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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.
Lori Hamers says
What can be substituted for the espresso powder?
Karly says
You can leave it out entirely if you don’t have it on hand.
Jill says
Do you think it’s necessary to melt the butter on the stove rather than in the microwave?
Karly says
Only if you are browning the butter. If you just melt it, you can use the microwave.
Diane McCorvey says
Can I double the recipe & make 18 cookies?
Karly says
Yep! I think they turn out a little better as a single batch, but you can double them if you don’t want to do two separate batches.
Manyee says
I’m from the UK….do you have the quantities in grams please? Thank you.
Jenny says
Cups are pretty much standard aren’t they? I’m Australian so use the metric system myself, the only thing I decided to convert was the 8 tablespoons to grams and that’s 113.4g. There’s nothing else here that should require conversion, but Google would certainly help you out if you need
Nancy says
Can I use chocolate chunks and sprinkle sea salt on them? Love how chocolate chunks get more melty and the dough of these look perfect!
Karly says
Yes, that would be fine.
Samantha says
Question: what kind of butter do you use? Salted or unsalted butter?
Karly says
I use salted, but you can use either.
Teresa Czaja says
I despise coffee. For people who like coffee It’s hard for them to tell if the coffee flavors comes through, because it is not an off flavor to them. Does the espresso flavor come through in these cookies?
Karly says
Leave it out if you don’t like it.
Jen says
OMGoodness! We are chocolate chip cookie snobs, I must admit. We like ours thick and gooey and these were delicious!! My go to recipe calls for chilling the dough and sometimes I just don’t have that kind of time. When I saw that yours didn’t call for chill time I knew I had to try them. They were absolutely yummy and came together in no time at all. We gobbled them up! I will be making these again. Thanks for sharing!
Karly says
So glad you gave these a try and loved them!
Sani Hardy says
Thank you for sharing this AMAZING chocolate chip cookie recipe!!! Absolutely the BEST!!
One quick question….
How do you know when the cookie is ready? The first batch seemed a little raw in the middle. The second batch I over baked by 2 minutes. I’m getting ready to make a third batch. The first batch I baked for 12 minutes and that seemed to be perfect. But, is there a tip to know when a thick cookie is done in the middle?
Karly says
Hi there! Glad these were a hit!
I just look for the tops of the cookies to look set. We like cookies that are a bit under baked and really soft in the center, so if they’re just set looking, that usually means they’re perfect for us. They continue setting up as they cool on the cookie sheet.
Kindra Whetstone says
In the video you posted with this recipe is the butter browned or just melted? I made your white chocolate xmas cookies and I just melted butter and didn’t brown it and they were AMAZING! so was wondering which i should do for this recipe?
Thanks
Karly says
The video doesn’t show it browned – I’ve gotten lazy and don’t usually brown the butter anymore. It does give the dough a bit more flavor, but these are our favorites with or without browning. 🙂
Mary says
Best cookies I ever made and so easy!!
Kindra says
Hi I was wondering is it best to use semi sweet chocolate chips or milk chocolate chips??
Thanks!
Karly says
Whichever you prefer will work great here. I usually use milk because that’s what my family likes, but I prefer semi-sweet or dark.
Meagan Koonce says
Do you have a preference for the kind of brown sugar. I know some recipes call for dark, some light, and some half and half.
Karly says
I prefer dark brown sugar pretty much always, but any will work fine. 🙂
Anna Adams says
I doubled the recipe to make a large cookie cake. It worked perfectly. You will need to up the bake time. Best cookie cake I have ever made.
Karly says
Sounds delicious!
Denise Grandstaff says
I just made these and they were quick, easy and delicious!!!
Karly says
So glad you loved them!
Beth says
How long did you bake it? What kind of pan did you use?
Anna Adams says
Absolutely loved these today! Best chocolate chip cookie recipe I have tried. Have you ever tried using this recipe for a cookie cake?
Karly says
I haven’t tried that, but let me know how it goes if you do! 🙂
Shannon says
All I can say is Thank You! I have tried numerous chocolate chip cookies and they just spread and looked terrible even if they tasted good! I was a bit dubious when I saw your recipe used melted butter and no refrigeration! But they looked amazing in the photo so I had a go and so glad I did! Thank you Karly!!
Karly says
So glad you gave these a try! 🙂
Courtney Morris says
How large are you supposed to make the dough balls? Can you make them smaller to yield more?
Karly says
I portion the dough out into 9 balls of dough. You can make them smaller and adjust bake time.
Julia says
These truly are the best chocolate chip cookies ever! I love them thick and chewy and gooey on the middle and these are ll that. I had pinned the recipe and decided to whip up a batch after dinner one evening, and everyone loved them! Thanks for a great, easy recipe!
Karly says
Glad you gave them a try!! 🙂
Jeanelle says
I have tried making nearly every chocolate chip cookie recipe out there. My favorites have been those with vanilla pudding in the mix and Levain bakery copycats but this recipe is my new, ultimate favorite! The texture and flavor is just perfect and I think they are even better the next day than warm out of the oven. Browned butter for the win! I double the recipe and use my medium cookie scoop and they are perfectly baked at 10 minutes and my family is thrilled. (Makes about 3 1/2 dozen.) Thank you SO much for this recipe. I’m done searching for anything better because this is it.
Karly says
Such a sweet comment! Thanks for sharing. So glad you love the recipe as much as we do!