These are the best chocolate chip cookies in the world. I know this is a bold statement, but hey, I'm a professional.
I have shared this recipe for almost 20 years, to whomever wants it. It's the only recipe I know off the top of my head, and I have texted it, emailed it, shared in social situations (literally standing around at parties I get asked for it) and on phone calls, more times than I can count. Here it is for YOU!
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Winning Chocolate Chip Cookies
I attended a chocolate chip cookie contest last year. There was a lot expected of me because I cook for a living. Since I always make these cookies for friends, I decided to create another, different recipe.
I laminated flaked chocolate into a rich dough enhanced with molasses. Chilled it overnight and baked each one perfectly. I loved it and thought it would win. It didn't!
You know who won? My friend Nikki. You know what recipe she used? THIS recipe. This very recipe you're looking at right now! I had given it to her years before. She made my recipe, and won the contest with it! (So can I say I won? By association maybe.)
Find out why the best chocolate chip cookies in the world are shared all over the globe, win contests, and are everyone's go-to cookie!
My favorite baking sheets for chocolate chip cookies: Calphalon Baking Sheet
My favorite measuring cups for baking: Stacking Measuring Cups
My favorite teaspoons because they fit in small jars! Spring Chef Measuring Spoons
The secret to perfect chocolate chip cookies
I created this recipe in college and have tweaked and perfected it over the years. To me it is the best chocolate chip cookie in the world. When done just right it is soft, with a tiny bit of chewy gooey in the middle and a little buttery, sugary crunch right around the edges.
- I changed the ratio of brown sugar and white sugar to include more brown sugar. This gives the cookies a hint of dark sugar flavor and keeps them chewy and soft. In fact for a fun twist you can even swap in a little dark brown sugar for the light brown sugar!
- I also mixed semi sweet and milk chocolate chips. Now I know there are going to be some naysayers here. Those of you who are committed to their mother's recipe--the cookies they grew up with, that had either just milk chocolate or semi sweet chocolate chips. But I'll argue a mix anytime. Bring it on! The mix, to me, is perfection. I love the sweetness and rich chocolate flavor the milk chips bring. But I need that punch of dark chocolate to balance it all out. Oh it's heaven!
- Adding loads of vanilla extract also enhances these cookies to perfection. I don't use the typical 1 teaspoon. Up it to 1 tablespoon and you'll get a good, balanced flavor.
Chilling cookie dough
It's not needed, but if you let the dough sit in the fridge overnight (or keep a batch in there for a week like I do) it mellows and becomes like a chewy bakery cookie. Really delicious. Just increase your baking time when the dough is cold.
It's just fine if you bake these cookies right away, and eat plenty of dough as you go!
Make these Chocolate Chip Cookies Gluten-Free!
Make them gluten-free by simply swapping the all-purpose wheat flour for a fine, all-purpose gluten-free flour like Cup4Cup. I've had the best success with that brand!
Check out what's cooking on other pages of Tara Teaspoon:
Coconut Key Lime Pie Bars - This twist on a classic pie recipe is to die for.
Korean BBQ Chicken Skewers - Delish, easy and great for a family dinner.
Orange Nut Swirled Bread - Use frozen bread dough to make this easy!
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) unsalted butter softened
- 1 ½ cups light brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 pkg 2 cups milk chocolate chips
- 1 pkg 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
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Heat oven to 350ºF. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside. In a separate mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and mix. Add the flour mixture, a little at a time, and mix. Stir in chocolate chips.
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Bake at 350ºF. Medium and small cookies bake until golden around the edges and just set in the center, 10 to 12 min. Don't overcook! They continue cooking on the pan out of the oven. Let cool slightly (if you can wait) and remove from pan.
This recipe is large. If you don't bake all of it, the dough is great for freezing or can be stored in the fridge for up to a week.
I use Cup4Cup for gluten free cookies
I've had a few other good cookies lately. If you're in the baking mood try some out.
Black Sesame Chocolate Chip Cookies
Levain Bakery Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookie
If you like these, you'll love my other baking recipes! Check out one of my most popular cakes: Pumpkin Cake Roll With Toffee Cream Cheese Filling
Recipe by Tara Bench. Photographs primarily by Ty Mecham. Chocolate Chips from Graphicstock.com. Reproductions should not be made without permission.
Rumannah says
Tried this recipe twice and it came out AMAZING both times!! Definitely is the best choc chip cookies in the world ??❤️ Just two questions: how big do you usually make the cookies? And do you grease your baking tray? Thanks
Tara says
I'm so glad they were a hit! I make mine with approximately 3 tablespoons of dough. It's not exact. Sometimes I use a cookie scoop and sometimes just grab dough with my fingers. I also like to make them mini, about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough. No I don't grease my baking sheets. I bake on sheets of parchment 99% of the time so it makes for a non-stick surface and easy cleanup.
Karolina Lipnik says
I had to come back today and leave a review for these cookies! I came across this recipe on Dec 24th when I was looking to make cookies with my 3 year old for Santa.
This recipe is titled very accurately, it is the absolutely best chocolate chip cookie.
Now I did have a couple things I did different only due to the lack of ingredients on hand.
Used old fashioned brown sugar and cane sugar and I only had 3/4 of a bag of semi sweet chocolate chips.
Even with those subs these cookies are awesome. Now this morning my husband and I can't stop eating them solely due to their taste.
Thank you for sharing this great recipe !
Tara Teaspoon says
So great to hear you and your family enjoyed this recipe as much as I do! Happy New Year. Tara
Alicia says
Made these just now! They are great for my pregnancy cravings because they are perfect, not too sweet. Amazing. Thank you for sharing!!❤️
Tara says
Oh this is the best thing to hear! So glad you liked them. And congratulations on the little one, so exciting! That little baby will come out liking chocolate chip cookies!
Brittany Smart says
These really are the best chocolate chip cookies in the world!!
Margie says
I just made these they look nothing like your picture, followed exact instruction:(
Tara says
Hi Margie, There are a lot of factors that may play into that! The darkness of your brown sugar. Whether you chilled the dough before baking, or not, etc. Tell me a bit more about the difference or if they were unsatisfactory.
Mary Bench says
Everyone in my neighborhood makes these!!!! THE BEST!
Tessa says
Um, YES! These ARE the best chocolate chip cookies ever! I love the milk chocolate chips with the semi-sweet chocolate chips! Keep the chocolate coming!
Tara says
Oh good! they are delish, I agree!
Shirley Morgan says
Oh my gosh! These cookies are the bomb! They don't go flat and they taste amazing. Thank you!
Tara says
Shirley you just made my day! I'm so happy you love them like I do!!!
Julie says
These were delicious however mine didn’t spread and are little nuggets. Any suggestions?
Tara says
Hi Julie! Yes, I have a solution based on your description. I don't specify how to measure flour because I am not a technical baking website. However, in my experience, if you did not change any other elements in the recipe, the nugget issue would be because of the flour. Your flour may have been settled in your container, or scooped into your measuring cup. Both of these could result in quite a few tablespoons or ounces of extra flour, making the batter dry. I often fluff or sift my flour and then spoon the flour into my cup. If you want to be fail-safe: The weight of your flour should equal 120g (or 4 1/4 ounces) per cup. If you haven't baked them all, you can knead in a few tablespoons of water or milk and chill the dough overnight. They should be more chewy cookies after that. Hope this helps.
Jennifer says
I’m excited to try this recipe! My kids are severely allergic to dairy (I used to be such a butter snob!). Should I substitute the butter with margarine or butter-flavored shortening?
Hayley says
I've made this recipe a few times, it has become my go-to cookie recipe. The first time I tried it, I was in awe. The next time I wanted to make cookies I tried a new NYT recipe that came out and I found myself longing for *this* recipe while eating the other cookie (imagine that!!! craving a cookie while eating a cookie...). I found myself comparing it to this recipe.
I now only make this one, and have stuck to refrigerating the dough for a full week. The cookies are...to die for. There is nothing like them. I roll the dough into cookie "balls" and freeze them (because this recipe is huge). It makes the perfect snack, just baking a cookie or two at a time.
This time I'm going to try replacing 1 cup of bread flour and see how they come out.
Amanda says
I had high hopes for these! Unfortunately they didn’t turn out for me like they’re pictured. I used GF all-purpose flour (Namaste) which is likely why, but otherwise I followed the recipe exactly. They tasted very “flour-y” and didn’t spread out/turn golden at all. Bummer! (I used lightly sifted flour so didn’t over measure on that.) Any ideas as to why? I baked 2 versions with big scoops vs smaller scoops that were flattened out and still turned out the same.
Tara says
Oh Amanda I'm so sorry! I did a little investigating because I've made them GF a lot with success. I'll be honest, I've always used Cup4Cup GF all-purpose flour. I looked at Namaste brand and it seems to have a ton more tapioca starch than Cup4Cup. This could be a big reason for the cookies lack of spreading. Namaste would probably be great for quick breads and biscuits though! I hope you'll try them again if you ever get Cup4Cup. In the meantime it makes a ton of cookie dough, so if you have any leftover press it into a pie tin or square baking pan about an inch high and bake it as a cookie bar, don't over bake it. Should be a tasty bar with that texture. Thanks for letting me know your issues.
John Rohde says
Hi Tara - We are sheltering in place - looked for a chocolate chip cookie recipe and found yours - made your recipe two days ago and the family went nuts and demanded I make them yesterday - so good!!! Thanks
John
Tara Teaspoon says
Your family has amazing taste! I have to admit, I think these are the best chocolate chip cookies ever! Enjoy and stay well - Tara
Kirsten says
Hello! Me and my 6 year old have been looking for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe and were so excited to try this one, unfortunately, the cookies didn’t spread out at all and aren’t very chewy. I did use all dark brown sugar (that’s all we keep at home) and I did not sift my floor, just scooped it out of the bag with the 1 cup measuring cup. Are either of these possible the culprit? We had super high hopes because the dough was delicious to eat raw! As the dough was sitting in the bowl while the first batch cooked it did start to dry out and get quite crumbly.
Tara says
Kristen yes! Thanks for walking me through your process. By not fluffing the flour or lightly spooning it into your measuring cup, I'm afraid that would be the culprit. Everyone measures flour differently for sure. These cookies are somewhat forgiving so I don't include a lesson on flour measuring in the post. But anytime you scoop flour right our of your bag you are running the risk of adding a lot of excess flour. Several tablespoons extra with each cup, because it has settled and compacted down into the bag. With four cups of flour in the recipe, that may be a lot of extra flour. To insure your flour is being measured correctly you could sift the flour before measuring it. I hope this helps. I am glad you liked the dough! The other tip is to let the dough rest in the fridge overnight. I wrap mine in plastic to keep it from drying out. The flour will absorb the moisture in the dough and be more balanced.