Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is my go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies and I think it will quickly become one of your favourites. After years of baking cookie recipes, I tweaked my recipe until finally, they’re everything you could want out of a cookie.

Nearly every chocolate cookie recipe on the internet is tagged as the best and rated in popularity by people all over the world. At the end of the day, it comes down to personal taste.

You’ll love these, there is something magical about the buttery, rich crisp dough on the outside and their soft centres. Full of chocolate and beyond delicious, these cookies are quick ‘n’ easy and perfect for all occasions.

Plus if you love eating raw cookie dough this is the recipe for you. With no egg all you need to do is leave out the baking powder. Perfect for raw cookie dough lovers!

Wonderful nostalgic memories of my childhood and always comforting at any moment. They make life better, happier…and much more satisfying.

If you love these then you’re going to love my double chocolate cookie or giant flat chocolate chunk cookies recipe. It’s choosing which one to bake next time, that’s going to be difficult. I guess another round of taste testing is required 🙂

If you decide to give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment below and rate it – it’s really helpful to me and other readers knowing what you think! And don’t forget to take a picture and tag me @thegourmetlarder or hashtag it #thegourmetlarder on Instagram or Facebook. I love seeing what you’ve been baking! 🙂

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RECIPE HIGHLIGHTS

• EASE: easy.
• FREE FROM: check out my substitutions section for vegan, gluten and sugar-free options.
• GREAT FOR: a treat, picnics, friends and family visiting, they also make nice homemade gifts!
• TASTE & TEXTURE: crisp around the edges, soft and full of chocolate on the inside.
• SERVING: great on their own or with a glass of milk.
• QUANTITIY: 12 cookies (approx. 9cm diameter) or divide in half for 24 cookies (7cm in diameter)
• TIME: 22 minutes, (optional: 30 minutes – overnight chilling)

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INGREDIENTS

For this chocolate chip cookies recipe all you need are these ingredients:

• Butter – gives us a crisp texture and a rich buttery flavour. Make sure it is a t room temperature when you start.

• Caster or granulated white sugar – adds structure, sweetness and creates the soft centre.

• Brown sugar – creates that extra crispiness in the cookies.

• Pure vanilla extract or paste – for that extra taste.

– Vanilla recommendations: pure vanilla extract or vanilla paste or vanilla pods.

• Plain or all-purpose flour – builds structure and crumb.

• Bicarbonate of soda or baking soda – is a chemical leavening which works both prior and during baking. It becomes activated when it’s combined with both an acidic ingredient or liquid, which increases the volume of the ingredients, creating a nice light texture.

• Golden syrup or corn syrup or honey – is an invert sugar which, creates a texture that’s flexible and chewy, as opposed to crisp.

• Whole milk – helps to loosen the cookie dough so that it spreads in the oven.

• Dark chocolate chips or chunks – the more the merrier.

Chocolate recommendations: bars – Lindt Excellence dark 70% bar 100g, Montezuma’s darkside 51% bar 90g, Menier dark cooking chocolate 100g, Green and Black’s Organic dark Chocolate 100g, 1kg bags – Callebaut dark chocolate, Callebaut milk chocolate, Callebaut white chocolate.

• Salt – I highly recommend adding a good pinch of fine salt to your biscuit doughs. It might seem a bit weird, but it actually has the incredible ability to enhance sweetness, suppress bitterness, and elevate the flavour of all the ingredients, making your biscuits taste even better. It’s pretty crazy, the sodium in the salt sends signals to move glucose into your tongue’s sweet taste receptors, making the sweetness really pop. So, don’t be afraid to sprinkle a little salt – it’ll take your biscuits to the next level!
  I recommend Maldon Sea salt flakes or Cornish sea salt, but any good quality sea salt is fine.

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SUBSTITUTIONS

While I am making recommendations for alternative ingredients, I haven’t necessarily tried them. If you try making any adaptions, I would love to know how you get on and share it with the other readers.

VEGAN OPTIONS

• Butter: I recommend Naturli vegan block or Flora plant-based block butter alternative.

• Dairy-free milk: replace the milk with non-dairy milks such as almond, oat, rice or soy milk.

• Chocolate: There are now quite a few brands making vegan chocolate to choose from, such as these bars – Lindt classic milk chocolate, Ombar 55% coco mylk, Ombar 72% dark chocolate, Happi plain oat milk, Happi white chocolate, Montezuma’s Fitzroy 74% dark cocoa.

GLUTEN-FREE OPTION

• Flour: replace the gluten flour with a 1:1 alternative gluten free flour, such as Doves Farm Free plain gluten free flour. If possible, choose a flour which contains xanthan gum or alternatively, add 1 tsp to your batter for stability. You can also try Doves Farm gluten free self-raising flour.

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WHAT VARIATIONS CAN I MAKE?

• Chocolates: Try swapping dark chocolate for milk or white chocolate and you don’t have to use chocolate chips, chopped chocolate works just as well.

• Moka: Add 1/2 teaspoon espresso powder to the dough along with the salt.

• Almond: Add 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract when adding the vanilla extract.

– Pure almond extract recommendation: Almond extract

• Golden syrup: This is an inverted sugar that helps to create crunch. If you can’t find golden syrup you can use corn syrup, honey or maple syrup. If you don’t want to use either, you can leave it out of this recipe and just add an additional tablespoon of milk.

• Oats: Replace 85g of flour for rolled oats and add ½ tsp cinnamon, which makes a really tasty oat cookie.

• Nuts: Replace the chocolate or add 100g coarsely chopped pecans, pistachios, almonds, walnuts or even pumpkin seeds.

• Fruits: If you like dried fruits, try adding 50g raisins, apricots or cranberries to the recipe.

If you experiment, I would love to know how you get on and share it with the other readers.

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NUTRITION

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STORAGE AND FREEZING

Store the cooled cookies in an airtight container for 5-7 days at room temperature.

Freezing the cookie dough – freeze the scoped dough on the baking tray or a plate that fits in your freezer (lined with baking paper). Once they have frozen solid, approx. 30 minutes, transfer them to a freezer-safe, airtight container. They will last up to 3 months in the freezer.

Freezing the baked cookies – cool the biscuits completely after baking and place them in a freezer bag or airtight container. They will last up to 1 month. When you are ready to serve, allow the cookies to reach room temperature.

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TOOLS YOU’LL NEED

Here is some kitchen equipment that I use and recommend for this recipe.

• Earthenware Mixing Bowl Mason Cash, Cream 29 cm Chip Resistant.

I like the sturdiness of this bowl and its 4 litre capacity means I can use it for mixing just about everything in the kitchen. It is also microwave, freezer and dishwasher safe.

• Mixing Bowls Set of 5, Stainless Steel Nesting Bowls with Airtight Lids, 3 Grater Attachments, Size 5, 3, 2, 1.5, 0.63 QT

These different size mixing bowls are really useful depending on the amount of food you are preparing. They also have airtight lids that fit snugly to seal and keep food fresh, great for using as dry storage bowls with lids. The plastic lid of the largest bowl has a removable centre, where one of 3 graters can be used for grating cheese or vegetables.

• 3 Plastic Mixing Bowls, Non-Slip Base, Soft Grip Handle, Microwave and Dishwasher Safe, Compact, Stackable, Ideal for baking and cooking, off-white, 1.5 Litre, 2 Litre, 2.5 Litre.

I do own a plastic mixing bowl but I am personally not a big fan of them. These 3 bowls are on the smaller size but good for the odd cake making.

• Measuring Spoons Set, Magnetic Stainless Steel

These measuring spoons are really handy for getting the right measurements of those small ingredients. I also like the fact that they are magnetic, sticking together and narrow to fit into spice jars.

• Ice Cream Scoops with Easy Trigger Set of 3, large (3 Tbsp/45ml/6cm/1.5 oz), medium (2 Tbsp/30ml/5cm/1 oz), small (1 Tbsp/15ml/4cm/0.5 oz)

These three different size scoops are perfect for ice cream, melons and cookies.

Please check out my Shop for a curated collection of some of my favourite baking equipment. The Gourmet Larder is an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

TIP: I highly recommend using metric measurements and a digital kitchen scale, rather than cup measurements. If you have ever ended up with dry, dense or crumbly baked goods, it might be because of inaccurate volume measurements, not all measuring cups are made equally. All my recipes on this blog are carefully developed so that you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success, using metric measurements. It is also a lot easier, less messy and you will get far better, consistent results. 🙂
If you are interested in understanding conversions, here you will find the best conversion chart.

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RECIPE TIPS

Use room temperature butter – cold butter will not cream together properly with the sugars.

The dough should be a little sticky – don’t try to add more flour to eliminate the stickiness.

Resting and chilling the cookie dough – if you want to get the best results, placing the dough in the fridge prior to baking, allows the dry ingredients to absorb the moisture from the wet ingredients. This creates more flavour in the dough and because the fats are also chilled it prevents the cookies from spreading out too quickly during baking.

How long should I chill the dough? Patience isn’t really my strong suit, so I totally understand if you can’t wait! If like me this is the case, I usually bake off a few cookies immediately and then place the rest to chill in the fridge. If you’re not in a hurry, try to leave the dough to rest overnight or at least try to chill your dough for 30 minutes. It’ll be worth it!

Oven temperature – make sure your oven has reached the required temperature before placing the tray of cookies inside.

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