Learn how to make classic chewy chocolate chip cookies with this easy step-by-step recipe. You only need a handful of staple ingredients and can choose between milk, white and dark chocolate chips – or a mixture of all three!

A new year means a new personal baking project, and I’ve decided to make 2022 the year of the cookie 😍 Over the next 12 months I plan to share all my cookie baking tips, tricks and secrets with you, plus a whole heap of brand new delicious cookie recipes.
As a bit of research, I asked my lovely followers on Instagram what their favourite cookie flavour was, and there was one flavour that kept popping up time and time again…plain old chocolate chip cookies. There’s part of me that totally agrees, sometimes simple and classic recipes are just the best. So what better way to kick-start this new project than with classic chewy chocolate chip cookies!
About these chewy chocolate chip cookies
- The recipe. I’ve kept things as simple and easy as possible. Short ingredient list, step-by-step tutorial pictures and lots of helpful tips along the way. *Disclaimer* you will need to chill this cookie dough for a few hours or overnight 😬 I know the waiting time between making and eating your cookies can be torture, but trust me if you want to bake the most perfect chewy chocolate chip cookies, chilling the dough is essential!
- The texture. You may be thinking “what does a chewy really mean?”. Let me explain. Chewy chocolate chip cookies are soft-baked, not thin but not too thick either, and when you bite into them they have a chewy, moist texture. What chewy cookies are not: firm, hard, crisp, snap-able.
- The flavour. Where to even begin! The cookie dough is buttery, sweet but not too sweet, with flavours of caramel and vanilla. These cookies are filled with lots of milk chocolate chips, which add a delicious pop of chocolate in every bite.



Chewy cookies vs. chunky cookies
Okay, this is a BIG debate. I completely sit on the fence on this one. Sometimes I love a thinner chewy cookies, and sometimes I just want a big fat thickkkk chunky cookie. You guys were also pretty split on this when I did my cookie research on Instagram.
So guess what? I’ve created a recipe for both!!!
In this blog post you will find the recipe for chewy chocolate chip cookies. But if you’re looking for thick, chunky chocolate chip cookies (think NYC / Levain Bakery style) then check out this recipe instead.



Choosing the best chocolate chips
For this recipe you can use either milk, white or dark chocolate chips depending on your preference. You could even use a mixture of all 3 if you fancy it. Now you may be tempted to pick up any old type of chocolate chips but…choosing a good quality brand honestly makes a huge difference to the taste and texture of your chewy cookies.
Personally, I love Guittard Milk Chocolate Chips. They’re a little on the spenny side but so worth it, here’s why:
- Maxi in size – more like big chunks of chocolate rather than small chips
- They’re specially made for baking, so they won’t burn in the oven
- The chunky size means they melt into little pools of chocolate inside the cookie
- Used by professional baking chefs, so they must be good right!? 😅
You can find Guittard chocolate chips on Ocado, in Lakeland or in Waitrose. Alternatively, you could use good quality bars of chocolate and chop them into chunks.



What makes these chocolate chip cookies chewy?
Baking perfectly chewy cookies is the result of two things: the ingredients you use and the method you follow.
- Ingredients. This recipe uses melted better, a mix of white and brown sugar, a whole egg + an extra egg yolk, all of which contribute towards the chewy texture.
- Method. The melted butter in this recipe can make the cookie dough a little greasy and wet at first, which is why it’s so important that you chill the cookie dough. Honestly I can’t stress this enough. Cold cookie dough = less spread in the oven = chewy chocolate chip cookies. You’ll also roll the cookie dough into balls, which will help reduce spread. Just check out the difference between the cookies in the photograph below:



How to bake cookies with a gooey centre
This is the no.1 question I get asked when it comes to cookies. Regardless of whether you’re baking these chewy chocolate chip cookies or my chunky cookie recipe, they NEED to have a gooey middle. Here are 3 tips to make sure your cookies are gooey AF inside:
- Chill the cookie dough. Baking the cookie dough when it’s still cold means the outside with cook first, then gradually the middle will heat up and start to cook. Before the middle of the cookies starts to cook too much, we take the cookies out of the oven and let them cool down. That way the outside is baked but the inside is soft and gooey.
- Do not overbake. As the cookies cool down they will continue to cook from the heat of the baking tray and the cookie itself. That’s why we take the cookies out of the oven whilst they still look underbaked, pale and slightly wet in the middle. Leave them to cool for 15 minutes and the texture and colour will change, check out the photograph below to see the difference:






Can the cookie dough or baked cookies be frozen?
Freezing the cookie dough: once you’ve made the cookie dough, chill it in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Then roll the dough into balls, place in ziplock bag or container and store in the freezer for up to 2 months. You can bake the cookies from frozen for 13-14 minutes at 180°C (fan oven).
Freezing the baked chewy chocolate chip cookies: layer the baked cookies between sheets of greaseproof paper to prevent them from sticking to each other. Then place in a container and freeze for up to 2 months. Defrost the cookies at room temperature.
Quick links to equipment & ingredients

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 150 g Unsalted butter
- 100 g White caster sugar
- 150 g Light brown sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1 medium Whole egg at room temperature
- 1 medium Egg yolk at room temperature
- 280 g Self-raising flour
- 0.5 tsp Salt
- 180 g Chocolate chips – milk, white, dark or a mixture of all three I used Guittard Milk Chocolate Chips. See notes above in the blog post for more info
Instructions
Make the cookie dough
- Place the unsalted butter in a large microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 20-30 seconds until the butter has melted.
- Add the caster sugar, light brown sugar, vanilla extract, whole egg and egg yolk into the melted butter and mix together until fully combined.
- Now fold in the flour and salt. The mixture will come together to form a cookie dough.
- Add the chocolate chips (save a handful for later) and fold into the cookie dough.
- Cover the bowl with clingfilm and refrigerate overnight (this will give you the best result) or for at least 4 hours.
Roll and bake the cookies
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan oven) and line 2 large, flat baking trays with greaseproof paper.
- Take the cookie dough out of the fridge and leave to soften slightly at room temperature for 15 minutes.
- Scoop up a heaped tablespoon of cookie dough and use your hands to roll it into a ball. Place on the baking tray and do not flatten. Repeat this step until all the cookie dough has been used up, you should get roughly 14-16 cookies.
- [TIP: The cookies will spread a little in the oven so remember to leave space between each one on the baking tray. I bake the cookies in batches, with no more than 4 cookies on the baking tray each time]
- Bake for 10 minutes. The cookies should be pale golden on the outside but pake and soft in the middle. Don't worry if the middle still looks under-baked, this is how they are meant to be and the cookies will carry on baking as they cool down.
- As soon as the cookies are out of the oven, push a few leftover chocolate chips into the top of each cookie and use a cookie cutter to shape them into perfectly round cookies.
- Leave on the baking tray for 15 minutes to cool down and firm up. This will change the cookie texture so try to resist the temptation to tuck in straight away.
Notes
More cookie recipes to love
This post contains affiliate links which means I will make a small commission if you purchase through those links. I only recommend products that I know, trust and love!
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Son súper deliciosas gracias!!
This makes me very happy, thank you Corina 🥰🍪
Dear there is no baking soda ?!
These cookies are made using Self-raising flour which has baking powder already mixed into it 😊
These turned out sooo good! Just like the ones you find in the bakery section of Supermarkets (you know the ones where there are 5/6 ones in a paper bags and always tempt you when trying to buy something healthy) Super chewy inside with a slight crisp on the outside and lots of chocolate bursts. Loved the photo tips of how cookies look straight out of the oven compared to 15 minutes later etc, which were super useful. If I had not have seen these I would have definitely put the cookies back in the oven assuming they were undecooked. They really do continue to cook on the tray! (Her cookie cutter post bake shaping tip is also a game changer). Jessie is my go to now for baking recipes.
Thanks Helen for such a lovely review 🥰 so happy that you enjoyed the cookies!
Lovely. I’ll try it out
Enjoy! ☺️
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