If you’re looking for the best chocolate chip cookie recipe in the whole world…I have it right here!
I have made Nestle Tollhouse, Cook’s Illustrated, Paula Deen’s and many other chocolate chip cookie recipes in my life. And while they have all added to my weight gain over the years (ahem), none of them were the absolute perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. Some came darn close – but never 100% perfect.
But I finally have found it.
The Master Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe.
The recipe that out-does all other chocolate chip cookie recipes. The chocolate chip cookie recipe that meets all my tests, one that turns out perfectly for me every time. One that I can freeze into balls and that would bake up just as good as if you baked them without freezing since I love freezer cooking.
As I have been getting more into cooking more from scratch, finding a recipe that used real butter instead of shortening was a must. But it was hard to get a cookie that didn’t fall flat, or turn out nice and soft in the middle using butter. That was until now. These real ingredient chocolate chip cookies are soft in the middle and a little chewy and crispy on the outside.
Basically the perfect cookie.
This one tops them all. Seriously, my search is over! It’s FINALLY over.
My criteria for the perfect chocolate chip cookie was:
- Must use “real” butter, not shortening
- Must use “real” vanilla, not imitation
- Must taste amazing. Even the next day.
- Needed to be soft and not flat
- Needed to use quality chocolate chips (I love milk chocolate Ghirardelli)
- Needed to be able to be frozen, baked later and turn out perfectly since I am a huge freezer meal gal.
This recipe met all these tests 100% perfectly.
In fact, I will let the pictures show you how good these are.
You can see how beautiful this cookie looks on the inside – a perfect blend of chewy and soft melty goodness.
My personal secret: make sure your cookies are a nice big size. I usually roll mine into 1/4 cup or 4 Tablespoon sized balls. In fact, I use this cookie scoop which is the perfect size.
If you want that gooey center with a bit of chewy outside…make them big.
I love that this chocolate chip cookie recipe is not too flat, and the flavor is to die for. I was given this recipe by a friend who got it from hereistherecipe.com.
If you want to freeze this cookie dough, just form into balls and freeze individually. Then place into a ziploc freezer bag until you are ready to bake. Add a few extra minutes to your baking time and enjoy.
These cookies are pretty much the best thing ever, especially after a big freezer meal cooking marathon…. ……totally hits the spot.
Here is the Master Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe that you can print out!
Master Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups flour
- 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 cups real unsalted butter
- 1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
- 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 12 oz Ghiradelli milk chocolate chips or other quality chocolate chips, 11.5 .
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix to combine and set aside.
- Using paddle attachment on mixer, cream butter and sugars together just until blended.
- Add eggs, one a time, mixing well after each addition.
- Add the vanilla.
- Put mixer on low speed, and add in dry ingredients.
- Mix until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Stir in chocolate chips by hand gently.
- It's best to make bigger cookies for the right texture - so I would recommend using a 4 Tablespoon size scoop to form your cookies.
- Place on cookie sheet and bake for 15-17 minutes. I like mine to look a little undercooked in the middle, then let them finish cooking on the cookie sheet for a few minutes while they cool. Then move them to a cookie rack or plate to keep cooling.
- If you are freezing these cookies: Form into balls, and freeze on a cookie sheet. After frozen remove and add to a Ziploc freezer bag. They will last for about a month in the freezer. To bake just take out and bake as directed, adding a few extra minutes of baking time.
Nutrition
Loved this recipe?
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I want you to bake these cookies and tell me what you think!
Come back to this post and give me your honest opinions. I think it’s the best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever and I hope you do, too.
—> See ALL of my Freezer Meals recipes here.
If you love to cook, try these out!
- Karrie’s Favorite Inexpensive Kitchen Gadgets
- Making 50 Freezer Meals in one Day
- Freezer Meal Tips for Beginners
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About Karrie
Food is my love language. But so is saving money. So I like to combine the two a lot and make thrifty make ahead and freeze meals to save time. Because life is busy, and freezer meals can come to the rescue for all of us. And yes, they actually CAN taste good. Read more...
Comments & Reviews
Diana says
I followed the recipe exactly but my cookie came out puffy and cake like. I haven’t seen any comments about this. I wonder what I did wrong?
Happy.MoneySaver says
You may have had some really overachieving baking soda that made them puffy. 🙂 Try the recipe again and measure and scrape each ingredient so it is exact–I really want it to work out for you!
Heather says
That was it!! I must not have been accurate either time measuring my baking soda or powder. Which is possible. I’ll admit I sometimes “estimate”
They turned out perfect!! Thank you!! My search is over. These are perfect in every way. So glad you helped me figure out what I did wrong.
Heather says
Finally someone else who had my problem! I kept seeing the people who ended up with flat cookies and started thinking I was the only one. I’ve made these twice now. They still tasted good but were puffy and cake like. They almost looked like a muffin top. Kids and hubby still enjoyed them. Maybe it was my baking powder too?? Trying again right now. Fingers crossed. I’ve never been so hungry for something I’ve never eaten before. Lol
g. smith says
Great looking cookies! Just wonder why you have the cooking time listed as 1 hour when you have the baking time listed as 15-17 minutes?
Happy.MoneySaver says
I listed it as an hour as the complete baking time for the whole batch but I realized that may be confusing and changed it to the minutes per batch! Hope that helps!
Lee says
Love, love, love these! Had them while visiting my Daughter and Son in law. The flavor is spot on and so is the size. Also love the idea of freezing and popping 1 or 2 in the oven for a warm sweet treat at night! I don’t know if it makes a difference, but my Son in law heats them on parchment paper on his cookie tray. Thanks for posting.
Happy.MoneySaver says
It is so easy to warm up just a couple at a time. Sometimes I wish it wasn’t so easy! 🙂
Ashley says
Hi Kariee!
Thank you for the BEST chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve ever made. My husband and I love these – and especially when we can take two out of the freezer and have a quick and easy treat after dinner.
Ashley says
PS – Slip of the finger on the spelling of your name. So sorry, Karrie! And I forgot to give you 5 stars….
Happy.MoneySaver says
Thanks so much! I also love to take them out of the freezer a couple at a time but they usually only last a couple days!!
Tzvi says
Hi, I came across your website when I was looking for good freezer meal recipes, and struck by a need for individually ready to be fresh choc. chip cookies… I have to say, I was honestly disappointed. I think I must have done something wrong, based on all the raving reviews, but I don’t know what. I’m actually a fairly experienced baker (desserts, pastries, breads) but wasn’t sure how well things freeze which is why I came here for the cooked goods and such. I figured this may be a safer bet than my go-to recipes, at least at first. :-/ It didn’t really feel the same as usual – a little less egg, a little more vanilla. To be fair though, I didn’t have any baking soda so I ended up needing to substitute extra powder. I did the conversion correctly, but it’s possible that’s what imparted the odd taste, too. Everything else looks so good, I’ll try again with other recipes.
Caelan says
I’m fairly experienced in baking as well, but perhaps we are the hardest to please and maybe the most willing to experiment and push things well beyond tolerance levels. 😉
A touch more seriously, I find it curious that some people would have their cookies be very flat while mine hardly flattened out at all, and were relatively-dry. In any case, if you are experienced, you likely know what to do to tweak things to perfection.
Thanks, Karrie!
Happy baking, everyone! ^u^
Delaney says
I’ve been using this recipe for several months now and I completely agree…best chocolate chip cookies ever! I bake for my boyfriend and his coworkers and they request these more than anything else. Thank you for posting 🙂
Happy.MoneySaver says
Yeah! So glad you like them!
KimS says
Hands down the BEST cookies I have ever made. My husband and kids are picky cookie eaters and they all agreed this one was top notch!
Happy.MoneySaver says
So glad you liked them! They are my favorite, too!
Debbie says
These look amazing and I can’t wait to try them!
Sandi H says
I just made these and they are really, really good. I like chocolate chip cookies but I usually can pass them up. I have to agree with you that these are the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had! Thanks for sharing this with us!
Jeanne says
Did you use baking mats on the cookie sheet?
Happy.MoneySaver says
I just stick them right on the baking sheet!
Becky says
Do you need to grease the cookie sheet?
Happy.MoneySaver says
Nope! Must be all the butter! 🙂
JW says
Made these last night and they were sooo good! My first time trying a recipe with dark brown sugar. Made them bigger like you recommended and they were perfect!
Barb says
This is by far the best recipe I have found and I have tried a lot…. Thanks for sharing…..
Happy.MoneySaver says
Yeah! So glad you like it!
Jessica says
These are in the oven right now!!! Def gonna be able to refrigerate our freeze some dough…which is completely fine!! Dough is very tasty 🙂
Raniah says
Made your cookies one hour ago, because I’m going to finish an internship next week and wanted to try some stuff before… All in a nutshell: I love them 😀 They are absolutely perfect!
160° Celsius were completely fine – baking for approximately 10 minutes was perfect und oh my goodness, they are too tasty!
Greetings from Germany, where it’s exactly midnight now – so I’m going to bed, surrounded by the delicious smell of fresh baked cookies floating through my flat.
Raniah
Aly says
I just moved into my own house with my fiancé and I’m sick so I wanted to bake like my momma … And this was perfect! I love them and so did my fiancé and our friends! 🙂
Happy.MoneySaver says
I am glad this recipe helped! Feel better!
Kristy says
OH MY!!!! I just made these and they are fantastic!!! Has anyone tried the almond extract that was mentioned in the first comment?
Kelly c says
Wow!!!! I made these on a whim, as I printed out probably 8 of your freezer recipes for my upcoming labor (trying to not have to cook for a month or two after my son is born), and can I just say these were literally the BEST chocolate chip cookies we’ve ever made! The only change I made was substituting 1/4c of the butter for pastured lard! Not sure if that did much, but I wanted to try out my newly found locally sourced lard lol!!! First I used a 3tablespoon scoop (you recommended 4…) and they were HUGE! I only made 3 on one cookie sheet cause I just knew they’d be big lol!!!! They were about 5 inches across when done! (16 mins), left on sheet for 5 mins, they were perfectly crispy outside and the center was just a bit gooey, oh man!!! Then from there I made some tiny ones (.5 tbsp scoop) and they were delicious also but not much gooeyness! Still deliciously crispy outside and soft inside though! Anyways, after 3 giant cookies and about 20 tiny ones, I had quite a bit of better left so I decided to freeze the rest in GIANT 3tbsp balls! We just got such a kick out of the large ones, I had to! =) thank you again for this awesome recipe!
Happy.MoneySaver says
So glad you liked it!
Lisa says
I made these with half chocolate chips and half chocolate toffee pieces. Excellent!
Happy.MoneySaver says
Yum–can’t wait to try that!
Erin says
Brilliant recipe! It is very similar to the NY Times/Jaques Torres version, but much simpler to execute and doesn’t require any fancy flours.
I didn’t have a cookie scoop, so I hand-rolled them into roughly golf-ball-sized spheres. I baked 6 immediately, but froze the rest of the dough. The first 6 were good, but my dough was pretty watn and the cookies spread out a bit too much, ending up crispy without a gooey center. After lunch today I popped 1 frozen cookie ball into the toaster oven, and it came out perfectly! (It cooked for 19 minutes. I also sprinkled a little sea salt on top, which was a nice addition.)
This recipe is definitely a keeper – though I’ll definitely chill the dough before baking from now on.
Thank you!
Elaine says
When I make this recipe in roll them into a log and refrigerate them for about 30 minutes then I slice and bake, they came out great!