Soft, chewy, and chocolate-loaded Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies! Only one bowl, a wooden spoon, and eight ingredients are needed — no stand mixer or hand mixer needed.
And if you’re looking for a full batch of similar cookies, try these Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. These Snickerdoodle Cookies, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Peanut Butter Cookies are other reader-favorite recipes.
Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies
This recipe for Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies is ideal for those moments when you crave cookies but don’t want to be overwhelmed with a large batch. Perfect for cookie lovers who find it hard to stop at just one, it’s a practical solution to manage cravings.
Additionally, it’s an excellent choice during the holidays, for cookie exchange parties, or even for leaving a treat for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve without the need to bake dozens of cookies. This recipe provides a convenient and delicious option for various occasions where fewer cookies are preferable.
Ingredients In Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Salted Butter: Adds moisture and fat, giving the cookies a rich flavor and tender texture. It’s partially melted for easier mixing.
- Brown Sugar and White Sugar: Sweeten the cookies and affect their texture. Brown sugar brings moisture and a caramel-like flavor, while white sugar helps the cookies spread and become crispier.
- Pure Vanilla Extract: Enhances the overall flavor of the cookies.
- Large Egg Yolk: Contributes to the richness and acts as a binder, ensuring a smooth dough. Save the egg whites to use in an omelet, add to this egg skillet, or use in this easy egg wrap.
- Baking Soda: A leavening agent, it helps the cookies to rise slightly and prevents them from being too dense.
- Flour: Provides structure, balancing moisture to create a moldable dough.
- Chopped Chocolate Bar and Chocolate Chips: The key flavor elements, offering rich chocolate taste and varied texture.
How To Make A Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Melt Butter: Partially melt butter, let it cool.
- Mix Wet Ingredients: Combine cooled butter, brown and white sugars, vanilla extract, and egg yolk.
- Add Dry Ingredients: Mix in baking soda and flour.
- Incorporate Chocolate: Stir in chopped chocolate and chocolate chips.
- Shape and Chill: Roll dough into 9 balls, chill for 30-60 minutes.
- Bake: Preheat oven to 325°F, bake cookies 8-12 minutes until golden.
- Cool and Store: Let cookies cool, store in airtight container. Enjoy within 4 days.
Quick Tip
Fresh baking soda: Test the baking soda to be sure it’s fresh by adding boiling water to a small amount. If it fizzes, it’s good. Here’s how to test if your baking soda is fresh and will work in these Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Tips For Success
- Cool the Melted Butter: After melting, let the butter return to room temperature. Hot butter can cause the cookies to become greasy and spread too much.
- Chill the Dough: Chill the dough to allow the melted butter to solidify. This prevents cookies from spreading too thin and burning, and enhances flavor development.
- Shape Dough Taller: Roll the dough into taller, cylindrical shapes for a thick, chewy center and crisp edges.
- Add Extra Chocolate: After baking, press additional chocolate chips into the tops for more chocolate in every bite and an appealing look.
- Monitor Baking Carefully: Avoid hard cookies by not overbaking. Ensure the oven is correctly calibrated and watch cookies closely as they finish baking. Measure ingredients accurately and use fresh ingredients.
Storage
Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
To freeze, roll the dough into balls and freeze them on a parchment-lined sheet pan until solid. Once frozen, transfer the dough balls to a freezer-safe bag. When ready to bake, place the frozen dough balls directly on a baking sheet and bake at 325°F, adding a couple of extra minutes to the baking time.
More Cookie Recipes
- Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies massive cookies
- Monster Cookies with peanut butter
- Coconut Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies healthier option
- DoubleTree Cookies Hilton secret cookie recipe shared!
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies not the cakey version
Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- Sheet pan
- Parchment paper
- Cooling Rack
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup salted butter
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar firmly packed
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg yolk see note 1
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup chopped chocolate bar see note 2
- 2 tablespoons chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, partially melt the butter in a microwave (about 35 seconds straight from the fridge, just enough to easily mix it). Let butter stand until it has cooled to room temperature. Do not add sugars to hot butter, or the cookies will be greasy and spread.
- Once butter has cooled to room temperature, add brown sugar and granulated sugar. Stir until smooth and combined. Add vanilla extract and egg yolk. Stir to combine.
- Add baking soda and flour. Stir until a thick dough forms.
- Coarsely chop the chocolate bar and add in the chunks and chocolate chips. Stir until combined; you may need to knead the chips into the dough. Divide dough evenly into 9 parts; each cookie is about 2 tablespoons (38 grams). Roll dough into cookie balls that are tall and cylindrical (as opposed to short and round—see photos in post). Place dough balls on a parchment-lined sheet pan, cover, and chill for 30 minutes to an hour.
- When ready to bake, set the oven temperature to 325°F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone liner. Place dough balls on sheet pan with plenty of space between cookies—I only bake 6 at a time. Bake 8–12 minutes or until very lightly golden brown at the edges and no longer glossy on top.
- Remove cookies from oven and let stand on the sheet pan for 3–4 minutes before removing with a metal spatula to a cooling rack to finish cooling. I like to press a few more chocolate chips into the tops of the cookies right out of the oven (optional).
Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Chelsea! These are absolutely the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made! I’m off to make my second batch in three days! Really- very good! Thanks.
Oh that totally makes my day to hear that!! SO happy you loved these 🙂 Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment and review 🙂
You forgot to add the butter into the recipe directions.
No, it’s in step number 1 🙂 in the bowl you melt the butter then whisk in the sugars in the same bowl
Helloooooooooo,
A big thanks for the easy and awesome recipe 🙂 🙂
I tried these cookies and they turned out really great!!!!!!!
God bless you!!!!
Minal
Oh YAY! So happy to hear you enjoyed these 🙂 Thanks so much Minal! 🙂
Made the recipe and Im ‘chilling’. 😉 Can this recipe be made like a bar cookie? Was thinking of spreading the dough into 8×8 pan. What do you think?
I’ve actually never tried this dough recipe in a bar form so I’m not sure how it will do. If you end up trying it please let us know the results! 🙂
Ok going to try it and definitely will let you know. By the way, the cookies came out delicious! And easy to make. Hubby love them. I only had cocoa bars (80%) so I mixed that with semi sweet baking bars. Perfect. Next time I will add a tad more vanilla or buy a better brand. What do you use? Thanks.
So great to hear!! I’m glad you loved these! I use Mexican vanilla and think it’s the best stuff ever for really elevating the flavor of cookies! But yes, it is expensive. The other brands I recommend are McCormick or anything by Nielsen-Massey (I especially love their Tahitian vanilla extract.)
Forgot to ask in my previous comment if you can recommend another less expensive Brand of Vanilla other than Mexican. Thanks.
I believe McCormick pure vanilla extract is going to be your best bet for good flavor and inexpensive price 🙂
If you live near a Sam’s Club, their McCormick Vanilla is much less expensive than other retail stores. And it’s a much larger bottle, to boot.
Hi Chelsea! I’ve tried your recipe and I must admit this is so simple yet so delicious! By the way, can I add some instant oats on the recipe? Thank you! =)
So great to hear; thank you Kaycee!! I haven’t actually ever added oats to this recipe so I couldn’t say the amount to add. Sorry to not be of more help! I’m hoping to have a recipe for easy half-batch oatmeal cookies this holiday season though 🙂
What happens when you’re craving chocolate chip cookies, but are too tired to make them before bed? You wake up at 3:58am with the worst craving, and are compelled to get up and bake them. Fast forward to almost 5:30 am, and I’ve just tasted the most delicious, easy to make (seriously, I am a baking moron) ccc’s I have ever had. They were really good. Half a batch is the perfect amount to get through the cravings for a few days and pack a few for my husband in his lunch. I am new to your site, but will definitely be back. I think I can fall back to sleep now that the cravings have subsided. Thank you!
Haha!!! This comment made me laugh! I am super impressed you got up at 4 am to make cookies 🙂 And very glad this recipe didn’t disappoint (wouldn’t that be the worst at 530 am?!) Thanks for stopping by!
I’m stuck at home with an ankle fracture and was just DYING for some fresh cookies. Came across your recipe in my manic Googling and it fit the bill perfectly: minimal standing in the kitchen, minimal cleanup. I used half chocolate chips and half mini Reese’s Pieces, half butter and half margarine (I know, I know…but it was all I had in the house and I’m incapacitated!). Just took them out of the oven and WOW – exactly what I was craving and hoping for! Saving this for the future (like maybe…in three days). THANK YOU 🙂
Thanks so much for your comment!! I am so glad you tried these and liked them 🙂 Also mini Reese’s sounds DELICIOUS!
I was looking for a quick delicious CCC recipe to make some cookies for my coworkers. I usually do my standby recipe which takes 36 hours-72 hours to allow the dough to rest but I didn’t have time for that so I gave this recipe a shot and OMGoodness!!! I doubled the recipe, used Ghirardelli’s 60% Cacao Disks chopped, pecans, Nestle Tollhouse Chunks, and Sea Salt on top for some balance … These cookies were amazing. The combination of the milk/dark chocolate made certain it wasn’t too sweet, the salt enhanced and brought out all the flavors. It was perfect. People keep asking me to make more. This may become my NEW standby recipe!
Love that you did a combo of milk and dark + salt on top – now that sounds PERFECT! Thanks so much for your kind compliment – so glad to hear that you loved these 🙂
I have my batch in the fridge and waiting patiently…. 🙂 I was specifically looking for the small batch since I was running low on ingredients, so I think this will work perfectly.
Awesome!! Hope you love these 🙂
So today my toddler kept peeking in the pantry and saying cookie! And I remembered looking at your recipe a few weeks ago. Well this recipe is amazing! Perfect cookies, the best ones I’ve ever made. And I didn’t even chill them, just stuck in the freezer for 5-10 min while I washed the bowl and preheated oven! Thanks Chelsea!
What a sweet comment – thank you Katy!! So glad these are the best ones you’ve made 🙂 And thanks for that tip about freezing! I’m sure other readers will be thrilled to see that!