This chocolate chip cookie recipe is so good you’ll fall in love at first bite. The cookies have a hint of salt, so they don’t come off too sweet. They’re chewy with slightly crispy edges. They have deeply developed flavors with nutty notes of brown butter. They truly are exceptional. The best part? You don’t need fancy ingredients, just a few tricks.

How To Make A Better Chocolate Chip Cookie
Here are my Top 5 Tips to slay the chocolate chip cookie game:
- Brown your butter. This one step adds a deep, nutty flavor that takes the humble chocolate chip cookie to a whole new level.
- Sift your flour. Humidity and packaging affect the volume of flour. If you don’t use a scale, get a correct measurement by sifting it first.
- Use granulated sugar and brown sugar. Granulated sugar adds color and crispness, while brown sugar makes the dough moist and chewy.
- Rest your dough. Chilling the dough uncovered helps create a dough with concentrated flavors, a firm texture with less spread, and deeper browns.
- Use an oven thermometer. Most ovens can be off by up to 50°. A cheap thermometer can be the difference between a cookie win and a big, fat fail.

How To Cool Chocolate Chip Cookies
Never remove cookies from a sheet pan right out of the oven. They are still very soft and are likely to break. Instead, leave them on the sheet pan for five or so minutes and then use a spatula to place them on a cooling rack.
How To Store Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cookies should be cold to the touch before storing. Placing a warm cookie in an air-tight container will make it mushy, and you worked too hard for that. Once cooled, place them in an air-tight container lined with a paper towel. Separate layers with wax paper to prevent them from sticking together. Top the final layer of cookies with plastic wrap to reduce exposure to air. They will last at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. Refrigerating baked cookies will dry them out. Instead, for longer storage, freeze them for up to 3 months.
Can You Freeze THIS Cookie Dough?
Absolutely! Portion the dough with a small cookie scoop or in 2 tablespoon-sized cookie dough balls. Freeze them on a sheet pan with a bit of separation so they don’t stick together. Once they are frozen solid, add the dough balls to a freezer-safe bag and remove as much air as possible. If using a container, top each layer of dough balls with plastic wrap to prevent exposure to air.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients
- 12 Tbsp salted butter* ($1.50)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar* ($0.22)
- 1/4 cup granulated white sugar* ($0.08)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract ($0.57)
- 2 eggs ($0.42)
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour ($0.18)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda ($0.03)
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips ($1.58)
Instructions
- In a light-colored, heavy-bottomed pan, melt the butter over medium heat until the solids separate and turn golden brown.
- Place the brown butter in a large bowl to cool for a few minutes. When it is no longer steaming hot, set the bowl in the fridge or freezer until it hardens.
- Once the butter has hardened,break it apart and add the brown and white sugar to the bowl.
- Use a hand mixer (or elbow grease) to cream the butter and the sugars on low speed until incorporated.
- Add the vanilla extract and one egg to the bowl. Mix on low speed until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the second egg. Mix on low speed until combined, and scrape down the bowl again.
- In a separate bowl, combine the all-purpose flour and baking soda.
- Pour half of the flour mixture into the creamed butter mixture and mix on low speed until it barely comes together. Next, scrape down the sides of the bowl, add in the remaining flour, and mix on low speed until a dough forms.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the chocolate chips. Mix until the chocolate chips are interspersed evenly throughout the dough.
- Roll 2-tablespoon portions of dough into balls and place them 2 inches apart on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Chill the dough in your refrigerator, uncovered, for at least an hour, but preferably overnight.
- When ready to bake, place a rack in the middle of your oven and preheat it to 350°F. Press the chilled cookie dough balls down with two fingers.
- Bake the cookies for 4 minutes. Rotate the sheet pan, front to back. Bake for an additional 4 minutes, until the edges are a light golden brown. Let the cookies cool on the sheet pan for at least 5 minutes before taking them off and cooling them on a rack.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
Notes
Nutrition

How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies – Step by Step Photos

In a light-colored, heavy-bottomed pan, melt the 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) of butter over medium heat. When it starts to foam, the milk solids will separate from the water in little specks. Continue to cook the solids until they have turned golden brown. The air will smell of hazelnuts.

Once the butter has been browned, immediately remove it from the heat and place it in a bowl to cool for a few minutes. Once it is no longer steaming hot, set the bowl in the fridge or freezer until the brown butter cools to a softened butter consistency.

Once the butter has cooled and solidified into a mousse-like consistency, add the 1/2 cup of brown sugar and the 1/4 cup of granulated white sugar to the bowl.

Use a hand mixer (or elbow grease) to cream the butter and the sugars on low speed until incorporated.

Add the teaspoon of vanilla extract and one egg to the bowl. Mix on low speed until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the second egg. Mix on low speed until combined, and scrape down the bowl again.

In a separate bowl, combine the 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour and 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda.

Pour half of the flour mixture into the creamed butter mixture and mix on low speed until it barely comes together. Next, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add in the remaining flour. Continue to mix on low speed until the dough barely comes together. Do not over-mix, as this will give you a tough cookie.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add 1 cup of chocolate chips. Mix until the chocolate chips are interspersed evenly throughout the dough.

Roll 2-tablespoon portions of dough into balls and place them 2 inches apart on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Chill the dough in your refrigerator, uncovered, for at least an hour, but preferably overnight.

When ready to bake, place a rack in the middle of your oven and preheat it to 350°F. Press the chilled cookie dough balls down with two fingers.

Bake the cookies for 4 minutes. Rotate the sheet pan, front to back. Bake for an additional 4 minutes, until the edges are a light golden brown. Let the cookies cool on the sheet pan for at least 5 minutes before taking them off and cooling them on a rack.

Reduced the cookie size to 1 TH and 8 minutes was WAAAY too little time. Increased to 10-11 minutes even with less dough to get to doneness seen in photo.
Hi, Barb Alli! Sorry the recipe didn’t turn out for you. Do you frequently have this problem with your oven? We tested this recipe quite a few times to ensure success, which leads me to wonder: have you checked your oven’s temperature calibration? It’s very common for ovens to run up to 50*F hotter/colder than the set temperature. You can check this easily with an oven thermometer, which can be found in the kitchen tools section of your supermarket or on Amazon. Once you know your oven, you can adjust the temperatures in recipes from there. — Marion :)
I’m running into the same issue now! Been baking them for about 10 minutes and they’re still not close to ready (2 tbsp each). I wonder if they got too cold in my fridge? I’ll keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t over-bake.
How much flour should we use if measuring by weight?
Hi, Lynnie! I’m new to Budget Bytes and come from a background in pastry — and while it’s not something we expect from all of our readers, I definitely prefer to use a scale to measure ingredients when baking! My go-to app (for iPhone) is called Kitchen Pro. I think it costs a few dollars, but it is well worth it!
While we have not tested these measurements here in our kitchen, and I can’t promise you will achieve the exact same results as the tested recipe, I’ve done some conversions for you using the app mentioned above for this chocolate chip cookie recipe:
– 188g AP Flour
– 110g brown sugar
– 50g white sugar
Let me know how it goes!
Best, Marion :)
I also use this chart from King Arthur, it has weights for common ingredients:
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart
Great resource! Thanks for sharing!
— Marion:)
These look great! If you freeze the dough, do you need to thaw before baking? And, if so, can it thaw on the counter or should it be in the fridge?
I would definitely thaw it in the fridge so that it thaws and bakes more evenly. Cooking straight from the freezer might cause the center to be slightly under cooked and the outside edges to be overcooked, but I haven’t tested it to know for sure!