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
Did You Make This Recipe?
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Originally published 1/26/16.
Reader Interactions
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Comments & Reviews
Ashley Henry says
These cookies are AMAZING! I was a little worried about how they’d come out, i only had sticks of margarine, not butter. They still came out great though! My new go to recipe for sure!
Kate says
Good! I’m so glad! And thank you for your note about using margarine. It helps to hear what’s worked for other people. =)
Andre says
This recipe is amazing the only thing I would recommend if your browning your butter is to reducing the flour to 2 1/4 cups instead of 3 other than that these cookies are amazing!!!!
Kate says
Thank you for the tip! I don’t brown the butter (I just melt it), so it’s really helpful to hear that amount. I’ll have to try making the cookies with brown butter. Thank you for the comment! =)
Amanda Carney says
Absolute best! I have tried so many chocolate chip cookie recipes to find my ultimate go-to. I’m always disappointed… Until today! This recipe is amazing! The search is over, thank you for my soulmate cookie recipe!
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that you liked the cookies! =) Thank you for coming back to comment!
Wendy says
I am always on the hunt for the perfect cookie recipes that I know everyone will love..well this is one of them!! Love it! The all brown sugar instead of white as well, really makes for a wonderful and chewy cookie!! Great recipe! Thank you so much! I will be making it a lot☺️
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that you liked the cookies! =) And thank you for taking the time to come back to comment!
Ann Benge says
My 16 year old grandson, has just asked for chocolate chip cookies for Christmas. I found your recipe for Chocolate chip cookies. They sound so much richer than mine, so these cookies are the ones he will get for Christmas. So, your recipe came just in time. So, thank you. Merry Christmas and the best new year, ever.
Kate says
Yay!! I’m glad that you found it then! Thank you for your kind comment, and I hope that you and your family have a wonderful Christmas and new year! =)
LUK says
Anyone adding nuts to this recipe?
Kate says
I’ve added nut to the recipe. =) I usually use 1/2-1 cup depending on how I feel that day. Hope that helps!
Whitney says
Is it 3 cups sifted flour? Or 3 cups flour, sifted?
Whitney says
For the flour, I’m a little confused.
Last time I made these I sifted, then scooped and weighed the flour on a digital scale to 360 grams, but 360 grams came out to be way less than 3 cups. If I were to sift, then scoop and level 3 cups wouldn’t the amount of flour be different? Meaning I’d be using a lot more flour just measuring out the 3 cups? The cookies turned out great, but I’d rather just use a measuring cup and nix the scale. I’d hate to be using too much flour in the recipe.
So I guess my REAL question is:
3 cups flour, sifted?
Or
3 cups sifted flour?
Thanks for clearing up the confusion! These cookies were a huge hit for thanksgiving!
Kate says
I’m glad that the cookies were a hit! =) Yeah, absolutely! This is a great question. I use King Arthur’s weights for dry ingredients. So, that would be a 120 gram measurement per cup of flour, and 3 cups of flour would be 360 grams. When I measure with a measuring cup, I sift, spoon, and then level. I also weigh the dry ingredients to insure that the measurement is accurate. There are different standards for the weight of a cup of flour, and I think the biggest thing is knowing how you measure and adjusting accordingly if necessary. I hope that helps, and if not, please feel free to ask any other questions you might have!
Ava says
They are kind of dry when I was making the dough. I think you should add some milk or something like that. Other than that they were so good!
Kate says
Thanks! It’s almost always a matter of too much flour in the dough if it was dry. How did you measure your flour?
Michelle says
Hi there, I recently baked these and they were delicious! Although mine turned out small and fat, rather than nicely spread out like your photos. Any suggestions?
Kate says
Hi! Thanks! If the cookies don’t spread, too much flour is usually the culprit. I would try reducing the amount of flour by just a smidge (maybe 2-4 tablespoons to start), and that should help. Please let me know if you have any other questions. =)
Lindsey Filipovich says
Wow! These were delicious. Definitely my new chocolate chip cookie recipe.
Kate says
Thank you! I’m glad that you liked the cookies. =) Thank you for commenting!
Jennifer says
Do you use dark or light brown sugar??
Kate says
You can use either. I usually use light, but dark brown sugar will give you more of a caramel/toffee flavor.
Cindy says
I don’t know what happened, my cookies never flattened out from a ball, could browning the butter do that?
Kate says
If you browned the butter, rather than just melting it, that may have been it! Water evaporates out of the butter as it cooks down, and you’d need to adjust other ingredients so that you don’t end up with a drier dough. If you want the stronger butter flavor of browned butter, then I would reduce the amount of flour. I’d start with 1/4-1/2 cup and go from there. Otherwise, just plain melted butter is great for this recipe. Hope that helps! =)
Cayla says
Great recipe! Super easy and quick to make. I had several people ask me for the recipe!
Kate says
Thank you! I’m glad that the cookies were a hit. =) Thank you for coming back to comment!
Randolyn says
I made these just as the recipe is stated including cooled the dough for 20 min.
All the cookie connisuers in my home agree these are delicious! A keeper. Thank you Kate.
Kate says
Thank you! Yay!! I’m glad your cookie connisuers liked them. =) Thanks for coming back to comment!
Lena says
My son used this for his first time making chocolate chip cookies, and he loves them. I took them warm to the small plate gourmet restaurant I waitress at…two chefs asked for his recipe. Thanks!!
Kate says
I’m glad they were a hit, and that’s quite a compliment! =) Thank you for coming back to comment. =)
Linda says
Wow! 4 stars? These cookies are every bit as fantastic as you say, and they deserve 10 stars.
Lisa Marie says
Sounds delicious ?? definitely going to make these cookies today!
Kate says
Thank you! I hope you enjoy the cookies. =)
Braedi says
I like making the recipe the night before because the next day they are so soft and chewy. I love this recipe thank you
Kate says
Thank you so much! I’m so glad that you liked the cookies! It’s nice to have the dough in the fridge and ready to go. =) Thanks for commenting!
Hannah says
Best chocolate chip cookies!
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that you liked them! =) Thank you for coming back to comment!
Erin says
Made and loved! Gonna fool around with some crazy mix-ins next time! Thanks!
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that you liked the cookies. Coming up with crazy mix-in combos is one of the best parts of baking! Have fun, and thanks for commenting! =)