispy on the edges and yet it’s soft in the middle. It’s noticeably flavored with brown sugar and pure vanilla extract, it’s full of gooey chocolate chips and finished with a touch of flaky sea salt.
If you love chocolate chip cookies, you’ll love my soft & chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and my Double Chocolate Chip Chips. If you want to take these up to the next level, try my Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.
What Makes This Recipe So Good?
- Easy to make: no refrigeration time required!
- Only 10 minutes to minutes to prepare– seriously! You can easily use your handheld or stand mixer
- Easy ingredients! The ingredients are simple and are readily available in any baker’s cabinet.
- Thick in the middle with crispy edges
- Soft & chewy, not cakey: The brown sugar adds to the chewiness in these cookies, and holds more moisture, which helps keep them soft.
- Finished with flakey sea salt
What Do I Need?
- Melted Butter: This recipe comes together so quick because of the melted butter. I recommend unsalted butter, but either salted or unsalted will work. If you use salted butter, then reduce the salt in the recipe by 1/4 teaspoon.
- Light brown sugar & granulated sugar: This recipe uses more brown sugar than white for added chewiness.
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract- a high quality, pure vanilla extract is always recommended. My go to is Rodelle (affiliate).
- All-purpose flour, salt & baking soda
- Chocolate chips: Any type of chocolate chips can be used, but I recommend semi-sweet or unsweetened dark chocolate.
- Flaky sea salt (affiliate) : Don’t skip this, it seriously makes these cookies SO much better.
What types of chocolate chips are best for chocolate chip cookies?
It’s really a personal preference. I think it’s important to use high-quality chocolate chips for the best results. My husband prefers Ghirardelli semi-sweet and I also like Guittard. But you can definitely use milk or dark chocolate chips, chocolate chunks or chopped chocolate bars.
- Prep: Preheat the oven, line a baking sheet (affiliate) with parchment paper or use a silicone baking sheet (affiliate)
- Melt the butter and allow it to cool for a few minutes
- Cream the butter and sugars together
- Add the liquid ingredients: egg and vanilla extract and continue beating until well incorporated
- Combine and add remaining dry ingredients, as the dough is thickening, add the chocolate chips
- Scoop the dough using a large cookie scoop (affiliate) and place on baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt
- Bake for 9-11 minutes and cool before eating (if you can wait that long!)
Press a couple of chocolate chips on top of the scoop of cookie dough before they go into the oven, or right when the cookies come out of the oven, so you get those nice, visible chocolate chips on top. You might also want to add another pinch of sea salt after baking.
Right when the cookies come out of the oven, use an offset spatula, knife or spoon and gently press the edges of the cookies in towards the center of the cookie. This makes them a little thicker and rounder, but you have to do this right away before the cookie fully sets.
There are a few factors that can cause your cookies to burn.
- Don’t over crowd the pan. You need to allow the cookies to bake evenly.
- Be sure to bake your cookies on the middle rack of your oven where the temperature is the most even.
- Bake only one tray at a time. I know this is tedious, but it really helps! If you need to bake more than one, switch the baking sheets from one rack to the other halfway through baking.
- True oven temperature can also be a factor. I use an oven thermometer (affiliate) to keep an eye on my interior oven temperature. Most ovens are off by at least 25 degrees, which can cause cookies to burn.
- A silicone baking mat can also help prevent the bottom of your cookies from burning. If you don’t have one, at least use a piece of parchment paper.
Very dark baking sheets will make the bottom of your cookies darker. My favorite cookie baking sheets are from Calphalon (affiliate).
Behind the recipe testing
If you like to nerd out on the details that go into testing a recipe, you’ll love this section. Otherwise, just skip right down to the recipe.
When developing this recipe, I made 8 different variations before finding the perfect one. Then, I continued to test it using different methods of preparation including refrigerating and freezing the dough.
Let’s face it, there are thousands of recipes out there. There’s a difference between a good chocolate chip cookie and one that you just can’t get enough of.
All in all, I made 15 batches of cookies between recipe testing, photoshoots and taste tests. It was really hard to resist eating endless cookies (and cookie dough) every night as I was recipe testing. But someone had to do it!
If you need to prepare the dough ahead of time, my recommendation is to directly freeze the cookie. Be sure to pre-scoop your dough before freezing and freeze in an airtight container or Ziploc bag.
When testing this recipe, I took the cookie dough out of the freezer, and allowed it to sit at room temperature before baking. I recommend allowing at least 1 hour and 15 minutes for the dough to thaw prior to baking. I did numerous tests to find the perfect time.
Do not refrigerate the dough first. I found that once the dough was in the refrigerator, it created a very rough exterior.
I don’t recommend refrigerating the dough. It really changes the structure and texture of the cookie. It made the exterior of the cookie very rough in texture.
I did time tests removing the cookies from the fridge after varying amounts of time and then allowing them to rest at room temperate for 15 minutes prior to baking. Regardless of the time spent in the refrigerator, I was not happy with the results.
Freeze the baked cookies in an airtight container or Ziploc bag. I definitely ate these straight from the freezer because I am that impatient. If you can’t wait for them to come to room temperature, I recommend microwaving a frozen cookie for 10-12 seconds and it takes even less time for me to eat them.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 10-12 large cookies
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
You’ll love this easy Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. These cookies is are little dense, crispy on the edges, and soft and chewy in the middle. It only takes 10 minutes to prepare!
Ingredients
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup (55g) light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup (48g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons (10ml) pure vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups (175g) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup (135g) chocolate chips
- Flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or use a silicone baking sheet.
- Melt the butter in a microwave-safe bowl for 30-45 seconds. Allow to cool for a few minutes. Combine the melted butter with the brown and granulated sugar. Beat on medium speed until well combined, 2-3 minutes.
- Next add the egg and vanilla extract and continue beating until well incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda. Stir to combine and slowly add the dry ingredients into the dough, mixing on low speed until dough starts to form. As the dough thickens, add the chocolate chips. Beat until incorporated.
- Using large cookie scoop, scoop the dough onto baking sheet, placing 2 inches apart. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes. The center of the cookies should be slightly under baked but not too gooey. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
Notes
- Chocolate chips: Any type of chocolate chips can be used
- Butter: I’ve made this recipe with both salted and unsalted butter. Either will work. If using salted butter, reduce the added salt to 1/4 teaspoon.
- Gluten-free flour: these can be made with a measure for measure all-purpose gluten-free flour (that includes xanthan gum.
- Pro tip! Right when you pull these from the oven, place a few chocolate chips on top of the cookie for extra chocolate goodness.
- Storing and Freezing baked cookies: These are best stored in an airtight container once completely cooled. You can also freeze these baked cookies in an airtight container. Microwave the frozen cookies for approximately 15-20 seconds.
- Storing cookie dough: If needed, it’s best to freeze the dough directly after preparing, I would recommend freezing single scoops of dough, thawing to room temperature for approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes and then bake.
- Category: Cookie
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: Cookie, Chocolate Chip Cookie, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie
So happy I found this recipe! This will be my go to chocolate chip cookie recipe from now on! Easy to make and they come out perfect every time. Love the addition of the sea salt…. It adds such a good flavor and pairs perfect with the chocolate.
★★★★★
Love love love that! Thank you so much!
I’m making these for a special occasion and would like to know how many days they stay soft and chewy….if I were to make them 2days in advance would they still be chewy? My problem is I tend to over bake my chocolate chip cookies. Any pointers?
Hi Bea- If made correctly, and stored in an airtight container, then these should keep well for at least 3 days. My recommendation is to pay attention to the suggested baking time. I pull my cookies while the middles are still slightly underdone, which is one way of keeping them moist and chewy. Try baking one test cookie and seeing if you want to adjust. But if you are over baking them, then you just need to pull them out of the oven sooner!
These are my go-to chocolate chip cookies! They are incredibly easy and have so much flavor without even being refrigerated (which is the best!). I’ve tried many chocolate chip cookie recipes and these are, by far, the best!
★★★★★
Yeeees! Thank you so much!
Best chocolate chip recipe ever! I’ve experimented with several recipes during Covid and this one, hands down, is our all time favorite. Per Julieanne’s suggestion, I refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes so the cookie stays fuller during baking and doesn’t flatten out! I’m going Into my son’s kitchen right now to make a batch while I’m out of town visiting him!
★★★★★
Thank you so much Stephanie! I am so so happy you enjoyed this recipe!