Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

The ultimate bake! Golden edges, a soft and chewy center, and loaded with melting chocolate chips. A timeless crowd-pleaser.

By Cressio Rinaldi

The chocolate chip cookie is the most familiar cookie there is, and it is surprisingly easy to get wrong. Too flat, too cakey, too hard or too pale. The recipe is simple, and the differences come from small details: how soft the butter is, how you mix the flour and how long you bake.

This version uses equal amounts of white and brown sugar, which gives you cookies that are crisp at the edges and chewy in the middle, with a rich caramel flavor. The butter is soft, not melted, so the dough holds its shape. Baking soda gives them a little lift and helps them brown.

It makes about 24 cookies, takes about 30 minutes and the dough needs no chilling, though a short chill makes them thicker.

Read this first

1. Use soft, not melted, butter. Melted butter makes flat cookies.
2. Mix the flour just until combined. Overmixing makes them tough.
3. Take them out when the centers still look slightly soft. They finish on the tray.

Prep time: 15 mins · Cook time: 12 mins · Serves 24

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups All-purpose flour
• 1 tsp Baking soda
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) Unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup Granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup Packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 2 Large eggs
• 2 cups Semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Look for: A hot oven and a sheet lined with parchment.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. Look for: A light, evenly mixed flour mixture, with no lumps of baking soda.
3. In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the softened butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract until creamy and smooth. Look for: A pale, creamy, fluffy mixture, with no gritty sugar.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Look for: A smooth, glossy mixture after each egg.
5. Gradually beat in the dry flour mixture just until combined. Do not overmix. Look for: A soft dough with no streaks of flour, which just holds together.
6. Gently stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a spatula. Look for: Chocolate chips spread evenly through the dough.
7. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches of space between. Look for: Round mounds, evenly sized and well spaced.
8. Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown but the centers are still slightly soft. Look for: Golden edges, and a center that looks soft and slightly pale.
9. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before transferring them to wire racks. Look for: Cookies that set into a chewy, golden disc as they cool.

Nutrition

Amount per serving. Nutritional values are estimates calculated from the ingredients above and can vary.

• Calories: 240
• Fat: 13g
• Saturated Fat: 8g
• Carbohydrates: 30g
• Fiber: 1g
• Sugar: 21g
• Protein: 2g
• Sodium: 130mg
• Cholesterol: 35mg

Notes

• Storage: Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
• Freezing: The raw dough freezes beautifully — scoop into balls, freeze on a tray, then bag and bake straight from frozen, adding a minute or two.
• Soft Centers: Pulling them at 9-11 minutes, while the centers still look slightly underdone, is what keeps them soft and chewy once cooled.

Cook It With Me

Prep

Preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C) and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Mix the dry ingredients

In a small bowl, whisk together the 2 1/4 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 1 teaspoon of salt. Set aside. Spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level it off, so you don’t add too much.

Cream the butter and sugars

In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the 1 cup of softened butter, 3/4 cup of granulated sugar, 3/4 cup of packed brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla until creamy and smooth, about 2 minutes.

Add the eggs

Add the 2 eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, until the mixture is light and well combined.

Add the flour

Gradually add the flour mixture, beating on low just until combined. Stop as soon as no dry flour remains.

Add the chocolate

Gently stir in the 2 cups of chocolate chips by hand with a spatula.

Scoop

Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto the baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between them.

Bake

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, until the edges are golden brown but the centers still look slightly soft and underdone.

Cool

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, so they firm up, then move them to a wire rack.

The Ingredients, One by One

All-purpose flour

2 1/4 cups. Too much flour gives dry, cakey cookies, so spoon it in and level it.

Baking soda and salt

The baking soda helps them brown and spread. Salt balances the sweetness and brings out the chocolate.

Unsalted butter

Softened to about 65 F, so your finger leaves a dent but the butter isn’t shiny or greasy.

Granulated and brown sugar

White sugar gives crisp edges. Brown sugar contains molasses, which keeps the center moist and chewy.

Eggs

Two large eggs bind the dough. Room temperature eggs mix in more smoothly.

Vanilla

A teaspoon deepens the flavor. Use real vanilla if you can.

Semi-sweet chocolate chips

Two cups. For gooier cookies, chop a bar of chocolate into chunks.

The Technique Behind It

Why soft butter, not melted

Softened butter traps air when you cream it, which gives structure. Melted butter makes a loose dough that spreads into thin, greasy cookies.

Why you don’t overmix the flour

Mixing develops gluten. A little makes the cookies chewy, but too much makes them tough.

Why take them out early

Cookies keep baking from the heat of the tray. Pulling them while the centers look soft gives a chewy cookie. Baking until they look done gives a hard one.

Mistakes That Cost You the Dish

• Melted butter The cookies spread flat.
• Too much flour They turn dry and cakey.
• Overbaking They are hard.
• Skipping the parchment The bottoms burn.
• Crowding the tray The cookies merge.

Fix It: If This Happens, Do This

Problem	Likely cause	Fix
Cookies are flat	Butter too soft	Chill the dough for 30 minutes.
Cookies are cakey	Too much flour or mixing	Spoon and level the flour.
Cookies are hard	Overbaked	Take them out earlier.
Bottoms are burnt	Dark pan	Use parchment and a lighter pan.
Cookies are bland	Not enough salt	Sprinkle flaky salt on top.

What Each Ingredient Does (and What You Can Swap)

Ingredient	Its job	Swap, and what changes
All-purpose flour	Structure	Bread flour makes chewier cookies.
Semi-sweet chocolate chips	Chocolate	Dark chocolate chunks or milk chocolate work.
Brown sugar	Chew	Light or dark both work.
Butter	Flavor	Browned butter adds nutty depth.
Add-ins	Variation	Walnuts or pecans work.

Plan Ahead

• Make ahead: Chill the dough for up to 3 days for deeper flavor.
• Storage: In an airtight container for 5 days.
• Freezer: Freeze dough balls for 3 months and bake from frozen, adding 1 to 2 minutes.
• Reheat: 10 seconds in the microwave.

What to Serve With It

Serve warm with a glass of cold milk. A scoop of ice cream between two cookies makes a good sandwich.

Questions People Ask

About the Author

Cressio Rinaldi

Cressio Rinaldi is the recipe developer behind Cressio Recipes. He cooks, tests, and writes every recipe on the site himself — refining each one until it's simple enough for a weeknight and good enough to make again. He's not a trained chef, just someone who cooks constantly and pays close attention to what actually makes a recipe work.