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Perfect chocolate chip cookies that bake up thick and chewy every time and they’re ready in just 20 minutes. No chilling or softening butter required!
I know. The internet does not need another chocolate chip cookie recipe, right? I mean, who do I think I am showing up here and claiming to have perfected such a simple cookie.
Well, I’m a person who literally has spent years searching for and experimenting with cookie recipes that proclaim to be “the best.” I ate a lot of cookies that were good. Many that were great. Not so much on the perfect though.
I mean, some of them were super close, but they required hours of chilling and I’m sorry, when I want a cookie, I want a gosh darn cookie.
I don’t want a cookie in an hour. I don’t want a cookie tomorrow. I want a cookie NOW.
So, I set out to make the perfect chocolate chip cookies that didn’t need to be chilled. In doing so, I came across a recipe on Allrecipes that calls for melted butter and no chilling. Say what? That’s basically the opposite of every good cookie recipe, but what the heck. Doesn’t hurt to try.
After all, my dad broke all the rules with his famous homemade biscuits, so maybe breaking the rules is the way to go with cookies too.
I changed the recipe up a bit each time I tried it, writing down what changes made things better and what made things worse. I finally ended up with this recipe.
Why these cookies are perfect:
The cookies are huge. I don’t want to eat five small cookies. I want to eat one big cookie. It’s just my preference. Mostly because bigger cookies allow for more softer, chewier middles.
These are soft. Like, soft soft. Super soft. The edges don’t really get crisp, so if you’re looking for crispy edges, keep moving. These things are soft all the way around and all the way through. I love it!
No chilling! You go from cookie craving to cookie making to cookie eating all in just 20 minutes.
No pudding mix in these guys! I like pudding cookies just fine, you guys. They’re good! But I don’t always have pudding mix on hand and I also think they taste not quite as “classic” as a cookie without pudding.
The butter gets melted! What’s the big deal about melting the butter? Well, that means you don’t have to panic because you forgot to leave butter out on the counter to come to room temperature. You don’t have to attempt microwaving it for 8.342 seconds, because any shorter leaves butter that’s too hard, but any longer leaves butter that is melted through. Just melt the dang butter and be done with it!
It’s a small batch! Okay, okay. This one could go either way. I mean, I like having a cookie jar full of cookies, for sure. But I really like my cookies fresh from the oven! This recipe just makes 9 cookies, so you’ll still have a few leftover for tomorrow, but maybe the next day you can make a fresh batch and get them fresh from the oven. It’s the best of both worlds.
Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie Ingredients:
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Dry Cookie Dough Ingredients – You’ll need some standard baking ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, and brown sugar. We use more brown sugar than white in this recipe to keep the cookies extra soft and chewy!
Wet Cookie Dough Ingredients – Melted butter, egg, and vanilla extract for flavor!
Espresso Powder – My secret ingredient! It’s optional, but I promise it’s worth adding! It enhances all the flavors, especially the chocolate.
Chocolate Chips – You can use any variety you like. Milk chocolate, semisweet, or dark chocolate chips will work in these cookies!
What Readers are Saying!
“I’ve been searching for the perfect cookie recipe and I’ve got to say.. this is IT. So extremely easy to make and the thickness & softness is to die for. So good!!” – Victoria
How To Make Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies:
Butter: The first step to making this chocolate chip cookie recipe is to melt some butter! We usually just heat it in a saucepan, but you can use the microwave too.
And sometimes if we’re feeling fancy we’ll let the butter continue cooking on the stove until it has turned a nice golden brown. Browned butter adds some extra caramel flavor, but these taste great either way!
Mix: Next up you can add in the sugars and the espresso powder (optional, but trust me it’s good) to the butter and mix well before beating in the egg and vanilla.
That espresso powder will give an extra depth of flavor to these cookies without making them taste like coffee. Skip it if you don’t have it on hand. To finish making the cookie dough add in the remaining ingredients and combine with the chocolate chips. Save a few of the chips to top the cookies.
Bake: When your chocolate chip cookie dough is ready and the oven has pre-heated you can scoop the dough into equal sized portions onto a baking sheet. We make nine large cookies with this recipe. They’re the perfect size, in our opinion.
Eleven minutes is the magical number for these perfect chocolate chip cookies. If you make smaller cookies, adjust the bake time accordingly, but do not overbake!
Once they’ve finished baking allow them to cool and serve!
And, in case you’re wondering, I also have a recipe for perfect homemade brownies and perfect homemade blondies on the blog! There are some pretty perfect monster cookies, too! Oh, hey, there’s brookies too!
FAQ’s:
Each of these chocolate chip cookies contains about 361 calories. These are big, bakery style cookies!
Our recipe was formulated to make thick, soft cookies that don’t spread. Be sure to measure the flour properly (use a dry measure and spoon the flour in, then level it off – don’t pack the flour in) for the best results.
In a cookie jar, of course! They’ll keep for at least 5 days at room temperature, and even longer in the fridge.
Yep! Let them cool completely before transferring to a wax or parchment paper lined freezer safe container or bag. They’ll last up to a couple months.
MORE COOKIE RECIPES!
We’ve got lots and lots of cookie recipes, so maybe check some of these others out too!
- Biscoff Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies
- Kit Kat Cookies
- Biscoff Oatmeal Crunch Cookies
- Banana Oatmeal Cookies
Leave a review!
Did you try these cookies? Please leave a star review and a comment down below to let us know what you think! We love hearing from you. 🙂
Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon espresso powder optional
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 2/3 cup flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips, any variety
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Add butter to a small saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until melted. Alternately, melt in the microwave. (Optional step for extra caramel-y flavor: Brown the butter! Keep cooking after the butter has melted. The butter will foam and bubble as it cooks. Once the liquid becomes golden brown remove from the heat and add to the bowl of a stand mixer and let cool for 2 minutes. Use 1 additional tablespoon of butter if browning it to account for evaporation.)
- Add the brown sugar, white sugar, and espresso powder to the butter and beat until well combined.
- Beat in the vanilla and egg until just combined.
- Gradually pour in the flour, baking soda, and salt and mix until just combined.
- Stir in the chocolate chips by hand, reserving a few to press onto the tops of the cookie dough, if desired.
- Portion into 9 large balls of dough and place on a large baking sheet. Dot the tops with the remaining chocolate chips.
- Bake for 11 minutes exactly. Cookies will still be slightly underdone when you remove them from the oven. Do not overbake. Let sit on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack or eating.
Claire says
Hi! It’s great that this is a no chill cookie dough but if I have to leave them in the fridge overnight will they still turn out ok? Maybe leave them out to get to room temp before baking them?
Jarrett says
Are these cookies supposed to spread out like in the photo? Because they did not.
They are very taste otherwise. Any idea how I could get them to have a more flat appearance rather than poofy?
I used parchment paper and made the recipe without a stand mixer. The second batch I put the temperature to 355′ thinking the oven was a little low, but same result. Only other thing I can think of is the egg I used was medium instead of large.
Lacy says
These cookies turned out perfect! My dough was a little dry too. But I just went ahead with it. I added some coarse sea salt to the top too before baking and they turned out perfectly. Everyone raved about them. Great recipe!
Tersia van Niekerk says
Oh, they are heavenly Karly, thank you so much for sharing this. I did not have chocolate chips in the house but used the dark baking chocolate. I roughly chopped (not to small) it and added it to the mix. Compliment from my dad:- “It is the best chocolate chip cookies ever”!
Karly says
So glad to hear they were a hit. I bet the dark chocolate chunks were perfect in here!
Lynne says
I just made these today and they are amazing! I had never tried using melted butter and it worked out beautifully. The cookies are crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe!
Whitney says
I’m bummed this recipe didn’t work for me – it was way too dry. I followed the recipe exactly, and even spooned the flour into the measuring cups. Any ideas??
Karly says
Oh no! I haven’t had that problem myself. Was the dough super dry or the cookies themselves after baking?
Ashly says
Just made them! They turned out perfect. I can’t wait for my husband and son to come home to try these. They weren’t TOO soft. Crispy on the bottom and soft on the inside. I almost gave up my search. Chocolate chip didn’t agree with me. Until now!! Thank you so much.
Karly says
Yay!! So glad to hear you’ve found yourself a cookie recipe! 🙂
Julie F. says
These are pretty darn perfect…so delicious!! Thank you!
Barbara says
Did they have a “coffee” taste to them from the espresso powder or is it totally unnoticed?? I hate coffee, the smell and the taste gross me out. But I don’t want to change anything from the recipe and them not then out good.
Karly says
I don’t think they have a coffee taste, just an extra depth of flavor that you don’t usually have in a cookie. You can definitely leave this out if you don’t have espresso powder on hand. It won’t affect the texture or gooeyness of the cookie at all. 🙂
Jocelyn says
Very yummy! I used a medium cookie scoop and got 21 cookies out of the batch, which was perfect for us. Thanks so much.
Karly says
Glad to hear that! 🙂
Robin says
Cookies came out great!! I have many mouths to feed so I ended up using my smallest cookie scooper and made 31 mini cookies! Baked 11 minutes each batch. Huge hit with the family!
Rachel says
I don’t know what happened, but these cookies did not turn out like all of the other positive reviews. 11 minutes definitely wasn’t enough time to cook these huge cookies. They weren’t just slightly underdone – they were majorly underdone – even with the extra 5 minutes. Even with an extra 2 minutes in the oven after that (didn’t want to stick them back in, but I had to… So doughy!). So disappointed. 🙁
Karly says
Sorry to hear you had problems with these. I’m wondering if something got left out or mismeasured. I’ve made these countless times and they would be pretty crispy after an extra 5 minutes in the oven. I hope you’ll give them another try!
cheryl says
sounds more like an oven issue. Any cookie should have been cooked after that long in the oven. 18 min could have almost baked cupcakes. lol
Kelsey says
I tried these yesterday with my sister, we both loved them! They were perfectly soft and have stayed so overnight. But I think our favorite part was the coffee, it was a surprising ingredient but we LOVED it! 10/10 will make again. Thanks for your awesome recipe.
Karly says
Yay! Glad to hear that! 🙂
Emily @ Emily's Tasty Adventures says
Wow these look good! I am right there with you on the whole chilling thing…. I need a cookie NOW!!!! haha duh. who makes chocolate chip cookies and wants to wait for them? No one!
Marsha Sitterley says
I made these for my husband for Father’s Day. I liked that it didn’t make dozens since it’s just the two of us. He declared these the best chocolate chip cookies he had ever had. He just loves them. Thanks for such a great recipe. By the way, I followed your instructions exactly & they were easy to make. Thanks again.
Karly says
So glad to hear that!