Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies
My family thinks this recipe is chocolate chip cookie perfection – soft and chewy with crinkly tops, perfectly buttery, and chockfull of gooey chocolate chips. That said, you may use the tips above to tweak the recipe for your perfect cookie!
Ingredients
- 1½ cups (190 grams) all-purpose flour (see notes for GF adaptation)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt (use ½ teaspoon if using unsalted butter)
- ½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, room temperature
- ½ cup (100 grams) packed brown sugar
- ⅓ cup (63 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon (15g) plain Greek yogurt (may sub sour cream)
- 1½ teaspoons (7ml) vanilla extract
- 1 cup (6oz) semisweet chocolate chips
- Flaky sea salt for sprinkling
Instructions
- Before you start: Note the option below to refrigerate the dough balls for several hours or overnight. This will allow for a taller cookie (less spreading) if that is a goal. Just be sure the dough balls are placed in an airtight container or covered well.
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the softened butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about a minute. Add the egg, yogurt, and vanilla and mix until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the flour mixture (I do this in two additions) and beat on medium-low speed until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- At this point, you may drop the dough onto the cookie sheet and proceed with baking. But for best results, I like to refrigerate the bowl of dough for 20-30 minutes (this will make the cookies less sticky when rolling), and then roll into 18 balls (for even sizing, they will be 44 grams or just a smidge under 3 tablespoons). Then I cover the dough balls to prevent drying out and refrigerate for several hours, or if willing to wait, overnight. (Note: When stored in an airtight container, you can keep the dough for up to 2 days before baking or freeze the dough balls for later use.)
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until just barely set in the center. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with flaky sea salt. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Storage: Serve immediately or store the cooled cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 week. (Note: The cookies may be stored at room temperature, although my family likes the cookies cold, so I store in the fridge.) The cookies also freeze well for about 3 months.
Notes
- For gluten-free cookies: You may use a cup-for-cup GF alternative, but for better flavor, I like to replace one-quarter of the all-purpose GF flour with super fine almond flour. That translates to 1 cup + 2 tablespoons (143g) GF flour and 6 tablespoons (42g) almond flour.
- If you forgot to soften the butter, microwave on 50% for 10 seconds, followed by one or two 5-second bursts or until the butter is soft. It’s fine if the butter melts slightly around the edges.
- Why Greek yogurt? The acid in the yogurt (or sour cream) activates the baking soda, resulting in a moister cookie with nice, crinkly tops. Don't have either? The cookies will still taste good without it.
- For a bakery look, press a few chocolate chips into the tops of the cookies before baking.
- For a larger cookie and yield of 12, I sometimes use a large ice cream scoop, packing the dough and leveling it off with the edge of a dinner knife. Alternatively, you may roll the dough into balls as described above; this size and yield translates to roughly ¼ cup (or 2 ounces) of dough per cookie.
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