BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

The best Chocolate Chip Cookies are soft, chewy, and easy to make too! After trying dozens of different chocolate chip cookie recipes, I decided that this one is the absolute best!

Be sure to check out our updated collection of the BEST HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPES here!

I have spent many years trying to make the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies! Over the last 10-15 years, I have made dozens of variations of this classic cookie recipe in hopes of finding the very best one. Homemade chocolate chip cookies are one of my very favorite treats and I was determined to perfect my chocolate chip cookie-making skills! Although some of the recipes were not great, many of the chocolate chip cookie recipes that I tried were really good. It really does come down to a personal preference – some cookies are a little bit cakier, some are a little bit crispier, some are more buttery, etc. What’s your favorite?

I found myself always coming back to this particular chocolate chip cookie recipe every time I needed to take cookies to a party or gathering. There are several reasons why this recipe is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe!

1. They are so simple to make. I wanted an easy chocolate chip cookie recipe since I like to make them often! I’ve tried some “best” chocolate chip cookie recipes that require a lot of extra steps and I haven’t found the results to be worth the extra time and effort involved. This recipe doesn’t require any chilling either!
2. The dough is amazing! I have a couple of recipes that make good cookies, but the dough isn’t quite so good and to me, the dough is the best part so it has to be perfect.
3. They always turn out perfectly – they are soft and don’t end up being flat or crunchy which is very important to me.
4. Everyone loves them! Every time I take these cookies anywhere, everyone is begging me for the recipe which is always a good sign for a must-have recipe. This recipe makes a ton of cookies too (about 6 dozen) which is perfect if you need to take a treat to a party or a bake sale or somewhere.

How to make The BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies:

After trying out multiple chocolate chip cookie recipes over many years, I have picked up several important tips for making the absolute BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies!

• Make sure that you have enough flour in the dough. If the dough is too sticky, you may need to add a little bit of flour.
• Spend a little extra time when you mix the shortening and sugars. Creaming them together for 2-3 minutes will improve the consistency of your cookies.
• Preheat the oven. This will help your cookies turn out right every time!
• Use a cookie scoop! If you want all your cookies to be perfectly shaped and have them all be the same size, a cookie scoop is the way to go.
• Use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Doing this will make it really easy to remove the cookies from your cookie sheet so that you don’t have to scrape them off the pan – they will just slide right off in perfect shape!
• Don’t overbake the cookies – when I take mine out of the oven, they still look slightly under-baked but they will continue to bake on the cookie sheet for a couple more minutes so that’s ok!

Chocolate Chip Cookie ingredients

Sugar: Use 1 cup of brown sugar and 2 cups of granulated sugar to make the cookies sweet and chewy. For best results, make sure your brown sugar is fresh and soft.

Butter-flavored Crisco: I usually use butter in cookies, but shortening really does create an amazing softness and consistency that is incredible. If you don’t have butter-flavored shortening, you can use half butter and half shortening instead.

Eggs: You’ll need 4 large eggs to bind everything together.

Vanilla: Adding in 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract will enhance the flavors in the cookies well.

Salt: Just a teaspoon of salt helps all of the other flavors to pop.

Baking soda: The recipe calls for 2 teaspoons of baking soda. This acts as the leavening agent in the cookies, so make sure your baking soda isn’t old or expired.

Flour: All-purpose flour works best in cookies.

Chocolate chips: Add in 2-3 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips depending on how much chocolate you want in every cookie.

How to make Chocolate Chip Cookies

Preheat oven to 350°.

Cream together the sugars and Crisco with an electric mixer for about 2-3 minutes.

Add the eggs and vanilla and mix for another 3 minutes.

Add the salt, baking soda, and flour and continue to mix until well combined.

Fold in the chocolate chips.

Use a cookie scoop to scoop cookies onto an ungreased cookie sheet or one that has been lined with a silicone baking mat. Make sure to space the cookies about 2″ apart.

Bake for 10 minutes. Let sit for 4-5 minutes and then transfer to wire cooling racks.

Chocolate Chip Cookie troubleshooting tips

Over the years, I have had many cookie failures along with all of my successes and I have learned a few things along the way! You may have a favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe that you love, but they don’t always turn out perfectly. Why?! Here are some helpful tips for some common cookie problems!

Why are my chocolate chip cookies flat?

If your chocolate chip cookies are flat and spread out too much while baking, you may need to add a little bit more flour. Start by just adding a few tablespoons of flour to the batter and see if that is enough to help the shape of your cookies. If you are using a recipe with butter, make sure you aren’t melting the butter. There are a few cookie recipes that actually call for melted butter, but most of them just require the butter to be softened to room temperature. Which leads to the next question…

How do you soften butter to room temperature?

The best way to soften butter is to set it out for a few hours before you make your cookies. Since most of us (or maybe just me!) aren’t that prepared or don’t think that far in advance, there are a few tricks to softening butter perfectly in just a matter of minutes. My favorite way to soften butter is in the microwave. It’s definitely fast, but you do have to be very careful not to melt it. Just put the whole stick of butter in the microwave (as long as it isn’t wrapped in foil!) and microwave for about 6-7 seconds. If the butter is still really cold, try another 5-7 seconds and check it again. You may need a few intervals, and if the butter is starting to feel soft, you can shorten the final interval to just a few seconds to make sure it doesn’t start melting.

actually prefer to use the defrost setting on my microwave – I don’t know exactly what that mode does differently, and it takes a little bit longer (closer to 30 seconds), but it seems to be easier to get the butter to soften without melting.

Why are my chocolate chip cookies crispy and hard?

If your chocolate chip cookies are hard, crunchy, or crispy, you probably baked them too long. Cookies will continue to bake for a couple of minutes on the hot cookie sheet even after you remove them from the oven, so you don’t want to wait until they are golden brown before taking them out! My husband really likes a few cookies to be a little more well-done so that he can dip them in milk, so I usually make half a tray of cookies for him that gets cooked a couple of minutes longer.

Most of my cookies are baked until barely done. I don’t even wait for the tops to start turning golden brown, but look at the edges on the bottom of the cookies. If the edges look like they are turning a little bit golden brown, they’re done! You don’t want the centers of the cookies to look doughy, but they shouldn’t be even slightly brown on top either.

Should I use butter or shortening in my chocolate chip cookies?

I’ve made great chocolate chip cookies with butter and I’ve made great cookies with shortening – both can work very well! This particular chocolate chip cookie recipe uses butter-flavored shortening which is the best of both worlds! All of the flavor of butter, but the texture of shortening. I actually have tried to avoid using shortening in most recipes because it just doesn’t seem as healthy, but it sure makes for a perfect consistency in this cookie recipe! It really helps the cookies to be soft and chewy and prevents them from spreading too much.

Why do my chocolate chip cookies burn on the bottom but aren’t done in the middle?

If your cookies are always burning on the bottom, it is probably a cookie sheet issue! If you are using really dark cookie sheets, the bottoms of your baked goods will tend to burn before they are actually cooked all the way through. If you use a lot of cooking spray, the same result can happen. I prefer to use lighter colored non-stick pans so that I don’t have to use cooking spray at all. As mentioned above, I have been converted to silicone baking mats over the last couple of years and I love how easy it is for cookies to come off the tray – no sticking ever!

If you like our Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe, try a few of our other favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes:

• Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Butter Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Biscoff Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Raspberry Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Reese’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

The best Chocolate Chip Cookies are soft, chewy, and easy to make too! After trying dozens of different chocolate chip cookie recipes, I decided that this one was the very best!