Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies — These soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies are studded with chocolate chips and are the perfect texture. My secret ingredient? Cornstarch! It produces the most incredible cookies, trust me!
Super Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
You can never have too many chocolate chip cookie recipes, right? I’ve got everything from from traditional to cream cheese to pumpkin. But this soft chocolate chip cookie recipe is different in one major way because you don’t need to use a mixer and they’re made in one bowl.
Not having to drag out my heavy mixer combined with fewer dirty dishes and equipment to wash makes me much more inclined to bake. All you need for these easy, super soft cookies that are loaded with chocolate is one mixing bowl, a whisk, and a spoon. Gotta love it.
I adapted my Turtles Candies Chocolate Chip Cookies, and while I browned the butter for those cookies, I went the super easy route with these and melted the butter in the microwave. The cookies are big, bakery-style cookies. They’re wonderfully chewy from the melted butter, soft from the cornstarch, and loaded with texture from the chocolate chips.
I loved that I was in and out of the kitchen in minutes getting these prepped and ready to chill. You need to chill the dough so the cookies bake up thick and full. They’re worth planning ahead for.
What’s in These Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies?
The ingredients you’ll need for these soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies are fairly standard (the magic happens in the way these cookies are made!). For this easy cookie recipe, you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter
- Egg
- Light brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Cornstarch
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips
How to Make Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
First melt the butter in the microwave, then stir in the egg (wait a minute or two to allow the butter time to cool off a bit first). Add in the rest of the ingredients, finishing with the chocolate chips. Stir until combined, being careful not to over work the flour.
Scoop out the cookie dough and form balls, them place on tray and let chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. Once chilled, bake the cookies on a parchment paper-lined baking tray until the edges are golden and set. You do NOT want to over bake these cookies, or they won’t be as soft and pillowy. The cookies will continue to cook in the center as they come to room temperature, so don’t fret if your cookies look slightly glossy in the center.
Can I Make My Cookies Smaller?
Absolutely! I used a 1/4-cup scoop to make my soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies, but you can definitely make yours smaller. Just note that you’ll need to adjust the bake time accordingly (smaller cookies need less time in the oven).
Can I Sub Coconut Oil for the Butter?
I haven’t tried that myself, so I can’t say for sure if coconut oil would work in place of the butter. If you’re looking for a coconut oil chocolate chip cookie recipe, I recommend making my coconut oil cookies — I’ve tested those many times and know they work every time!
Tips for Making Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
First and foremost, you HAVE to chill the dough! The melted butter in this recipe makes these cookies chewy, but if you don’t chill the dough before baking it the melted butter will cause the cookies to spread a lot in the oven. You’ll lose the lovely soft texture entirely!
When forming the cookie dough balls, I like to strategically place a few chocolate chips on top to accentuate how chocolate-y these cookies are. You don’t have to add extra chocolate for this, you can just pull a few chips from the bottom of the ball of dough and place them on top.
Lastly, feel free to use other kinds of chocolate chips in these cookies. Milk chocolate or bittersweet chips would taste delicious in these cookies, or you could use a blend. I bet butterscotch chips would also taste incredible here!
More Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes:
- Chocolate Chip and Chunk Cookies – My gold standard Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe for over two years!
- Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chip Cookies {Copycat} — Learn all the SECRETS to making the famous Mrs. Fields cookies at home! The recipe is easy, spot-on, and they taste just like the real thing!
- Hershey’s Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies – An old-time recipe that’s a keeper!! Chocolaty, buttery, soft cookie perfection! If you need a recipe so your cookies stay ultra soft for days, this is the one!
- Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies – 3 favorite cookies combined into 1 so you don’t have to choose!! Easy, no-mixer recipe, and always a hit!
- Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies – Soft chocolate chip cookies packed with chocolate chips and crunchy pretzels!! Salty-and-sweet all in one!
- The Best Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies – Soft, chewy, loaded with chocolate, and they turn out perfectly every time! Totally irresistible!
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Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
These soft chocolate chip cookies are studded with chocolate chips! My secret ingredient? Cornstarch! It produces the most incredible cookies, trust me.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus more for sprinkling
Instructions
- To a large, microwave-safe bowl add the butter and heat on high power to melt, about 1 minute. Wait momentarily before adding the egg so you don’t scramble it.
- Add the eggs, sugars, vanilla, and whisk to combine.
- Add flour, cornstarch (keeps cookies soft) baking soda, salt, and stir to combine. Dough may seem crumbly yet oily, this is okay.
- Add the chocolate chips and stir to combine.
- Using a large cookie scoop, 1/4-cup measure, or your hands, form approximately 11 equal-sized mounds of dough, roll into balls, and flatten about halfway. Tip – Strategically place a few chocolate chips that are likely at the bottom of the mixing bowl and don’t want to incorporate onto the top of each mound of dough, and add more as necessary for a nice visual pop of chocolate.
- Place mounds on a large plate or tray, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, up to 5 days. Do not bake with unchilled dough because cookies will bake thinner, flatter, and be more prone to spreading.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray. Place dough mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I use a half-sheet pan and bake 8 cookies per sheet) and bake for about 12 to 14 minutes (if your cookies are smaller than mine, reduce baking time) or until edges have set and tops are just set, even if slightly undercooked, pale, and glossy in the center; don’t overbake. Cookies firm up as they cool. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before serving. I let them cool on the baking sheet and don’t use a rack.
Notes
Cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months. Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired. If baking straight from freezer with frozen dough, you don’t have to thaw it. Bake straight from freezer, possibly adding 1 to 2 minutes to baking time if necessary.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
11Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 295Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 39mgSodium: 224mgCarbohydrates: 42gFiber: 1gSugar: 25gProtein: 3g
Even More Homemade Cookie Recipes:
Chocolate Chunk Cookie Sticks – No butter used in these fast and easy cookie sticks that can’t spread because they’re baked in a pan!
Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups – Prone to cookies that spread? It’s impossible with these! Thick, soft & chewy cookies baked in a muffin pan that are so rich from the browned butter!
Loaded Peanut Butter Cookie Pie — This cookie pie is slightly crisp around the edges and buttery soft and chewy in the center. There’s lots of texture from the sprinkles, the crunchy Reese’s Pieces shells, and it’s exploding with bigtime peanut butter flavor.
I know you have another recipe with vanilla pudding instead of cornstarch. I like this one better because it uses less butter, how can I add the pudding in this recipe?
You would have to experiment with the various ingredients and ratios. Each recipe is developed based individually and you would need to test and trial various changes you make and see what that does overall but it’s impossible for me to say oh just add x amount of pudding mix here without personally testing it out.
I realized after posting my previous comment that it was for the cream cheese choc chip soft batch cookies! Duh, brain fog & wasn’t paying attention but none the less both recipes with & without cream cheese are superior in my book. Would give 10 stars if I could, they’re that delicious! Thanks Averie!
Seeing both of your comments now and glad you love love love the cookies (the cream cheese ones) https://www.averiecooks.com/softbatch-cream-cheese-chocolate-chip-cookies/ I am glad to hear you’d give them 10 stars if you could!
Have mercy! These cookies are deliciously dangerous! These are the ultimate choc chip cookies ever! I made them 2 days ago for the first time & doubled the recipe. Followed recipe to a T except I only used 9 oz bag of Hershey’s milk choc chips and 1 cup finely chopped almonds (preference) and these are the absolute best soft batch cookies ever, so soft & chewy. The addition of cornstarch & chilling the dough is definitely the key. It’s time consuming but oh so worth the effort! I’m making another double batch today, they’re so good! Can’t believe it took me so long to discover this gem & it will be the only choc chip cookies I’ll be making in the future. Thanks so much for posting this recipe!
I made this recipe! Everyone loved it. The taste, the look, everything. Honestly, out of all the recipes I have tried, this is the best one. I do wish that there was a way to make an extraordinary chocolate chip cookie without all the butter and sugar, but it wouldn’t really be a cookie anymore. Thank you for this lovely recipe!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad everyone loved the cookies!
I was in desperate need of some comfort food this week, what with everything that’s going on right now. I froze the cookie dough after I shaped it into balls and have been baking off a single cookie at a time whenever a craving strikes. OH MY WORD these are the BEST chocolate chip cookies! I didn’t have chocolate chips on hand so I chopped up some chocolate bars instead and these babies turned out perfectly. Amazing recipe, and I appreciate how detailed your instructions are!
Thanks for the 5 star review Claire and I am glad this recipe came in handy for you and that you said they’re the BEST chocolate chip cookies, thank you!
I am BEYOND impressed at your willpower. One cookie at a time? Wow. I do about 3 when I am being ‘good’. If it was just going to be one, I just eat the raw dough, no shame in admitting that :)
Love this recipe. I appreciate the one-bowl streamlined process. Recently came home from a 10 day trip craving these cookies. Perfect, easy recipe to make at 3 am while struggling with jet lag. No mixer required, so didn’t wake up my family!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you love this recipe!
Best recipe I have tried. My husband LOVES them! Lol thanks for this wonderful recipe I plan to pass on to my children!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad to hear it’s the best recipe you’ve tried! And how incredible you plan to pass it to your children!
second recipe tried in my self imposed chocolate chip cookie challenge. after trying 10+ recipes this is still the front runner and I have made it again and again! best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever!!! thank you averie!!!! you are a cookie goddess.
It is awesome to hear that after 10+ chocolate chip cookie recipes, that mine is the winner and that you’ve made it again and again!! Thank you for having such confidence in my recipe!
Just baked this cookies. I added about 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts and made them smaller. Got 36 pieces out of the recipe and baked them on parchment paper. I just watched it as they were baking so I won’t over bake them. Sooo good and easy.
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad that they’re turned out so well for you!
Hi Averie!Love the recipe but was wondering if I could reduce the amount of brown and white sugar by half? Will that affect the turnout of the cookie dough?
Yes it will effect the dough in both consistency and taste. You may have to make other changes then based on that but I am not sure.
Best cookies I’ve ever made! I reduced the brown sugar to 1/2 cup. That’s the only change I made. They’d be a great base for any mix-ins you desire. My fiancé and I ate the whole batch by ourselves! Oops!
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad these are the best cookies you’ve ever made! And yes you will be able to get creative with the add ins.
These cookies turned out great for me – I’m a beginner in baking and my fiancé approved. Literally going to save this recipe for future use ❤️😭 thank you for easy instructions. Yum!
Thanks for the 5 star review and I’m glad they turned out great and your fiance approved!
Have made these biscuits so many times and they are a hit with the grandchildren also. So easy and yummy.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad they’re always a hit!
Seriously the best cookie I’ve ever eaten! My whole family says so too! Thank you! This will be my go to recipe from now on!
Thanks for the five star review and glad these are the best cookies you’ve ever eaten and will be your go to recipe!
I love this recipe! So easy to make!!! My granddaughters and I make them whenever they visit. They walk through the door asking when we’re making the cookies! They even set a timer for the 4 hour chill period :). For Easter we plan to make ice cream cookie sandwiches for our dessert (Easter is the one holiday we like to have fun with our desserts and try new things). When my granddaughters told me they wanted chocolate chip ice cream cookie sandwiches with chocolate chip cookies and vanilla ice cream, I immediately went to this recipe. We’re using milk chocolate chips instead of semi sweet this time, I think those will work better with the ice cream. Fingers crossed this works, if not, we’ll just scoop out the ice cream into bowls and crumble cookies on top. Either way it’s going to be yummy because these cookies are awesome!!!!
Sounds delicious and I am sure your granddaughters are going to love them!
Hi! Can you explain why you chose to melt the butter for this recipe? I thought that melted butter made cookies flatten out. Thank you <3
There are 2 ways to go with this in a NUTSHELL though 1. melted butter will produce really chewy cookies BUT you have to chill the dough for at least 4-6 hours so that they don’t spread. 2. creamed butter also produces chewy cookies – probably not AS chewy; and you should chill the dough here too for best results although not necessarily as long perhaps.
Can you substitute the butter for Coconut oil ?
I never have so I cannot say how the results will be. Probably will be fine, but I can’t promise anything.
These are delicious and so easy! They, and your m&m chocolate chip pudding cookies, are so good. Thanks so much for 2 wonderful cookies.
I definitely plan to try some of your other recipes!
Thanks for trying a few of my cookie recipes and glad you plan to try some more! Glad you’ve gotten delicious results!
Tried these, almost didnt wait to chill but decided that i wanted my cookies to come out exactly like the picture! Soooo glad i did, they were perfect! Thanks so much for this recipe ?
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad to hear you patiently waited for them to chill and that they were picture perfect!
Wow!! I’m very proud of myself. ?? I made my first chocolate chip cookies ?
This recipe is very easy, if you follow directions, I made 3 batch of 8 super cookies and my two boys love it., for sure I will make more for my friends to give For Christmas.. Thank you for sharing your recipe with us.. Happy Holidays ???
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad this is your first batch of CCCs and that your boys love them!
So I just tried this recipe. They look perfect but the insides were not cooked enough. So the 2nd batch I cooked a little longer and they still were a little under done. I followed the recipe exactly. Is it maybe my fridge was too cold? I set it really cold for my drinks but I turned it up some before I chilled the dough. I’m not sure where I went wrong.
All ovens, fridges, climates, etc. are different. Use baking times in any recipe as a guideline but not written in stone. Just bake until they are done to your liking. If that means 15 minutes, go for it. Enjoy!
Yeah I tried longer but then the outside was crunchy and the inside still a little raw. I’ll just have to keep trying. Thanks
Ok I would say in this case then flatter your dough mounds out more. Less golf-ball shaped and domed. Flatten them out a bit and that should do the trick. LMK
Hi Averie! I need to make a lot of these (approx 200) and was going to make the dough ahead and freeze it. I was thinking of scooping the cookies and then freezing. Or would you suggest baking the cookies and freezing them after baking?
Any suggestions are appreciated! Thanks so much!
I would scoop the cookies and then freeze. However, do a test batch with a half dozen each way to see which way works better for you. Good luck!
Oooh I DO love how dangerously quick and easy it would be to make (and eat :P) these cookies!
I’m going to have to try these – soft and chewy are my favorite!!
Just love homemade chocolate chip cookies. They look really tasty!
Thanks!
Yummy! Nice recipe !
I used the dough recipe but instead of adding chocolate chips I added 1/4 cup of dried lavender! Rolled out like you suggest and placed fresh lavender on top sprayed with olive oil and sprinkled with sugar! Delicious!! Thanks
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you with lavender, olive oil, and sugar. What an interesting and unique combination. Bet it was lovely!
Those look delicious! I like my cookies to be smaller, though. Will they still turn out as good if I made them about using my medium-sized scoop, which makes about 1 and 1/2 tablespoons? If so, how much do you recommend reducing the bake time?
hey girl these look so yummy!
I love soft, chewy cookies and adding this one to my cookie baking list for the holidays.
how do I access the recipe for the cranberry bliss bars?
https://www.averiecooks.com/cranberry-bliss-bars/
I love one bowl and what a great idea to use cornstarch!
Soft and chewy is my favorite – let others take the crispy ones. It’s amazing how much of an effect the cornstarch has on the texture! Love it.
Cornstarch is amazing stuff in cookies, isn’t it!
You can never have too many cc cookie recipes (or too much chocolate either )! Chilling the dough is so worth the wait
. As always, these look fabulous! Have a good weekend–it sounds like it was really warm this past week.
You can never have too many indeed. Enjoy your weekend too and maybe you get the day off today :)