This is the Best-Ever Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe you'll ever try and it is the last one too! With a slight crisp on the edges, soft and chewy middle, and loaded with chocolate chips! After years of testing, I guarantee that this is the best!

I have always loved chocolate chip cookies - I mean, who doesn't? But everyone has their own idea of what 'perfect' is when it comes to cookies. Some like them thin and crunchy, others prefer them thick and chewy. I am in the thick-and-soft-and-chewy camp. I love them loaded with plenty of chocolate chips, but also enough chewy dough to hold it all together and bring a bit of flavor that is NOT chocolate to the cookie.
Recipe Tips to making the BEST chocolate chip cookie:
- Use room temperature butter. The butter should be soft enough to make a dent with your finger, but it should not be greasy.
- Browned butter adds an unbelievable depth of flavor to this recipe! When you brown butter, the water that is in the butter evaporates, so you will end up with less overall weight after the browning. This recipe calls for 226 grams (2 sticks) of browned butter. So to compensate for the loss in volume during browning, start with an extra half of a stick (4 Tablespoons). This will equal about 2 sticks after it browns and then cools.
- Sugar is considered a wet ingredient in baking. When determining if something is a wet or dry ingredient, think about what the ingredient does when exposed to heat. Sugar melts and becomes liquid. Sugar adds moisture to baked goods. Brown sugar adds even more moisture due to the fact that molasses is added to white sugar. You can use light brown sugar in this recipe, but I prefer dark brown sugar. It lends more flavor because there is more molasses and also adds more moisture to the cookies, creating a chewy texture.
- Chilling the dough hardens the butter back up. This will take longer to melt once it is put in the oven, resulting in thicker cookies. By keeping the cookies thicker, the middle will stay soft and chewy.
- Chilling the dough for an extended period allows the flavor to build. Just like with bread, the longer the proofing, the more flavor you will have in your final bake. Chilling for a day or two also allows the flour to fully hydrate, giving a chewy texture.
Make sure that you try my Brown Butter Snickerdoodles for another amazing treat!

Ingredients

- Browned Butter
- Granulated Sugar
- Brown Sugar
- Vanilla Extract
- Eggs
- All-purpose Flour
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Chocolate Chips
See recipe card for quantities.
How do you brown butter?
To brown butter, you melt a stick of butter in a pan, swirling it constantly to prevent burning, until the milk solids separate and brown and the butter turns an amber color. Be careful not to burn it. It can go from perfect to burned in seconds. You will know by the smell if it has gone too far! Perfectly browned butter smells nutty and rich and wonderful!
I have started browning butter and keeping it in the refrigerator at all times. One thing to remember - one stick of butter, which is 8 tablespoons, will make about 6 tablespoons of browned butter due to the fact that the water in the butter evaporates during the browning process. The exact amount will depend on the brand of butter, but you should start with more butter than needed in the final recipe.
Here is a video on how to make brown butter:
Instructions

- Step 1: Cream the browned butter and sugars until light and fluffy.

- Step 2: Add the vanilla and the eggs one at a time and mix well.

- Step 3: Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and add to the creamed wet ingredients. Mix until combined but do not over mix.

- Step 4: Stir in the chocolate chips. Scoop and chill before baking.
Hint: Using melted but cooled butter will make the cookies extra chewy!
Equipment
Equipment can have a big impact on how a recipe turns out. Stone bakeware takes longer to heat up than metal pans, and retains heat for longer, which could make the recipe more watery, or burnt on the outsides.
Using high quality metal cookie sheets will help your cookies bake evenly. Using a cookie scoop will make the cookies all the same size, which ensures an even bake.

Storage
Store these Chocolate Chip Cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
You can freeze the cookie dough prior to baking for up to 3 months and then you will always be able to bake fresh cookies on demand!
Top Tip
IF your cookies get hard after a couple of days or start to taste a little stale, place a slice of bread in the container with the cookies overnight. The cookies will soften right up!
FAQ
There are several reasons that your Chocolate chip cookies bake flat, including too much butter, an oven that is too hot, overmixing the cookie dough, or not chilling the dough before baking. Also, expired leavening agents can contribute to flat cookies so make sure that your baking soda and baking powder are fresh!
Crunchy chocolate chip cookies are usually caused by overbaking, using too much flour ( which can come from scooping instead of weighing your ingredients), or not enough fat in the dough (usually butter).
The main reason for cakey cookies is either too much egg or too much leavening agent.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
So, how do you like your chocolate chip cookies - thin and crisp or thick and chewy? Let me know in the comments!

Best-Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup browned butter you can also use butter that has not been browned, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 whole large eggs plus one egg yolk at room temperature
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups chocolate chips I like to use a mixture of dark and semi-sweet
Instructions
- Cream the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla on medium speed until light and creamy, about 2 minutes.
- Add the eggs and egg yolk one at a time, mixing until each is fully incorporated before adding the next one.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt and stir together. Add half of the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat just until combined. Add the rest of the flour and mix until the flour is blended in.
- Add the chocolate chips and mix them in by hand with a rubber spatula. Chill dough for 1 hour or up to two days.
- Using a 1 ½ tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop dough into balls on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Chill until ready to bake, at least one hour.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until very lightly browned. (In my oven, these are perfect at 12 minutes and 20 seconds but every oven is different.)
- Let cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes and then remove to a cooling rack. Cool completely and store at room temperature for up to 5 days (if they last that long!).
sallybr says
If I have enough energy tomorrow I will bake a batch!!!! will let you know!
Tanya Ott says
Your batch looked great! I'm so glad that everyone loved them!