These soft chocolate chip cookies have been a family favourite for years, and I’ve made them more times than I could possibly count.
It started years ago when I was searching online for a really good chocolate chip cookie recipe. I didn’t want to settle for the first one I found, so I tested five different recipes. Then the children and the rest of the family got involved in the important part — tasting them — and together we decided that this one was the winner.
Unfortunately, I have no idea which website the original recipe came from anymore. If I knew, I would happily give credit to the person who created it. What I do know is that once we chose this one, I kept it, and I’ve been making it ever since.
And it has been properly tested over the years — not just by us at home. I’ve made these cookies for parties, taken them on family trips and packed them for picnics, and they always disappear quickly. I’ve made them at the nursery too, where both the children and the staff loved them. Quite often, someone ends up asking me for the recipe afterwards.
So after sharing these soft chocolate chip cookies so many times, I thought it was about time I put it somewhere everyone can find it.
Why These Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies Are a Family Favourite
And if you’ve read my other recipes, you’ll probably notice a pattern with me: when I find a recipe that really works, I keep it. I don’t see the point in constantly searching for another version just because the internet has thousands of them. This one won our family taste test years ago, it has worked ever since, and that’s good enough for me.
If chocolate is your thing, you might also like my homemade brownie recipe.
Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies with Crisp Edges – Our Family Favourite
Course: DessertsCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy14
servings30
minutes10
minutes240
kcalIngredients
120g unsalted butter, at room temperature
100g brown sugar
60g granulated white sugar
1 large egg
200g plain flour
30g corn flour or potato starch
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
1/4 tsp salt
160g chcolate chips
100g nuts
Directions
- Preheat the oven
Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with baking paper. - Mix the butter and sugars
Beat the softened butter with the brown sugar and white sugar until light and fluffy. - Add the egg
Add the egg and mix until well combined. - Add the dry ingredients
Add the plain flour, cornflour or potato flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Mix just until the dough comes together. - Add the chocolate and nuts
Fold in the chocolate chips and chopped nuts. - Shape the cookies
Divide the dough into balls. I usually make mine around 50 g each. - Bake
Bake at 180°C for around 10 minutes. Take them out when they look baked but are not yet brown. They will continue to set as they cool.
Notes
- For larger cookies:
If you make very large cookies using around 170 g of raw dough per cookie, bake them for approximately 18–20 minutes at 180°C. Smaller cookies need less time.
Don’t overbake them:
These cookies are best when slightly underbaked rather than overbaked. I take them out when they look cooked but haven’t started to brown. They firm up as they cool.
Chilling the dough:
You can chill the dough for around 30 minutes, but I usually bake mine straight away — no time to wait!
Without nuts:
If you leave out the 100 g of nuts, you can replace them with an additional 100 g of chocolate chips.
About the sugar:
These are definitely sweet cookies. I’ve reduced the sugar by around 30 g before and they still had a very similar texture and crispness. However, reducing it dramatically changes the result. When I once made a double batch of dough but accidentally used only the amount of sugar intended for a single batch, the cookies were much softer, more crumbly and far less sweet. They were still perfectly edible, but they weren’t quite these cookies anymore. The original sweetness is part of what gives them their characteristic flavour and texture.
240kcal per cookie.
