Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies that have a slightly crisp exterior and a soft and chewy center with the most incredible classic chocolate chip cookie flavor. From here on out, this is the only chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ll be making!
Over the last couple of years, I’ve made SO MANY different chocolate chip cookie recipes. I’ve been hard at work to come up with the most perfect chocolate chip cookies. Cookies that would have that ever-so-slight crispiness on the outside, but be irresistibly chewy and soft on the inside. THIS is it!!!!
Can you tell, I’m really excited about these chocolate chip cookies? Like, REALLY excited!
I do have one delicious chocolate chip cookie recipe that was the recipe my mom always made and I love it, but it still wasn’t my perfect chocolate chip cookie. I’ve tweaked ingredients here and there looking for the perfect one. I’m so happy to announce that after multiple trials, I have officially cracked my own code! This is everything I could ever want in a chocolate chip cookie. Crispy on the edges, soft in the middle, loaded with chocolate, and sprinkled with sea salt to bring out the best flavor!
My husband and kids told me that I never need to make another chocolate chip cookie recipe. I totally agree! You’ll find the recipe below, plus all of my tips and tricks, I’ve learned through trial and error, for the most incredible chewy chocolate chip cookies.
Ingredients For The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies:
The ingredient list is very simple and includes all of those that you’d expect to find in chocolate chip cookies. It’s the ratio of ingredients that’s important!
- Flour. All-purpose flour is my top choice for the best chewy cookies. It gives the cookies a tenderness that you just won’t find when using other types of flour. Measure the flour the correct way by the spoon & level method. Instead of scooping the flour out of the bag with your measuring cup, use a spoon to add the flour into the measuring cup. Then, without packing the flour down or tapping the measuring cup, use the back of a knife to level off the top. I’ve also included the measurements in grams. If you have a food scale, that is the most accurate way to measure ingredients.
- Baking soda and baking powder. Be sure that your baking soda and baking powder is fresh and not expired. Many chocolate chip cookie recipes only use baking soda. I’ve found that a mixture of both, for this recipe, gave the cookies the perfect texture.
- Salt. A small amount of salt is VERY important to balance the sweetness of baked goods.
- Unsalted butter. I always use unsalted butter, so I can control the amount of salt going into a recipe. Be sure your butter is softened to room temperature, so that it combines properly with the sugars. Room temperature butter is still a bit cool to the touch and it should indent slightly when you press on it with your finger. Take butter out of the refrigerator about 1 hour before beginning your recipe.
- Sugar. A mix of brown and white sugar is a MUST in chocolate chip cookies! More brown sugar than white sugar ensures a soft and chewy cookie.
- Eggs. Eggs act as a binder in the dough. Two eggs give these cookies a rich flavor and a soft and chewy texture. Room temperature eggs will combine best with the other ingredients.
- Vanilla extract. Do NOT forget the vanilla. And use pure vanilla extract, not imitation. It’s worth it!
- Semisweet chocolate chips. The quality of your chocolate truly matters. These cookies call for standard-sized semisweet chocolate chips, but feel free to use chunks or mini semisweet chips. I think dark chocolate or a combination of dark chocolate and semisweet chocolate would also be wonderful. I have tried milk chocolate and I felt like it took away from the flavor of the cookie.
- Flaky sea salt. The recipe card lists coarse flaky sea salt as an optional ingredient, but I HIGHLY recommend sprinkling it over your (just out of the oven) cookies. I like Maldon Sea Salt Flakes.
How Do You Make Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies?
This chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe is simple, straightforward and will be your new go-to! Just follow these easy steps…
- Combine the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Cream together the butter and sugars. In a separate mixing bowl, use a stand mixer or a hand mixer and beat the softened butter and sugars on medium speed until combined and creamy, about 2 minutes.
- Add eggs and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition until just combined. With the last egg, add in vanilla extract.
- Add in the dry ingredients. Turn the mixer to low speed and gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture.
- Mix in the chocolate chips. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl as needed and on low speed mix in the chocolate chips until they are evenly combined.
- Scoop dough balls. Use a large spoon or cookie scoop to make dough balls. The dough doesn’t have to be perfectly formed into balls. Drop the cookie dough balls onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. The cookies, pictured, are 40 grams (about 2 tablespoons) of dough. This will make medium-sized cookies.
- Bake. Cookies will bake for about 10-12 minutes. Remove from the oven right when edges start getting golden. The centers may look slightly undercooked, but they will continue to cook even after they are removed from the oven.
- Cool cookies. While the cookies are still warm, press a few extra chocolate chips into the tops and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes. Then transfer them to a wire cooling rack to continue to cool.
- Enjoy! Serve while still warm and gooey. Or enjoy them after they’ve completely cooled. In my personal opinion, I love them even more after they’ve cooled. This is when the edges get a little crispy and the inside is super soft. Either way… yum!
Does The Dough Need To Be Chilled?
This cookie dough doesn’t necessarily need to be chilled before baking. As long as your butter is not too soft and your kitchen is not too warm, these cookies will bake up just fine without being chilled.
When I was experimenting with this recipe, I tried baking the cookies without chilling the dough, chilling the dough for 30 minutes and chilling the dough several hours. The cookies were wonderful all three ways. However, I really enjoyed the cookies that I chilled for several hours. I noticed that the longer I chilled them, the more thick and chewier they were.
Chilling the dough. You can chill the dough before scooping out dough balls or after you’ve placed the dough balls on the baking sheet. Refrigerate dough for approximately 2-3 hours and up to 3-4 days. If you are going to chill dough any longer than 3 hours, I would suggest transferring it to an airtight container.
Variation Ideas:
These cookies are absolutely perfect already, but feel free to get creative and experiment with your favorite ingredients!
- Baking chips. As mentioned previously, I’m pretty much a stickler for semisweet or dark chocolate chips in this recipe. However, if you’re not, you can totally try using white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, toffee chips, mint chips, caramel bits, or any other fun baking add-ins.
- Nuts. I think adding in about 1 cup of chopped pecans would be amazing in these. You can also try adding walnuts, almonds, peanuts, pistachios, and/or macadamia nuts.
- Dried fruit. Try adding about 1 cup dried cherries, cranberries, chopped apricots, or chopped dates for an extra pizzaz of flavor.
- Sprinkles or M&M’s. Add in a handful of colored sprinkles or about 1 cup miniature or regular M&M’s, if you’d like to make these cookies extra fun!
Tips For The Most Perfect Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies:
There are tons of tips and tricks for baking chocolate chip cookies, but follow the suggestions below and you’re sure to have the BEST chocolate chip cookies of your life!
- Bake time + temp. Baking at 365ºF or 185ºC will guarantee your cookies melt at the perfect speed to get those crispy edges with a soft and chewy center -the MOST epic cookie. Bake for 10-12 minutes, depending how gooey you like the centers. Keep in mind, cookies continue to bake even after they are removed from the oven. Also, your bake time will vary depending on the size of your cookie. I baked my cookies the full 12 minutes with awesome results.
- Don’t over mix. If you over mix the ingredients in this cookie recipe you may end up with flat cookies that don’t have the optimal tender crumb.
- Don’t over bake. I recommend experimenting with a couple of cookies before baking the entire recipe. This will help you find that sweet spot when it comes to baking time in your oven and your preferred gooeyness level. My daughter really liked the cookies baked for only 10 minutes because she likes a cookie that has a more doughy center. I like a soft, but more set center, so 12 minutes was perfect for me.
- Chill the dough. As mentioned previously, these cookies bake up fine without taking the time to chill the dough. However, we preferred the texture of these cookies when I chilled the dough for 2 hours. The chilling process really helped to make these cookies extra thick and chewy.
- Extra chocolate chips + flaky sea salt. Adding several extra chocolate chips on top of the cookies while they are still warm will make them look extra tasty. And whatever you do, don’t forget the to add a sprinkle of flaky sea salt to your warm cookies… it really takes the flavor to the next level.
- Bake on parchment or silicone. Parchment or better yet a silicone baking mat makes for the most perfect cookies. Greasing the baking sheet creates an overly greasy foundation, which will cause the cookies to spread too much. Silicone baking mats will grip onto the bottom of your cookies to prevent them from spreading too much. The mats also promote even browning.
How to Store Chocolate Chip Cookies
Can you make chocolate chip cookies ahead? How to freeze cookie dough and cookies?
Freezing cookie dough. This cookie dough recipe freezes beautifully. I love having cookie dough already mixed up, so I can bake a special treat whenever the craving hits or we host an impromptu get together.
Scoop out balls of cookie dough. Place the cookie dough in a freezer-safe baggie and freeze the cookie dough for up to 3 months.
Thawing dough. When you’re ready to bake cookies, remove the dough balls from the freezer, set them on a baking sheet that is lined with parchment or a silicone baking mat and let them thaw. Once they are close to room temperature (after about 1-2 hours) bake as directed in the recipe.
Bake from frozen. Baking from frozen will work just fine. The tops of your cookies may darken a bit more, but they will still be fabulous. Follow all of the cooking instructions, but add a minute or two onto the bake time.
Make ahead cookie dough. If you are wanting to prep just several days ahead, you can keep cookie dough in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Freezing baked cookies. These already-baked chewy chocolate chip cookies freeze very well. Store in a freezer-safe container or baggie and freeze the cookies for up to 3 months.
Storing baked cookies. Baked cookies will keep in an airtight container or zip-top baggie for about 1 week, but I can’t imagine them lasting that long!
Beware, it’s really easy to eat about a dozen of these before you even realize what you just did. You only live once, so indulge and enjoy!
More Favorite Cookie Recipes
White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
If you try this chocolate chip cookie recipe, let me know! Leave a comment and if your family loves it as much as mine does, be sure to give it a five star ⭐️ rating! Also, tag @kimscravings on Instagram with a picture of your creation. It’s so fun to see what you’re cooking! Be sure to subscribe to our mailing list to receive more healthy delicious recipes straight to your inbox.
Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 ¼ cup (390g) all-purpose flour
- 1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks, 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 ½ cups (288g) light or dark brown sugar
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cup (225g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Optional for sprinkling on baked cookies: coarse sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 365ºF or 185ºC. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Whisk together dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Add softened butter and sugars to a large mixing bowl and use an electric mixer to beat together on medium speed until combined and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition until just combined. With the last egg, add in vanilla extract.
- On low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture.
- On low speed, beat in the chocolate chips.
- Drop balls of cookie dough onto the lined cookie sheet. I used 40 grams (about 2 tablespoons) of dough for each cookie. This will make medium-sized cookies, like the ones pictured.
- Bake for 10-12 mins. Remove from the oven right when edges start getting golden.
- If desired, while the cookies are still warm, press a few extra chocolate chips into the tops and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet. Transfer cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely. Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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These are THE BEST chocolate chip cookies ever! Sometimes to get a final product this good a recipe uses unusual ingredients or tricky methods but we whipped these up one afternoon and WHOA. They were incredible!
I’m so happy you love these as much as I do!! Thanks so much for taking the time to comment!
I haven’t made these but will. I usually use a cook’s illustrated recipe and get rave reviews. The cooks illustrated recipe uses only baking soda so I’m interested to try with baking powder. It uses an egg and an egg yolk. I agree about the chilling as well as the almost underbaking. I think these three factors are what makes my cookies different. I’m curious to try yours!
Can’t wait to hear what you think after you make them!
There are plenty of recipes for chocolate chip cookies, but yours is the best! I made cookies tonight and sprinkled them with fleur de sel: OMG! They are divine!
Love chewy cookies and this one looks so delicious. I will soon try your recipe
These chocolate chip cookies look absolutely perfect! I love when they are super chewy and soft. Plus the flaky salt on top is such a game changer.
Gah! These cookies sound amazing. Chocolate chip are my favorite. Added bonus is the nice little dusting of salt on the outside. Yum!
I love cookies with a soft and chewy center! So delicious and one of my new favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes!
These cookies looks absolutely perfect. I love trying new chocolate chip cookie recipes. Going to try this one!
Love this recipe and saved it to bake with my daughter a s a part of her baking lesson (ala home schooling!) Thank you so much Kim, will let you know how these will turn out!
These look like the perfect chocolate chip cookie. They have to be chewy!
I love your recipe. I love the chewy and gooey texture and so chocolaty. Yum. Best snack box option too.