Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

These soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies come out of the oven with set edges and centers that stay tender as they cool. After years of vegetarian baking, I’ve learned the texture is decided before the tray goes in, so the recipe depends on softened butter, two kinds of sugar, and a light hand at the mixer.

The one thing most people get wrong is flour. Three cups is right for this dough, but scoop it packed, and you tip a chewy cookie into a dry, cakey one. Spoon it into the cup and level it off, and you’re most of the way there.

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Brown sugar keeps the middle moist and chewy, and granulated sugar crisps the edge.
• Start to finish in about 20 minutes, with no dough chilling step to wait on.
• One bowl of dry, one bowl of wet, then folded together, so cleanup is short.
• The dough takes add-ins well if you want to make it your own, without changing the bake.
• They keep for days and freeze raw as dough balls, so you can bake a few at a time.

Ingredients You’ll Need

You’ll need all the ingredients shown in the photograph below.

• All-purpose flour. Three cups give these cookies their structure. Spoon it into the measuring cup and level it off rather than scooping straight from the bag, which packs in extra flour and is the single most common reason cookies turn out cakey instead of chewy.
• Light brown sugar. Packed, and doing the heavy lifting on texture. The molasses in it holds moisture, which is what keeps the centers soft. I use a full cup here alongside the granulated sugar rather than using white sugar alone.
• Granulated sugar. Balances the brown sugar and helps the edges take on a little crispness and color.
• Unsalted butter. Softened to room temperature so it creams properly with the sugars. Unsalted lets you control the salt yourself. If your butter is still cool and firm, the sugars won’t work into it, and the dough turns dense.
• Eggs. Two large, at room temperature, to bind the dough and add richness. Cold eggs seize the creamed butter, so let them sit out with the butter beforehand.
• Baking soda and baking powder. A teaspoon of soda and half a teaspoon of powder together give a modest rise, enough to keep the cookies from going flat without puffing them into little cakes.
• Vanilla extract. Two teaspoons for warmth and depth behind the chocolate.
• Chocolate chips. Two cups, and more than a flavor note. The chips give the dough something to hold onto, so don’t skimp. I use semi-sweet, but any chips you like will work.

How to Make Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

A complete printable recipe and the measurements in both US customary and metric are available in the recipe card below.

Heat the Oven and Mix the Dry Ingredients

Heat your oven to 375°F. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, then set it aside. Combining the leaveners and salt through the flour now means they distribute evenly once the dough comes together.

Cream the Butter and Sugars

In a separate bowl, cream the softened butter with both sugars until light. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until the mixture looks fluffy. This is where air gets worked into the dough, so take it far enough to lighten but not so far that it turns greasy.

Add the Dry Ingredients and Fold in the Chocolate

Add the dry mixture to the wet and mix only until combined, with no streaks of flour left. Overmixing here builds gluten and firms the cookies up, so stop as soon as it comes together. Fold in the chocolate chips until they’re evenly spread through the dough.

Scoop, Space, and Bake

Scoop or roll the dough into balls of about 2 tablespoons each, and set them roughly 1½ inches apart so they have room to spread without running into each other.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the cookies are only just turning brown at the edges. Pull them then, even if the centers still look soft. Leave them on the sheet for a few minutes to finish setting, then move them to a cooling rack.

Recipe Notes and Expert Tips

• Pull them early. The cookies keep cooking on the hot sheet after they leave the oven, so take them out when the edges are golden, and the centers still look underdone. That carryover is what gives you a chewy center instead of a crisp one.
• Measure flour by spooning, not scooping. Dragging the cup through the bag compacts the flour and adds more than the recipe intends, which is what turns a chewy cookie cakey. Spoon it in and level the top.
• Don’t overcrowd the sheet. Give the dough balls their space. Set them too close, and they spread into each other and bake unevenly.
• Room-temperature butter and eggs matter. Cool butter won’t cream, and cold eggs seize it. Both at room temperature give you a smooth dough that bakes evenly.

Recipe Variations

• For a bit of crunch, I’ve stirred a cup of chopped toasted walnuts or pecans in with the chocolate plenty of times; the nuts don’t change the bake time, so it stays an easy swap or addition when I want more texture.
• I often swap the chips for chopped dark chocolate when I want pools of melted chocolate rather than whole pieces; it melts and spreads a little more through the dough, which I like.
• A warm note of cinnamon works here too, about half a teaspoon whisked into the flour. This one I haven’t tested in this exact dough, but it’s a small dry addition that won’t affect how the cookies bake.

How to Store Leftovers

Store the baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days; a slice of bread tucked in the container helps keep them soft. For longer storage, freeze the baked cookies in a sealed container for up to 3 months and thaw at room temperature.

Freezing raw dough is a separate make-ahead step, done before baking rather than after. Scoop the dough into balls, freeze them solid on a tray, then bag them and bake straight from frozen, adding a minute or two to the time.

What to Serve With Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Warm from the oven, these need little more than a cold glass of milk. When I’m putting out a spread of sweets, I’ll set them alongside a batch of double chocolate chip cookies for the deeper cocoa lovers, and some soft peanut butter cookies so there’s a change of flavor on the plate. If it’s a holiday table, a tray of festive Christmas sugar cookies rounds things out.

FAQs

More Dessert Recipes to Bake Next

If this batch goes fast, here’s where I’d head next.

• Soft spiced gingerbread cookies. These are what I make once the weather turns, for the warmth of the spice.
• Sugar cookies made without butter. The ones I bake when I’ve run the butter down and still want something sweet.
• Christmas tree sugar cookies recipe. This gives the kids something to ice for a decorating afternoon.
• Moist banana chocolate chip muffins. They use up the same bag of chips for a softer, breakfast-leaning bake.