This is our favourite soft chocolate chip cookie recipe. We like them big and substantial. Adding chocolate candies, not just chocolate chips, adds fun colour to these cookies. But feel free to add whatever you like - these are you do you cookies.
I am repeatedly asked to just make plain chocolate chip cookies. No nuts or coconut or oatmeal. Just plain chocolate chips. No dried fruit, and absolutely no flaxseed.
So I've been busy working on what I think is the ultimate chocolate chip cookie. Just straight-up chocolate chip. Not fancy. A soft cookie, the kind you want for an afternoon treat or spontaneous "i'm bored and its the middle of a pandemic" baking. This is your cookie recipe.
So just to be clear, I did add chocolate candies to the batch in this post because it was close to the holidays and the troop agreed that the plain M&Ms would look like Christmas Tree lights. But feel free to just use chocolate chips. Or all candies, or really whatever you want to this basic cookie dough. It's pretty accepting of anything yummy.
But really -- you could add some nuts, or coconut or dried fruit too..... maybe not the flaxseed. But whatever.
I like the combination of M&Ms and semi-sweet chocolate chips. You get intense chocolate flavour and a little extra crunch from the candy coating.
Tricks for the most perfect soft chocolate chip cookies
Eggs. I added two eggs to this batch. Eggs hold things together, but also in this recipe add moisture and a certain level of gooey-ness that keep the cookies moist.
Chill the dough. Chilling the dough allows the sugar to absorb the liquid as well as chills the butter, making it solid again. When the cookies bake, the fat will take longer to melt so the cookies will spread less. And some people say your cookies will taste better if they chill for 24 hours or so, intensifiy the flavours. So if you can wait and plan ahead, you might want to make your dough the night before.
Waiting and planning are rarely a part of spontaneous cookie baking 🙂
Bake at 325. Baking at 325 means the cookies bake a little slower, so brown a little slower and spread a little more, and just overall cook gently. All important for a soft cookie.
Cookie scoop. I wanted these cookies to be large-sized. Substantial treats. I often use a small cookie scoop for most of my cookies, but I moved up the medium-sized scoop for this batch. My cookie scoop holds about 3 tablespoons. I use the medium 5cm scoop from a set like this one and fill it just a little heaping.
Variations
I love this cookie dough. Honestly, I use it all the time and you can add in anything you want.
Go ahead and get creative. At a minimum mix up the chocolate! I like a combination of chocolate chips, M&Ms or other chocolate candies. Dark chocolate. Milk Chocolate. Chocolate Chunks. But if you are feeling creative, add in some dried fruit or nuts. I often like to stuff as much as I can into a cookie 😋.
These cookies will keep at room temperature in a covered container for about 7 days. They freeze well too and will keep frozen for about 3 months.
Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2.25 cups all-purpose flour (280 g)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ cups unsalted butter (170 g) melted
- ¾ cups brown sugar
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chocolate candies or combination chocolate chips and candies.
Instructions
- In a medium bowl combine dry ingredients - flour, baking soda, salt. Whisk to combine. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat together melted butter, brown sugar and sugar on medium-low speed until creamy, one to two minutes. Add in the eggs and vanilla and beat again. Ensure eggs are well incorporated and mixture is smooth. Gently add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk a few times to combine. Do not over mix. Remove from stand mixer and add in chocolate chips or candies, mix these in by hand using a wooden spoon. At this point batter must be chilled for at least 2 hours before baking.
- To bake cookies: Preheat oven to 325. Remove cookie dough from refrigerator while you prepare the cookie sheet and wait for the oven to come to temperature. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Form large balls of cookie dough, I use a medium cookie scoop which is about 3 tablespoons in size. A small ice cream scoop will work too. Roll dough into round balls and place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. No more than 8 cookies per cookie sheet. Cookies will spread as they bake, so leave 2-3 inches between cookies. Bake only one sheet at a time for best results. Bake at 325 for 10-12 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for about 10 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.
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