These super soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies are the most popular cookie recipe on my website for good reason. Melted butter, more brown sugar than white sugar, cornstarch, and an extra egg yolk guarantee the absolute chewiest chocolate chip cookie texture. The cookie dough is slick and requires chilling prior to shaping the cookies. This recipe is also in my New York Times best-selling cookbook, Sally's Baking 101.
Recipe by Sally on May 13, 2022
Prep time: PT15M
Cook time: PT13M
Total time: PT2H45M
Rating
4.7 stars ( reviews)
Keywords
chocolate chip cookies
Ingredients
2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 and 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch*
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (170g/12 Tbsp) unsalted butter, melted & cooled for 5 minutes
3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 and 1/4 cups (225g) semi-sweet chocolate chips or chocolate chunks
Categories
Dessert
Cuisine
American
Steps
In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt together. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk the melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until no lumps remain. Whisk in the egg and egg yolk until combined, then whisk in the vanilla extract. The mixture will be thin. Pour into dry ingredients and mix together with a large spoon or spatula. The dough will be very soft, thick, and shiny. Fold in the chocolate chips. The chocolate chips may not stick to the dough because of the melted butter, but do your best to combine them.
Cover the dough tightly and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days. I highly recommend chilling the cookie dough overnight to prevent overspreading.
Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. If the dough has chilled for longer than 2 hours, let it sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes.
Using a cookie scoop or Tablespoon measuring spoon, scoop the chilled cookie dough, about 3 scant Tablespoons (about 2 ounces, or 60g) of dough for XL cookies or 2 heaping Tablespoons (about 1.75 ounces, or 50g) of dough for medium-large cookies. Roll into a ball, then use your fingers to shape the cookie dough so that it’s taller rather than wide—almost like a cylinder. This helps the cookies bake up thicker. Repeat with remaining dough. Arrange the cookies 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
Bake the cookies for 13–14 minutes or until the edges are very lightly browned. The centers will look very soft, but the cookies will continue to set as they cool. Cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. While the cookies are still warm, I like to press a few more chocolate chips into the tops—this is optional and only for looks!
Store tightly covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Reviews
Patricia on 2025-12-13 (5 stars): I usted to think that I had the best chocolate cookie recipe ever….but as their pintures looked great and lumpy, I decided to give Sally,s recipe a try. Oh my god! This AREEEE the best! Thank you for sharing all the details. Follow everything exactly as she tells, and you will see….best cookies ever!
Liv on 2025-12-14 (5 stars): This was an amazing recipe I use it to make Christmas cookies for gifts and everyone loved them
Sher on 2025-12-14 (5 stars): I have made these cookies several times, and they’re always a hit. For a Christmas cookie, I add chopped glazed cherries for a festive look. Yum…
Kim Hathaway on 2025-12-14 (5 stars): One word, YUM!
Chewy with a slight crunch around the edges.
Connie on 2025-12-17 (5 stars): Today I accidentally added 2 tsp of cream of tartar to the dry ingredients and mine finally came out thick! I also melted the butter all the way and stirred, where in the past I kinda cooked it a bit after melting. Maybe that helped too? I've made this recipe many times and this time they are perfect!
Lauren B on 2025-12-16 (2 stars): These cookies never turned out for me - such a shame! I followed the instructions exactly, I even made my cookie dough towers 2-3 times as tall as they were wide. I was so hopeful.
Vicki Custer on 2025-12-16 (3 stars): Followed the recipe exactly and let refrigerate for two days. Cookies were then shaped into cylinders. Came out flat and seemed very buttery greasy. How would these do without melting the butter and or a little less butter?
Janet L on 2025-12-17 (5 stars): I get rave reviews every time I make these and have become the only choc chip cookies I make. I melt the butter just barely to the point of being melted. Seems when it goes much farther it is "oilier" and harder to incorporate. The main thing I do to ensures they bake properly and makes it much easier to shape the cold dough: instead of refrigerating in the bowl, dump it onto plastic wrap, form it into an even rectangle approximately 1" thick & 10" long, wrap it in the plastic wrap, refrigerate overnight. When ready to bake, remove from fridge and use a knife to easily cut 16 or 20 rectangles. Makes it much easier to form the pillars of dough and the dough isn't handled as much.
Connie on 2025-12-17 (5 stars): I've been making this recipe for about a year now and follow it to the T. They taste great, but even though I'm shaping into a tall cylinder, they still are not thick like I want them to be. Today by accident I added 2 tsp of cream of tartar. OMG.....they are thick like I have always wanted and taste just as delicious as the original recipe!
Kelly on 2025-12-18 (5 stars): A few months ago I made these cookies and they were incredible. Delicious, perfectly textured, etc. Since then, I’ve made them four more times, and every single time I’ve had a problem: they won’t spread! Somehow I’m totally missing the “thin and soft” mark and ending up with tall, thick, and cakey. I keep trying, and I’m 95% sure I’m not making any mistakes with the recipe, but I must be doing SOMETHING wrong because they were perfect the first time. Does anybody have any input/has anyone experienced this problem themselves? They were great the first time and I’m pretty stubbornly determined to get them right again.
Cheyenne Osadciw on 2025-12-18 (5 stars): I’ve struggled with chocolate chip cookie recipes for years. I tried the Ghirardelli one the Nestle one and then my own renditions because they’re a family favorite but for some reason something changed and they don’t come out like they used to. I decided to give this recipe a go because Sally has never failed me before and they came out AMAZING!! I didn’t chill them overnight but a couple hours seemed to do the trick.
