About The Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
This is the famous Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe that you know and love, but made better with some cookie baking tips and tricks I’ve learned over the years! What does that mean, exactly? Sure, you can go ahead and make the original Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe and make some *pretty good* cookies.
But what if I told you that, with a little bit of extra work and patience, you could make the cookies even better???
Intrigued yet? Learn more in the next section where I detail how I make the original Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe even better!
For more delicious homemade cookie recipes on Hummingbird High, check out my Cookie Recipe collection! Popular recipes include this Snickerdoodle Recipe Without Cream of Tartar and these Lavender Earl Grey Cookies.
Why You Should Make This Version Of The Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
My version of the recipe instructs you to toast the nuts.
Toasting nuts brings out more flavorful oils within the nuts themselves, leading to deeper flavors. You also improve their texture by adding snap and crunchiness.
My version of the recipe instructs you to melt the butter.
The original Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe instructs you to cream the butter together with the sugars. However, my recipe instructs you to melt the butter first before mixing it in with the sugars.
I found that doing so creates a wonderfully fudgy cookie with dense and ever-so-slightly doughy centers. Plus, you get to save yourself some time since there’s no waiting for the butter to come to room temperature!
My version of the recipe instructs you to use chopped chocolate instead of chocolate chips.
If you read my cookbook, Weeknight Baking, you probably know that I have a grudge against chocolate chips. Why? Most chocolate chips are made with cheap chocolate. The chocolate chips are pumped with additives like paraffin wax and palm oil to help them keep their shape even after being baked in the oven. These additives compromise the chocolate chips’ flavor and texture, making them taste waxy.
Thankfully, most “good” chocolate bars don’t suffer from this issue. Chocolate bars traditionally don’t use the same additives. So instead of using chocolate chips, I instruct you to chop up a “good quality” chocolate bar into ½- and 1-inch pieces. The chopped chocolate melts and gives the cookies pockets and puddles of chocolate throughout each bite. Once you’ve tried this upgrade, you can’t ever go back.
My version of the recipe instructs you to chill the cookie dough overnight before baking.
In general, most cookie doughs freeze and refrigerate wonderfully. Furthermore, there’s research that states that “resting” your cookie dough by chilling or freezing will lead to more delicious cookies. Why?
The extra time in the freezer/refrigerator allows the flour and sugar to absorb more flavors from the other ingredients in the dough. The resulting cookies have subtle butterscotch, caramel, and toffee flavors in them. So for little to no extra effort on your part, you end up with better cookies. Pretty amazing, right?
My version of the recipe instructs you to bake the cookies at a lower temperature.
The original Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe instructs you to bake the cookies at 375℉. However, I found that doing so resulted in cookies that were far too crunchy on the bottom. I like some crisp/crunch in my cookies, but only around the edges. To me, the ideal cookie is still fudgy and soft in the middle.
To achieve this texture, I lowered the baking temperature in my version of the recipe. Baking at a lower temperature makes the cookies spread out more (they stayed a little puffy at the original temperature), with perfectly crisp and crinkled edges.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Now that I’ve convinced you to make my version of the Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe, let’s talk about some of its key ingredients:
- Nuts. I tried the original Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe and my version of it with a variety of nuts: almonds, hazelnuts, macadamias, pistachios, pecans, and walnuts. My absolute favorite—and the one I recommend in my recipe below—were the cookies made with walnuts.
That being said, you can use whatever mix of nuts you want, as long as the total volume equals 1 cup. If you want a classic flavor, I recommend pairing ½ cup pecans and ½ cup walnuts. - Kosher Salt. I love using kosher salt for all my baking recipes! Learn why kosher salt is the best salt for baking recipes in this blog post.
- Brown Sugar. While recipe testing, I found that either light or dark brown sugar works in the recipe. Dark brown sugar will give your cookies a subtle caramel flavor.
- Chocolate. I truly believe that the quality of your chocolate makes or breaks the recipe. Check out my blog post on the best chocolate for making chocolate chip cookies!
Recipe Troubleshooting and FAQ
Help! My cookie dough is SUPER greasy, and the dough feels too loose to scoop. What did I do wrong?
Don’t panic! We can fix this pretty easily. If your dough feels greasy and loose, it’s likely that you added in the butter while it was still too hot.
To fix the issue, simply place the entire bowl of cookie dough in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. Doing so will help the dough firm up. After 10 minutes, check the dough. If it still feels too loose, give it another 5 to 10 minutes in the fridge. However, I don’t recommend chilling it for longer—doing so will harden the cookie dough too much and make it really hard to scoop!
Help! My cookies came out too puffy. They didn’t sink after baking and don’t look flat like yours. What did I do wrong?
Check out my troubleshooting guide on How To Fix Puffy Cookies (And Other Cookie Baking Fails)!
Help! My cookies spread way too much. They look much thinner and more brittle than yours. What did I do wrong?
Ah. First things first, scroll up and read the preceding question and come back. Now—did you skip the chilling period and bake the cookies right away, when the dough felt super greasy and loose? If so, that means that the butter was still too hot from being melted. Butter that’s too hot causes the cookies to spread out way too much in the oven, creating thin and brittle cookies.
Alternatively, if you chilled the cookie dough and your cookies still came out too thin and brittle, you may have an ingredients issue. It’s likely that you used way too much sugar by accidentally packing in too much in the measuring cup. See the next question below for more info on how to properly use measuring cups!
My Best Recipe Tips (To Set You Up For Success)
All About Ingredients
- To make your life easier, use baking chocolate that’s on the thinner side (like Divine, Ghirardelli, Guittard, and some Valrhona baking bars). Thinner chocolate is easier to cut. If you’re using a thicker block of chocolate (like Trader Joe’s or some Valrhona baking bars), you can also pulse the chocolate in a food processor. However, in general, I don’t recommend doing so. It’s easy to overdo it in a food processor—you end up with a lot of chocolate “dust” instead.
- Be mindful when melting the butter for these cookies! You don’t want the butter to sizzle, crackle, or pop. I like to chop it up into 1-inch cubes then melt it in a small sauce pot over medium-low heat. I stir the butter constantly while monitoring it. In a pinch, I’ll also melt the butter in the microwave. Similarly, I chop it up into 1-inch cubes then microwave it on low at 10-second intervals.
A Technique Tip To Save You Time
- The fastest and easiest way to portion cookie dough is with a cookie dough scoop. Most cookie recipes work best with either a 3-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop (my personal fave for cookie recipes!) or a 4-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop. Use the scoop to portion the dough into cookie dough balls, placing the cookie dough balls on a lined sheet pan as you go.
My Best Tips On Baking Cookies
- Before doing anything else, line two sheet pans with parchment paper. Take the cookies out of the refrigerator and place them on the sheet pans at least 3 inches apart. Then, position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat it to 350℉. Leave the cookies out at room temperature while the oven preheats—doing so thaws the cookies slightly and will ensure that they spread properly when baked!
- I like to bake the cookies one pan at a time. I find that doing so makes the best cookies, ensuring that none of them have overly burnt bottoms or raw centers. However, to save time, you can bake two sheet pans at a time. Position a rack in the upper-third position of the oven, and a second one in the lower-third position of the oven. Bake a pan on each rack, swapping their positions half way through the Bake Time.
Get the Recipe: The Elevated Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
For The Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 1 cup (6 ounces or 170 grams) nuts (preferably walnuts), chopped into ¼- to ½-inch pieces
- 2 ¼ cup (10.15 ounces or 288 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup tightly packed (5.65 ounces or 160 grams) dark OR light brown sugar
- ¾ cup (5.25 ounces or 149 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (8 ounces or 227 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 12 ounces (or 340 grams) dark chocolate (between 60% to 70% cacao), from a high-quality chocolate bar, chopped into ½- to 1-inch pieces
Instructions
For the Elevated Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies
- First, toast the nuts. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a quarter sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Spread the nuts in a single layer across one of the sheet pans. Bake for 5 to 10 minutes, or until fragrant and toasted brown. Use a heatproof rubber spatula to toss the nuts every 2 to 3 minutes to ensure even toasting. Once toasted, scrape the nuts onto a plate to prevent them from cooking further.
- Make the cookie dough. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, combine the sugars.
- Pour the melted butter over the sugars and mix with the spatula until just combined. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until just combined. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add the chocolate and nuts all at once and mix until evenly distributed throughout.
- Use a 3-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop to portion the cookie dough into balls, placing them next to each other on the prepared sheet pan (the same one you used to toast the nuts—just make sure it's cooled completely!) as you go. Cover the pan loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
- Prep your pans and oven. Line two half sheet pans with parchment paper. Place the chilled cookie doughs at least 3 inches apart on the prepared sheet pans. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F.
- Bake the cookies. Bake one pan at a time for 10 minutes, or until the edges have set but the centers are still gooey. The cookies will look puffed when you pull them out of the oven, but will fall and crack into the perfect cookies as they cool. Cool the cookies on the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes, or until the edges and bottoms of the cookies have set and feel firm to the touch. Repeat with the remaining cookie dough.
- Serve and store. Serve warm or at room temperature. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container or zip-top bag at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Notes
Can you freeze Toll House chocolate chip cookies?
Yes! You can freeze these elevated Toll House chocolate chip cookies in the following ways:- Freeze the UNBAKED cookies.
Follow the recipe instructions to make the cookie dough and scoop them out into cookie dough balls. Place the cookie dough balls in a small sheet pan. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 1 hour, or until the cookie dough balls are frozen solid. Transfer the cookie dough balls to a zip-top bag and freeze for up to 1 year. To bake the frozen cookie dough balls, follow the recipe’s instructions for preheating the oven and arranging the cookie dough balls on a sheet pan. Bake for 12 minutes, or until the edges have set but the centers are still gooey. - Freeze the BAKED cookies.
Individually wrap any leftover chocolate chip cookies in two layers of plastic wrap, then a layer of aluminum foil. The aluminum foil will prevent the cookies from absorbing any other flavors or odors in the freezer. When ready to serve, transfer to the refrigerator to chill overnight. Rewarm in the microwave or in the oven at 350°F for 5 minutes before serving.
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Over the past several years of running Hummingbird High, I kept a crucial aspect of my life hidden from my readers: I had a full-time, extremely demanding job in the tech world. In my debut cookbook, Weeknight Baking, I finally reveal the secrets to baking delicious desserts on a tight schedule.
Can’t wait to try these! We use the Toll House recipe app of the time because it always comes out the best. We use the Ghirardelli 60% baking chips and add a pinch of sea salt to the tops before baking.
I’ve been baking my cookies this way for 25 years (except I don’t put nuts in mine). People always ask “how do you get your cookies to turn out so good, ALL the time?” My response always leads to one of two reactions… jaw drop and/or total confusion, because “that’s not part of the recipe.” And then I really blow their minds when they try my oatmeal cookies (also adapted from the Nestle Toll House recipe).
Thanks for this – I’ve been alternating between the Toll House and Ad Hoc recipes, so I’m super excited to try your version here. (Also, my 13-year-old and I just made your Weeknight Baking Yellow Cake with Chocolate Fudge Frosting – SO yummy!)
Love the ease of these cookies! I chopped Mexican chocolate, the cinnamon added extra flavor. Thank you
I will have to think of other package recipes, what a fun project. In addition to the pound plus bars from Trader Joe’s, they also sell their chocolate in packs of three mini bars, which I find much easier to chop and are great for small batch recipes.
That’s a GREAT tip! Thank you for sharing—I may have to update the post to include your tip!!! xo
Hi, first time i made these they turned out amazing! Best ever! However this time the dough seems thin. Help. I put it in the fridge hoping it stiffens up a bit.
Uh oh! Did you do anything different this time around?
I dont believe i did anything different. Thankfully they baked and taste wonderful as the first time.
phew, i was nervous!!!
thank you s o m u c h for the intense info. this kind of in-depth information and explanation is why i like cooks illustrated so much: not just throwing words around, but explaining how and why things work together; and, just as importantly, how and why things DON’T work together. a random internet stranger deeply appreciates the work you do. <3
omg, thank you for the kind words!!! i was feeling down because, literally in another blog post/recipe today, somebody accused me of “pontificating” too much and overly describing my recipes. but i feel like the information is really useful for folks who are actually trying to understand how baking works??? sigh.
Have you ever tried instant coffee in this recipe?
I personally have not but an Instagram follower of mine mentioned that she makes these cookies with a splash of coffee and a teaspoon of instant coffee/espresso powder!
I want to add on to what Liz said above. I really appreciate the detail you gave and helpful hints. We all want to be better cooks and the more tips we can share with each other the more yummy food can be shared. I’m a big Alton Brown fan and it’s because he gives the “why” in all he does. Keep up the incredible gift of detail Michelle. BTW my cookies are in the frig now, can’t wait to try them tomorrow!
aw, thank you!!! this comment really brightened my day! ever since that comment about my blog posts being too long/recipes being too wordy, i’ve been wondering if i should scale it down and just share less information. i’m also in your camp that i think the “WHY” behind techniques, tips, and recipes is just as important… but i don’t know how many people actually feel the same way 🙁 a lot of people just want the recipe and accuse bloggers of “talking too much”, lol.
also i hope you enjoy the cookies!!! xo
Michelle,
I’m not overly-crazy about the bloggers that have me read 3 long paragraphs about their family wheelbarrow from when they were in 3rd grade, then abruptly end with a “speaking of wheelbarrows, enjoy this peach crisp recipe!” but as a Completely Reasonable Person Using the Internet, I just click the “Jump to Recipe” button/use the scroll bar. I certainly don’t leave negative feedback – #1, it’s *their* blog I’m visiting – if they want it to be about wheelbarrows, so be it; #2, one person’s goose etc. – for all I know, the wheelbarrow stuff totally made someone else’s day.
I come here expressly because as a baking nerd myself, I live for your Pontifications about baking matters. As a longtime fan, I’d like to point out that your recipes are longer not just because you so carefully discuss the process (always with footnotes! love those) – you are one of the few bloggers who talks at length about substitutions, both pan sizes and ingredients. I started baking because one of my kids got diagnosed with multiple food allergies (peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, eggs) years back – your easy attitude about baking with different subs makes accommodating our restrictions easy and even fun. You were the first baking resource to analyze the different kinds of non-dairy milk not just by viscosity, but by taste. Epicurious did it a few weeks ago, but you were months ahead of them. This kind of effort on your part takes space – it takes Pontification. And I always appreciate how respectful you are when people ask about subs, because I’ve seen many other bloggers snap – which I completely understand as well (there’s only so much you can alter without changing the whole recipe), but my point is, you always seem to start from a place where you assume we’re not asking just to be difficult, and I deeply appreciate that. This isn’t even a “baking with food restrictions” site, but you try to make it approachable for as many bakers as you can.
I also think the elephant in the room is your strong POV about everything going on around us. Your hero Stella Parks writes every bit as much as you do about The Process of Baking, but I’ve not seen one person go after her for Pontificating too much – instead, she gets lauded (I like her as well, but she’s not nearly as cool about subs as you are 🙂 ). I don’t really know what her politics are, because that’s how she keeps it. I know what yours are – you put it right up here. Not in a preachy way, just in a “welcome to my space” sort of way – which all Reasonable People should be okay with, regardless of where they fall on the political spectrum. However, I can’t help but think that’s what the real issue is, and it’s bogus.
All that was to say, please keep being you because your “you” is exactly why so many of us come here 🙂
That’s an interesting point you bring up about Stella—I never thought about it like that!!! And thank you for your support!
rofl @ “3 long paragraphs about their family wheelbarrow from when they were in 3rd grade”
and 3 long paragraphs about too many paragraghs lol
I can’t wait to try these some time.
Just out of interest because I cook without sugar usually. I’ve been using coconut sugar mixed with carob molasses syrup that we get from the local Turkish markets.
You mentioned that white sugar also has a low pH level and therefore, it is the molasses that reacts with the baking soda to make this what it is. I’ll be trying with coconut sugar and reporting my success/failure some time soon.
Yep! If you use coconut sugar + molasses together, it should have the same effect as brown sugar. That’s because molasses is acidic in nature. A common substitute/trick for homemade brown sugar is to mix white sugar and molasses together.
Okay, these cookies look TOO good, Michelle. This is the recipe (the Toll House one of course) my family and I used to bake when I was growing up and I haven’t had one in sooo long. I’ve just moved into a new apartment and I’m starting to look into buying an oven for it (FINALLY), this might just be the first recipe (yours, obviously!!) I bake! <3
Mmmmm!!! Just made these and they are delicious! I was planning on making your cookbook chocolate chip cookies, but remembered this post from a few days ago. After about ten minutes in the fridge, I snuck out 2 cookies worth of dough for that instant gratification treat and now I can’t wait until tomorrow! I love reading your posts and watching your stories. I’ve been baking since I was a kid, yet I feel so much more confident baking once I’ve read through your post and/or watched your stories.
These cookies were fabulous! I used dark brown sugar the second time I made them instead of light brown and I really loved the depth of flavor it imparted. So worth making (and the overnight chill time makes a HUGE difference in flavor and texture). I’ve been a reader of your blog for a long time but have never left a comment. I think your work is creative, beautiful, and grounded in compelling, authentic storytelling and quality recipe development. Baking one of your recipes after a rough day (or a rough 2020 in general) never fails to bring me joy. Thank you for everything you do!
I made these using a 3T cookie scoop but my recipe only yielded 19 cookies! Any thoughts on what went wrong? The recipe states the yield should be 32… should I have used a smaller scoop? Thanks!
Oh sorry, that’s a typo! I think I meant to write 23 cookies but I remade them again just now and came up with 20 cookies, lol. Updating the recipe now! You did nothing wrong.
The recipe that you have shared is just amazing, Thank you so much for this amazing article will surely follow this recipe and let you know on how well it baked and tasted will also share it with my friends and family as well.
I am a CCC freak. For years I have searched for the “best” recipe. I can stop looking now..these are perfect. Mine were puffier..my scale did not go with the measuring cup, so I picked the measuring cup, but I wouldn’t change a thing. Not having to use a mixer was a bonus I wasn’t expecting. I would say these are a perfect combination of Jacques Torres/ Ultimate stand mixer cookies with the perfect texture and taste. I can’t thank you enough!
One question…can you brown the butter? Or it is better to leave it yellow?
Brown butter works too, I just preferred the cookies with regular butter!
Hey there! Terrific notes and great, solid recipe! I’m a pastry chef and confectioner, and just wanted to make one small correction: Trader Joe’s Pound Plus chocolate actually IS high quality chocolate; not many folks know it, but TJ’s sources their chocolate from Callebaut, (which is why they were the first U.S. retailer to carry Ruby Chocolate, as Callebaut holds the patent on it). There is actually no difference between Callebaut’s Finest Belgian and TJ’s – and it’s suitable for baking, molding, enrobing, ganaches, ice creams…so use it with confidence!
Yes!!! I found this out last year and my mind was blown. What a great tip, thanks for sharing!!!
Great blog and awesome recipe!
Will this work at 6800 feet. I found you through the internet and hoped to see many high altitude recipes on here.
I am not seeing many recipes for this.
How would I adjust for these great looking cookies?
Hi Trish,
Sadly, I haven’t published a high altitude baking recipe since 2012/2013! I moved away from Denver then and now live at sea-level. You can see my full collection of high altitude recipes here: https://www.hummingbirdhigh.com/category/high-altitude-baking
I think these were delicious! Have baked them twice now 🙂 Second time I browned the butter too and ended up using Terry’s choc orange bar as the chunks. Tasted very nice! Thank you for the recipie.
These turned out awesome! We did end up using semi sweet mini chips and some chopped up lindt milk chocolate. We also used pecans instead of walnuts. Lastly, we refridgerated the dough balls for 4 hours and then stuck them in the freezer for about 30 minutes, then took them out while preheating the oven. They were perfect.
Hi! Mine turn out crispy on the edges but raw in the middle – I’ve tried them twice now. Any idea what may be the issue?
Hmmm, I suspect your oven might be running a little too hot! Do you have an external oven thermometer that you can hang inside the oven to gauge the temperature?
I’ve tried this recipe a few times and had the same issue. My oven thermometer says that the oven is at 350. I also made sure the let the cookies sit at room temperature for 10-15 min. I haven’t had this problem when I make the small batch version of the recipe but it always happens when I make the full-batch.
I live in the UK these many years, but grew up in the US with my mother making the original Nestle recipe almost monthly. She’d make a double batch. I remember coming home from school and she’d have a metal measuring cup in the freezer for me so that my milk would be ice cold to have with warm gooey cookies!
Your recipe worked great. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for your metric conversions. They were perfect. I used hazelnuts which are the national nut here. I also used 60-70% chocolate cocoa solid pieces from a good chocolatiere. As our butter’s milk-fat is higher, I added a bit more flour once I had the ingredients mixed as it seemed a bit soupy. Maybe 100 grams more. Upping the vanilla extract helped, too.
I made them smaller as we have little grandkids who love homemade ‘bikkies’ and they came out perfectly. Well done, and I will try more of your recipes!
Did you mix all the ingredients with a spatula or also use a mixer?
I used a spatula to mix the dough together—it’s in the instructions:
“Make the cookie dough. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, combine the sugars.
Pour the melted butter over the sugars and mix with the spatula until just combined.”
I have been trying to make great chocolate chip cookies my whole life. These are fantastic and they get devoured. Love all the work arounds!
I don’t understand. I followed the instructions carefully double checking my ingredients and measurements. I am 77 years old and I have been baking for over 60 years. They were as hard as can be when I removed them from the refrigerator this morning. It took 13 minutes to bake them. They didn’t spread at all and they didn’t deflate either. They taste okay but I am really disappointed in the whole recipe. I don’t understand refrigerating them. Maybe if I had that would have caused them to look like a chocolate chip cookie. I doubt whether I will be making these again unless I can figure out how to solve the problem with this recipe.
Hi Tamara, sorry to hear that the recipe didn’t work for you. Plenty of cookie recipes call for an overnight rest in the refrigerator to improve flavor; you can learn more about the science in this article: https://www.seriouseats.com/the-food-lab-best-chocolate-chip-cookie-recipe. But a summary is that the rest helps all the ingredients absorb into each other better, leading to stronger flavors in the cookie.
It sounds like that might not be the issue though and that the cookies didn’t spread and deflate, staying puffy. If that’s the case, check out my post on how to troubleshoot puffy cookies: https://www.hummingbirdhigh.com/2025/02/how-to-fix-puffy-cookies-and-other-cookie-baking-fails.html
We were so excited to make this after reading all the good reviews, but this recipe (and we followed it previsely) produced a flat and oily mess with no redeeming qualities – we are incredibly disappointed. I’ve never bothered to leave a review before, but there were so atrocious I feel duty bound
These are the most amazing chocolate chip cookies ever. I stumbled across this recipe in 2020 and I have been making them ever since. It’s too easy to make the dough balls and keep them in a container or bag (I use a layer of wax or parchment paper in between) and pop them in the oven when company comes or a craving hits. 11/10