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
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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.
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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
Jill thompson says
I always struggle making CC cookies with butter. They always turn out like pancakes! So I tried the recipe wth 1 c shortening and 1/4 c butter. They looked beautiful but my family said they weren’t very tasty. So today I made them again with butter, chilled the dough and they turned out like pancakes but everyone liked them much better. Grrr.
I like a cakery cookie.
Any advice?
Karrie says
I’d use this recipe and add more flour to the batter to get a more cakery style cookie. 🙂
J says
Try using partial or all cake flour.
Rebecca says
Could be that your baking soda is old…. I was having the same problem with molasses cookies
Alexandria says
I have made these cookies countless times and they are excellent EVERY time. I love making them for parties and school because it makes a huge batch and they are always a huge hit! Making them for school as we speak lol!
Johanna says
Love this recipe! I’m really wanting to do about 1/2 a batch. Do you know if I half all the ingredients they will still come out great? Thanks!
T Gardner says
I font know if it will work cut in half, but they freeze beautifully. If you have the ingredients why not make a whole batch and freeze some
Julie Pierce says
I always use the Original Nestle Toll House cookie recipe but thought I wonder if there is a better recipe out there. I took a chance on these and will never go back to the other cookies!! These are perfect!! Absolutely perfect! I followed the recipe except I made my own dark brown sugar. Try these!!
Lisa G says
I’ve used this recipe so many times. People think these are amazing, which makes them think I’m a great baker – which I’m not! I mix dark or semi sweet chips with some milk chocolate chips for balance and put in a Tablespoon of vanilla instead of 2 teaspoons. Under-cooking a bit and letting them finish on the cookie sheet ensures they’re always soft the next day, unlike other cookies that begin to harden in the cookie jar. The dough is good enough to actually eat on it’s own because the salt balances the sweet. The perfect CCC recipe!
Karen says
I substituted dark brown sugar with light brown sugar. I also used 6 ounces of milk chocolate chips and 6 ounces of dark chocolate chips for more variety. I placed the cookie sheet (covered with parchment paper) on the middle rack and convection baked for 15 minutes at 325°F. The cookies came out phenomenal — perfectly crisp around the edges and soft and chewy in the center. They spread out great and didn’t fall flat. My only complaint is that a 4-tablespoon scoop yielded 18 cookies, not 32 as stated above. But since they’re so large, I’m not terribly upset about it. 🙂
Kim says
I followed instructions perfectly and even double-check it but the dough came out like sawdust so I don’t think the measurements are correct because I read somewhere where someone said the packed brown sugar that you listed was too much for people in the US so I think now I need something more liquidy to hold the batter together because it won’t hold together it’s like sand.
Karrie says
Maybe it’s your altitude… I’m not sure! Maybe go slowly adding in the flour until you get the consistency that is right. Weather & humidity can change baking goods too. Try this again, I’m sure you can get it right. 🙂
MelIssa says
It’s true, these are the best ever!!! Even my husband agrees!! I’m a cookie connoisseur & I attest this is the best recipe, even better than they NY times recipe! Crunchy yet chewy & just right punch of salt.
Jessica says
Wow!!!!! I made these for the first time today and they were so delicious. This is by far the best recipe I have ever used. The cookies came out so buttery. The added extra chocolate chips after I rolled them into a ball really helped the cookie to stand out more. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Elle says
I just made these because I was looking for a recipe to freeze for Christmas when I know I’ll be too busy to prepare them. Froze most but baked up a few to test them out. They’re perfect! Crispy outside soft inside. I was a little worried because the dough was very crumbly but once scooped and shaped they held together. Really simple to make and turned out great. Can’t wait to pop these in the oven over the holidays. Thank you!
Lisa g. says
It could be there’s too much butter. Try leaving out the 1/4 Cup butter & decreasing flour to 3 & 1/4 Cup. I don’t like altering baking recipes, but maybe this can help.
Hyesu says
cookies look so yummy. I want to make this recipe but have a question. I heard that a measuring cup volume is different in each country. In Korea which I live, 1 cup means 200ml. Is it same with yours?
Karrie says
Hi Hyesu! Yes measuring cups have different measurements – 1 US cup means 250ml
Hyesu says
Thank you for your reply 😀 I will try this recipe tomorrow.
Leslie says
I made these tonight and baked a few and freezing the rest. They seemed a bit dry. Thinking I may have too much brown sugar. Is it packed brown sugar or just measured? Thank you
Lisa g. says
Most people are getting 20 to 22 cookies using the 4 Tbsp size scoop.
Lisa g. says
If your cookies turn out flat its because you didn’t use a high enough fat content butter. Stick with Land O’ Lakes, Challenge brand and European butters for high fat content. Also, room temp butter is ready to go when it can hold the intention print of your finger. It must not be mushy or your cookies will be flat. Also, keep your bowl scraped when mixing dough or you’ll get pockets of flour, egg, sugar & butter which makes cookies flatten & causes others to look like biscuits. And if you don’t cream your butter & sugars long enough they won’t be light & fluffy they will be flat. Usually 3-5 minutes is long enough creaming to get a double sized dough thats light & fluffy. Hope this helps!
Stephanie Adkins says
What kind of flour did you use? I just learned yesterday that there’s more than just all purpose and self rising!
Karrie says
Just all-purpose
Holly says
I found your website last week when I searched for freezer meals – and oh my gosh, I am so happy I found your amazing site! Can we be friends?! Because I think that would be fun!! 🙂
I tried this recipe this weekend – PERFECTION! I am pretty faithful to the Nestle recipe, with just a few tweaks of my own, but figured I’d give this one a try. Seriously, these cookies are magazine-worthy, picture perfect! A few things things though – my oven is gas – does that make a difference in how they might turn out? Each cookie baked perfectly round, and came out chewy and fluffy. I baked for the full 17 minutes, just because I’ve found our gas oven usually needs a few more minutes/full baking time. I am wondering if I would have baked for maybe only 15 minutes, they would have turned out more crispy on the outside? Either way – no complaints here – THANK YOU for the amazing recipe!
Cristal says
Hello! Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe!! I think this is the best choc chip cookie I’ve ever had and made ? I love how nice and plump they turn out instead of flat. Will be making this recipe for choc chip cookies from now on ??
Aida says
Hi! I have a question: Is your recipe for 32 regular cookies, or for 32 of you 4 scoop big cookies?
thanks!
Lisa g. says
Most people are getting 20 to 22 cookies out of the 4 Tbsp. size scoop.
Kelly says
I am going to make these for my wedding, so I’m going to make the dough ahead of time and freeze. I’m looking forward to eating them (based on previous comments). Any thoughts on how far in advance I can bake them and still have them taste fresh on wedding day?
Karrie says
Try to get out as much air as possible for the freshest flavors, and then you can make these ahead up to 6 months in advance! Still taste fresh and amazing!