Jessica Dady
Our easy chocolate chip cookies take 10 minutes to prepare and are under 230 calories per cookie.
Perfect for parties, bake sales, and picnics, these cookies are also a delicious afternoon treat and can be transformed into a dessert with a scoop of ice cream or an indulgent drizzle of double cream. This recipe makes 20 cookies but it’s easy to scale up if you need more.
Ingredients
- 225g caster sugar
- 200g butter, melted
- 300g plain flour
- 1tsp of baking powder
- A pinch of salt
- 1tsp vanilla extract
- 100g-200g chocolate or chocolate chips
- 1 egg
WEIGHT CONVERTER
Method
- Heat the oven to 160C (140C fan, Gas 3). Line a baking tray with parchment paper or lightly grease with butter.
- Put the sugar and melted butter in a bowl and mix together with a wooden spoon.
- Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and mix into the sugar and butter mixture.
- Add the vanilla and chocolate chips and use your hands to distribute evenly and mix together. Once you get a dough texture, add the egg and knead using your hands again until combined.
- Portion the dough into 20 balls. Put on the baking tray and flatten a little. Keep the balls small and leave plenty of space between each one as they will spread. You might prefer to bake in batches or use two baking trays.
- Bake for 10-20 minutes until lightly golden and golden at the edges. Leave to cool on the baking tray for 10 minutes, or if you have time until completely cool.
Watch how to make easy chocolate chip cookies
Top tips for making our easy chocolate chip cookies
Our recipe uses plain flour but if you use self-raising flour you don’t need to add baking powder. The longer you bake the cookies the crispier the final texture will be.
For the most even results we recommend weighing the raw dough and dividing by 20 to calculate exactly how much dough you need per cookie but you could also use an ice cream scoop to help give consistent sizes. For more easy chocolate chip cookie tips, continue reading below.
How do you make soft, chewy chocolate chip cookies?
We’d recommend swapping caster sugar for brown sugar - as it contains molasses, which will add even more moisture to your cookies making them extra soft and chewy.
You can also reduce the baking time - not drastically - by a few minutes and can immediately remove them from the baking tray once out of the oven to cool on a wire rack to stop them from continuing to cook for too long.
Doing this will stop the cookies from overcooking which can cause them to dry out and become crisp.
What type of chocolate is best for chocolate chip cookies?
You can use any kind of chocolate you’d prefer but bear in mind that milk and dark chocolate tend to work better, as white chocolate contains more sugar and can burn more easily. We like to use a mixture to make the cookies more interesting.
If you want to make extra chocolaty cookies we'd recommend using 200g of chocolate otherwise stick to 100g of chocolate for a classic chocolate chip cookie.
You can chop a bar of chocolate into small chunks if you don't have chocolate chips and it will work just as well.
Can you freeze easy chocolate chip cookies?
It’s best to freeze the raw cookie dough. You can either shape the dough into a log shape or wrap it in cling film. Then slice 1cm thick rounds as and when you want to enjoy a cookie. You will likely have to cook for closer to 20 minutes but check after 15 minutes.
Alternatively, shape the dough into balls and freeze on a baking tray until solid. Transfer to a freezer bag or container once solid and then bake from frozen, again adding a few minutes to the cooking time as required.
What makes homemade chocolate chip cookies hard?
Overcooking cookies is often what makes them hard and crunchy. Remember the cookies will continue to cook while they cool on the baking tray due to the residual heat on the tray. For a softer texture, cool on the tray for 5 minutes before leaving to cool on a wire rack.
How to serve chocolate chip cookies?
These cookies are delicious on their own but a glass of cold milk is a classic accompaniment. They are excellent with a cup of tea or coffee too.
Alternatively, you might like to sandwich two cookies together with ice cream in the middle for an indulgent dessert. You could also serve with some cream and fresh strawberries.
If you like the American treat smores, add a marshmallow or two on top of your baked cookies and flash under a hot grill for a couple of minutes until the marshmallow has melted. Allow to stand for a minute or two before eating as it will be very hot.
"I love making cookies with my young niece and nephews. They can help measuring and mixing the ingredients and then rolling the dough into small portions too. It's easy to scale up if you want to bake more than 20 and the dough can be frozen too."
For perfectly flat bottoms to your cookies, you need a sturdy, flat baking tray. We like this non-stick sheet from Tala.
If you need more cookie inspiration, try our sugar cookies recipe. These peanut butter cookies are very easy and delicious and our Snickerdoodles are simple and satisfying.