Sweeten your day with mouthwatering homemade chocolate chip cookies! These chewy chocolate cookies have crisp edges, gooey centers and are loaded with chocolate chips. Topped with a pinch of flaky sea salt for the best chocolate chip cookies ever!
Why we love these chewy chocolate chip cookies
These chewy chocolate chip cookies have crisp edges and gooey centers, and they’re incredibly easy to make! The sweetness of the chocolate chips paired with flaky sea salt make the best sweet and salty combo! In my humble opinion, this is best chocolate chip cookie recipe!
Key Ingredients in this Recipe
Sugar
I use both homemade brown and white sugar for these cookies. I love the flavor and texture that the molasses in brown sugar gives cookies, and a couple of tablespoons of white sugar gives it the perfect amount of crispiness! You can use light brown sugar or dark brown sugar. It’s all about personal preference.
Unsalted Butter
If you only have salted butter on hand, reduce the additional amount of salt you add to the dough.
Molasses
White sugar combines with molasses to make homemade brown sugar. You’re welcome to use store-bought, but homemade is so much more delicious! Use less molasses if you like the taste of light brown sugar in your cookies, and more if you like the dark brown sugar taste.
Vanilla extract
Vanilla extract acts like salt does on the savory side: It enhances all the other flavors in the cookie!
Chocolate Chips
I used standard semisweet chocolate chips in this recipe but you’re welcome to use chocolate chunks, dark chocolate chips, or milk chocolate chips if you prefer.
Additional ingredients
All Purpose Flour
Baking Soda
Salt
Why should I add molasses to my chocolate chip cookies?
There’s a lot of baking science behind which ingredients do what to cookies. A cookie’s texture will come out differently if you use white sugar versus brown sugar. Granulated white sugar caramelizes and therefore makes cookies browner. White sugar also creates a crisper chocolate chip cookie because it absorbs moisture in the dough. If you use white sugar, the cookie will also spread more than if brown sugar is used.
Brown sugar makes cookies moister and chewier than does white sugar. That’s because it contains molasses! The molasses adds moisture and, because it’s slightly acidic, causes the proteins in the cookie dough to firm up faster, creating a chewier texture. Additionally, molasses add moisture to any baked items, as well as extend the shelf life of the cookie! Rather than use brown sugar in this recipe, I added molasses to see if it made a difference, and I fell in love with the result!
Step By Step Instructions To Make These Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Combine sugar and molasses with an electric mixer until no lumps remain.
In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment to combine the butter, brown sugar, white sugar and mix to combine. Add egg and vanilla and mix until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula to ensure everything is incorporated.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix until no flour can be seen.
Add the chocolate chips and stir to combine.
Using a cookie scoop or large ice cream scoop with release, form cookie dough balls. Place the balls of cookie dough in a plastic bag and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
Remove from fridge and place chocolate chip cookie dough balls on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet bake in a preheated oven at 350F for 11-13 minutes or until golden brown on top.
Remove from the oven tap the pan firmly on the counter if you like flat cookies. Let them sit on the pan for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Sprinkle with sea salt if desired.
FAQ and Expert Tips
Chilling cookie dough before baking is a key step to making the best cookies! When the chocolate chip cookie dough is chilled, it allows the fat to solidify. When the cookies bake, the fat in the chilled cookie dough takes longer to melt than room-temperature fat. And the longer the fat remains solid, the less cookies spread. Some spread is normal when baking cookies, but you don’t want your cookies to spread too much, because they can stick together and become thinner than you’d like. I chilled my dough for an hour, minimum. Ideally, I would chill them overnight for the best results. As I previously mentioned, I like to portion out individual cookie balls and stick them in a ziplock bag in the freezer! I bake them as I want or need them!
Once the cookies have cooled, to keep them soft and chewy, store leftover cookies in an airtight container! Additionally, you can also place a slice of bread on top of the cookies before sealing the container, which helps them stay fresh and have that soft texture. The cookies will absorb moisture from the bread, keeping them soft longer! White bread is best, as it won’t transfer its own flavors to the cookies.
Tips for making the best chocolate chip cookies
- Use high-quality chocolate! The better the ingredients, the better the cookie!
- Take the cookies out when they look slightly underbaked. There should be a couple of golden brown spots (like shown above) but the rest will look pale. If you like your cookies chewy, this is the sweet spot! Tap the pan firmly on the counter to allow the cookies to flatten out.
- Take them out and let them sit until they’ve almost completely cooled for the perfect cookie. They’ll look slightly puffy, but when they settle, those gorgeous crinkles will form and they’ll be ready to eat!
- Sprinkle with sea salt before baking! I love this sweet and salty combo!
Additional Recipes To Try
Want to enjoy a cocktail with these yummy chocolate chip cookies? Try these delicious drinks
Tried this recipe? Please leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star rating below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. You can also stay in touch with us through social media by following us on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook!
Print
The Best Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
- Total Time: 23 minutes
- Yield: 2 dozen 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
Hands down the best chewy chocolate chip cookies you’ll ever eat! These cookies are chewy, chocolatey and oh so delicious!
Ingredients
2 sticks butter, softened
2 eggs
2 cups + 2tbl white sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 cups of flour
2 1/2 cups chocolate chips
Sea salt optional
Instructions
Combine sugar and molasses with a hand mixer and Let sit for 1-hour minimum, overnight if possible.
Sift dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugars together. Add both eggs and vanilla and mix to incorporate. Add dry ingredients to the bowl, and mix to incorporate. Add the chocolate chips and stir to combine.
Let dough chill for 2 hours to overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Using an ice cream scoop with release, scoop out cookie dough and place cookie scoop on a sheet pan lined with parchment or a silpat. Sprinkle with sea salt if desired.
Bake cookies for 11-13 minutes.
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36 Comments
These look amazing! I don’t have molasses, and it’s not like I can just run to the store for it these days. What would the brown sugar sub be for these? Then next time we do get groceries I’ll get molasses and make again and see which one we prefer!
Yep! Brown sugar is fine. Use 2 cups of brown sugar plus 2 tbl of white sugar.
What temp to these cookies bake at?
350 F
Best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had!!!
Seriously.
Can’t wait to make them again!
Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe. I had to use the brown sugar/white sugar combo as I did not have molasses on hand. If an altered version of these cookies are this tasty, I cannot wait to get my hands on molasses and try these again in the future. Now… how do I stop myself from eating them all in one sitting?!
Hi. If you freeze and then bake later do you need to defrost first?
No! Add a minute or so on to bake time, but no need to defrost
Ok – I have made these cookies twice in two weeks. First time I made them for my family friends and their three kids and everyone loved them. Tonight I made a batch for myself, because why not! Even better the second time around. I never would’ve thought to substitute brown sugar for molasses, but it works. Trust me, these cookies a fantastic!!!
There are so many chocolate chip cookie recipes out there claiming to be the best. But this one actually DOES look like the best!! I am definitely giving this a go!
These cookies look like just the thing to cheer me up—and I bet a huge cup of coffee wouldn’t hurt either! They look so moist and delish. I am headed to the market to get a few things and coming straight home to make them!
Oh my, these cookies look absolutely divine! Can’t wait to make them!!
Chocolate chip cookies are my absolute favorite. I love chewy ones especially. The molasses in these sounds amazing. Saving to give them a try this weekend. I’ll report back.
oh wow..I fallen in love with these cookies! They look great and taste delicious
Amazing! I might do 11 or 12 minutes to bake for our oven but these are insanely chewy and delicious. I’m not regularly a baker but I tried these and they’re incredible! I love having some of the reasoning behind steps explained to me. Also love the tip to freeze the dough after the fact both for portion control and fresh cookies on demand!
My new go-to cookie recipe. This recipe is absolutely foolproof and I make them regularly. I love pre-scooping them and tossing them in the freezer to make a few every other day so I don’t end up eating them all in one sitting (trust me, I would). Something about the molasses makes them super chewy but the outside still has the satisfying crunch. I’ve shared this recipe with all of my friends and highly recommend it!
My husband told me to throw away ALL of my other chocolate chip cookie recipes after trying this one! Nicole – you hit it out of the park!!! These are the absolute perfect balance of soft and chewy, but crisp on the outside edges, sweet and salty (I used Maldon Sea Salt to top mine). I will be sharing this recipe link with all of my family and friends. YUM!
Just replaced all of my other chocolate chip cookie recipes with this one! Seriously, these are the BEST choco-chip cookies out there! And I love that they’re so unique with the molasses in place of brown sugar.
LOOK NO FURTHER- this is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I have found!! They are perfectly chewy on the outside and crispy on the edges! Highly recommend making this recipe, it is life changing!
Hands down best chocolate chip cookie recipe. ???? I just recently had to go egg, gluten and dairy free so I subbed items and followed the same recipe and they still turned out incredible! Thank you for sharing your talent and recipes!! You are amazing!
These cookies are the BEST! Today is a snow day in Chicago, so what’s better than baking a couple dozen fresh cookies to share with my neighbors? …okay, and to gobble up myself. 🙂 I didn’t have chocolate chips on hand, but I did have M&Ms and some dark chocolate chunks – so I made due with this combo and I will 1000% be making these again! Already prepped more dough so I can do a cookie drop-off for my family in the area!
I love that so much!
Do you mix the molasses with all of the white sugar (2 cups + 2 T) or some portion of it? I tried this out and mixed the molasses with all of the granulated white sugar and the texture didn’t come out quite as smooth as I would have anticipated (a little grainy with the sugar not quite as melted as might expect). I think the butter was still a little too firm when I mixed it and so the dough was crumbly rather than a good slightly wet firm scoopable dough. Going to try warming the butter a little more. I tend to fork stir the sugar eggs, flour to avoid overworking the dough. May need to use the hand mixer to see how it turns out. So
Many little variables that make a difference. Love the recipe though – a new approach the broke me out of my 30 year mold for a cookie I thought I knew inside and out.
Love this recipe! Delicious every time. Best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever.
Thanks so much!
Best chocolate chip cookie recipe!
Simply the best!
Why is there no salt in the recipe? I haven’t made them yet
There should be a teaspoon. I’ve updated the recipe. Thank you!
Sorry, silly me, I see it! The dough is in the fridge!
Soo delicious!!! I used molasses to make ‘brown sugar’, I couldn’t believe how good the sugar was! I will use this recipe from now on!
This makes me so happy! Thank you!
Perfect cookies!
Thanks for a great recipe! I found this because I had a cookie craving but was out of brown sugar. I baked off a few without any waiting for the sugar to combine, and without waiting for the whole mix to cool in the fridge and it was delicious! I’ve frozen the rest and now have cookies on hand for whenever.
I reduced the sugar to 1 3/4c but still found it a bit sweet. I’d probably try it with less sugar next time but this is a great recipe nonetheless
Love how straightforward this recipe is, and molasses really does do wonders for cookies! My new go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies!
This cookie recipe is amazing!