Super Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
These super soft chocolate chip cookies are so simple, doesn’t require any chilling, and is truly the best chocolate chip cookie recipe on the planet!
I have over 100 cookie recipes on my site. And at least a dozen variations of chocolate chip cookies.
But these super soft chocolate chip cookies are easily the cookie recipe I make the most often. Like, weekly? That’s a fair estimate. They are crazy simple (no secret ingredients) and crazy delicious.
Super Simple Cookie Dough
This cookie dough is extremely straightforward.
Mix the following:
- butter
- brown sugar + granulated sugar
- vanilla
- eggs
And when I say “mix” I mean “mix it real good.” Until the batter is light and fluffy.
Add the dry ingredients and chocolate chips…and this time, mix until everything is just combined. You don’t want to over mix the cookie dough at this point.
Cookie Troubleshooting
I scoop the cookie dough with a medium cookie scoop (#40). This equates to about 2-tablespoons of cookie dough per cookie. But you can make them smaller or larger, depending on how you are feeling in that particular moment.
The brilliant thing about this cookie recipe is that you don’t need to chill the dough prior to baking. HALLELUJAH.
If you find your cookies are flattening too much while baking or NOT flattening enough, here are a few tips:
- For cookies that are flattening or spreading too much in the oven, try adding a couple tablespoons more flour to the dough and/or increasing the oven temperature to 370 or 375 degrees F.
- For cookies that are staying mounded and not flattening well, try decreasing the oven temperature to 325 degrees F and/or using several tablespoons less flour next time around.
Freezing Cookies or Cookie Dough
These cookies freeze amazingly well. I almost always double the batch and freeze the baked and cooled cookies in gallon-sized freezer ziploc bags, pressing out as much air as possible.
Knowing there are ready-made chocolate chip cookies in my freezer at all times gives me a sense of peace and fulfillment that is hard to describe.
Pro Tip: if you take a cookie (ok, three) straight from the freezer and let them sit for about 3 1/2 minutes on the counter before eating, you’ll know what pure joy is. They’ll be super cold but not break-your-teeth hard, and listen, I know warm cookies are divine, but I have a special place in my heart for really-cold-almost-frozen-cookies.
You can also freeze the cookie dough. Roll the cookie dough into balls and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the freezer. Once the cookie dough is frozen, transfer the cookie dough balls to a ziploc bag or other covered container and place in the freezer.
To bake frozen cookie dough, place the cookie dough balls on a baking sheet and add 1-3 minutes onto the baking time.
These super soft chocolate chip cookies have been a long-standing favorite for almost ten years. My kids have taken over the cookie making these days, and they always turn to this recipe.
Truly, for a good, classic, straightforward, soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie, this recipe cannot be beat.
Find room in your heart and your kitchen for this tried-and-true recipe. It’s a keeper!
One Year Ago: Rollup Blender Pancakes
Two Years Ago: Luscious Lemon Cream Pie
Three Years Ago: No-Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars
Super Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (227 g) salted butter, softened
- ¾ cup (159 g) packed light brown sugar
- ¾ cup (159 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 cups (426 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 cups (340 g) chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly grease with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl with a handheld electric mixer or in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
- Add the baking soda, baking powder, salt, flour and chocolate chips. Mix until combined.
- Scoop the dough into 2-tablespoon size mounds (I use a #40 cookie scoop) and roll into balls. Place several inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 10-11 minutes until the edges are just set and the middles are still light and fluffy.
- Let the cookies rest on the baking sheets for 3-4 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe (used this soft oatmeal coconut chewie recipe as a start to finding the best soft chocolate chip cookie recipe)
Recipe posted July 2015; updated June 2022 with new photos, recipe notes, etc.
193 Comments on “Super Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies”
Oh my gosh these are DIVINE. For years I have struggled with flat, too hard or too sloppy cookies, but no longer. Sweet, fluffy, soft, delicious. Thank you Mel as always for your incredible recipes!
These are unbelievable! SO FREAKING GOOD. I love these cookies and will definitely be making them again!
I AGREE!
These are unbelievable! SO FREAKING GOOD. I love these cookies and will definitely be making them again!
So easy to make!
Yummy!
BEST COOKIE RECIPE EVER!!!!!
Heavenly soft ✅
Beautifully fluffy ✅
Beyond delicious ✅
Will never make a different recipe again!!! TY!!
These are SO good! Thanks for the perfect soft chocolate chip cookie recipe!
I have made so many of your cookie recipes and I don’t know how I missed this one until just recently. In the past I have had the hardest time making consistent cookies but these ones have been perfect every time! We’ve started making half a batch at night when we decide we want a warm treat last minute. Other cookies just can’t compare to how soft and delicious these are.
I will never stop making these cookies. Always have frozen cooked bags in my freezer for easy air fryer reheat to pair with ice cream. Or just eat 5 for myself, depends on how hangry I am.
i have made these several times, but i get confused by your measurement for flour. i thought a cup of flour was 120 grams, that is how i measure it out and you have 426 grams, wouldn’t that be 3 1/2 cups. i have done it both ways, 3 cups at 360 grams and your measurment, so i wondering which one is correct?? thanks. love your recipes. take care
I test all my recipes using 142 grams of flour per cup. Different recipe sources online may use different gram amounts per cup of flour. There is no standard across the board (for instance, King Arthur Flour uses less flour per cup than America’s Test Kitchen), so my recommendation is to use the weights given in a particular recipe.
I made these today and they were very simple and delicious! Even though I made them for the first time I doubled the recipe because I have that much confidence in your recipes. I have a couple other chocolate chip cookie recipes that I make from your site and they have been my favorite, but I think this will be a new favorite
Mel. These cookies are perfection. Perfection! I had a favorite family recipe, handed down through the years, that I snobbishly compared all chocolate chip cookies to and found them inferior. Then yesterday, my 10 and 12 year old daughters decided to make these for a fun, Sunday night treat.
One bite, and I threw away my family favorite recipe. Seriously. No regrets. They are soft and delicious even the next day. Did I mention they are perfect? This is now the standard, and I doubt it will ever be topped. I can’t think of anything I’d change to make it better. Texture, flavor, saltiness, sweetness, chocolate to cookie ratio, you absolutely nailed it! Thank you Mel!!
One of my all time top cookie recipes!
Well these were delightful. We sandwiched cookie dough ice cream in between two cookies for a fun summer treat too. Thanks for sharing another great one!
This is the best! Love all your recipes!
These are so easy and so good! My new favorite chocolate chip recipe. The first time I followed the recipe exactly, and the cookies didn’t spread at all. So I decreased the flour to 400g and they are just the way I like them! Thanks for a great recipe!
I know this sounds bonkers but I, a reasonably accomplished/experienced baker cannot bake chocolate chip cookies without them spreading into oily pancakes. I’ve tried a zillion recipes and all the same end result, so I KNOW IT”S ME. I notice in your notes, you say to increase the oven temperature; how does this stop the cookies from spreading? I thought the oven was too hot, hence the spread? Please explain your magic to me, I really want to make these! Thanks for any help you can offer!
Hi Monica, baking the cookies at a slightly higher temperature bakes them faster and they puff more quickly (instead of having time to flatten out if they bake more slowly at a lower temperature).
If I could only eat one food for the rest of my life it would be chocolate chip cookies. I’ve encountered some decent recipes over the year, but this one is TOPS! Bonus: the dough is possibly even more delicious. When I tasted the dough, I knew I had a winner on my hands!!
This has got to be my new go-to cookie recipe! I have been struggling with my old one – cookies always came out flat. BUT this one finally gave me the fluffy, soft cookies I absolutely love!
These are the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made! It’s definitely a keeper!
The search is over. I have found the perfect cookie recipe! These were SUPER EASY to make and turned out FANTASTIC!!!
My kids and I have declared – we have finally found “the one” … this is the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. Thank you Mel!
Absolutely delicious These is the best recipe I have ever tasted, by far!
So glad you highlighted this recipe, Mel! I needed to make some cookies and I’m always up for trying a new choc chip cookie recipe. These were so easy and turned out the perfect thickness without chilling. They were super fast to make and everyone loves them.
PS – I can’t believe how rude some people are in your recipe comments!
Very, very good! I love how soft they are. Nobody at my house was complaining when I made these on Father’s Day.
Delicious as always! The first egg I used was a double yoker, so I didn’t know if I should add the second one still.. turns out I should have added the second egg. Still so yummy they just didn’t spread as much as I would have liked. Can’t wait to make again!!
This recipe sounds heavenly! Love your directions and also the fact your recipe contains measurements and weights. I have a question, if the flour I use weighs 120 grams per cup, should I adjust the weight to 320 grams for the 3 cups? Thank you
Hi Marykay, I recommend using the weight given in the recipe. You’ll want right around 426 grams of flour for this recipe. If you adjust and use less, the cookies won’t turn out.
Great recipes!
Question: Would it work to use the chocolate chunks that you can buy in a bag instead of regular chocolate chips?
Thank you!
Yep!
I haven’t tried this recipe yet, but wanted to ask first: can I substitute chocolate chunks for the chocolate chips? Thank you, Kelli
Yep!
I have made these twice in the last week. They are so delicious and super easy!
This is awful! There is nobody way enough flour…I’m a professional baker, thought I’d try something new…always looking at home cook’s recipes. Yours, by far, is awful. You must have paid people to write your reviews.
Wow what a hateful thing to say JamieJones! I followed this recipe exactly by weight and they came out great. Perhaps you made an error?
Question: the recipe instructions say to mix the baking soda and powder with the butter/sugar/egg mixture.
But the video shows you mixing the baking soda and powder in at the same time as the flour and chocolate chips.
Which one is it, please?
Thanks, Mel! I love your recipes!
You can do either! I updated the recipe to include adding the baking powder and baking soda at the beginning because over the years, that’s what I’ve started doing, but it works either way. So it’s simpler, I’ll edit the recipe so it reads the same way as the video. 🙂
Thanks for bringing this out of the archives! Made these today for our “Cookie Friday” with the neighborhood kids and one boy said they were “the most perfect cookie”. This 9 yr old kid knows his cookies!
Really, they were so good. I did add about 2 more tablespoons of flour so they didn’t flatten so much during the cooking – just my personal preference.
I make these cookies on the regular – almost weekly. I have mde them for friends and family. I have one friend that calls them “Jessica’s Cookies”. LOL! i have given his wife the link to your website/recipe so she knows they are actually “Mel’s Cookies”. 🙂
So, I usually make choc chip cookies “healthy” with oatmeal, but these looked so good I decided to try them. Amazing! The first test was the cookie dough which was delicious. I know, not supposed to eat it, but we have our own eggs. And now that the cookies are baked we can’t stop eating them. I followed the recipe except for adding 3/4 c. chopped walnuts.
Happy you loved them, Ellen!
Just as promised, I made them yesterday within hours. The flavor and texture was perfect. Why I have not made them before- I do not know. They did not disappoint. Thanks Mel!
Side note: I also made a batch with no egg(allergy). For each egg, I used 1 oz of cream cheese and a tablespoon of milk instead. It was seriously delish. Came out perfect.
That’s amazing! Thanks for sharing!
These turned out AMAZING! I love to bake but for some reason cookies always spread terribly for me. These turned out picture perfect and delicious. I used half M&Ms and half chocolate chips. Excited to bookmark this as my “go to” cookie!
I’m so happy to hear that, Kelsey. Yay!
Hi! Just wondering if you’ve ever tripled this recipe? Thanks!
Yes, works great!
My favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe!
Thank you!
Wow! This is such a cliche, but I never leave reviews for recipes. This recipe was good enough to overcome my review laziness. Definitely the easiest cookie recipe I’ve used, and they turned out so delicious! The only adjustment I made to the recipe was adding a little bit of five spice blend for extra flavor. They were super fluffy, baked perfectly and will definitely be my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe from now on.
I don’t see much different in this cookie, than the one on nestles bag. Other than soda and baking powder.
mix it real WELL
It was just kind of a joke. 🙂
I TOTALLY laughed.
This my favorite chocolate chip cookies recipe. I always get asked for the recipe when I bring them somewhere. All credit goes to you Mel!
So I tried making cookies from a cookbook I have. I’ve made it multiple times before and they came out good. But for some reason they turned out tasting horrible. I was so upset and tossed them. So I searched your website for a better recipe. Because I really needed to make up for the bad ones. And you did not disappoint. These have to be the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made. Followed recipe to a “t”. Thanks!
This has been my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe for a while now and I just have to say how delicious, perfect, and soft these come out every time! I just discovered that’s it’s a great recipe for switching up the mix-ins, today I made them with mini chocolate chips and shredded coconut and they turned out perfect. Thanks Mel, you are my go-to for so many recipes!
I’m 9 years old, and this recipe is my favorite and fire! I make it by myself because it’s easy and sooooo good!!!
Way to go, Trevor!
These are my absolute favorite chocolate chip cookies! I prefer puffier cookies so add the extra flour (16.5 oz) and sometimes up both sugars to a full cup. Thanks Mel!!
so yummy! how many calories?
I don’t have that info calculated, sorry!
For cookies…calories don’t count.
I do believe that we have just found thee go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe and of course it was from Mel! I made the recipe with (cool room temperature butter) and 1 cup Guittard milk chocolate chips. I baked half and froze half in cookie scoops. Oh. My. Goodness. I suspect that they are even better fully cool, but they never stood a chance. This is the first chocolate chip cookie recipe that I am keeping and making again. Thank you, Mel!
My husband bought a ton of self rising flour on accident! Can I use SR instead and just eliminate the Baking powder and salt?
I’m honestly not sure as I haven’t tried it, but you could experiment.
I absolutely love these cookies! I just want to politely add that 3 cups of flour is actually 12.65 oz, not 15 oz! I make these all the time (I always measure the flour in cups), but today I decided to just weigh it and they didn’t spread out like they were supposed to!
It actually depends on how you measure and weigh the flour – I test all my recipes using 5 ounces per cup of flour. So for this recipe, I use 15 ounces for the total amount of flour (other sources like King Arthur Flour use about 4 ounces or 4.25 ounces per cup of flour). Ultimately, I recommend following the recipe and how it has been tested. Hope that makes sense!
I will add that this is my go to chocolate chip cookie recipe and I weigh my ingredients. My cookies are always much puffier with 15oz of flour, so I’ve cut it down to about 14-14.25 ounces and they still don’t quite look like yours but they taste amazing.
These are absolutely amazing!! They were soft and chewy, I made them over and over again. I will definitely be using this recipe for all of my chocolate chip cookies. Note- keeping the dough in the fridge for a couple of days makes the cookies even better!
I am too old for this. After thirty years of nursing, and 25 since working nights, I am back to working nights during this Coronafest of nursing love. I never ate much on nights as a gently nausea of exhaustion sets in about 3am. So I baked cookies. All my days shift gals I work with daily are shifting over to nights for the time being, so I made little baggies of these cookies for them to eat throughout the night. I still didn’t eat mine, but one of the new young nurses I worked with last night popped one in his mouth and was judged relentlessly for not savoring the only cookie left on the unit. He enjoyed it.
These are so good. I am not sure how I haven’t found them before now. They will be my new favorite basic chocolate chip cookie. I like them even better than the Doubletree recipe. Hope you are doing well. I keep watch on the Idaho numbers. Glad you are at the bottom of the list.
Wanted to add an additional note of thanks. I appreciate the amounts in weight also. I really loved these, so I made a whole bunch of them for the freezer…like 10 batches for my customers. Up to my eyeballs in dough. The weight measuring method makes it so much faster and efficient. I unfortunately realized on the last two batches that I could have been doubling the recipe each time in the Bosch mixer, but oh well… it is so fast with that method, it didn’t take much extra time. Now I will try to remember that next time.
These are the best cookies I have ever made. They are soft and chewy with the perfect amount of sweetness. I would absolutely recommend.
Our favorite new Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe of ALL time!!! We baked a dozen… ate them in an hour! I froze the remaining dough and have cooked a few at a time daily. Added 1 minute to cook time and they are PERFECT! Not to mention, frozen cookie dough is one of my favorite treats anyway!
These are divine. They have been my go-to cookie for about two years now. Always a crowd pleaser and everyone is ALWAYS asking for the recipe. My husband literally drools when I say I’m making these! Thank you for sharing xoxo
I made these and the taste is good but they did not spread like yours in the pictures.I thought I did everything right, but I guess it could be operator error lol.
Mine didn’t flatten either but they’re delicious!
These are great! Highly recommended! They were less soft than I expected but turned out to be perfectly crispy and soft!
These cookies are delicious! Can I ask what you mean by a chewy cookie? Is it less flat? I feel like my cookies flatten out no matter what I do!
Chewy is more about the texture – chewy vs cakey. Does that make sense? Have you tried adding a bit more flour and baking them at 25 degrees higher? that usually helps a flat cookie!
I’ll try that. Thank you!
These are so yummy and easy to make!! My go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe!
This is my absolute favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe!! Question: have you ever made this recipe with m&m’s instead of chocolate chips??
Yes! Works great!
Weighed my flour and sugars (for the first time EVER for cookies) and they turned out great! I was amazed how much the weight was off when just measuring as normal. Thanks Mel! Haven’t been on here for awhile and I feel like I’m missing an old friend 🙂
Happy to see this comment, Nicole! 🙂
If I am taking the butter right out of the refrigerator, how long would you suggest that I leave it out to soften it to room temperature?
It really depends on the warmth of your kitchen, but probably about an hour
Thank you!! I halved the recipe. cooked them and they didn’t flatten out. They still look puffy almost like they did when I put them in the oven. Oh well!! i’m not one that cares about look, just how they taste. Can’t wait to try them tonight!
I usually use a spoon to flatten them a little and it works awesome!
Hi Mel, my family gives 5 stars to us because we are great bakers.Love the recipe!
Mel, if we bake the cookies with whole wheat flour, will that ruin the texture?
It might make them slightly more heavy and dense but as long as the dough isn’t overfloured and I suggest using white whole wheat, they stand a good chance of working out.
Thanks!
Oh my god!!!!! These are the most delicious things I’ve ever tasted! I love baking, but my cookies never look like the picture. But these did! They looked the same and were very soft and heavenly!! Try baking them with m&ms, they are delicious!
I always add a package of vanilla pudding to my chocolate chip cookies, do you think adding it to these would ruin the texture?
I honestly have no idea since I haven’t tried it – sorry!
I have made this recipe several times and it always turns out amazing. Anyone who tries these raves about them and how delicious they are!
These cookies are AMAZING!!!! They’re the only chocolate chip cookies that my family will eat–I’ve made them so many times that I have this recipe memorized!! You are a baking QUEEN, Mel!!!!
Thanks, Kat! 🙂
Thx for posting this recipe on Insta, Mel. I’ve been making cookies for years, but this recipe made the most delicious batch of all time. I don’t know what it is, but these r unbelievably tasty. I always try to do a mix of chips, something to the tune of semi sweet, minis & bittersweet, & this time was no different. Thx for my new go to for choc chip cooks!
Makes good cookies
Room temperature butter??? Everyone’s different…home temperature, room temperature (ie-on there’s other cooking/baking going on)…
How do I know if my butter is “Room Temperature”? I have struggled with this for many years and gave up making these delicious cookies. Thank you for your help. ☺
Room temperature butter indicates the butter should be inbetween “fridge cold” and “warm/soft” – it doesn’t have to be exact, but if the butter is pressed lightly with a finger, it should indent slightly without being so soft that your finger slides all the way into the middle of the butter.
It was delicious! My whole family loved them. But they could be softer and thinner…..
P.S. I am really Zendaya.
Cool!
OMIGOSH these are delish and usually most cookies/desserts are too sweet for me but these ones were perfect “bon appetit.” But… there is one thing I will say the first couple times I made these they did not spread so I used 2 1/2 cups of flour instead of 3 and they turned out just fine. My whole family loves these Mel! Finally found a cookie recipe I love HALLELUJAH!
I’ve been making the Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookies for about 40 years! I really don’t like to cook with shortening any more so thought I’d try these! I believe these will be our new favorites. Per husband, I did add about an extra cup (or more) of chocolate chips. I was afraid they’d be flat with the all butter, but they were perfect! Thank you!
Love the recipe – I measured out by weights to be sure that my cookies turned out perfectly. They were still pretty puffy on top and were a bit dry to scoop, so I’m guessing that we could have used a bit less flour, but meanwhile they still taste amazing!
-PS I also used the convection, after the first batch not spreading I lowered the temp to 325.
these are amazing thank you for the recipe I love soft chocolate chip cookies I’m addicted to these ones.
Loved this recipe tastes just like the grandma brand ones that you get in the store !
Hi Mel, beautiful recipe, taste is amazing. well done! the only thing is my cookies did not spread out as much as I expected. They remained puffy on top and looked almost like they did when I scooped them out with the ice cream scoop. I used the exact same measurements, ingredients and method and I have baked this several times with the same result. What could have gone wrong? Pls help. Thank you.
Hi Zee – sounds like you could decrease the flour by 1/4 cup or so and that might help the cookies spread a bit more while baking.
Thank you! Will try it and let you know.
My 6 yr. old son and I just made these delicious cookies. He took one bite and said “Mom you make the best cookies!” Thanks Mel for the “Mom win!”
So cute, Jenni!
I made this batch of cookies and it turned out great. They tasted great and were soft and chewy even the next day. Will definitely make this again.
Have flattened out cookies & rebaked. Total waste of time, not to mention price. The rest of the dough is headed for the garbage !!! Doubtful that my comments will get posted. Super disappointed.
No Shelley! I disagree! Maybe you are just not an experienced baker, and thats okay. You will continue to get better I know it!!
I am not a huge fan of chocolate chip cookies. I love peanut butter chocolate chip cookies or oatmeal chocolate chip but not plain chocolate chip cookies. But this recipe has changed me! I now look forward to making and eating these! They are delicious, soft, and outstanding!
These cookies are the reason I cannot lose my last five pounds of baby weight. They are absolutely amazing and all my self control disappears when they are in my counter!! Thank you for a fabulous recipe!
I hear ya, sister.
So I have made this recipe several times with perfect results. I’ve had many compliments and they seems to disappear quite quickly. The last time I made them I realized that I was out of eggs so I substituted some applesauce and dare I say that they turned out even better (if that’s even possible)! Great taste, very soft and chewy, over all my favorite chocolate chip cookie yet!
I am visiting this page again for the 20th+ time and thought I should leave a review. These cookies are amazing and so easy! I make them all the time and receive multiple compliments on them every time. Delicious!
Made these with the girls I nanny! Had to help them at the begging to get the right texture with the butter and brown sugar. Easy for them to do, and so good! Soft and perfect size. Cooked them a little longer then recipe said.
I made these today to give some to the nice neighbor that cleared the mountain of snow out of our driveway. I am so pleased that they came out looking as great as they taste! I have found my go to chocolate chip cookie recipe! I was pretty sad to find my cookie scoop was broken so I had to use a smaller one but I made it work. Thanks for another wonderful recipe!!
Salted butter vs unsalted. What are the best uses for each? I have NO idea. I usually just use whatever I have thawed . Thanks!!
Hey Courtney – I always use salted butter. 🙂
These are by far the most delicious cookie I have ever had. Found the recipe last weekend. And have already made them twice. Absolutely fantastic.
So happy to hear that, Kim!
I just have to let you know that I’ve been making these cookies for over a year now. They are my go to cookies– they’re SO gooood!! Thank you for all your amazing recipes!
I love the “crunchy” chocolate chip cookies by Uncle A***. Do you have have anything similar?
Not yet, but I have a crispy chocolate chip cookie I’ve been working on that I’ll hopefully post soon.
Thanks to your newsletter, here I am! I am in love with the melted butter cookie recipe. It is my go to chocolate chip cookie recipe. But I have a feeling I need to make these. I might have to do a side-by-side. Good thing it’s Saturday!
Hope you love them, Katrina!
I just made these cookies and they turned out great! Funny question but how do you get them to look so perfect and thin like that?
Once I scoop them with the cookie scoop, I lightly roll them in my hands to form a smooth ball of dough. Maybe that’s the reason?
I’ve made a lot of recipes over the years, but this is by far my favorite soft cookie recipe. They are perfection!
These were so yummy (especially the dough… shhhh I’m pregnant), just not overbaked. They were very average/mediocre at just 12 minutes. Also, did you measure out 15 ounces? I was under the impression a cup of flour only weighed 4-4.5 ounces. I did it, because I’m at a high altitude and it was pretty humid, but my cookies didn’t have a lot of spread and stayed fairly tall.
Hey Diane, I use 5 ounces per cup of flour (that’s how I develop all the recipes on here) but high altitude baking is a whole different animal (I live at about 2,800 feet) and it sounds like you might need a little less flour for this recipe (although usually with high altitude, cookies tend to spread flat and I tell people to add a few tablespoons of flour to the dough).
You mentioned freezing them. If I froze balls of dough, could I bake them from frozen or do they have to thaw? I’ve never frozen bookie dough before I’ve only bought it.
Yes, you can definitely bake from frozen. Just add another minute onto the baking time.
This is the best dough and the best cookie. I only like soft cookies and randomly chose this recipe. I can’t believe that for years I’ve just blindly followed the recipes on the backs of the bags of chocolate chips. I def pinned this and will make it again.
Have you ever tried making this recipe as a giant cookie? Pizza pan size?
I haven’t tried that – sounds like a fun experiment!
A quick question… Would these cookies be good to make ice cream sandwiches – firm enough to hold the ice cream but not rock solid from being frozen with ice cream (even if you have thawed them for a few minutes). Or do you have a different chocolate cookie recipe that you would recommend for ice cream sandwiches. Thank you!! Love, love, Love your recipes! 🙂
I think these would be great! They’ll definitely firm up in the freezer but I’ve nibbled one straight from the freezer and they aren’t rock hard. Underbaking them just slightly will help.
How come my dough came out more like batter ? Any suggestions
Without being there in your kitchen, I’m not sure, especially without more details. Did you end up baking the cookies? Did the dough firm up after sitting?
I found your recipe from tumblr and they looked so good I had to give them a try. They are absolutely incredible! Super soft and delicious – they are my new favorite cookie recipe!
These are delicious! They are a breeze to put together and bake up nicely. Thanks, Mel!
Hey Mel! Love your site so much, I am so happy I discovered it earlier this year. Your recipes are a hit around here!
In this recipe my cookies are turning out bit…bubbly. Like when I take them out of the oven they have a bunch of little air holes all across the tops. Has that ever happened to you? I have no idea why. I promise that I used room temperature butter 🙂
Hi Charlotte, I have to say I’ve never encountered that issue where air bubbles are on the top of the cookies. Any chance the batter might have been overmixed? That’s the first thing that comes to mind.
These are awesome, soft cookies! They freeze beautifully too! Thanks for a great recipe! I live at 5200 feet and the only change I made was to increase the flour to 3 1/4 cups.
Lynne, another change for high altitude you can try is using slightly less baking powder and baking soda. High altitude makes the cookies rise too fast, resulting in them deflating too much coming out of the oven. This is especially important when baking cakes. I found this tip when moving here and being frustrated with everything deflating. It works great.
Made these today and they were wonderful! Thanks for a wonderful recipe as always!! 🙂
o my goodness! these cookies r another homerun, mel. I subbed in what I had on hand, & the result was delightful~ I added in 1 c whole wheat flour & 1 c tapioca flour to the 1 c all purpose flour had & used sugar in the raw for all the sugar. in addition, I have successfully been using wax paper to line the cookie sheet wben i bake.
Made these last night and they turned out great! Another home run Mel! I cooked mine for 10 min and they turned out perfect. I’m not one to roll out my cookie dough in my hand before putting the dough on the baking sheet but I found for this recipe it was needed to get the smooth texture. I also thought this recipe was great eating raw in small amounts.
I made these last night and they are perfect! I have been making my grandmothers recipie for cookies for the past 19 years since her passing and this is the closest I have ever had. The height ( I split the difference and used 15.85oz), the color, and the taste, just wonderful! Thank you!!
I absolutely LOVE a good chocolate chip cookie. The soft cookies are my favorite. Can’t wait to try these!
THESE are what I wish my cookies would look like every time I make them. They are beautiful! Thanks to your The Great Cookie Experiment series and searching the web, I’ve been able to troubleshoot why mine sometimes turn into a puddle with chocolate chips in them, among other unfortunate results. I noticed that for these, your cookie dough is in a regular glass mixing bowl instead of your stand mixer. Have you noticed a difference between when you mix them one way versus the other?
No, I don’t really notice a difference from stand mixer to just a bowl using my handheld electric mixer. I think this day my Bosch was in use making bread and so I opted for a stand alone bowl with the electric hand mixer.
My 10 year old daughter LOVES cupcake war on the Food Network. Today we are taking a break from cupcakes and trying these divine looking, good ole C.C cookie. I have a recipe I love but I’m wondering if this will, after 7 years, replace my recipe!!
What brand of chocolate chips do you typically use for your cookies?
Almost always Ghirardelli or Guittard.
I just love the way you write! You are real and honest and you obviously know your way around the intricacies of cooking. I’ve been coming a long time but you always teach me something new.
I made these last night (I know, no self control!), and they were one of the few cookie recipes I’ve tried where they turned out looking just as good as they do in your pictures. And they seriously tasted amazing–and I’m picky about my cookies! I usually wait to take cookies out when they just start getting golden brown on the edges, but I took these out before that point, and they were perfect and soft and not doughy at all. I’m a huge fan of raw cookie dough, and this dough wasn’t my favorite, but I didn’t even care because the cookies were delicious! Thanks again, Mel.
I know this is the best because these are the only ones I EVER make. They’re perfect
Can’t wait to try these next. I always need chocolate chip cookies in my house. Do you bake with convection or regular? I was just wondering, I do convection sometimes and haven’t quite figured out how much more time/less time I should add when doing it. Seems like it usually needs more.
I use both, Lindsay. I have one of those split ovens (standard size oven/range but the oven is split into a small upper oven and a larger lower oven) that has convection in the lower oven. I often set the upper oven to regular bake and the bottom to convection and bake three cookie sheets at a time. If using convection, I usually set it 25 degrees lower and sometimes take the cookies out 30 seconds to a minute earlier (but not always).
I have a question about baking cookies in general. Do you bake one pan at a time?
I’ve tried several times to bake two pans at a time (what else are all those oven racks for?) but the bake time is much longer. I’d love to hear your wisdom on this. 😀
I only bake one at a time using a regular (non-convection) oven. If I turn on my convection oven, I bake two racks at a time. I know you can bake two racks at a time in a non-convection oven if you don’t mind switching the cookie sheets about halfway to 2/3 of the way through baking.
Curious about something Mel; what is the difference-maker in a chocolate chip cookie recipe that changes the texture from a super soft cookie, to a chewy cookie?
Ah, good question, Darlene! For this particular recipe where I wanted a soft cookie as opposed to a chewy, thick cookie – it took using equivalent amounts of brown and white sugar. Chewy chocolate chip cookies generally have quite a bit more brown sugar. I tried cutting back on the brown sugar even more but didn’t like the result so I stuck with the equal granulated sugar to brown sugar.
I must try these!! They look melt in your mouth delicious and chocolate chip cookies are the favorite in our house !!! Thank you for all of your hard work !!! You’re the best !! 🙂
oh my — there are not words — just made these — DIVINE! My chocolate chip cookie quest is over — thank you Mel!
Hey Mel!
First I must say, LOVE your blog! This is probably a stupid question, but do you plop the dough straight from the cookie scoop onto the cookie sheet, or do you use it to measure the size and then roll the dough in your hands?
Not a stupid question. I was wondering that too :-/
It kind of depends on the batter – with this cookie dough, I use the cookie scoop to get it onto the tray and often times just leave it like that – but sometimes if I’m ambitious, I roll the dough in my hands quickly to create a perfectly round ball. If the dough is sturdy, that works – if it’s on the soft side, it’s kind of a mess and is better just to scoop it with the cookie scoops (wiping the edges of the cookie scoop before releasing the dough will help the cookie dough stay nice and round without jagged edges).
This look delicious. But I can’t lie, in a weird kind of way, I feel like I would be betraying your soft and chewy, best recipe, chocolate chip cookies by making these. Haha I may have to work up to trying these, though I don’t think it’ll take too long 😉
These are my next cookies to try. I make chocolate chip cookies for a friend who comes and does heavy lifting, fix dripping faucets and in general helps when I need him. He only wants chocolate chip cookies in return. I have made so many different kinds and will make them as posted and then a batch with malted milk. Tried that in one and he fell in love with the taste. Will let you know how well it works.
I love this arrangement, Margi! Makes me happy to think of him taking care of the odd jobs and you baking up a storm
Umm yeah, I think I need to make these right this second. I just want to dive head first into that cookie dough picture. Wowza! Cookies here I come!! Yum!
I’m so happy you posted this recipe! I was going to make your chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe today for my niece. I’m babysitting, and last night she asked me if we could make cookies today. These cookies look perfect because she requested we use chocolate chips! Thanks!
Yum!! We just finished a batch of your classic oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, so it seems only right that we move right on to this recipe now:)
I love soft cookies! I can’t wait to make this recipe!
I am always in the lookout for the best choc chip cookie ever, and by accident I bought coconut palm sugar instead of brown sugar. So I subbed it in for the brown sugar and it creates an incredibly soft cookie. I now use white/brown/coconut sugar ratio in the cookies and they are amazing. Highly recommend trying it out in cookies, going to try it in brownies next. It even gives a light caramel flavor to the cookies.
Thank you for including weighted measurements in your recipes!! Makes the recipes consistent and easier to make. Thanks again!
I was actually thinking last night “tomorrow Mel’s going to post her cookie recipe!” Can’t wait to try these! We love your recipes and my girls ask “Where did this recipe come from, Mels Kitchen Cafe?” Thanks for all your work!