Perfect Simple Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies

These simple homemade chocolate chip cookies are delightfully crispy and golden brown around the edges with a chewy and soft center – they’re perfect! Pour yourself a glass of cold milk and indulge in a perfect chocolate chip cookie fresh from the oven.

Aaaah, chocolate chip cookies. Who doesn’t love a good old homemade chocolate chip cookie?

Obviously, there are dozens of great recipes for chocolate chip cookies out there. The other day I even saw one for a chocolate chip cookie just without the chocolate chips!

Personally, I prefer to have plenty of chips in my chocolate chip cookies.

Fun fact about me, I love cookies.

All shapes and sizes, kinds, and flavors; I want to try them all!

Have you seen our Sand Tarts or Chocolate Vanilla Chip cookie recipes?

At the end of the day, chocolate chip cookies are still my all time favorite.

I’m not claiming that these are simply the best chocolate chip cookies out there, but it’s our current favorite recipe.

It makes simple and delicious, perfect chocolate chip cookies, and the recipe is great for beginners or kids in the kitchen!

This post contains affiliate links. As Amazon Associates, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Supplies we used

• Kitchenaid stand electric mixer – this is a very important tool in a Mennonite kitchen.
• Spatulas – we often end up using several of these until we’re done baking cookies!
• Measuring cups and spoons – these were a wedding gift, and they get used every single day in our kitchen.
• Cookie sheets – have you tried these?
• Cookie scoop – nifty little tool. You can also totally use a spoon or even just your hands to make dough balls!
• Non-stick cooking spray – we used Pam; however, using the butter stick wrappers works as well!
• Wire cooling rack – these are nice to have, certainly, but a length of paper towels spread on the counter works as well.
• Mini turner – this handy little thing makes transferring cookies a cinch!

Ingredients

Butter – softened salted butter for a delightful subtle salty flavor. Most times baking recipes call for unsalted butter; not this one. If unsalted butter is what you have on hand, we’d recommend adding a half teaspoon of salt, or sprinkling the cookies with coarse sea salt as soon as you get them out of the oven!

Sugar – white granulated sugar

Brown sugar – did you know you can make your own brown sugar?

Eggs – large eggs

Flour – all-purpose flour

Baking soda

Vanilla – pure vanilla extract for the best flavor

Chocolate chips – regular semi-sweet chocolate chips are still our personal preference. 

“Oops, forgot to get the butter out of the fridge in time for it to get to room temperature by the time I’m ready to start mixing up cookie dough,” I realized. This is a very common thing I often forget.

Or I decide last minute that I want to bake and of course the butter is still chilling in the refrigerator.

How can I quickly soften butter?

Unwrap the necessary amount of butter and place in a microwave safe dish.

Microwave for 30 seconds.

Use as directed in the recipe!

How to make Perfect Simple Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. (see notes)

Place the softened butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.

Add the white sugar and brown sugar to the smooth butter and beat on medium-high speed for 3-5 minutes more, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula halfway through. This important step is called creaming the butter and the sugars, and this process creates a lovely fluffy and light base for these chocolate chip cookies. 

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after adding each one. (We recommend cracking the eggs in a separate bowl first, in case a shell should happen to fall in, it’ll be much easier to pick out!)

Next, add the flour, baking soda, and vanilla and mix slowly until incorporated.

Finally, slowly mix in the chocolate chips on low speed, being careful not to over-mix while still evenly distributing the chocolate chips throughout the dough. You may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl again during this process.

Grease the cookie sheet (or cookie sheets if you’re using more than one) with non-stick cooking spray or butter from the butter wrappers.

Use a cookie scoop to make 24 balls of dough and place them on the greased cookie sheets at least 2 inches apart from each other, so they don’t run together while baking.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. They will look a little underbaked. Allow them to rest on the pan for about 5 minutes. Then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

It would almost be a crime not to indulge in one of these chewy chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven. Aaah, lovely. Enjoy. And it’s perfectly acceptable to lick the gooey chocolate off your fingers.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Baking Tips and Tricks

To check if the cookies are done, carefully lift a cookie with the turner and check to see if the bottom is golden brown. If not, bake a little longer!

Ovens vary. You can make sure your oven temperature is accurate by sticking an oven thermometer inside once the oven’s hot to test before going ahead with baking!

Our favorite method of baking these is to bake them at 325 degrees convection bake for 10 minutes rather than regular 350 degrees. This is how we can achieve the crisp edges while still keeping the center soft and chewy. However, not all ovens have the convection option, so 350 or even 375 degrees regular bake works fine! 

It’s always a good idea to bake only 2 or 3 cookies first to make sure they are turning out the way you want them. If they are running too flat on the baking sheet, incorporate a little more flour or turn the oven temperature up slightly (we’d recommend 25 degrees). For example, if the cookies are getting too flat before turning golden brown around the edges at 350 degrees, turn the oven to 375 degrees and bake 2 or 3 more trial cookies. 

If they are turning brown before flattening nicely on the pan, turn the oven temperature back slightly or maybe flatten the dough balls slightly with your fingers before baking.

Variations 

For a little different flavor twist on these chocolate chip cookies, use browned butter instead of regular. Keep in mind you’ll have to think and work ahead for this. Brown the butter in a saucepan on the stovetop, then allow to cool until butter is room temperature and has solidified again. Proceed with this recipe like normal! Click here if you have questions about browning butter.

Sometimes we will add M&M’s instead of or in addition to the chocolate chips. And when it comes to chocolate chips, there are many different options out there such as milk chocolate, for instance. Use your favorite. And hey, if it’s your thing, feel free to add extra chocolate chips, just for fun!

Storage 

For best results, eat or freeze on the day you make these! Or place cookies in an airtight container and store at room temperature for 3-4 days.

You can mix up this chocolate chip cookie dough ahead of time and chill the dough for an hour or more before baking.  

Or, shape into balls and freeze on sheet pans lined with parchment paper. Once the cookie dough balls have frozen, place in a gallon freezer bag. Thaw before baking to have fresh baked cookies just in time for a party or snack!

It’s best to use frozen chocolate chip cookie dough within 3 months.

Have you made our recipe for Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies?

Leave a comment below, we’d love to hear about it!

And don’t forget to share!

Thanks for visiting our small town!

’til next time

-Julie