Seriously, the easiest chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made. Melted butter, one bowl, no mixer, no chilling. Soft and chewy homemade cookies, every time.
I’ve had a go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe for a long time. Like, since I was 12. This is not that.
This is better.
The thing about homemade chocolate chip cookies is that everyone loves them, but no one can agree on the correct recipe.
For some people, that may not even be a question that’s relevant — i.e., why would you bother arguing about it when we could have scooped pre-made dough out of a Toll House tub and baked it by now — but since you’re reading this, I’m guessing you’re not one of those people.
So let’s talk about it.
What makes a great chocolate chip cookie recipe
I’ve done a fair amount of reading about chocolate chip cookies. They’re deceptively simple, yet they require the building of complex flavor and can be extremely finicky.
Recipe authors have suggested using bread flour because of its higher protein content (and thus better chewiness), adding an extra egg yolk for richer flavor, browning the butter (because ok, brown butter is delicious), chilling the dough for 2 days to build more flavor, using a mixture of super expensive chopped dark chocolate instead of chocolate chips so it melts throughout, adding cornstarch to keep cookies thick, various ratios of brown sugar to white sugar for optimal flavor and softness…I could go on, but doesn’t it seem like a cookie this simple, this classic, should not be so complicated???
The problems don’t stop there, though.
Once you’ve decided on a certain recipe, there is the method, and it must be done correctly or else your cookies may suck.
Creaming soft (but not too soft) butter and sugar. At a certain speed, for a certain time. Adding 1 (or 2??) eggs, which are at room temperature of course (because everyone thinks that far ahead).
Adding just enough flour and not mixing it too much, otherwise you’ll overdevelop the gluten and your cookies will be too dense. Chilling the dough for an hour, or two hours, or two days, depending on your recipe. Scooping and rolling precise little mounds.
Bah!
My other major gripe about most chocolate chip cookie recipes is how MANY cookies they make. I don’t know about you, but I don’t need 3-4 dozen cookies from one recipe, and I resent the fact that I have to keep pulling sheets in and out of the oven for 45 minutes.
When you live in a small apartment, there’s only so many places to put cooling cookies. I admit that it’s not a terrible problem to have, but still.
All of this is to say, that one night I was really, really craving cookies (as one does) and really didn’t want to go through the aforementioned rigamarole. I just wanted soft, melty, chewy cookies, NOW.
So I cut my normal recipe in half, threw caution to the wind and melted the butter, stirred everything together with a fork in one bowl, and hoped for the best. And honestly….they weren’t the best I’d ever had, but they weren’t bad. They spread more than I’d have liked, but certainly didn’t suffer in the way I’d assumed they would.
So I started tinkering.
Like the annoying recipe authors I mentioned before, I tinkered with the brown/white sugar ratio, and added flour to make up for the moisture of the melted butter. I increased the salt because it sets off the chocolate sweetness so well.
And after a couple rounds of testing (poor us), I came up with what I consider to be the easiest homemade chocolate chip cookie recipe there is.
Here’s why these are the easiest chocolate chip cookies:
- You use melted butter – no waiting around for butter to soften.
- You stir everything together in one bowl – no mixer necessary.
- Because you’re stirring by hand, you’re very unlikely to over-mix the dough (a common cookie problem).
- NO CHILLING REQUIRED! Hallelujah.
- The recipe makes only 20 cookies! No waiting around for an hour for all your cookies to be done.
I’ve now made it at least 5 times, in a number of temperature and time circumstances, and it hasn’t failed me yet. That’s more than I can say for most cookie recipes I’ve tried, to be honest.
I gave my friend Colleen a plate of them for her birthday, and her text the next day says it all: “These are the BEST DAMN COOKIES I’VE EVER HAD!!!”
I couldn’t agree more.
Common Questions:
This has everything to do with how you measure your flour, and how little or how much of it there is. I strongly recommend weighing your flour using a kitchen scale, as that will yield the most consistent results. If you don’t want to, however, you can also use the “spoon and level” method to accurately measure flour. Use a spoon to gently place flour into your cup until you reach the top, then level it off with a knife. Don’t pack it in, don’t shake the cup to settle it, don’t scoop the flour directly from the bag with your cup – this will be too much flour and your cookies will not spread correctly!
First, make sure you added the full 1 and 1/2 cups of flour! The dough should be just a touch softer than standard cookie dough. If you think your dough is much more liquid than that, stir in another 2 or 3 tablespoons of flour, then refrigerate the dough for half an hour before scooping and baking. This should fix the problem! Try not to add too much flour, as you don’t want the cookies to be dry.
I mostly use Bob’s Red Mill’s all-purpose flour, but I also like King Arthur Flour. Note that if you use White Lily or a similar soft, lower protein wheat flour, you will need to add more flour a tablespoon at a time (up to 1/4 cup or 30 grams more) until your dough gets to a cookie dough consistency. This is because lower protein wheat flours (designed for light and fluffy biscuits and cakes) absorb less moisture than higher protein, hard wheat flours. Your cookies will still be delicious but just require a little adjustment!
Yes, but I recommend making two separate batches, rather than doubling the ingredients in one bowl. The reason for this is that if you double the ingredients in one bowl, you’re doubling the volume but not the surface area, which means more heat will be retained by the batter and you’ll have flat, spread-out cookies. For this reason, I recommend making two separate batches, but if you must double everything in one bowl, I would recommend chilling the dough for at least an hour before scooping.
The Easiest Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter (113g; 1 stick)
- ½ cup brown sugar, packed (100g)
- ¼ cup granulated (white) sugar (50g)
- 1 large egg (cold or room temperature, both are fine)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (188g – see notes below on how to measure flour correctly without a scale)
- ½ cup chocolate chips (85g; more if desired)
- Coarse sea salt, for sprinkling (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large microwave-safe bowl (or a small saucepan on the stove), heat the butter until just melted. Whisk in the two sugars until thoroughly combined (I like to use a fork as my whisk). Let the mixture cool for a minute, then whisk in the egg and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over top of the mixture and stir in, then add the flour and stir it in until fully combined and a smooth dough is formed. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Drop the dough by rounded tablespoons (if you have it, a #40 tablespoon cookie scoop is perfect for this) onto cookie sheets, about 2 inches apart. The dough should make approximately 20 cookies worth.
- If desired, sprinkle additional coarse sea salt over top of the cookies (you can also do this after they’re baked). Bake for 9-10 minutes. NOTE: the cookies will look underdone, but they’ll firm up as they sit.
- Let cookies cool on sheet for at least 5 minutes, then cool completely on a rack. Store, tightly covered, at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Notes
Like this recipe? Please rate it and leave a comment or tag me on Instagram @katiebirdbakes, and sign up for my email list to receive my recipes straight to your inbox every time I post!
This is a fantastic recipes. I did have to bake mine closer to 14 mins, but other than that it was so accurate. It actually yielded 20 cookies and the whole experience was truly easy.
Thank you Alex – I am so happy you enjoyed the recipe!
Hi Katie, these were delicioso & super easy to make. Question for you though, do you have the nutrition facts for them? I believe I used the same scooper as you. Please let me know if you do, thank you!
Katie,
I’ve been searching YEARS for the perfect ccc! My gosh, this recipe is soooo good and super easy! Chewy and chocolatey – just perfect. You made me excited about baking again 🙂
Thank you, thank you!!!! 🙂
I’m never going to bother using any other chocolate chip cookie recipe. I’m a proficient home baker but always struggle with choc chip cookies, partially because I hate creaming butter and sugar – these were perfect!
Unfortunately these turned out puffy and almost a muffin texture for me. Maybe I over-stirred?
Mine definitely also look more like the ones in the video than the photos but still delicious! Curious what change yielded the very photogenic results.
Hi Bridget – just add some extra chocolate chips to the tops of the cookies before baking! That’s it. Then I sprinkled the sea salt on the cookies after they were baked. Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Mine didn’t spread at all! They remained almost perfect gobs. I was worried they were underdone also but they did turn out fine. They aren’t a super sweet cookie, which is a change from what I’m used to, or maybe I undermeasured my sugars? This was very simple to make and batter had perfect consistency. Thank you!
Thank you Samantha – you’re right, these aren’t the sweetest of cookies. You can always add more chocolate chips to compensate 🙂
Thank you so much! I don’t have a mixer and I’ve been struggling to get my cookies to turn out right with every other recipe I’ve tried. This one worked perfectly the first time and my husband is very happy.
My 18 year old son reckons these are THE BEST cookies ever; and they remind him of the Subway ones. I stuffed a large cookie jar with 41 of the beauties – I know they won’t last long with a long weekend coming up and visitors and family arriving, and taking some (if there are some left!!) on a trip to see other family. Thankyou for your awesome recipe😋
Oh my goodness, thank you for the wonderful review Mary! I am so glad you and your family loved them!
Hello Ketie, thanks for the recipe. It looks so tasty! I will try it very soon. It would be perfect if we could know the exact grams of every ingredient, as the cup meter is so variable. Thanks!
I will work on that! I hope you love the recipe.
Mine spread which I was hoping wouldn’t happen. It’s why I chose this recipe. I’m not a novice baker, and I had an oven thermometer and cookie scoop. I was Leary of the melted butter without chilling, but maybe next time I will add just a little more flour. Barely melted the butter and the batter was still on the thin and not thicker side. Try again… Who hates trying recipes right? Lol. Not my family!!! Easy. Definitely! Even though they spread, they tlstill look delicious. Like bigger bakery style cookies… So that’s not a bad thing at all. Taste… Haven’t made it that far, and I can only have a bite… I need gluten and sugar free 😐
Hi Jackie – I am sorry these didn’t work the way you wanted them to. I would suggest adding up to 1/4 cup additional flour if you are having spreading issues. Alternatively, you could chill the batter for an hour before scooping and baking to prevent spreading. I hope you have better results the next time!
Tried it today! So easy to make for newbie like me.
I may want it to be less chewier though, and I like it to have chocolate aroma. Would it work if I change the brown sugar to 1/4 cup and 1/4 cup of cocoa powder?
Thanks for your recipe!
Hi Van – so glad you enjoyed these! I wouldn’t reduce the sugar but you could use 1/4 cup of cocoa powder and reduce the flour to 1 1/4 cup.
Hi Katie,
Thankfully I asked before I try it haha. Alright, I will do a second batch soon.
I gave the first batch for my boyfriend and he likes them!
I’m hooked! Thanks for your recipe!
My husband and I made these today as a quick but sweet treat after a long work week. They turned out amazing! Our oven is older so we needed to bake them two minutes longer but they were great afterward! Thanks for recommending these!
Yay!! So glad you enjoyed these Chelsea – thank you!
This recipe is a pass-down for generations chocolate chip cookie recipe… 👅👅👅 I don’t throw this statement around: this is THE BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE EVER. Happy to say that there is no need to try another recipe. I have found “the one.” 🙌 Well done!!👏👏 No doubt I will continue to follow this blog and try more of your recipes.!
BRIT! Thank you so so much for this amazing review. It means so much and I am so happy that you love this recipe!!
These were so wonderful and quick and easy!
Thank you Melissa! So excited that you enjoyed these!
I tried it twice so far and I wanna keep it. But I’m able to taste the baking soda. U know a weird taste. Can u plz help me to get rid of it?
Hi GK, I’m not sure I understand the question. You can use baking powder instead if you want to try that – use 1.5 teaspoons of baking powder.