Julie Clark
Updated:
Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
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This easy chocolate chip cookies recipe comes together in one bowl, no mixer needed! They have two special ingredients for soft, thick centers: heavy cream and cornstarch. There’s no chilling required (seriously, don’t chill!) and you’ll have a batch ready to eat in under 30 minutes.
This quick cookie recipe creates the best chocolate chip cookies that are slightly crisp around the edges and chewy texture in the centers. And two types of chocolate flavors make them our favorite chocolate chip cookies.
How I developed this recipe.
I’ve been working on our best chocolate chip cookie recipe for months. I heard feedback from you on Instagram that although you loved the NY Times chocolate chip cookie and Chick-fil-A copycat cookie, you wanted one that was easy, used one type of flour and didn’t need to refrigerate 24 hours.
After testing dozens and dozens of cookies, I’m proud to introduce to you these Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies!
I started with our cranberry almond chocolate chip cookies that people on Pinterest love. I was tweaking different ingredients in the recipe, but one time I was moving too quickly and totally forgot the white granulated sugar.
And guess what? My mistake proved to be what I was looking for! The white sugar seemed to be making the cookies spread too much. By leaving it out, the cookies baked thicker and with all of the chocolate, none of my taste testers missed the sugar.
The cookies were perfect the first day and even into the second day. But I felt like the outside got just slightly dry on the 3rd day at room temperature. So we added in a touch of heavy cream (just like our cinnamon roll recipe trick!) and that extra fat added just the right amount of softness and moisture to the cookies.
I hope you love these cookies! And if you do, try our sheet pan cookies, too.
Enjoy! -Julie
🍪 Key Ingredients
Here’s how the ingredients work for this easy chocolate chip cookies recipe and why they are important. And note, there’s no stand mixer or hand mixer needed.
- Salted butter. Do NOT use margarine. Use a high quality butter. European butter works great, but regular butter is fine too. If all you have is unsalted butter, it’s 100% fine to use as well. You can up the salt to about ½ teaspoon if you use unsalted butter.
- Light brown sugar. Pack it in the measuring cup. Dark brown sugar is amazing as well! If you love brown sugar, try our brown sugar cookies!
- Egg. Use one large egg. It does not have to be at room temperature.
- Heavy cream. This is the trick for helping to keep the cookies soft and chewy.
- Vanilla. Pure vanilla extract is always the best choice.
- All-purpose flour. Just one flour needed. Spoon the flour into the measuring cup lightly, then level it with a knife. Don’t pack the flour into the cup. Too much flour will make the cookies too dry.
- Salt.
- Baking soda.
- Cornstarch. This helps keep the cookies thick even though the butter is melted and you are not refrigerating the dough. Will the cookies work without it? Yes. And they’ll taste good, but they will spread more.
- Chocolate chips. Use half dark chocolate chips and half semi-sweet chips. The dark chocolate chips melt quickly into the cookies, but the semi-sweet hold their shape more. It’s great to have two types of chocolate in your cookies!
Best Ever Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Freshly baked cookies in 30 minutes! The perfectly chewy easy chocolate chip cookies use one bowl, a spoon to mix and no dough chilling.
Servings 24
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter
- 1 cup light brown sugar*
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream**
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour***
- 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt****
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Optional Toppings:
- 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375º Fahrenheit. (If you'd like a cookie with lighter edges, bake at 350º for 10 minutes.) Cover light colored baking sheets with non-stick silicone mats or parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, melt the butter. You don't want it super hot and boiling. Just melt it mostly and then stir until any leftover butter chunks melt in. (See image above.) 1 cup salted butter
- Add the brown sugar and egg. Mix well until they are both incorporated into the butter and the mixture is smooth and even. Add the heavy cream and vanilla. Mix again. 1 cup light brown sugar*, 1 large egg, 1 tablespoon heavy cream**, 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- Add the flour (Measure it carefully! Do not pack it into the cup), cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Mix just until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips. 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour***, ½ tablespoon cornstarch, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ¼ teaspoon salt****, 1 cup dark chocolate chips, 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Scoop cookies with a 1 1/4" cookie scoop onto prepared cookie sheets. The dough balls will be about the size of golf balls. The cookies will spread slightly so don't pack them too close.
- Press the extra semi-sweet chocolate chips in the tops of the cookies. This gives them a pretty look. (I don't recommend using dark chocolate chips for this because they melt too quickly). ⅓ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Bake for 9-10 minutes until the edges are set. The browner the cookies are, the crispier they will be. We let them get just barely browned on the edges.
- Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with sea salt right as they come out of the oven. This is optional. Allow to cool a few minutes on the pan before transferring to a cooling rack. sea salt
Video
Notes
There is no need to refrigerate this cookie dough. Just leave the dough at room temperature, even while the other cookies are baking.
This recipe works great with King Arthur all-purpose gluten-free flour.
*We like these cookies the way the recipe is written. Some say they aren’t sweet enough. If you’d like, you can add ¼ cup of granulated white sugar along with the brown sugar. This will make the cookies sweeter and they will also flatten a little more during baking.
**The heavy cream helps keep the cookies soft by adding a little fat. If you don’t have any heavy cream, you can add one large egg yolk instead. It’s important to only use the yolk if you choose this method.
***Don’t pack the flour into the measuring cup! This will make your cookies dry. If you aren’t weighing the ingredients, take the time to spoon the flour into the cup lightly and then level it off with a knife.
****We think this amount of salt is perfect along with the salted butter. If you are extra sensitive to salt, you could leave this out, especially if you are sprinkling sea salt on top of the cookies.
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Then freeze any leftovers.
The calories shown are based on the recipe making 24 cookies, with 1 serving being 1 cookie. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information.**
Nutrition
Calories: 255kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 30mg | Sodium: 152mg | Potassium: 136mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 263IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 42mg | Iron: 1mg
How to Make Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies: Step by Step
These cookies will bake at 375º Fahrenheit. Cookies bake best if you use a non-stick silicone baking sheet. They help the cookies bake more evenly.
- In a large bowl, melt the butter. You don’t want it super hot and boiling. Just melt it mostly and then stir until any leftover butter chunks melt in.
- Add the brown sugar and egg. Mix well until they are both incorporated into the butter and the mixture is smooth and even. Add the heavy cream and vanilla. Mix again.
- Add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Mix just until combined. Then Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Scoop cookie dough balls with a 1 1/4″ cookie scoop onto prepared cookie sheets. The cookies will spread slightly so don’t pack them too close. Press the extra semi-sweet chocolate chips in the tops of the cookies if you’d like. This is what makes them look so pretty!
- Bake for 10 minutes until the edges are set. The browner the cookies are, the crispier they will be. We let them get just barely browned on the edges.
Frequently Asked Questions
My cookies fell flat! Why?
This easy chocolate chip cookies recipe is designed with special ingredients so that your cookies should not end up flat. If you have issues with this recipe or another cookie recipe, try these tips.
Can I use dark brown sugar?
Yes. Dark brown sugar works beautifully.
Can I freeze this cookie dough to bake later?
Yes! Here are our tips for freezing cookie dough.
Can I add potato chips?
Yes! Potato chip cookies are so good. If you haven’t tried them, you’re missing out!
You may also love our cream cheese sugar cookies, yellow cake mix cookies, cowboy cookie recipe, chocolate sandwich cookies and Oreo cookie cookies!
What if you don’t have heavy cream? What can I substitute for it?
Hi There,
Can I use coconut chunks in the Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe?
I seriously make these cookies twice a week. I have made them for kids birthday parties, neighborhood bake sales, for my in-laws, for my coworkers… any excuse for some sugar and I’m making this recipe. I have used all different types of chocolate chips/chopped chocolate bars/m&ms and they come out perfect every time. Everyone loves them. I have sent this recipe to DOZENS of friends (both seasoned bakers and non-bakers) and everyone comes back with rave reviews. All of the recipes on this site are delish but this is the absolute #1.
Mine came out real flat.
I finally got around to this recipe. Ohhh myyy. Perfect!!! I followed your recipe almost to a tee, only exception was I didn’t have dark chocolate chips so had to use milk chocolate along with semi sweet. They are perfect and held shape just fine. Agree, sprinkling sea salt is a game changer. Pressed chocolate chips in to tops before baking. Nice bakery style look. 375, 9 min. Perfect. The edges appear brown but cookies are nice and soft. Best of both worlds IMO.
You said we should not refrigerator them so that means we can’t also freeze the cookie dough balls to make them later ?
This recipe has replaced my tried and true recipe! Soooo easy and DELICIOUS! No waiting to soften butter. Made with the 1/4 cup white sugar. My family loves them!
I love these cookies. They are easiest cookies I think I’ve ever made. I made them for my grandson for Christmas. January 18 this is the 3rd time I have made them.
Best recipe of chocolate chip cookies, imo. Less time and less complicated. Thank you
I made this recipe and it was very tasty! But unfortunately my cookies didn’t look anything like yours. I followed the recipe exactly but mine turned out a little dry. I used parchment paper, maybe that had something to do with the way they turned out. Please tell me the exact brand of chocolate chips that were used. I want to give this recipe another try.
Lizzy, would it work to add some white chocolate chips?
I doubled the recipe, added more chips and walnuts, also cracked some dark chocolate bars in pieces and added them. PERFECT! Thank, Julie!!!
Hi, are there any adjustments for high altitude?