Chocolate Chip Cookies

These jumbo sized chewy chocolate chip cookies are crazy easy to make with a few foolproof tips. No chilling needed!

Why this recipe works

This big, soft chocolate chip cookie recipe is hands down my ride or die. The addition of Kosher salt gives them an irresistible salty-sweet flavor that everyone comments on.

I know that everyone says it, but this has been our family’s absolute favorite way to make chocolate chip cookies for years and years now. There are at least a dozen dough balls in the freezer at all times around here. It would be practically unforgivable to show up to a party or function with a different recipe at this point. I mean, just look at those crackly, chocolate-ridden tops, don’t they speak to you?

They’re soft, chewy, and packed to the brim with melted chocolate. The aftertaste has a little hint of saltiness that plays extremely well with the chocolate, which really sets them apart from a classic Toll House cookie recipe.

Ingredients you will need

Get all measurements, ingredients, and instructions in the printable version at the end of this post.

Ingredient Info and Substitution Suggestions

FLOUR – I highly, highly recommend using a kitchen scale when measuring your flour for the best overall texture. Too much flour can leave you with dense, dry cookies. Too little of flour and you can end up with flat cookies that spread thin on the sheet. If you don’t own a scale, use the spoon and sweep method. Aerate the flour using a spoon, then scoop the flour into the measuring cup until it is just about overflowing. Gently level with the back end of a butter knife. Do not tap the cup on the counter or scoop straight from the bag.

BUTTER – Bring your butter to room temperature before beginning. This step is important for perfect chocolate chip cookies! That means bring it to room temperature (not microwave it). Remove it from the fridge 20-30 minutes before incorporating it. Slice the butter into cubes and allow it to rest on a plate. The butter should still be fairly cool to the touch, but soft enough to leave an impression when lightly poked.

CHOCOLATE – I have made these cookies with all chopped chocolate and I’ve also made them with a combo of half chopped chocolate and half chocolate chips. Personally, I love the chunks that using chopped chocolate leaves behind, but it’s entirely up to you. For the chopped chocolate, use a good quality bar of baking chocolate and roughly chop it into small-medium sized chunks.

BAKING POWDER & SODA – Double check that they are not expired.

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Melted butter or room temperature butter?

There are so many different ways to produce the perfect cookie, but it all depends on the specific recipe you are using. Melted butter will need to be counteracted with additional flour, whereas cold butter will produce dense, chewy, cake-like cookies. Room temperature butter is our go-to for a traditional chocolate chip cookie, which this recipe is particularly centered on.

• Room temperature butter – The ideal temperature of butter for soft, chewy, classic-tasting cookies. Room temp butter creams with the sugars easily, which helps incorporate air into the dough for the perfect texture.
• Cold butter – Makes a thick, chewy cookie that typically leaves behind pockets of butter in your dough, as it isn’t as easy to incorporate. This can cause overmixing as you try to beat the butter into the dough evenly (which will also cause dense, tough cookies).
• Melted butter – Usually creates a chewier cookie, however, they end up spreading, leaving you with a flat cookie that’s sometimes greasy tasting. This particular recipe is not built around using melted butter, meaning it does not counteract the spread by using additional ingredients for rise.

How to Make Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies

These step by step photos and instructions are here to help you visualize how to make this recipe. You can Jump to Recipe to get the printable version of this recipe, complete with measurements and instructions at the bottom.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line insulated baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl with a wire whisk. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugars until very light, about five minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.
4. With mixer on low, add dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips with rubber spatula.
5. Scoop dough into balls using a 3 Tablespoon cookie scoop onto the sheet. Bake 14-19 minutes.
6. As soon as you remove the baking sheet from the oven, use a spatula to shape the outer edge of the cookies to make them nice and round and even.
7. Allow cookies to cool on the sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling racks to cool completely.

Frequently Asked Questions & Expert Tips

Personally, we like making ours into jumbo chocolate chip cookies, which is achieved by using a 3-tablespoon cookie scoop. You can use a 1.5 – 2 tablespoon cookie scoop and bake them for 8 – 11 minutes instead if you want “regular” sized cookies.

There are quite a few reasons why your cookies may come out cakey. The most common culprit is inaccurately weighing your flour. Too much flour is notorious for making dense, cakey, and often times crumbly cookies. Use a kitchen scale to weigh your flour. If you don’t own a scale, use the spoon and sweep method, and never pack your flour into the cup or scoop directly from the bag. Another common offender could be from overmixing the dough.

The great debate between salted and unsalted butter will never die. When baking, I always like to use unsalted butter so I can control the amount of sodium going into my sweets, especially these, as the salty-sweet combination you can taste in this recipe is already prominent. You can, however, substitute with salted butter, but I would recommend omitting the salt called for in the ingredient list below if doing so.

Yes, you can freeze this chocolate chip cookie dough. I like to flash freeze the dough balls first. Measure out dough balls onto a waxed paper-lined baking sheet or plate. Place them as close together as possible, but not touching. Freeze for 2 hours. Remove balls to a freezer bag. Flash freezing them will keep the dough balls from sticking together in a big clump inside the bag. They can be frozen for up to 3 months. When ready to bake, place them on a baking sheet while you preheat the oven, then bake as normal.

I use cake flour, but if you don’t have any, you can use all purpose flour by following this calculation. Replace 1 cup of cake flour with 1 cup all purpose flour MINUS 2 tablespoons all purpose flour PLUS 2 tablespoons of cornstarch.

Tips for the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

• The warmer the dough gets sitting on the counter, the faster they will bake, so keep an eye on them (especially because you will be baking them in batches). Smaller ovens, such as countertop ovens, will also bake faster.
• If you like crunchy edges, bake your cookies on the longer side of the suggested baking time. For soft chewy cookies, bake them on the shorter side of the range, they will only be lightly browned.
• Be sure to use a kitchen scale to weigh your ingredients using the weights in the recipe. This is the most accurate way to get the perfect cookies. Remember, place an empty bowl on your scale and reset the tare to zero before adding the ingredients.
• When you remove the cookie sheet from the oven, shape the cookies using the spatula, gently tapping the edges, working your way around to shape the cookie. It has to be done right away while the cookies are hot, before they begin to cool and set up.
• To correctly soften butter, remove it from the refrigerator and cut it into tablespoons. Allow it to sit on the counter for 20-30 minutes.
• To make regular-sized cookies, use a 1.5 – 2 tablespoon cookie scoop and bake for 8-11 minutes.

Serving Suggestions

When is it not a good time to eat a chocolate chip cookie? They beg for a tall glass of milk. Because this dough freezes so well, I sometimes take a single cookie ball out, bake it, and treat myself whenever I get the craving.

These cookies are an absolute staple in my household, so much so that I transformed them into a gorgeous chocolate chip cookie tower for two of my children’s weddings! I hope you love them just as much as my family does!

More Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes

• Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies
• Chocolate Chip Espresso Cookies
• Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Doubletree Chocolate Chip Cookies

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This post originally appeared here on Aug 3, 2012 and has since been updated with new photos and expert tips.