Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Written by Katerina

Published May 1, 2020

Updated Aug 22, 2022

You’ll love these rich, thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies! They are the perfect balance of buttery, gooey, and sweet. Simple, no-frills perfection – they turn out great every time!

A small stack of chocolate chip cookies.

Everyone I know has a favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe – even if it’s just, “Step 1: Open the package of Chewy Chips Ahoy”. But I happen to think this one is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever! Quick, easy, and completely addictive.

Why You’ll Love This Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

So nostalgic. Chewy chocolate chip cookies, when done right, are truly magical. They taste like childhood memories. When I bite into a warm chewy chocolate chip cookie, I’m immediately transported back to my childhood.
Perfect balance. Something I didn’t realize until I was an adult – chocolate chip cookies are SO easy to mess up! Too much flour and they’ll be cakey. Not enough flour and they’ll be too thin and crispy. Too much egg and they’ll be flat. They have to be just right! And, trust me, mine are! For thick and chewy, perfect chocolate chip cookies, you’re going to want to toss out all of the other recipes and follow this recipe only.
Super easy. For how simple it is to make these soft chewy chocolate chip cookies, it always shocks me when people say it’s too hard to bake! I think you’ll find this recipe to be perfectly straightforward – and the result is amazing!

A cookie sheet with chocolate chip cookies.

What You’ll Need

Butter
Sugars: We’ll be using both light brown sugar and granulated sugar.
Salt
Vanilla Extract
Egg Yolk: Reserve the egg white for a yummy breakfast!
Flour
Baking Soda
Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

How to Make Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve ever made. And it’s so easy! Here’s how to make it. Scroll down to the recipe card for exact ingredient amounts and detailed instructions.

Soften: Place the butter in a large microwave safe bowl. Microwave the butter to soften it to a melting point, but do not melt it. You just want the butter to be soft enough to mix around with the other ingredients. You can also let it set out on the counter for about an hour until it gets to room temperature.
Whisk: Whisk together the brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, and vanilla. Then, whisk in the egg yolk.
Mix: Stir in the flour and baking soda. Mix everything until thoroughly incorporated. Then, stir in the chocolate chips.
Chill: Cover the bowl and refrigerate the chocolate chip cookie dough for 20 to 30 minutes.
Form the Cookies: Remove the dough from the fridge. Pinch off the dough and roll it into 12 balls. Transfer the dough balls to a cookie sheet. If you want, you can press a few more chocolate chips on top of the dough balls for looks.
Bake: Bake the cookies for 9 to 11 minutes, or until they are light golden brown on top. Underbaked cookies result in softer cookies.
Cool: Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for 3 more minutes. Remove them and transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Breaking a cookie apart with your hands.

Tips for the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chill the dough. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT forget to refrigerate your cookie dough! This is one of the most important (and often overlooked) steps in making perfect chocolate chip cookies. I know, I know, it’s hard to wait that half hour when you want cookies now. If you skip this step, you could end up with nothing but thin cookie puddles.
Chocolate. You can swap the semi-sweet chocolate chips for chocolate chunks, M&M’s, or dark chocolate chips. I also love to go with half semi-sweet chocolate chips and half peanut butter chips.
Don’t overcook.Your cookies are ready to come out when they still look a bit underdone. If they look done, you’ve likely overbaked them. If you don’t over bake your cookies, they will be gooey and perfect!

How to Store Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Storing soft, chewy chocolate chip cookies is easy – keeping them around for a few days without gobbling them all up is the hard part. Store them in an airtight container at room temperature for about 4 days.
You can freeze your cookies in an airtight, freezer-safe container for about 3 months.

FAQs

Why do we use brown sugar for chewy chocolate chip cookies?

I love to use light brown sugar in my chocolate chip cookies. The light brown sugar makes the cookies more chewy and moist. The molasses in the light brown sugar adds moisture to the cookie dough.

Why do we only use the egg yolk?

Chocolate chip cookies need eggs; they’re the glue that holds the cookie together. I opt for using just 1 egg yolk in my recipe, no whites. Egg yolk makes the cookie dough tender and gives the cookies a more rich flavor. Egg whites can make your chocolate chip cookies a bit greasy.

Can I freeze chocolate chip cookie dough?

If I mix up a full or double batch of cookie dough and don’t bake it all at once, I’ll freeze what’s left. To do this, I form my dough into perfectly sized balls. I place them in a freezer-safe container and separate them using wax or parchment paper. Separating them with wax or parchment paper ensures they don’t stick together and makes it easier for me to get them onto the baking sheet.

Can I cook the cookie dough from frozen?

Yes! When I’m ready to bake up those frozen cookie balls, I place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Next, I cover them with a warm tea towel and let them come to room temp. Then, I bake them according to my original recipe. If I need them sooner than that and they haven’t yet reached room temperature, I add baking time in increments of 5 minutes.

Having frozen cookie dough ready to go in my freezer is perfect for surprise guests or when I want to give my kids a wholesome homemade sweet treat without having to do all of the mixing.

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