Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Tons of sweet vanilla and butterscotch flavor with the right amount of chocolate chips.
Texture: Thick and chewy, with slightly crisp edges, and plenty of gooey chocolate chips.
Ease: Simple 30-minute recipe.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe: These are my go-to Chocolate Chip Cookies — I’ve made this recipe hundreds of times! I always have this dough in my freezer, ready to bake off whenever the craving strikes.
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My Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies are thick, chewy, and gooey. If there’s one thing I’m passionate about, it’s chocolate chip cookies.
You might think me a little unhinged, but I’ve tested this particular recipe over 20 times, with nearly every variation you could think of, to deliver you the superlative chocolate chip cookie!
All that hard work paid off because this is now one of the MOST popular recipes on my site, with over seven million visitors and 1,000 5-star reviews.
Reader Love
I’ve been baking for 50 years and this is the best chocolate chip cookie ever. I love it so much I always have dough balls in freezer ready to bake. Thank you so much for sharing!
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Reader Love
Everyone’s favorite cookie recipe! Everytime I make this recipe it’s guaranteed everyone will ask for it. Easy and great to keep in the freezer!
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Why is this the BEST Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe?
My recipe is simple enough to make on a weeknight, with no fancy ingredients. It’s been meticulously tested and the result is beautiful golden brown cookies, crisp at the edges and a little gooey at the center.
I’ve even made these cookies on The Today Show!
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make The Best Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies
Important Ingredient Notes
Understanding how and why basic baking ingredients work can make you feel like a pro in the kitchen. I chose each ingredient only after careful testing so each one truly does matter.
All-Purpose Flour, Measured Correctly
I highly recommend using a digital kitchen scale to weigh your flour, or using the spoon-and-level method. It’s shockingly easy to accidentally add too much flour when measuring with cups, which can result in cookies that won’t spread, turn cakey, or go dry.
Baking Soda is the Key to Golden Brown Cookies
After intensive testing, I chose to use only baking soda for leavening in this recipe, which resulted in perfectly golden brown cookies with just enough spread to bake evenly.
Baking powder and baking soda are not interchangeable – as you can see in the experiment image above. Find out more in my Baking Soda vs. Baking Powder article here.
Don’t Skip the Salt!
One time, my husband, Joe, forgot the salt in this recipe. It took me .5 seconds after my first bite to realize something was very wrong! Cookies without salt are flat and bland.
I like to use fine sea salt because I prefer the taste to iodized table salt, and because its fine granule size distributes into the dough more evenly than kosher salt.
I’ll even sprinkle these cookies with flaky sea salt when they come out of the oven for a salty-sweet bite.
Butter at the Right Temperature (This is KEY!)
If there’s one mistake most cookie bakers make, it’s letting their butter get too warm at any point before the cookie dough hits the oven. When this happens, your cookies are much more likely to spread into sad flat puddles.
The ideal temperature is around 67°F, which means the butter will give slightly when gently pressed, but isn’t so warm it turns visibly greasy and totally soft.
I prefer to use unsalted butter in my baking because it’s typically fresher than salted butter (salt is a preservative) and it gives me full control of the salt content.
If all you have is salted, no worries. Simply cut the salt in half (½ teaspoon) in this recipe.
White Sugar
Also called granulated sugar, this encourages more spread so I only use a small amount.
Brown Sugar
Brown sugar contains molasses, which helps contribute that beloved butterscotch flavor associated with chocolate chip cookies. That molasses draws in more moisture, making for thicker, softer, and chewier cookies that stay good for longer.
Important: Don’t reduce the sugar in this recipe! Doing so will create dry, crumbly, hockey puck cookies that don’t spread. You can learn more about how sugar functions in baking here (hint: it does much more than sweeten).
The Eggs
Essential for binding together the cookie dough, eggs also add extra protein and fat for added richness and structure.
You may replace the eggs with 50 grams of plain, unflavored, unsweetened yogurt if needed.
Vanilla Extract
Again, don’t skip this ingredient! It imparts a sweet aroma that tells our brain something amazing is about to happen. Cookies without vanilla can fall flat.
Chocolate Chips
I prefer semisweet chocolate chips (Ghirardelli or Guittard are my favorite) because they have the perfect sweetness to balance out the other flavors of the cookies. If you prefer milk or bittersweet chocolate instead, feel free to use either.
If you prefer fewer chocolate chips, decrease the amount to 1 ½ cups, just note your cookies may turn out slightly thinner. If you prefer chocolate chunks, swap in the same amount!
Recommended Equipment
The Best Baking Pan for Cookies
Each of the cookies below is from the same batch of cookie dough, baked at the same temperature of 350°F, and baked for 12 minutes. The only difference? The type of baking pan used!
- T-Fal Air Pan: pale cookies that spread more
- Wilton Non-Stick: browned heavily with less spread
- Walmart Mainstays: pale cookies, pan warped and rusted
- Viking Ceramic Lined: cookies burnt on the bottom
- Nordicware Unlined Aluminum: my favorite Goldilocks pan, I own 10 of these!
- OXO Gold Nonstick: browned heavily with less spread
Key takeaway: If you’re using a nonstick pan, you’ll likely need to decrease the baking time, possibly even the baking temperature. Check out my Best (and WORST) Baking Pans article here for more details on the science of baking pans.
My Favorite Cookie Tool: A Scoop
Using a stainless steel spring-loaded cookie scoop when portioning cookie dough is one of the secrets to beautifully uniform, evenly shaped, evenly baked cookies, and quickly. My cookie scoop is one of my most frequently used kitchen gadgets. Learn more about cookie scoops and how to use them here!
The Key to Soft Cookies
If you want perfect cookies, here is an important note about technique.
Carry-Over Cooking: After ensuring you’ve measured your flour correctly, the trick to soft cookies is to take them out of the oven just before they look like they’re done baking. They should still appear slightly wet in the very center. The residual heat of the oven and pan will finish baking the cookies through to soft perfection once you allow them to cool completely.
Why You Should Chill Your Cookie Dough
Although not required for this recipe, I do highly recommend chilling the cookie dough for 24-72 hours before baking. Don’t worry, you can always bake off a few cookies immediately and chill the rest.
Chilling cookie dough improves your cookies in every way! It allows the moisture in the dough to be better absorbed by the flour, creating a thicker, chewier texture. It enhances the flavor and creates a richer, deeply butterscotch-y cookie. And it improves the golden brown exterior as the cookies bake, for crisp edges.
You can either scoop first and chill (make sure to wrap tightly in plastic), or chill the entire mass of dough, let it come to room temperature, then scoop.
Learn more about why chilling cookie dough matters here.
Cookie Storage Notes
How to Freeze Cookie Dough
I love the taste of cookies straight from the oven the best. I always keep cookie dough in my freezer so I can bake a few cookies off at a time in just minutes. If chilling your cookie dough to enhance the flavor and texture, do this FIRST. This magic only happens in the fridge, not the freezer.
- Portion your cookie dough into scoops. Place on a rimmed baking sheet.
- Place the sheet in your freezer for 1 hour, or until the dough balls are hardened.
- Remove to an airtight container and freezer for up to 2 months.
- Bake directly from the freezer at 325°F for 13 to 15 minutes.
Here are more tips for freezing cookie dough.
How to Keep Cookies Soft in Storage
Add a piece of bread or a flour tortilla to your container of cookies about a day or two after baking them, or whenever you find the texture starting to harden. The moisture from the bread or tortilla will migrate to your cookies, making them soft and chewy again.
Troubleshooting & FAQs
Why Are My Chocolate Chip Cookies Flat?
If your cookies spread into sad, flat cookie puddles, it probably means that your butter was too warm when creaming. Your butter should be at a COOL room temperature; about 67°F is perfect. Butter that’s too warm can’t cream properly and will cause your cookies to overspread.
Why Are My Cookies Puffy? Why Didn’t They Spread?
If your cookies didn’t spread and look like domes, taste bland, and feel dry and tough, it’s most likely that you accidentally added too much flour. I highly recommend using a digital kitchen scale to measure your ingredients, especially flour. It truly will improve your baking forever!
If you don’t have a scale, use the spoon and level method to measure your flour. Do NOT compact the flour into the measuring cup.
Also, check that your baking soda is fresh and still active. Baking soda helps promote spread and browning, for perfectly spread cookies with a golden brown edge.
Can I Double This Recipe?
Sure! Simply double all ingredients to make approximately 52 large cookies – no other modifications needed. Note: be sure to double-check every ingredient as you double it, so you don’t accidentally mis-measure something!
Can I Use a Hand Mixer for Cookies?
Yes, a hand mixer will work just as well as a stand mixer here.
Can I Add Nuts to This Recipe?
Sure! I recommend 1 cup of chocolate chips and 1 cup of nuts.
Can I Use Salted Butter?
Yes. Simply cut the salt in half (½ teaspoon) in the recipe.
How to Make Perfectly Round, Pretty Cookies?
As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, swirl a round cookie cutter (a little larger than the size of the cookies) around the edges. This pulls the edges of the cookies in for a perfectly round cookie – and, bonus, it also makes them even thicker!
You can also dot the tops of the cookie dough balls with a few extra chocolate chips before placing them in the oven, for extra pretty cookies.
Can I Make This Recipe Gluten-Free?
I’ve had good results using Bob’s Red Mill oat flour in place of the all-purpose flour at a 1:1 ratio. The resulting cookies will taste a little nuttier, and will soften more and become chewier as they sit. See my full oat flour experiment on Instagram here!
Can I Make These Egg-Free?
Yes, replace the eggs with 50 grams of plain, unflavored, unsweetened yogurt. See my full egg substitute experiment on Instagram here.
Can I Add Oatmeal to This Recipe?
No. Oatmeal zaps moisture, so recipes must be specifically engineered to include it. Luckily, I already have an Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe here!
Can I Make Smaller Sized Cookies?
Yes, just note that they won’t be as soft and chewy in the center. Use a medium 1.5-tablespoon-size cookie scoop and bake only for about 10-12 minutes instead. You will get about 50 cookies.
Can I Halve This Recipe?
Yes, simply halve all ingredients and use a hand mixer instead of a stand mixer to achieve a uniform dough.
Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Ingredients
- 3 cups (380 grams) all-purpose flour**
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 sticks (227 grams) unsalted butter, at cool room temperature (67°F)
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 cups (247 grams) lightly packed light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 cups (340 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until creamy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl. Add the vanilla and eggs and beat until combined, scraping the bowl down as needed. Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Divide the dough into 3-tablespoon sized balls using a large cookie scoop and drop onto prepared baking sheets.
- If time permits, place the dough scoops into an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 24 hours but no more than 72 hours. This allows the dough to “marinate” and makes the cookies thicker, chewier, and more flavorful. Bake from the fridge.
- Bake for 11-13 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
- Although I prefer cookies fresh from the oven, these can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days. See post for storage tips.
Recipe Notes
More Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes:
- Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies (ultra flavorful!)
- Marbled Chocolate Chip Cookies (classic and double chocolate chip cookie dough in one cookie!)
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (for serious PB lovers only!)
- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Hot Cocoa Cookies
See ALL of my types of cookie recipes & cookie baking tips here!
Can I use this recipe but with salted butter?
Hi Kaylan! Tessa always recommends using unsalted butter, because there is no standardization of salt levels between brands of butters. One brand could contain twice as much salt as the next brand. She therefore always writes recipes using unsalted butter, and adding a specified amount of salt. That said, if all you have is salted butter, I would recommend reducing the salt content by 1/2 teaspoon per 1/2 cup (stick) of butter. I hope that helps!
Hi there will the cookies still be yummy if I chill them for 8 hours
Hi Susana! Yes, they’ll still be delicious if chilled for only a few hours, but Tessa explains why chilling for 24-72 hours improves the taste and texture of cookies in this article here. Let us know what you think of these cookies once you have given them a try 🙂 Happy baking!
How can I use your recipe and not have the ooey and gooey centers. I prefer ever so slightly soft centers.
Any suggestions?
Hi Max! I’d recommend giving Tessa’s Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe here a try instead. It’s a similar delicious flavor, but includes extra ingredients to ensure softness. I hope that helps! Happy baking 🙂
Well, I did as you suggested and used Tessa’s Soft Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and I have only one word to describe the results, MAGNIFICENT! It was as I preferred, soft and chewy not ooey and gooey. My yield was an astonishing 42 cookies. I don’t know why, or how and I’m not going to question those numbers. I weighed and measured all the ingredients. I tell you now, I will never do that again. Just give me those measuring cups and measuring spoons. I do have one thing to mention the cookie color was a bit on the light brown side. I would have preferred to have them shine. A suggestion on that would help. The worst part of the cookie adventure was the CLEAN-UP. It seemed to take forever. I had flour all over the kitchen, On the walls, the cabinets, the floor, the appliances I used, and those in the area. Next time, I’ll bake the day before the cleaning ladies come. Thanks for the assistance. Max
Hi Max! So glad to hear that you enjoyed that recipe! It sounds like your mixer may have been started on a higher speed, so try a lower speed to incorporate the flour next time, or even mix that part by hand, to prevent the flour getting all over your kitchen 🙂 As for the measuring, in case you’re interested, learn why we recommend measuring with a digital scale (and don’t recommend measuring cups etc) here. As for the shine you’re looking for, most cookies don’t tend to really have a ‘shine’ once they’ve cooled to room temp, but perhaps shaving a minute off the bake time will prevent the edges from browning and give you the look you’re hoping for. I hope that helps! Happy baking!
The flour episode was caused by me. To measure the flour I decided to pour it into a large bowl, with the kitchen fan on high. You see the picture now. I’m not trying to be a smart ass, but the weighing takes too much time and is too tedious for me. If it’s a little more or less I don’t really care.. The baking I do is for me and no one else. I just wanted to have a cookie with taste, which I have accomplished. As for the shine, it looked good while it was in the oven, and as you noted when they cooled down the glorious shine disappeared. Oh well, so be it. Now on to the next mountain to climb. Hersey’s Black Magic Cake. Onward and we shall conquer.
Thank you, I will give this new recipe a try in the not-too-distant future.
Hello Tessa! I know each recipe requires its own proper measurements and not all changes work, but I was wondering what you think of the following. I find these cookies really great! But just a bit too sweet/too many choc chips for my taste and I would also like them slightly thicker. So do you think I can keep eggs, baking soda, butter etc all the same, but add a 10%more flour (and maybe 1 or 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch as well not to lose chewiness) and reduce only the brown sugar to about 180 grams (leaving white to 100 grams) and reduce choc chips to about 200-220 grams? Would it work or change way too much everything? Thanks!!
Hi Chiara! Feel free to experiment as you wish, but I would recommend first checking out Tessa’s How to Bake THICK Cookies post here, to see if that helps you achieve the thick texture you’re looking for, without changing the flavor of the cookies. Feel free to also experiment with lowering the amount of chocolate chips. Happy baking 🙂
Can you handmix instead of using a stand mixer?
Hi Nicole! Yes, that will work just fine 🙂 Let us know what you think of these cookies once you have given them a try!
Are there any recommended alterations to the recipe to use it as a cookie cake? My son is turning 12 and specifically wants this cookie (his favorite) but as a giant “cookie cake”
Hi Tracy! We haven’t tried that, so we can’t say for sure! I’d recommend trying our Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake recipe here, or comparing the two recipes to find a pan size and bake time, as that will give you a better indication. Let us know how it goes if you give this a try 🙂
These were great! Easy recipe. I melted the butter because it had been in the fridge and eggs were cold but it turned out fine. I added chopped up leftover choc from the Easter bunny too.
These Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies are everyone’s favorite. The recipe is easy to follow, and the cookies are a little crisp on the edges with a chewy (and gooey if warm) center. Soooo good!! I always keep well-wrapped cookie dough balls in my freezer so I can bake a few quickly any time.
Can you use vegetable shortening in place of butter?
No, shortening and butter are two very different ingredients. You’re welcome to experiment, but the resulting taste and texture will not be the same.
This is my go to chocolate chip recipe! Your recipes never fail. Everytime I make these everyone loves them! I always refrigerate them over night then I bake them it really does make a difference!
Hands down best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever! These will forever be my go to recipe, thank you!!!
Our new family favorite! My husband said it’s the only chocolate chip cookie we need. I added chunks with chips and didn’t refrigerate before baking. I’m a newb baker and you made this easy!
Thrilled to hear that, Mary! Yay!!