My Small Batch Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies are thick and chewy with rich buttery flavor, hints of caramel and vanilla, and topped with a touch of flaky sea salt to create a balanced flavor profile. And they were made with love to support a very important cause: Good Cookies Food Bloggers’ Valentines Event organized by Julie!

I’m pretty excited about today’s post, not only because of the cookies (that goes without saying), but mostly because of what these cookies are supporting. My dear friend Julie from The Little Kitchen (check out her blog because it’s absolutely beautiful!) organized an event called the Good Cookies Food Bloggers’ Valentines Event to support Cookies for Kid’s Cancer.

Cancer is the leading cause of children’s disease-related death in the U.S. Currently, 40,000 children here are actively battling cancer. And less than 4% of the National Cancer Institute’s budget is allocated to childhood cancer. This is why Julie got involved. Last year she raised $13,395 through this event! That’s incredible, right?!

The goal is to raise $3,000 in donations. The three event sponsors (Dixie Crystals, MediaVine, and OXO) have each agreed to match the donations up to $3,000! You can read more about this event or donate here.

Another way to show support is to eat cookies! Well, ok, to order cookies that support research at the nation’s leading pediatric cancer centers. Or you can send them as a gift; the cookies are baked fresh to order and will ship out on February 6.

Lots of love to Julie for her incredible work supporting such a great cause! And thank you, Dear Readers, for reading and considering donating. xoxo, Faith

Small Batch Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies: The Absolute Best Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Name: Small Batch Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 8 servings (yields 4 extra-large cookies)
Ingredients: 6 tablespoons unsalted butter (softened but not melted (really, don’t melt it!)); 1/2 cup sugar; 2 tablespoons sugar; 2 large egg yolks (save the whites for something else); 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract; 1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses; 1 cup all-purpose flour; 1/4 teaspoon baking soda; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips; Flaky sea salt (for the top)

When it comes to determining what makes the best chocolate chip cookies THE BEST, it’s a combination of flavor and texture.

What Do Chocolate Chip Cookies Taste Like?

Chocolate chip cookies are rich and buttery, with slight vanilla aroma, and hints of caramel from brown sugar. They are studded with semi-sweet chocolate chips, which provides a good balance to the cookie’s sweetness.

Texture of Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here’s where the real differences can arise. Chocolate chip cookies can be thick and chewy, thin and crispy (like my Thin and Crispy Chocolate Malted Milk Ball Cookies), or puffed and cakey. It’s a matter of personal preference, but I much prefer thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies, and that’s what you’ll get with my recipe for Small Batch Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies.

For the best chewy texture, I like to pull the cookies out of the oven when they look like the photo above!

Small Batch Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies

Bakery style cookies are usually huge, and these cookies don’t disappoint! Each one is larger than my full hand with the fingers spread out. Yes, now that’s a cookie! Half a cookie is definitely filling (half for now, half for later…it’s like double the fun, lol). Additionally, most bakery style cookies are thick and chewy, so that’s what I went with.

Because these cookies are so rich (and sometimes you don’t want a ton of cookies hanging around!), I developed a recipe for a small batch. This Small Batch Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe makes four giant cookies. Each cookie is so big, I think you’ll probably be satisfied with just half a cookie!

Ingredients in My Small Batch Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies:

How to Make Small Batch Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe is very easy to make! Cream together the butter and sugar, and then cream in the egg yolks, vanilla, and molasses. After that, stir in the flour, baking soda, and salt. Finally, fold in the chocolate chips and the dough is made. Scoop the dough, sprinkle a little flaky sea salt on top, and bake.

Some recipes call for chilling the dough, but I developed this recipe to be as quick and easy as possible, no chill time required!

Chocolate Chip Cookies FAQ

What Makes a Cookie Chewy?

Through a lot of trial and error, I’ve found that there are two main things that help make a cookie chewy. The first factor is a high moisture content, which we achieve with certain ingredients, such as molasses and egg yolks. Secondly, and equally important when you want to make a chewy chocolate chip cookie, is to not over-bake!

Why Do You Use Cornstarch in Cookies?

Some cookies call for a little bit of cornstarch in addition to flour to help yield a more tender crumb. However, note that this Small Batch Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe doesn’t use cornstarch.

What is the Best Flour for Cookies?

Unless a recipe specifically calls for another kind of flour, use all-purpose flour. I always use unbleached flour instead of bleached flour because bleached flour is treated with chemicals, while unbleached flour is bleached naturally as it ages (read more on The Kitchn).

However, note that not all cookie recipes use flour! Here are few examples:

My Gluten Free Maple Pecan Lactation Cookies use a combination of oats, coconut, flaxseed meal, and hemp hearts instead of flour.
Additionally, my recipe for Paleo Cinnamon Raisin Noatmeal Cookies on Healthy Sweet Eats has a base of almond meal and shredded coconut.
Also, my Almond Butter “Kisses” Cookies on The Keto Queens feature almond butter as the cookie base instead of flour.

Do You Need Baking Soda for Cookies?

Leaveners, such as baking soda and baking powder, cause baked goods like cookies to rise. Not all cookies use a leavener; for example, shortbread is basically just flour, salt, butter, and sugar. As a result, cookies without leavener are very dry and crumbly. (Take a peek at my delicious Chai-Spiced Vanilla Shortbread Cookies to see what I mean.)

When a leavener is needed, whether a cookie recipe calls for baking soda or baking powder depends on the other ingredients in the recipe. As a general rule, if there’s an acidic ingredient (such as molasses or lemon juice), the leavener is baking soda.

Best Tips for Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Create a balanced flavor profile with a little flaky sea salt on top to balance out the cookie’s sweetness.
Use molasses and/or brown sugar for caramel-like notes.
Soften your butter, but don’t fully melt it because this will change the texture of the cookies.
Use good quality chocolate chips!
The cookies should look a little under-baked in the middle when you pull them out. This is because they’ll harden up as they cool, and the end result will be a very chewy cookie! Additionally, the cookies will stay fresh-tasting for longer.

Did you make this recipe? Please rate it and leave a comment below because I love hearing from you! You can also tag @anediblemosaic on social media. To stay up-to-date FOLLOW ME on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Xoxo, Faith