Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
The Chocolate Chip Cookies I Grew Up With
There are some recipes that are good because of how they taste, and there are others that mean something because of the memories that come with them. For me, these chocolate chip cookies are both.
This recipe started with my mom’s chocolate chip cookie recipe. I’ve changed it a little over the years and made it my own, but every time I make a batch, it still takes me back to coming home from school.
I remember walking into the house, sniffing the air, and asking my mom, “Do I smell fresh-baked cookies?”
Usually, I didn’t.
But apparently that was her cue, because she’d get up and start making chocolate chip cookies for me.
So before long, I really did smell fresh-baked cookies.
It’s a simple memory, but it’s one that has stuck with me. Because of that, these cookies will always have a special place in my heart.
They’re thick, soft, chewy, loaded with chocolate, and incredibly easy to customize. This is the basic cookie recipe I come back to over and over again.
My Favorite Soft & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy30
cookies15
minutes10
minutesThick, soft, and chewy chocolate chip cookies loaded with chocolate and easy to customize with your favorite mix-ins.
Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
1 ½ cups brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
About 2 ½ cups chocolate chips, or to taste (Use whatever chocolate chips you like best. I usually go with semi-sweet or milk chocolate, and sometimes I’ll use half of each.)
Directions
- Preheat the Oven
- Preheat your oven to 350°F.
- Cream the Butter and Brown Sugar
- Add the softened butter and brown sugar to a large mixing bowl.
- Cream them together until the mixture is smooth and well combined.
- Starting with properly softened butter makes this much easier and helps give the cookies their soft texture.
- Add the Eggs and Vanilla
- Add the eggs and vanilla to the butter and brown sugar mixture.
- Mix until everything is completely incorporated.
- Mix the Dry Ingredients
- In a separate bowl, combine: Flour, Salt and Baking Powder
- Mix them together so the baking powder and salt are evenly distributed throughout the flour.
- Combine the Wet and Dry Ingredients
- Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture.
- Mix just until everything comes together into a thick cookie dough
- You don’t need to keep mixing once the flour has been incorporated.
- Add the Chocolate Chips
- Add your chocolate chips and mix them into the dough.
- You can add as much or as little chocolate as you want. I tend to believe that when it comes to chocolate chips, more is better, so I usually add around 2 ½ cups.
- Scoop the Cookies
- I usually use a 1- or 2-ounce cookie scoop, depending on how large I want the cookies.
- Scoop the dough onto an ungreased baking sheet, leaving enough room between the cookies for them to spread.
- Depending on the size of the cookies, I generally fit around 12 to 15 cookies on a baking sheet.
- Bake
- Bake at 350°F for about 10–12 minutes.
- One of the most important things with these cookies is not to overbake them.
- I prefer my chocolate chip cookies soft and chewy. When you take them out of the oven, they may look like they could use another minute or two, but resist the temptation. The cookies will continue cooking from the heat of the baking sheet after they come out of the oven.
- Let Them Rest
- Leave the cookies on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes. This gives them time to finish setting up without becoming dry or overcooked.
- After about 10 minutes, transfer them to a cooling rack—or eat one while it’s still warm. No judgment here.
Notes
The Best Part: Make Them Your Own
One of the things I love most about this recipe is that you don’t have to limit yourself to chocolate chips.
Think of the dough as a base cookie recipe and change the mix-ins depending on what you’re in the mood for.
I’ve made these with:
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Milk chocolate chips
- A mixture of milk and semi-sweet
- Cadbury Mini Eggs
- Caramel pieces
- Heath pieces
- Butterfinger pieces
And there are plenty of other possibilities.
The cookies in the photo above were made with Cadbury Mini Eggs instead of chocolate chips. They’re especially good around Easter, but the same basic dough works with just about any candy or chocolate you want to throw into it.
My Secret to Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you like soft, chewy cookies like I do, the biggest thing is simply don’t overbake them.
Take them out when they’re set around the edges but still look soft in the middle.
Then leave them alone on the hot baking sheet for about 10 minutes.
That combination gives the cookies enough time to finish baking without drying them out.
For me, that’s exactly what a chocolate chip cookie should be: a little golden around the edges, soft in the middle, and packed with chocolate.
A Recipe That Tastes Like Home
I’ve made a lot of cookies over the years and experimented with plenty of different recipes, but I keep coming back to this one.
Part of that is because they’re really good cookies.
But part of it is because I’ll probably always associate them with coming home from school, walking through the door, sniffing the air, and convincing my mom that what the house really needed at that moment was a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies.
Some recipes are worth keeping because they’re delicious.
The best ones are worth keeping because they tell a story.
For me, this is one of those recipes.
For another soft cookie with a fruitier twist, try my Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies.
