Soft chocolate chip cookies absolutely melt in your mouth. I love chocolate chip cookies, but these soft chocolate chip cookies take these humble drop cookies to a new level. The tender, light texture really sets these cookies apart. Of course, they’re perfectly sweet and stuffed full of chocolate chips!
If you love an airy, delicate texture in your chocolate chip cookies, this soft batch is the perfect cookie for you!
Try my Toll House cookies next. They got this whole chocolate chip cookie party started! If you’re looking for a bakery-style version, my Chocolate Chunk Cookies fit the bill perfectly!
Let’s bake some cookies!
The Secret to Soft Cookies
Well, the first secret to creating a soft tender cookie is to not overbake them! The longer they bake, the crispier they become. These cookies are done when just the edges become golden brown. The rest of the cookie will be fairly pale. The centers of the cookies will look slightly underdone. If the edges are golden, don’t worry if the center looks slightly wet.
The second secret is cornstarch! This simple, pantry staple acts like a magic ingredient to create a soft textured cookie.
Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies Ingredients
- All-Purpose flour: All flours are not the same. They vary in the amount of protein they contain. I use Gold Medal which has a moderate protein amount.
- Butter: No margarine substitutes! Real butter is best for soft, moist cookies.
- Dark brown sugar: The darker the sugar you use, the chewier your cookies will be. Use dark brown sugar if you can.
- Cornstarch: This is one of the secrets to the softness of this soft chocolate chip cookies recipe. The starch supports the internal structure of the cookie, making it light, fluffy, and tender.
Tips
- Overmixing: Overmixing when adding the dry ingredients develops the gluten in the dough, which is great in bread, but not in soft cookies.
- Stop mixing when you have a couple of streaks of dry ingredients in the dough. As you add the chocolate chips, you’ll finish incorporating the flour mixture.
- Chilling the dough: I call for a minimum of an hour to chill the dough. Overnight is even better. Chilling the dough hardens the butter and slows the spread of the cookies when baking. It’s crucial for soft cookies.
- To that same end, be sure you drop the cookies onto a cool cookie sheet and keep the dough cool as you’re scooping out cookies.
- Overbaking: Overbaking will dry the cookies out. Pull them from the oven when they still look slightly wet in the middle. They’ll finish setting up on the pan
- Make Them Pretty: I like to add extra chocolate chips to the top of the cookie dough ball. It’s easiest to add them before the dough has been refrigerated. It’s okay if you remember, as the cookies bake, the dough will spread.
Storing + Freezing + Make-Ahead
- How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge? These cookies can be kept in the fridge for a week. I store them in a resealable 1-gallon bag.
- Can You Freeze This? You can freeze the baked cookies for up to 8 months. You can freeze cookie dough too for up to 6 months.
- Make-Ahead Tips: Assemble the cookies and refrigerate them overnight.
- Food Safety: Here’s an article citing how long freshly baked cookies last, and here’s one regarding the cookie dough.
Which is the Best Chocolate for Cookies?
There are so many different chocolate morsels to choose from. My preference is semisweet.
- Semisweet: (46% – 60% cocoa content) I use Nestles semisweet chocolate chips. I think they bring the perfect classic flavor. Taste of Home did a test on the best tasting chocolate chips. Read their article HERE on the results.
- Dark Chocolate:(60% – 72% ) If you love dark chocolate I think you’d like Ghirardelli Chocolate Premium Baking Chips 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate or Ghirardelli 72% Cacao Dark Chocolate Premium Baking Chips
- Milk Chocolate: (10% cocoa) My Husbands favorite! I like Hershey’s Kitchens Milk Chocolate Chips.
- White: More of a white chocolate person? Try Ghirardelli Classic White Chips.
How To Make Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
- In a large mixing bowl, add butter and both brown and granulated sugar.
-
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add flour mixture.
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Add chocolate chips and mix until evenly distributed through the dough.
- Scoop out the dough. Refrigerate. Bake for about 12-14 minutes.
***See Full Instructions On The Recipe Card Below
More Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Bisquick Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie
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Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
This soft chocolate chip cookies recipe has tons of chocolate chips in a chewy, soft cookie. They’re super simple to make and deliciously light and fluffy.
Servings: 30 Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Topping:
- extra chocolate chips for top dressing
Instructions
- Whisk together flour (2 1/4 cups), cornstarch (2 teaspoons), baking soda (1/2 teaspoon), and salt (1 teaspoon) in a small bowl and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, using a handheld mixer, cream together the butter (14 tablespoons), granulated sugar (3/4 cup), and brown sugar (1/4 cup) on medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Add the vanilla (2 teaspoons) and eggs (2). Cream until well combined, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture just until combined.
- Add chocolate chips (1 1/2 cups) and mix until evenly distributed through the dough.
- Scoop out the dough, using a medium cookie scoop. Place on cookie sheet. Add extra chocolate chips to the top of the balls for a "bakery" look if desired. Refrigerate dough balls for 1 hour minimum. (Don't skip).
- Preheat oven to 350 °F (177 °C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Arrange cookie dough balls 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Do not flatten. Using your fingers lightly tighten the bottom edge of the cookie where it sits on the baking sheet. (this helps them puff up more and not flatten as easily).
- Refrigerate the dough by scooping out the next batch to keep it cold.
- Bake in preheated oven for approximately 12-14 minutes or until the edges are beginning to brown. The center of the cookies will look slightly underdone in the center. Do not overbake or they will dry out!
- Cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet. Transfer to cool completely on a wire baking rack. They will slightly deflate as they cool. Enjoy!
Fans Also Made:
Notes
- Overmixing: Overmixing when adding the dry ingredients develops the gluten in the dough, which is great in bread, but not in soft cookies.
- Stop mixing when you have a couple of streaks of dry ingredients in the dough. As you add the chocolate chips, you’ll finish incorporating the flour mixture.
- Chilling the dough: I call for a minimum of an hour to chill the dough. Overnight is even better. Chilling the dough hardens the butter and slows the spread of the cookies when baking. It’s crucial for soft cookies.
- To that same end, be sure you drop the cookies onto a cool cookie sheet and keep the dough cool as you’re scooping out cookies.
- Overbaking: Overbaking will dry the cookies out. Pull them from the oven when they still look slightly wet in the middle. They’ll finish setting up on the pan
- Make Them Pretty: I like to add extra chocolate chips to the top of the cookie dough ball. It’s easiest to add them before the dough has been refrigerated. It’s okay if you remember, as the cookies bake, the dough will spread.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 157kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 29mg | Sodium: 103mg | Potassium: 62mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 187IU | Calcium: 11mg | Iron: 1mg
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Soft and fluffy and delicious!
❤️ Couldn’t agree more, Audrey! So happy to hear you like it!
I just made these and man they are soft and chewy. I love chocolate chip cookies. I have always just made them per the recipe on the back of the semi-sweet package. Sometimes they turned out okay sometimes not. But this was cool. I even took a picture of them when they came out of the oven. Thanks for the receipe. This will now be my go to for chocolate chip cookies. I don’t know how to upload the photo. Darn.
That sounds awesome, Jim! I hope I can see the picture too but there’s no upload option yet at the moment! >.< But I'm so happy to hear you liked the cookies. We have lots of variations of chocolate chip cookies too if you love these cookies! You can check them out!