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!
The perfect chocolate chip cookie!! I always hated how mine turned out until I found your recipe. Thank you!!
I’ve been making your cookies for years and they are amazing but this year I’m realizing baking powder is not in the list of ingredients or recipe. Do we assume all purpose flour has baking powder?
Hi Tanya! Great question 🙂 There’s no baking powder in this recipe, and all-purpose flour doesn’t contain any leavening. You might be thinking of self-rising flour, which does include baking powder and salt. This recipe relies on baking soda instead, and Tessa actually tested baking soda vs. baking powder for these cookies. You can see that experiment explained above the recipe here.
Hi I made the dough and froze it in small/medium ball form. When I baked them at the given temp/time they definitely didn’t seem to cook evenly and the bottoms were done a lot faster than the top. I was wondering if the temp or time needed to be different. Or if I needed to thaw them before cooking. Thanks!
Can I use this recipe for the dough but instead of chocolate chips I want to use m&ms?
Yes you most definitely can! You can use the dough to add any mix ins you want I use this as a base recipe for peanut butter cookies as well just substituting the butter for peanut butter!
Sure! We also have an M&M Cookie recipe if you’d like to give it a try 🙂
These cookies are the best. I followed your instructions and they cam out just like your picture. Tast delicious.
These turned out so soft. My husband will love them.
I’ve been making these cookies all year long and they are well appreciated by all who try them. I have made these cookies Tollhouse recipe for Christmas cookies in order to get a larger quantity-I make them a bit smaller than a teaspoon. As I said ,the bakery style cookies are awesome but too large even at half the size. Would I need to adjust any ingredients in order to make these stretch among our large family?
Hi Deb! You can definitely use a 1-teaspoon scoop, you’ll just need to bake them for a lot less time, about 5-7 minutes. They’ll go from perfect to overbaked quickly, so keep a close eye! No need to adjust the ingredients, depending on how many cookies you’re trying to make. Using a 1 teaspoon scoop would result in an estimated yield of about 225 mini cookies. I hope that helps!
This is my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe ever! My cookies have not been coming out the same lately and I’m unsure what I’m doing wrong? I use fresh ingredients (baking soda, flour, etc) I make sure the butter is at correct temperature, I use parchment paper and good quality cookie pans. I do not have a mixer so I hand mix but I’m careful not to over mix but everything is blended good I’ve watched your video. Only thing I can think of is I don’t have a scale so I’m fork fluffing, spooning and leveling off with back butter knife. My cookies are flat. My sister said I can add egg yolk and also do 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening? I’m not sure what this would do? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I’m not a big baker too much science for me 🤣
Hi Maggie, thanks for the details! Since you’re starting with cool room-temp butter, using the the spoon-and-level method, your baking soda is fresh, and you’re using quality pans, my first thought is oven temperature. Do you have an oven thermometer? If your cookies were perfect before and are suddenly spreading, your oven could be running a different temperature than the display reads. Even 10-15° makes a difference.
A couple of other things to consider: have you changed any brands of ingredients? If so, that could affect spread. If humidity is higher where you live, try adding 1-2 extra tablespoons of flour (and chill the dough before baking).
About your sister’s suggestions: an extra egg yolk can make cookies chewier but adds liquid, so they’ll spread more (unless you make other adjustments). Using part shortening will make them thicker, but the flavor won’t be as rich or buttery. (Tessa actually tested both!).
Sometimes one small change throws everything off, so don’t get discouraged! Try the recipe again, paying close attention to each step. If the cookies still don’t turn out, try one adjustment at a time and see if that helps. Please let us know how it goes!
Tessa, I’m so happy for you. It’s a joy to see you getting the recognition you so deserve. I’ve made this recipe a few times and there is not a better one out there. I’ve had great success baking these on my USA pans, though because my city apartment oven is temperamental I watch them like a hawk from about minute 8. Definitely suggest watching your cookies friends, and trusting your guts, because you know your ovens. I do the same when I’m baking my weekly sourdough loaf. Tessa has given us every possible tool for success, but we know how our kitchens work (or don’t 😅😘), so my two cents are simple: participate in your baking rather than setting a timer and walking away, etc
Wishing you continued success, Tessa.
What a kind review. Thank you so much, Nico! I’ll be sure to pass your words onto Tessa, they’ll make her day!
What is the difference between this recipe and your Ultimate Chocolate Chip cookies? I made the Ultimate ones and they were terrific!
Hi Marda! If you compare the recipe ingredients, you’ll notice that the Ultimate CCCs use bread flour in addition to all-purpose, as well as an additional egg yolk — these make for an even chewier texture! So happy you loved them, but you really can’t go wrong with either recipe 🙂 Let us know what you think if you give this one a try!
Trying to follow the recipe to a T, so using a kitchen scale. How come when measuring out brown sugar with 1/4 C increments to reach the 247g it seems way too much? I decided to double check, and indeed the volume of both tightly packed sugars comes to 2 cups when instead it should be 1 3/4. I don’t want to mess up proportions as I learned from Handle the Heat that sugar plays a huge role in the chemistry of baking cookies.
Hi Yelena! Brown sugar can vary a lot in volume depending on how tightly it’s packed. Measuring by cups can easily give you more or less than what the recipe author intended, which is why your volume measurement looks off. The weight is the correct measurement to follow to ensure the cookies turn out right, so you did the right thing sticking with the scale and using the full 247 grams. I love that you’re paying attention to sugar ratios, it really does make a difference in cookie texture and spread! How did your cookies turn out?
Thank you for taking the time to write a detailed response. The texture turned out quite nice, though if I return to this recipe (I’m likely to), I’ll experiment with a little less sugar. I baked a small portion right away, put the rest away to “marinate” in the fridge, and will experiment baking cookies after they are stored in the fridge and freezer for some time. Doing the same thing with the “Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies” recipe. It’s fun!
I sent in my email so I could print out a recipe and every time I click on recipe in the email that was sent, it wants me to sign up again.
Hi Margee! It sounds like the email link you clicked is asking you to re-enter your address because it’s designed for saving the recipe link to your email inbox — not printing. To print, click the Print button that’s just above the recipe and enter your email there. After that, as long as you’re using the same browser and try to print another recipe from our site, you shouldn’t be asked again. Here’s a direct print link to make it easy. If you still run into trouble, feel free to email me at [email protected], and I’d be happy to assist further!