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
- ¾ 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.1 cup butter
- Add brown sugar, and mix in.1 ½ cups brown sugar
- Let stand 5 minutes.
- Add egg and egg yolk; stir to combine.1 large egg , 1 egg yolk
- Stir in vanilla extract.1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- Add flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir until just combined. Please see the comments about flour in the recipe notes.2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- Stir in chocolate chips.10 ounce package 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.
Video
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
Morganne says
Hi! Should I use salted or unsalted butter?
Kate says
I prefer to use salted butter, but you can use either in this recipe.
Aidana Jakulina says
I made cookies for my friends and they said that it’s the best ones they’ve tasted so far! Thank you sooo much for this recipe :)
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad! Thank you for coming back to comment! =)
Sara H says
SO AMAZING! My search is over. I used 1C white choc chips and 1C dark chocolate chips and added pecans.
Kate says
Thank you! Sounds yummy! =) Thank you for coming back to comment!
Emily says
I haven’t tasted yet but i just pulled these out of the oven and they look great except they are a little more brown than i wanted. I baked them for 8:30.
Kate says
I’m glad that they look good! Thanks for your note about the baking time! It’s pretty amazing how much ovens can vary, but it sounds like know what to adjust for next time. =)
Millie says
My cookies didnt look like yours when I pulled them out of the oven. I followed your instructions precisely.
Kate says
I’m sorry to hear that! Can you give me more information so that I can help you troubleshoot?
Melissa R Garcia says
I’m confused is it 2 eggs and 1 yolk or two eggs two yolk? The video showed two eggs but the ingredients say 1 egg + 1 yolk.
Kate says
Sorry for the confusion! It’s 1 large egg and 1 egg yolk. The second egg yolk was just in the same dish with the egg in the video.
Annie Gaster says
These cookies are really good, the best cookies I have ever had!!!! I put a spin on it though, I put Peanut Butter cups, finely chopped instead of chocolate chips! They were really yummy!
Kate says
Thank you!! That sounds delicious! I add chopped pb cups to my peanut butter cookies sometimes. =) Thanks for coming back to comment!
Mae says
Not omg did my coworkers go bananas for these awesome cookies. BUT I added my own spin (using white chocolate chips and dried cranberries) for my mom and everytime she sees me she asks about them. My sister wants them for thanksgiving!! Thank you for the recipe. I am already thinking about other ways to spice it up. I’m even going to try and apply the melted butter method to my ginger molasses cookies.
Kate says
I’m so glad that the cookies have been such a hit!! I think it’s awesome when people can put their own spin on my recipes. =) Hope it works out well with your ginger molasses cookies.
Leslie says
I don’t know what I did wrong (I followed to a T), but mine did not turn out ☹️ They were literally balls. Balls of cookie. I’m so not a baker :’(
Kate says
Well, let’s fix that! =) What you described (balls of cookie), are usually the result of too much flour in your dough. Flour can easily become packed, and when you measure it, that extra flour in cookie dough will give you doughy cookies that don’t spread. You can sift or aerate the flour (take a spoon and stir it before measuring). Then, just spoon the flour into a measuring cup and level it off. It’s a simple fix, but it will make such a difference! If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask!
Phillipe Farneti says
These are awesome making my first batch. They are so easy. This is seriously the kind of cookie recipes I’ve been looking for.
Kate says
Thank you!! I love to hear things like this! Thank you for coming back to comment! =)
Tonya B says
How can I half this recipe?
Kate says
I’ve never tried to halve this recipe, so I’m not sure how well it will work to try it since it calls for 1 egg and 1 egg yolk.
Tonya B says
I made the full recipe and they turned out great, thank you Kate!
Maegan says
Hey so i just halfed it i got a dozen thick large cookies out of it. The only trcikey halfing is the egg part but as per recipe you just include one egg yolk and guestimate 1/2 the egg white. You end up only using one egg. Everything else is easy halfing (:
Kate says
Thank you! That’s really helpful! =)
Maegan says
Hey tonya, you sure can half it! I just did and the came out phenomenal. I got a full dozen cookies that are normal width but fat. So soft too. I did have to bake them for like 20 minutes though i think my oven is weird, but to halve it of course half all ingredients like normal, when you get to the egg just use one yold and estimate a half of egg white. (: good luck!!
Kate says
Thanks! =)
Tigi says
This recipe is perfect! I have been looking for a great chocolate chip recipe and this by far has been the best. I do agree to be careful scooping up the flour and the type of flour used. I made two batches of cookies yesterday my first batch came out perfect the cookies tasted wonderful and spread well. My second batch was not as tasty as the first it did not spread well and it had more of a dry flour taste to it. What I remember doing the first time was using sifted flour and measuring the amount of flour with a 1/4 measuring cup. I believe that using the smaller cup gave me precision so I did not add too much flour with the cookies. I would recommend to anyone struggling with the proportions to use sifted flour and use 1/4 measuring cup to measure the amount of flour added.
Kate says
Thank you! And thank you for your notes about sifting the flour! It’s amazing how much of a difference the flour can make in cookie dough. I appreciate you taking the time to come back and share those tips! =)
Phillipe Farneti says
These are awesome making my first batch. They are so easy. This is seriously the kind of cookie recipes I’ve been looking for.
Corinne says
I was looking for a quick chocolate chip cookie to whip up for a family get together last night (quick as in: not needing to mess with softening butter or waste time waiting for the dough to chill for an extended period). Not only were these cookies probably the easiest, quickest cookies to make (no electrical mixer required…hence, less dirty dishes!)…they were DELICIOUS. The only negative thing I have to say is I didn’t bring many cookies home with me to enjoy myself…because everyone ate them AND when they went to leave, they asked if they could take a doggie bag with some cookies home with them. I added flaked Maldon sea salt on top of them before baking and everyone went nuts over the sweet/salty combo. I have family coming into town this weekend to stay and you can bet I will be making these for them to enjoy. Thanks for the recipe!
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that they were a hit. =) Sea salt and nuts are both delicious additions to these cookies. Thanks for taking the time to come back to comment!
Honey says
Try adding a cup of caramel bits with the chocolate chips. Hum, hum..
Kate says
Great idea! Thank you for sharing it! =)
Laetitia says
Just made these this morning and they turned out wonderfully! Only made half a batch and still got so many lovely, warm and gooey cookies perfect for this rainy and stormy day in Scotland. Made them with dark chocolate chunks to balance out the sweetness and they were perfect! I chilled the dough in the fridge overnight but took it out to warm it up a bit before I cooked them – had to flatten them out a bit using my fingers before they went in the oven but apart from that, everything went amazingly!
When I made the dough, however, it tended to “reject” the chocolate chunks a bit (maybe cause I added too many – oops – but who doesn’t love chocolate?) – they kind of slipped away from the fatty dough – so I was wondering if you have any tips on how to not make that happen the next time? Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Kate says
I’m so glad that you like the cookies! =) I think tossing the chocolate chips with just a bit of flour might help. Maybe just a half teaspoon or so would be enough to give the dough a little something to hold onto. I hope that helps! Thank you for coming back to comment.
Casey says
My new go to cookie recipe! I mixed 1/2 semi sweet and 1/2 milk chocolate chips and it is absolute perfection. Thank you for sharing this recipe!!
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that you enjoyed the cookies! Thanks for coming back to comment! =)
Natalie says
My coworkers went crazy over these. Thanks for making me look like a hero. Refrigeration before baking was key
Kate says
Yay! I’m glad that they were a hit. =) And thanks for your note about chilling the dough. It’s always helpful to hear what’s worked for other people.
Vicki Carlson says
These are, by far, thee best cookies I’ve ever had. I did refrigerate the dough in between and before I first scooped. Soft and chewy and the right kind if sweet. I am going to bake the chocolate chocolate chip cookies today!!
Kate says
Thank you so much! I’m so glad that you liked the cookies! I hope that you enjoy the chocolate chocolate chip ones, too. =) Thanks for commenting!
Cami says
Love! Some of the best cookies I’ve made! I didn’t chill the dough, I just baked it. They turned out perfect. Thanks!
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that you liked the cookies. Thanks for coming back to comment! =)
Carrie says
Hi There- These Cookies look amazing!! I tried to make them today. My cookies did not spread at all. I prefer the flat and chewy cookie in the picture. I followed the recipe exact. I even sifted the flour. What did I do wrong? HELP!
Kate says
Hi! I’m sorry to hear that! Did you chill the dough?
Carrie says
Nope, sure didn’t.
Kate says
Ok! Are you using a dark cookie sheet?
Carrie says
I used a Shiny cookie sheet (USA BAKEWARE) with parchment paper.
Kate says
Well, then I have no idea why they didn’t spread more for you. =( I’m sorry that I don’t have a better answer, but it sounds like you did everything that I would suggest trying. Again, I’m sorry that I can’t help more.
Kate says
I thought of one suggestion! Someone said that they flattened the cookies a little before they baked them. Maybe that would help? I’ve never had the cookies fail to spread, and I’m trying to think of anything that I’ve heard back from people.
Carrie says
Yeah, I tried smashing the second tray I put in, since the first tray was a mound of dough. Well shoot, guess I’ll never be able to make an amazing cookie like you. ?
Kate says
I can’t even tell you how sad this makes me! Did you see the video? Did you dough look like the dough in the video? Would you be interested in watching a Facebook live (or something like that)? We’re in the middle of a cross-country move, but I’d be happy to make them live in a week or so if that would help.
Carrie says
I’ve been doing some more research. Somehow I think I may have used to much flour. I sifted it and then measured it out. I’m going to try to weigh the flour. Fingers Crossed.
Thanks for the help!! Hope the move goes well.
Kate says
Fingers crossed that that was what it was! Any time! Thank you!! =)
Carrie says
I tried again, the cookies spread much more this time. Not perfect but much better. I sifted the flour then I spooned the sifted flour into a measuring cup.
Kate says
I’m glad that you’re on the right track with it! I wondered how it had worked out for you. Maybe with a little less flour next time, they’ll be perfect! =)