Chocolate chip cookies
- Preparation 15 min
- Cooking 10 min
- Servings 16
- Freezing Absolutely
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🍪 The best chocolate chip cookies, honestly
I had a serious craving for chocolate cookies the day I put this recipe together, and I mean it when I say these are the best cookies out there, at least in my house. Crisp edges, a centre that stays soft and melting, and that chocolate smell filling the kitchen while they bake. The dough comes together in fifteen minutes: butter and sugars beaten until pale and fluffy, an egg, vanilla, flour, then the chocolate. The trick is pulling the cookies out while the centre is still soft. They firm up as they cool. Wait until they look done in the oven and you end up with hockey pucks.
🔥 Hand-chopped chocolate bars, my real trick
What sets these apart from an ordinary cookie is the chocolate. I find chocolate chips are often mediocre quality. Buy a good milk chocolate bar and chop it yourself with a knife, and you get irregular pieces that melt differently through the dough. Some disappear into the batter, others form golden puddles on top. It makes a better cookie. But if you’d rather use milk chocolate chips, it’s the same thing, that works great too.
🍽️ For lunch boxes, weeknight desserts and the holidays
This one came out of a full day of baking cookies, back when I decided to add a real cookie section to the site. I tried a bunch of versions that day: this one, a chocolate mint one, an orange one, a dark chocolate and fleur de sel one. This milk chocolate version became a classic in my house. My kids love them, my friends love them. I make them for lunch boxes, for an easy weeknight dessert, and they earn their spot on any Christmas cookie tray. Serve them with a cold glass of milk or a coffee, that’s really all you need.
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🥚 Beat the butter and sugars for a long time. That’s where the magic happens
Beating the softened butter with the white sugar, brown sugar and salt for a full 3 minutes with an electric mixer is the most important step in the recipe. This extended beating incorporates air and creates a stable emulsion that gives light, chewy cookies. Butter that isn’t soft enough or too short a beating time gives flat, dense cookies.
🧓 Press the balls down properly. Not too much, but enough
Press the cookies down before baking, not too much, a little less than flattening the ball to half its height. Otherwise they won’t spread out properly and will bake unevenly. A flat palm press is all it takes.
📐 Space the cookies well on the sheet. Otherwise it’s a mess
The cookies spread during baking. Leave a minimum of 5 cm between each ball, no more than 8 cookies on a standard sheet. Cookies packed too close steam rather than bake in dry heat, and the edges never turn crispy.
⏱️ Pull the cookies when the centre is still soft. Always
The golden rule: pull them out when the edges are barely golden and the centre is still soft and shiny. The cookies keep cooking on the hot sheet for another 5 minutes after coming out of the oven. Wait until they look firm in the oven and you’ll end up with dry cookies.
🍫 Hand-chopped chocolate, or chips, your call
I find chocolate chips are often mediocre quality. I like grabbing a Lindt bar, it’s one of my favorite chocolates, and hand-chopping it with a knife: it gives irregular pieces that create melting puddles and pockets of chocolate through the dough. That makes a better cookie in my book. But milk chocolate chips work the same way, and they’re just as good if that’s what you have on hand.
❄️ Keep the second sheet in the fridge while the first one bakes
While the first sheet is in the oven, keep the second one in the refrigerator. Cold dough balls spread more slowly in the heat, giving thicker cookies and a better crispy-melting contrast.
📅 Getting ahead: prep the dry stuff, not the dough
I don’t chill this dough before baking, on purpose. Too much time in the fridge gives thicker cookies, and I like mine spreading out in the oven. What you can do ahead: measure your dry ingredients the night before, or just bake the cookies ahead and freeze them once cooled. Straight from the freezer to room temperature, they taste just as good as day one.
✅ What to serve with my chocolate chip cookies?
A cold glass of milk or a coffee is already perfect. But if chocolate is calling in other forms, I’ve got a whole series of cookies built the same way: my white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies for something sweeter, my chocolate and mint liqueur cookies for the holidays, my chocolate orange cookies for something festive, or my dark chocolate and fleur de sel cookies if you like it less sweet.
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Ingredients
- ½ cup (115 g / 4 oz) unsalted butter, cut into cubes and softened
- ½ cup (100 g / 3.5 oz) white sugar
- ½ cup (100 g / 3.5 oz) dark brown sugar, firmly packed
- ½ tsp (2.5 ml) salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract
- 1⅓ cups (165 g / 5.8 oz) all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp (2.5 ml) baking soda
- ¼ tsp (1.25 ml) baking powder
- 200 g (7 oz) Lindt milk chocolate bar, roughly chopped (about 30 knife strikes) (or milk chocolate chips)
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Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, beat the softened butter, white sugar, brown sugar and salt with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until just combined.
- Add the flour, baking soda and baking powder. Mix on low speed until no traces of flour remain. Fold in 150 g of the chopped chocolate with a spatula.
- Divide the dough into 16 balls and place on the baking sheets, spacing them at least 5 cm (2 in) apart. Press each ball down to about half its height. Scatter the remaining 50 g of chocolate over the tops of the cookies.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges just start to turn golden and the centre is still soft. For chewy cookies, do not exceed the baking time!!! They will firm up afterwards. Keep the second baking sheet in the refrigerator in the meantime.
- Let cool for at least 15 minutes on the baking sheet before devouring. I know I know, the wait is endless and painful. Patience my friend hahaha. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Yes, completely. I like buying a Lindt milk chocolate bar and chopping it myself, because it gives irregular pieces and more interesting pools of chocolate. But good quality milk chocolate chips do exactly the same job. Use whatever you’ve got on hand.
In an airtight container at room temperature, they keep for 3 to 4 days. Slip a slice of white bread into the container to keep them chewy longer, the bread absorbs the moisture. Once baked and fully cooled, they freeze really well for up to 3 months in an airtight bag. Let them thaw at room temperature before serving.
Three likely reasons: the butter was too soft, almost melted rather than softened, the balls weren’t spaced far enough apart, or your kitchen was warm while you worked the dough. If that happens, chill the dough for 15 to 20 minutes before shaping the next batch, just enough to cool it down. Space the cookies at least 5 cm apart so they don’t fuse together while baking.
Yes. Dark chocolate at 60-70% gives more intense, less sweet cookies. White chocolate works too but makes the dough sweeter, so cut the brown sugar back slightly to ⅓ cup to rebalance. A half milk, half dark chocolate mix is also a great option.
I don’t recommend it for this recipe. I bake this dough the same day, no trip to the fridge, because the cookies spread better and stay thinner that way. Chill the dough for hours and you’ll get thicker, less spread-out cookies, not the result I’m going for here. What you can do ahead: measure your dry ingredients, or bake the cookies and freeze them for up to 3 months to have some on hand.
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