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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.
Susanna s Davis says
I am having a hard time with the measuring can you do it cups and teaspoons
Karly says
I’m not sure what you’re asking. The recipe is measured in cups and teaspoons.
Michelle says
I made the set for Valentine’s Day. I didn’t read to see they don’t make a lot. I have a squad of men. I said, you snooze you lose! I am trying to make them & color them blue for my expectant grandson. The little brats I work with said, if you announce a grand baby, you’re supposed to bring homemade
Cookies….I’m gonna try to make them smaller, but not sure how I reduce cooking time.
Karly says
Hi Michelle! If you use a small cookie scoop, you’ll probably want to bake for about 6 minutes, a medium scoop around 8 minutes. But either way, just keep an eye on them and pull them when they’re mostly set but the top is still a bit moist. 🙂 Congrats on the new grand baby!
Kim says
I was disappointed in how these turned out. I followed the measurements exactly. They didn’t look anything like the photos. They looked like domes that were very dry and airy. What went wrong?
Karly says
Oh no, I’m sorry to hear that! My guess is that the flour was measured a bit heavy. You want to fluff the flour, spoon it into the dry measure, and then level it off with the back of a knife. If you scoop or pack it in, you’ll have more flour than you should and you’ll end up with dry cookies.
Teresa says
Wonderful tip! Making these now
Karly says
I hope they were a big hit for you, Teresa! 🙂
Becki Gillenwater says
Me and my boys made your chocolate chip Christmas cookies a couple times and I was so excited when I found this recipe! Not sure why, but in the Christmas cookie recipe and also this recipe my cookie dough always ended up dry.. so I always have to add another egg. But with that adjustment these are the most amazing cookies ever! Thank you!
Karly says
Hi Becki! If the dough is dry, my guess is you’re just a bit heavy handed with the flour. You want to use a dry measure, spoon the flour in, and level it off for proper measuring. Don’t pack the flour in and don’t use a liquid measuring cup for dry ingredients. 🙂 But if adding an extra egg does the trick, that’s awesome too!
Gina says
Something must be off. I followed the recipe exactly how it is and the cookies came out looking like cookie balls :-/
Karly says
Hi Gina! My guess is that you were heavy handed when measuring the flour. To measure properly, you want to spoon the flour into a dry measure and level it off with the back edge of a butter knife. If you scoop flour with the measure or shake it around to level it, you’ll end up with extra flour in the mixture.
Gina says
The way I measured the flour was by the actual weight of the amount on the ingredients list. So I put the 1 cup as 128 grams, the 2/3 cup as 85 grams. Maybe I’ll just have to do it the way you mentioned and see if they come out different.
Shayelyn says
I just made these two days in a row for my husband and son to take to work. I’ve made them before and this time upped the white sugar to 1/2 cup (and I always pack the brown sugar). Since I had to divide a bag of chocolate chips in half and each half was less than a cup, I made up the difference with red and green mini M&Ms. I use an ice cream scoop and get 10 cookies. After I made these I made my “regular” chocolate chip cookies for home and because of their size, my daughter called those mini. My daughter is making sure I make these “Christmas” cookies for us, too!
Lauren Winship says
Can you make the dough ahead of time and freeze it? I know that’s possible with most cookies, but have you tried it with these? Thanks!
Karly says
Yep, works great! 🙂
Melissa says
I laugh every time I make these truly perfect chocolate chip cookies thinking about only making 9 of them. I get 19-21 cookies from a batch each time!!!
Your children must be blissfully unaware of a “standard” cookie size… what a childhood!
Thank you for these FABULOUS cookies!
Karly says
Hahaha! They’re well aware that the cookies are giant, but they sure don’t complain about it! And they just eat 2 if I make them smaller. 😉
Nancy says
I made this recipe but my dough does not turn out like seen in the video. It’s not dense. I am measuring the dry ingredients correctly but not sure what went wrong. Please advised.
Karly says
What does the dough look like?
Nancy says
The final dough looks liquid but did not form like the video. I put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes then baked it, which turned out perfect.
Karly says
Hi Nancy! The dough should be softer than the usual cookie dough, but certainly not liquid. Glad they turned out after hitting the fridge. 🙂
Faith says
This is truly my favorite cookie recipe! I have done this chocolate chips, walnuts, m&ms…..every time perfect! Thank you so much for sharing this!!
Karly says
Yay! Love hearing that! 🙂
Victoria says
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!!
Karly says
Yay! So glad you found the one! 🙂
Heather says
Made these today!! I didn’t have enough chocolate chips so I added in some peanut butter chocolate chips that we bought a while back. Sooooo good. Cookies turned out absolutely perfect which is seriously saying something for me!!!! My daughter just turned one on Monday during this quarantine and I couldn’t get her to eat one bite of her cake that day but she ate these today!! So I know they were good 🙂 Thank you!!!!
Karly says
Yay! I’m so glad they were a success! 🙂
Karen says
This recipe is awesome! I’ll admit I was very skeptical at first….melted butter AND no chilling sounded like a disaster and flat/greasy cookies waiting t happen. But, I gave them a try and boy I’m sure glad I did! Easiest cookies I ever made and easily make it into my top 3 chocolate chip cookie recipes. Turned out perfect! I made them two days in a row, and my whole family LOVED them!! Thank you!
Karly says
Ahh, I love to hear that!! I know it breaks all the rules, but they just WORK! 🙂 Glad you enjoyed them!
Desirae Sauter says
Can I use toffee bits in this dough instead of chocolate chips?
Karly says
Sure!
Mattie says
To think I wasted all these years on the Tollhouse recipe. Trying to adapt it so I had soft chewy non-frisbee looking cookies. No more!
This recipe was great! I portioned mine slightly smaller and had 15 to a batch. Perfect, soft, chewy grandma looking cookies that were still soft, the next day. This one is a keeper! Thanks for sharing!
Karly says
So glad you gave them a try! 🙂