The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
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A few tweaks to the classic Nestlé® Toll House® recipe make these the best chocolate chip cookies ever.
The simplest recipes are typically the hardest to get right, and classic chocolate chip cookies are a perfect example. The most popular recipe is found on the back of the Nestlé® Toll House® chocolate chip bag, but if you follow the recipe as is, the cookies often come out flat as pancakes. I’ve tried other recipes and finicky techniques in search of the best chocolate chip cookies—resting the dough for days to develop flavor, browning the butter, using bread flour or pastry flour, etc.—but to me, the difference in taste has never justified the extra time and effort. And honestly, who wants to go to all that trouble for cookies?
Here I’ve tweaked the classic and easy Toll House® recipe to make it more reliable (no more pancakes!) and tastier. The cookies are thick with a chewy, moist center and slightly crisp exterior, and they have the perfect balance of sweet, salty, and chocolaty. Before you start baking, be sure to read my best baking tips to ensure success.
What You’ll Need To Make The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
Step-by-Step Instructions
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or beaters, combine the butter and both sugars.
Beat on medium speed (or high speed if using a hand mixer) for 3 minutes, or until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary.
Add the vanilla and eggs.
Beat for 2 minutes more, then scrape down the bowl.
Add the salt and baking soda and beat briefly until evenly combined, then add the flour.
Mix on low speed until the dough is uniform.
Add the chocolate chips.
Mix until evenly combined.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or scrape the dough into an airtight container and let rest in the refrigerator until firm, a few hours or overnight. (Alternatively, if you don’t want to wait, form the dough into balls as instructed below, arrange on the baking sheets, and chill in the fridge until firm, about 30 minutes.)
Drop the dough in firmly packed 1.5-tablespoon balls onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart. (I use a 1.5-tablespoon cookie scoop.) For thick cookies, it’s important to really pack the dough in the scooper or with your hands.
Pro Tip: If you’d like to see the chocolate chips on the surface of the cookies, hold back about 1/3 cup chocolate chips and dot them on the dough balls, pressing them in slightly, before baking.
Bake for 11 to 13 minutes, until golden around the edges but still soft and pale in the center.
Let cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining cookie dough.
The cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
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The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
A few tweaks to the classic Nestlé® Toll House® recipe make these the best chocolate chip cookies ever.
Ingredients
- 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup (packed) dark brown sugar (fine to substitute light)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2½ cups all purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off (preferably King Arthur flour brand - see note)
- 2 cups (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips, best quality such as Ghriardelli
Instructions
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or beaters, beat the butter and both sugars on medium speed (or high speed if using a hand mixer) for 3 minutes, or until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary. Add the vanilla and eggs and beat for 2 minutes more. Scrape down the bowl. Add the salt and baking soda and beat briefly until evenly combined. Add the flour and mix on low speed until the dough is uniform. Mix in the chocolate chips.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or scrape the dough into an airtight container and let rest in the refrigerator until firm, a few hours or overnight. (Alternatively, if you don't want to wait, form the dough into balls on the baking sheets as instructed below, and chill in the fridge until firm, about 30 minutes.)
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and set a rack in the middle position. Line a 13 x 18-inch baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Drop the dough in firmly packed 1.5-tablespoon balls onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart. (I use a #40/1.5-T cookie scoop with a wire trigger.) For thick cookies, it's important to really pack the dough in the scooper or with your hands. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes, until golden around the edges but still soft and pale in the center. Let cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining cookie dough, refrigerating the dough between batches. The cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
- Note: I highly recommend King Arthur All-Purpose Flour for this recipe – it's higher in protein and gluten than other brands and helps the cookies hold their shape.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The cookie dough can be frozen for up to 3 months. To freeze, roll the dough into balls, let set on a baking sheet in the freezer for about 1 hour, then place in a sealable bag and press out as much air as possible. Bake as needed directly from the freezer. (Allow 1 to 2 minutes longer in the oven.) The baked cookies can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Let the cookies cool completely and store in an airtight container separating layers with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Before serving, remove the cookies from the container and let them come to room temperature.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (40 servings)
- Serving size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 69
- Fat: 4 g
- Saturated fat: 2 g
- Carbohydrates: 9 g
- Sugar: 5 grams
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Sodium: 36 mg
- Cholesterol: 11 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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I would cut the salt by half, just my preference. Get the aftertaste too much
The best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever, omg! I added toasted pecans and they are ah-mazing. What I think I love most is prep one day, bake the next! Thanks for another fantastic recipe.
These cookies are nothing short of rapturous. Thank you @onceuponachef
Your recipes are just consistently magnificent!
Was wondering if you have used monkfruit sweetener instead of regular sugar in any of your recipes.
Hi Sara, No, I’ve never worked with sugar substitutes so I can’t say how it would impact recipes. (If it helps at all, I have read plenty of comments from readers who have said they’ve replaced some or all of the sugar in a recipe with sugar substitutes and have had good results.) Hope that helps at least a bit!
So Very simple and my favorite recipe! Thick, chewy and not too sweet. I added walnuts. Keeper!
I made this recipe with the only substitution was to change the chips chocolate chips from two cups to one and a half and added 1/2 a cup of butterscotch chips only change.
Just made these yesterday. This is my go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies. They don’t flatten out after baking and are very moist. I like my cookies a little underbaked so I pulled these out of the oven as soon as they browned slightly around the edges. Next time I won’t leave the dough in the frig as long as I did, will leave in just long enough to firm up and not sticky. Going to make tomorrow with milk choc. chips, my favorite. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with this recipe.
Enjoy