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!
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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
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Originally published 1/26/16.
Reader Interactions
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Comments & Reviews
Benjamin says
I am by no means a baker- I can cook but baking is a very hit or miss field for me. I forgot to buy cookies this week and I crave a sweet treat once in a while at home. I remembered we had flour so I went looking for recipes with no white sugar since we rarely keep it in the house. I had to use almond extract but I just used half the amount that would be used for the vanilla! Ugh they taste so good! My cookies usually end up a little hard (but edible) but these cake out fantastic! And I can just come back to this next time I wanna make some chocolate chip cookies since I really don’t wanna go out to get white sugar.
Kate says
I’m so glad that they worked out well for you! And I’m sure that the almond extract did add a little something extra. =) Thanks for commenting!
Susan says
LOVE this easy recipe. I don’t bake or cook well. Tried this recipe as was trying toake my version of the drop cookies that look like a fallen cookie, with rings around it. I drop the cookies twice; once halfway through baking and then again when finished cooking.
The dropping of pan on counter or stovetop, makes them ‘flatten’ and thin out, with the center being just a bit gooey.
Soooooo good. I also brown the butter, and add a touch of sea salt to tops of cookies.
A boyfriend said they were his all-time favorite!
Thank you!
Kate says
How interesting! Was it the pan banging cookies? I’ll have to give that a try!
Yana says
Hi! Can I make the dough ahead and freeze it? If yes, when it’s time to bake should I pop it inside the oven right away? And will there be changes on baking time and temperature ? :) Thanks so much! Excited to try thesee
Kate says
You can! I scoop it and then freeze it. I place the frozen scoops on a baking sheet while the oven preheats to let them come up a bit in temp before baking. You may find that you need to add an additional minute or two, but I would check at the given baking time and go from there. No need to adjust the temperature. Hope that helps!
Jen says
These cookies are amazing! I’ve made them so many times, and they have turned out delicious. The last time I made them they were a bit gritty for some reason. Any idea why?
Thank you!
Kate says
Hi! I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the cookies! =) Is your brown sugar hard? I’ve found that when I get towards the end of my package of brown sugar that it gets harder which can make it more difficult to get it to fully incorporate.
Sandi Picard says
Hi…you can avoid hard brown sugar by putting a piece of bread in the package with the brown sugar. Works like a charm but be sure to change the piece of bread each week. You can also make your own with molasses and white sugar… just mix a tablespoon of good molasses with white sugar until you get your light brown or dark brown sugar. Store in an airtight container.
Kate says
Thank you so much for sharing those tips!
Sandi Picard says
Also, I forgot to mention…. put the bread into the hard brown sugar and it will soften in a day or so :)
Angela says
These cookies came out PERFECT! Sifted the flour as directed and measured it out after. Quite a big difference in flour amount! ? Totally learned something new! Great chewy cookie recipe.. didn’t let the dough chill as long as directed but did stick it in the fridge while I let my oven preheat. I was scared that they were going to come out flat but the consistency of the dough was spot on! Thank you!
Kate says
I’m so glad to hear that the cookies turned out well for you! Thanks for commenting! =)
Sufi says
Is the one cup of butter measured in solid form or melted? I’m using solid sticks of butter so I was curious. Thanks!
Kate says
Hi! That’s what I used as well. So, I used 1 cup (solid) and then melted from there. Hope that helps!
Andrea says
Apparently, just like biscuit recipes, one can never have too many chocolate chip cookie recipes. Because why not?! They all serve a purpose. lol Soooo good. I love what brown sugar does for a cookie.
Kate says
Thank you so much! =)
Steffany says
I plan on making these today. I’ve been looking for a good chocolate chip cookie recipe and have always wondered what they would taste like if I used dark brown sugar instead of light. However I never considered using ONLY brown sugar for a softer, chewy texture so I have to give this a try. If I remember, I will post an update to let you know how they turned out! IF I remember… :D
Kate says
I’ve used dark brown sugar, and it gives a deeper caramel/toffee flavor to the cookies. =)
Justine says
My only baking desire was to be able to make delicious cookies to bring to friends and families and this was an absolute success for me- will be my go-to recipe from now on!!!
Recipe was clearly written out and clear :)
Kate says
Thank you!
Rosie says
Just made these cookies and the only change was to add whole pecans. They were sinfully delicious! Thank you for sharing! ?
Kate says
Thank you!
Soph says
These are our new favorite cookies! Definitely yummy, chewy-on-the-inside, perfectly-crispy-on-the-outside, goodness!
Kate says
Thank you so much!
Shawna says
Can I use coconut sugar instead of brown sugar?
Kate says
I wouldn’t recommend it in this recipe as I don’t find that coconut sugar gives the same texture and moisture to cookie dough.
B says
What if I used dark brown sugar?
Can I substitute brown sugar with both dark brown sugar and white ?
Kate says
You can use dark brown sugar. It will give the cookies a richer brown sugar flavor. Using part white (granulated) sugar, won’t give you the same results. Brown sugar adds moisture to the cookie dough which helps to make the cookies soft. Granulated sugar pulls moisture from dough, so you’ll end up with a dried dough and a crunchier cookie.
Marnie says
Always some complainers! LOL The recipe is bomb!
Kate says
Thanks!! Glad you liked the cookies. =)
Kelsey says
So far this is the best recipe I’ve found!
Kate says
Thanks!! I’m so glad that you liked it. =)
Emily says
Amazing cookies!!!! Followed the recipe, measured the ingredients, got perfect chewy cookies.
Kate says
Thank you! I’m glad that they turned out well for you. =) Thanks for commenting!
Chelsea says
The cookies turned out gritty and dry. I’m not sure how chewy these cookies could be considering the recipe calls for 3 cups and most recipes say 2 1/4 cups. Tasty but the texture is off.
Kate says
Every cookie recipe calls for a different ratio of butter, sugar, flour, and eggs. Otherwise they would all be the toll house recipe that uses 2 1/4 cups. For instance, Jacques Torres’ cookie recipe (or NYT cookie recipe as it has come to be known) calls for 4 cups of flour. Allrecipes popular chocolate chip cookie recipe calls for 3 cups, and Alton Brown’s choc chip cookies call for 12 ounces of flour. However, just looking at the amounts of flour in a recipe without looking at the measurements of the other ingredients tells you nothing.
The real key is properly measuring your ingredients. If you aren’t willing to use a scale for accurate measurements, then please follow the notes in the recipe that recommend using less flour to avoid the dry cookies you ended up with.
ck says
can i substitute brown sugar with golden yellow sugar?
Kate says
I’ve seen a couple different kinds of sugar called golden yellow. One was just a lighter brown sugar with a similar moisture and crystal size to brown sugar. That should work. The other was a drier, larger grain sugar similar to a raw sugar. That won’t give you the same chewy texture in the cookie.
Lynette says
Love this recipe! I miss the metric weights, though, and the link that you have isn’t working. Please help!
Thank you~
Lynette says
I found the metric weights in the comments below so you can disregard my last message. Mmmmmm……making them now!
Kate says
Hi! There’s a button right underneath the ingredients that says “metric”. You can click on that, and it will give you the weights. This will allow you to scale the recipe by moving the servings if you want.
Staci says
I love this recipe for its metric conversions but they are gone and even when I try and select metric, it’s not converting…just opens a new tab with same recipe. Can you share the metric conversions please?
Staci says
I just had success getting it to convert! Yea!!
Kate says
Glad you figured it out! =)