Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe! This chocolate chip cookie recipe is made with only brown sugar and makes cookies that are the perfect blend of soft and chewy!
These Chewy Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies are easy to make!
They’re great spur-of-the-moment cookies because there is no need to soften the butter ahead of time. The dough comes together in a matter of minutes, and no chilling is required.
If you like a thicker cookie, you can refrigerate it for 30 minutes or so before baking, but no need to chill it if you don’t want to.
And the use of all brown sugar gives these cookies a deeper, richer flavor and makes for chewy cookies. So, the next time a cookie craving strikes, bake up a batch of these cookies!
What makes these cookies chewy?
- Melted butter: Using melted butter helps the cookies to come together quickly, and it also increases the chewiness.
- Brown sugar: Using only brown sugar helps to make them chewier.
- Extra egg yolk: The fat in the yolk helps to increase chewiness.
Ingredient notes and substitutions
- Butter: I use salted butter in this recipe. If you’re using unsalted butter, increase the salt by 1/4 teaspoon.
- If you want to brown the butter, you will need to use more butter because browning butter causes it to cook down. Otherwise, you will be left with a drier dough. You could also try my brown butter chocolate chip cookie recipe.
- Brown sugar: Light brown sugar or dark brown sugar will work. Dark brown sugar will give you richer, more toffee-like flavor.
- This recipe uses only brown sugar, no white sugar, in order to make the cookies chewier.
- Flour: Correctly measuring the ingredients is key! I suggest weighing the ingredients. If you aren’t going to weigh the flour, then you need to aerate it (sifting or fluffing) and then lightly spoon into the measuring cup and leveling. If you don’t want to sift or weigh the flour, please use less flour. Packing in too much flour will cause the cookies not to spread.
- Chocolate: You can substitute 4 ounces finely chopped semisweet baking chocolate for chocolate chips. This will give you a flatter cookie that spreads more.
- Feel free to use a different type of chocolate chip – semisweet chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, or even white chocolate chips will work. Chocolate chunks can also be used.
How to make chewy chocolate chip cookies
Here you’ll find step-by-step photos showing how to make this recipe. The full recipe is given below.
Step 1: Melt butter in a heavy saucepan. or in a microwave-safe bowl. The butter should be just melted. If you want to brown the butter, please see the note above in “Ingredient notes and substitutions”.
Step 2: Add brown sugar to a large bowl.
Step 3: Stir to combine butter and sugar. Let stand 5 minutes.
Step 4: Add egg and egg yolk; stir to combine. Stir in vanilla extract.
Step 5: Add flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in dry ingredients until just combined. Please see the comments about flour in the “Ingredient notes and substitutions” section.
Step 6: Stir in chocolate chips or chunks.
Step 7: Using a medium cookie scoop (1.5 tablespoon), drop scoops of dough 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet.
Step 8: Bake for about 7-10 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown. The centers should still look soft and slightly underbaked. That will help to keep the cookies soft.
Step 9: Let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Remove to wire rack to finish cooling.
Recipe Tips!
- Mixing: I suggest stirring this recipe together by hand rather than using a hand or stand mixer.
- Baking: It’s important to slightly underbake the cookies. This will give you a softer, chewier cookie.
- Oven temperature: If you’d like the cookies to spread more or brown less, decrease the oven temperature by 25F to 350F.
- Flat cookies: If your cookies are coming out too flat, cover and chill the dough for 30-60 minutes. Also, some people have had better luck using 3 cups of flour (360g).
- Topping: The cookies are great as-is, but if you like more salty/sweet flavor, sprinkle the cookies with a bit of sea salt or finishing salt.
Recipe FAQs
Yes! I recommend flash freezing the dough in scoops by placing scoops of the dough onto a baking sheet. Once the dough is frozen through, transfer the frozen balls of cookie dough to a freezer-safe container, and store in the freezer.
You can! Bake the cookies as-directed. Let the cookies cool to room temperature on a wire cooling rack. Place the cookies in a freezer-safe container, and freeze.
Storage
The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature. They will keep for up to 4 days when properly stored.
More easy cookie recipes!
If you’ve tried this chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe, don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below. I love to hear from people who’ve made my recipes!
You can subscribe to receive my latest recipe newsletters or follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest for even more delicious food.
Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour Please see the note below about measuring the flour.
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt or scant 1/2 teaspoon table salt
- 10 ounce package chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
- Melt the butter in a large microwave-safe bowl. The butter should be just melted. If you want to brown the butter, please see the note below.
- Add brown sugar, and mix in.
- Let stand 5 minutes.
- Add egg and egg yolk; stir to combine.
- Stir in vanilla extract.
- Add flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir until just combined. Please see the comments about flour in the recipe notes.
- Stir in chocolate chips.
- Using a medium cookie scoop (1.5 tablespoon), drop scoops of dough 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet.
- Bake for about 7-10 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown. The centers should still look soft and slightly underbaked. That will help to keep the cookies soft.
- Let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Remove to wire rack to finish cooling.
Notes
- Recipe change note: I recently decreased the amount of flour called for in the recipe due to product changes. The previous amount of flour called for was 3 cups or 360 grams.
- Butter: If you want to brown the butter, you will need to use more butter because browning butter causes it to cook down. Otherwise, you will be left with a drier dough.
- Flour: Correctly measuring the ingredients is key! I highly suggest weighing the ingredients. If you don’t weigh the flour, you’ll need to aerate the flour (sifting or fluffing) and then lightly spoon it into the measuring cup and level. If you don’t want to sift or weigh the flour, please use less flour. Packing in too much flour will cause the cookies not to spread.
- Can substitute 4 ounces finely chopped semisweet baking chocolate for chocolate chips.
- I suggest stirring this recipe together by hand rather than using a hand or stand mixer.
- Nutrition values are estimates.
- Love chocolate? Try the chocolate chocolate chip version of this cookie!
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?
Share it with me on Instagram @i_heart_eating and follow on Youtube @katedean and Pinterest @katedean for more!
Originally published 1/26/16.
Reader Interactions
Love this recipe?
Share your thoughts below and let’s chat! Make sure to connect with me on your favorite social platform below and show me what you made!
Comments & Reviews
Tabitha says
This is by far my favorite chocolate chip recipe. I’ve had great results from weighing the ingredients and baking for 7 minutes. They are a huge hit with everyone! I’ve noticed the grams for the flour is now missing and I don’t remember what it was? Can you please add the grams for weighing the ingredients? Thank you!!
Kate says
Hi! Thank you! If you click on “metric” right under the ingredients, it will give you the weights for the ingredients. This will also allow you to scale the weights if necessary. If you don’t see it or if it doesn’t work, please let me know!
CB says
Okay, a few pieces of advice for people struggling. I, too, had the issue of the cookies not falling and I did everything suggested. I sifted the flour, spooned it into the measuring cup, added 3tbs more butter because I browned it. The dough was really crumbly right off the bat and I knew there was too much flour. I baked one tray, they didn’t fall, so when I took them out I used the bottom of a cup to flatten them a little. To the remaining dough I added another three tablespoons of butter, melted. The consistency looked much better. Baked them, looked picture perfect. However. They just tasted strange to me. Very greasy, not appetizing. Until the next day. I think maybe they had to sit overnight because OH. MY. GOD. – the ones that were crumbly were a crunchier cookie but still OUTSTANDING (especially dunked in coffee). The second tray where I added more butter were gooey and exactly how they were supposed be. I also used chocolate chips but I chopped it up and it gave them that great chocolate flavor. Do NOT give up on this cookie if your first attempt went badly! They will be one of my go to’s!!
Kate says
Thanks for the tips! It can be difficult to give advice about issues that I haven’t had when I’m making a recipe. So, I appreciate hearing from other people who have found solutions to those issues.
Jenny F. says
Could you substitute self-raising flour for all-purpose?
Kate says
I haven’t tried it. Self-rising flour has salt and baking powder in it, so I’m not sure how that would turn out.
Rebecca says
I love this recipe and went back to make it. The weights for flour and brown sugar are missing, and I can’t remember if they were there before. It’s so tough to bake without grams! Love the recipe a ton especially as sugar is scarce now
Kate says
Hi! Totally get that! =) Right underneath the ingredients, there’s “metric” and “US customary”. If you click on “metric”, it will put up the weights for the ingredients. The reason I moved them to that was because now people can scale the recipe and the weights will change according to the serving since. If you don’t see it or if it doesn’t work, please let me know!
Rebecca H says
These were AMAZING! By far the best chocolate chips cookies I’ve ever made. (sorry for duplicate comments- it wouldn’t let me rate the first time).
Kate says
Thank you so much!! I appreciate you taking the time to comment!
Rebecca H says
These were AMAZING! By far the best chocolate chips cookies I’ve ever made.
Laura Prior says
Hi there–my daughter and I love this recipe and have made it many times. We always wonder at the two different photos–they look very different. Any reason? Thank you. We love your site. We tried to rate this 5 stars but it would not register.
Kate says
Hi! Thank you so much!! That is so nice to hear! The cookies do look different, but the only difference is that I used chopped baking chocolate in one batch and chocolate chips in the other. I found that the chopped chocolate made the cookies spread a little more and gave them a little more texture. Hope that helps! =)
Karen says
The BEST cookies EVER!!!! 10/10
Kate says
Thank you so much! =)
Lisette says
Thanks for the tip. I should have read the comments for the measurements in grams before starting the recipe.
Kate says
I also have a link right underneath the ingredients that says “metric”. You can click on that, and it will give you the weights for the ingredients, too. Please let me know if you have any other questions as you go! I try to answer questions as quickly as possible. =)
Samantha says
Best cookies yet!!! Followed the recipe exactly and they were delicious.
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that you liked them. =)
Lisette says
I also had the problem of cookie cakey balls. And, I read the directions through before I started, so I actually put in a little less than 3 cups — maybe 2-3/4ish. The other problem I had is that it was very difficult to incorporate my chocolate chunks into the dough. I always use quality ingredients and these were a disappointment. Sorry.
Kate says
Unfortunately, I don’t have a way to control the way that people measure flour, and the way that you measure flour matters. Learning proper baking techniques is important, and good baking requires precise measurements. You never want -ish measurements when baking. Unfortunately, baking isn’t like cooking where you can add a little or this or a dash or that and have it turn out well.
This is why I encourage people to weigh their ingredients. A cup of flour can weigh anywhere from 110 grams to 150+ grams. So, why does that matter? Because when you’re putting 3 cups of flour in that 40 gram difference can add up to an extra cup’s worth of flour. And that extra flour gives you a dry, crumbly dough that’s hard to work with and cookies that don’t spread.
It makes sense that you had trouble incorporating chocolate chunks into the dough if it was dry from using too much flour. Using quality ingredients is a great start, but precise measurements are really the key to getting good results when you bake.
I really hope that this helps. I know that tone doesn’t always come through in writing, but my goal is to help people figure out what didn’t work out and how to fix it for the next time so they can avoid that issue in the future.
Ashly says
Both links give me U.S. Customary as well. Can you tell me the measurements for the brown sugar and flour in grams please?
Kate says
That’s so strange! I can’t replicate it to figure out why it would do that. Here are the measurements: 227 g butter1
320 g brown sugar (packed)
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
360 g all-purpose flour2
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt (or scant 1/2 teaspoon table salt)
10 ounce package chocolate chips3
Abby A says
I just made these last week but the link had the metric measurements. Now it’s U.S. customary. I keep clicking metric but it just refreshes. Is there another link with the metric measurements?
Kate says
So, do both the “U.S. customary” and “metric” links pull U.S. customary for you?
Haley says
3 cups sifted or 3 cups unsighted flour?
Haley says
Sorry meant unsifted…
Kate says
I recommend sifting or stirring the flour before measuring to break the flour up, so 3 cups of sifted flour should work better.
McSquishy says
The whole family loves them! I use two tablespoons of the vanilla instead of one, and i use two eggs instead of 1 egg and 1 yolk. Soft and delicious!
Kate says
I’m so glad that you and your family like the cookies! =) Thanks for commenting!
Wendy says
I, too, (like ANTONIA STANCHEV) got the non-spreading ball cookies. I measured the flour by weight (360g). I did, however, melt and then brown the butter, so I thought that was the issue (?). Any ideas?
I don’t like a lot of chocolate in mine, and i added pecans was my only other changes.
Kate says
Yep! The browned butter will make a difference. When you’re browning the butter, you’re cooking it down. So, you end up with less butter, which gives you a drier dough. When I use brown butter in place of melted butter in a recipe, I find that I need to start with about 2-4 tablespoons more butter (depending on how much the recipe calls for) to get the right amount of butter after browning. I hope that helps! =)
Joanna says
Should we use salted or unsalted butter in this recipe?
Thank you!
Kate says
Hi! I use salted butter. You can use unsalted, but I would increase the salt by about 1/4-1/2 teaspoon depending on how sweet you like your cookies to be.
Antonia Stanchev says
It could be just my error but did anyone else’s come out like the ball they formed? Mine never flattened and I couldn’t get the center to cook all the way without burning the bottoms. They also just didn’t taste like a chocolate chip cookie. It may be because they weren’t really cooked in the center but it just tasted bleh and kind of off putting. Not knocking the recipe because it is so simple and it seems like people are having success. I’m just wondering what I did wrong.
Kate says
Hi! What you’re describing (not spreading, not cooking through, lack of flavor) is all the result of having too much flour in the dough. How do you measure your flour? I think if we can get the flour ratio right in your dough, then you’ll see much different results. =)
Sinead Corrins says
My go to recipe all the time, whenever I make them people alway comment on how good they are, I use 2x150g bars of chocolate in mine, one milk and one dark chocolate and the result is perfect, I’m making a batch just now for a peer support group I’m attending tomorrow, so hopefully they go down a treat as per usual ?
Kate says
Yay!! That’s awesome! I’m really glad that the recipe is working so well for you. Thanks for commenting!
Linda G says
Very good 5 stars. Easy to make.
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that you liked the cookies. =)