About These Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies
These small batch chocolate chip cookies are the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe.
The recipe makes cookies that are crispy on the outside, chewy in the centers, and filled with puddles of melted chocolate! The best part? The recipe is small batch and makes between 4 to 6 chocolate chip cookies, thanks to its use of one single egg yolk.
The Benefits Of A Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Truthfully, despite my focus on small batch baking, I avoided developing a recipe for small batch chocolate chip cookies. Why? Chocolate chip cookie dough freezes beautifully. As a result, if planned well, any cookie recipe can become a small batch baking recipe. But what if you don’t have space in your freezer? I know mine is always filled to the brim with frozen vegetables, leftover bakes, and Trader Joe’s orange chicken. Freezer real estate is precious in my house!
There’s also the fact that neither Erlend or I have very much self control when it comes to food. If there’s a pile of frozen cookie dough in the freezer, we’ll treat ourselves to nightly cookie until it runs out. That means a cookie every day for 2 weeks! Not exactly a healthy lifestyle, lol. Limiting the recipe yield to just 4 or 6 cookies means that we won’t overindulge.
@hummingbirdhigh asian moms mirite #chocolatechipcookies #nationalchocolatechipcookieday #baking #bakingrecipe ♬ cooking video – cooking
So enter this small batch chocolate chip cookie dough recipe. It makes just enough cookies for a small household to finish without storing any leftover dough or cookies!
For more delicious homemade chocolate chip cookie recipes on Hummingbird High, check out my site’s Cookie Recipe collection! Popular recipes include My Best Easy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe (No Stand Mixer Or Chilling Required!) and Snickerdoodle Recipe Without Cream of Tartar.
Why You Should Make The Recipe
The recipe is adapted from the popular chocolate chip cookie recipe in my cookbook, Weeknight Baking.
I bake a lot of chocolate chip cookies for Hummingbird High. But my all time favorite recipe is the one in my cookbook, Weeknight Baking. In my opinion, it makes the picture-perfect, dictionary definition of a chocolate chip cookie. The cookies are chewy and almost doughy in the centers, but with crispy browned edges. Each cookie is flat and wide, with lots of puddles of melted chocolate throughout.
So these small batch chocolate chip cookies? Modeled exactly after that popular recipe. These cookies have chewy centers, crispy edges, and of course, lots of chocolate with each bite.
This small batch chocolate chip cookie recipe is easily customizable.
There are an infinite number of ways to customize this small batch chocolate chip cookie recipe. In fact, I give plenty of suggestions to do so in the Baker’s Tips below. You can chill the cookie dough to bring out the cookies’ caramel and butterscotch flavors. Or swap out the dark chocolate in the recipe with your favorite chocolate. And sprinkle the cookies with flaky sea salt, and, if you’re feeling wild, sprinkles. You do you.
But my favorite customization?
YOU decide how many cookies the recipe makes. If you live in a two-person household like I do, simply adjust the recipe to make 4 cookies! All you need is a 3-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop to do so. If you live in a 3- or 4-person household and want to stretch the recipe a little more, switch to a 1 ½-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop. Doing so makes 6 cookies!
The recipe below includes instructions on how to bake both the 4-cookie and 6-cookie version of the recipe. You’ll need to adjust Bake Time a little bit between each recipe.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Now that I’ve convinced you to make small batch chocolate chip cookies, let’s talk about some key ingredients and their potential substitutions:
- All-Purpose Flour. You can use a 1-1 gluten free all purpose flour replacer to make the recipe gluten free. I like Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour or King Arthur Flour Gluten Free All Purpose Flour.
- Kosher Salt. Learn why kosher salt is the best salt for baking recipes in this blog post. But in a pinch, you can replace the kosher salt in the recipe with half its amount in table salt.
- Brown Sugar. Either light or dark brown sugar works in the recipe. Dark brown sugar will give your cookies a subtle caramel flavor.
- Chocolate. Check out my blog post on the best chocolate for making chocolate chip cookies!
Recipe Troubleshooting and FAQ
Help! My chocolate chip cookie dough feels SUPER greasy. The dough feels too loose to scoop. What did I do wrong?
If the butter is still too warm when mixed in with the rest of the ingredients, the cookie dough will feel greasy and loose. This is especially the case if your kitchen is hot or if you’re making these cookies in the summertime.
If this is happening to you, don’t panic! Simply stick the bowl of dough in the refrigerator for 10 minutes before scooping. 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.
Help! I have the opposite problem. My chocolate chip cookie dough came out really dry. What did I do wrong?
Okay, there are several things that could be responsible for dry cookie dough:
You didn’t measure the flour properly and accidentally used too much in the recipe.
If you used a measuring cup or spoon to measure out the flour, there’s a larger chance your cookie dough will come out dry.
Why?
As weird as this sounds, there’s a LOT of variation in how people use measuring cups. Somebody who scoops ingredients into a measuring cup and packs it down as they go will have a cup that has way more ingredients than somebody who simply scoops the flour into a cup and levels it off as its filled. This is why bakers love measuring by weight with a digital scale instead—it’s much more reliable and completely eliminates any inconsistencies.
While these variations aren’t a big deal for many recipes, they can be a big deal for cookies. Specifically: if you pack a heavy cup of flour, your cookie dough will come out dry. There won’t be enough liquid in the recipe to compensate for the additional flour.
So to fill a measuring cup properly, you need to first set the measuring cup on a flat, level surface like your kitchen counter. Spoon the ingredient into the measuring cup until it forms a small mound within the cup. Use a butter knife or bench scraper to level off the mound so that the ingredient is flush with the top edges of the measuring cup. Do the same with a Tablespoon measure; however, you can hold a Tablespoon measure in your hand as you spoon the ingredient into it.
Finally, if you’re measuring a dry ingredient that has a tendency to clump or get packed down (like flour, confectioners’ sugar, or cocoa powder), give it a quick whisk in its container first. Then, scoop the ingredient into the measuring cup or spoon as I described.
Your egg yolk was too small.
In the United States, egg sizes are determined by their weight by the dozen. As a result, the size of an egg yolk can vary dramatically from one egg to another in the same carton of large eggs.
Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do to fix dry cookie dough made from a small egg yolk. But if you want to guarantee success for your next batch of small batch chocolate chip cookies, measure your egg yolk before using it in the recipe!
I mentioned earlier that most large eggs typically consist of 3 Tablespoons of egg: 2 Tablespoons for the egg white, and 1 Tablespoon for the egg yolk. You can place the egg yolk in a 1-Tablespoon measure and see if it mostly fills out the spoon. If it does, you’re good to go! If you want to be SUPER precise about it, use a digital scale to weigh it out. The egg yolk should clock in at around 1 ounce (28 grams).
You overmixed the dough.
Overmixing the dough causes it to turn out dry—especially after adding the dry ingredients! Instead, only mix the dough until the dry ingredients just about disappear into the dough. There will probably be one or two small streaks of flour in the recipe. But that’s fine, I promise! These streaks will disappear as you mix in the chocolate.
Help! My small batch chocolate chip 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! I made these small batch chocolate chip cookies but they don’t look like your cookies. My chocolate stayed mostly in tact. They didn’t melt and pool throughout the cookie like yours did. What did I do wrong?
First things first: did you use chocolate chips? If you did, they’re the likely culprit.
I mentioned earlier that chocolate chips are made with stabilizers like more cocoa solids and paraffin wax to ensure that they keep their shape when baked. They won’t melt and pool into puddles like chopped chocolate bars. That’s why I always recommend using chopped chocolate if you’re looking for a picture-perfect, Instagram-ready cookie!
However, if you did use chopped chocolate, it’s likely that you chopped your chocolate up too finely. You want to keep the pieces fairly big—think: ½ inch to 1 inch pieces. Bigger pieces will get more melty and molten!
Best Recipe Tips
Ingredient Tips
- It’s easier to separate an egg’s whites from its yolk while the egg is still cold. At room temperature, yolks break easily. So typically, when I work with a recipe that calls for separated egg whites and yolks, I separate them while the eggs are still cold. I bring the whites and yolks to room temperature by placing them in separate thick ramekins. I set these ramekins in a cake pan and pour very hot water into the pan until it reaches halfway up the sides of the ramekins. The heat from the water will warm the eggs to room temperature in about 5 to 10 minutes.
- If you don’t have a digital scale, note that 2 ounces (57 grams) of dark chocolate fèves or chopped chocolate is about ⅓ cup.
Technique Tip
- To save myself some clean up, I melt the butter in the bowl I’m planning to make the cookie dough in. Specifically: I use a small bowl to mix the dry ingredients. Then, I melt the butter in a medium bowl big enough to mix the dough in, add the sugar, egg yolk, and extract, then the dry ingredients and chocolate. As a result, I only need two bowls for this recipe!
- The fastest and easiest way to make picture-perfect cookies is to invest in a cookie dough scoop. These handy tools scoop the dough into dough balls that bake into perfect cookie circles every time. In general, I use a 3-Tablespoon or 4-Tablespoon sized cookie dough scoops to make my cookie recipes. Doing so makes perfect 3- to 3.5-inch wide cookies.
For this recipe, I recommend two different sized cookie dough scoops. If you want to make 6 cookies, I recommend a 1 ½-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop. Using this scoop will make six 2.75- to 3-inch wide cookies. If you want to make 4 cookies, I recommend a 3-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop. This scoop makes four 3- to 3.5-inch wide cookies.
Customization Tips
- There are an infinite number of ways you can customize this recipe! For some variations, I like to replace the chocolate with a mix of milk and dark chocolate fèves and chopped chocolate bars. You can also replace some of the chocolate with the same volume of chopped nuts.
- Most chocolate chip cookies benefit from an overnight chilling period. There’s research that states that “resting” your cookie dough by chilling or freezing will lead to more delicious cookies. Doing so 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. So if you feel inclined, follow the instructions in the FAQ to chill and freeze these cookies overnight!
Get the Recipe: Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies (Only Makes 4-6 Cookies!)
Ingredients
For the Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 6 Tablespoons (1.65 ounces or 47 grams) all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 Tablespoons (1 ounce or 28 grams) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 3 Tablespoons tightly packed (1.40 ounces or 40 grams) light OR dark brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 ounces (57 grams) dark chocolate (between 60% and 70% cacao), from whole fèves or a high-quality chocolate bar roughly chopped into 1- to 1 ½-inch pieces
- flaky salt, for garnish
Equipment
- a 1 ½-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop (for 6 cookies) OR a 3-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop (for 4 cookies)
Instructions
For the Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep the oven and baking pan. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a quarter or a half sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Mix the butter, sugars, egg, and extract. In a medium bowl, use a rubber spatula to mix together the butter and sugars until moistened, about 1 minute. Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract and mix until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients and chocolate. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients until just combined. Add the chocolate all at once and mix until the chocolate is evenly distributed throughout, about 1 minute.
- Assemble the cookies. Use a 1 ½-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop to portion the cookie dough into 6 cookie dough balls OR a 3-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop to portion the cookie dough into 4 cookie dough balls. Place them at least 3 inches apart on the prepared sheet pan.
- Bake the cookies. Bake for 9 minutes if making 6 cookies OR 10 minutes if making 4 cookies, 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 feel firm to the touch. Repeat with remaining cookie dough balls.
- Serve and store. Serve warm or at room temperature. The cookies can be stored, in an airtight container at room temperature, for up to 3 days.
Notes
-
- Freeze the UNBAKED small batch chocolate chip 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 instructions to preheat the oven. As the oven is preheating, arrange the cookie dough balls on a sheet pan to allow them to thaw slightly for 10 to 15 minutes at room temperature. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the edges have set but the centers are still gooey. Bake the cookies for the shorter amount of time if you used a 1 ½-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop to form the dough, and the longer amount of time if you used a 3-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop.
- Freeze the UNBAKED small batch chocolate chip cookies.
-
- Freeze the BAKED small batch chocolate chip 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.
- Freeze the BAKED small batch chocolate chip cookies.
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Weeknight Baking:
Recipes to Fit your Schedule
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.
Did you make this recipe?
Please leave a comment and rating for the recipe using the form below!
Your ratings make it easier to find the recipe online, and I’m always looking for ways to improve Hummingbird High.
Thank you not only for this small batch recipe, but the others as well. They’re helpful for me as it’s only the 2 of us now and we don’t need a freezer full of baked goods we couldn’t eat quickly enough. The immediate gratification of small batch cooking with just enough for us keeps my trying new things. I also appreciate the grams measurements you provide. Have been baking this way for a long while and I love that I don’t have to take the time to convert the recipe beforehand.
I made these with my little sister and they came together by the time the oven had preheated. They’re by far the best chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever made and were perfect for our four person household! I love the gram measurements for easy and precise baking. Will be making again…today
The national crisis is over- my dream’s have come true. Small Batch Chocolate chip cookies are the greatest invention of all time. Looking forward to making these this weekend!
I’ve made these cookies twice in the last 24 hours!! We made these last night and we ate all six of them immediately. Whipped up another batch this morning to bring to my mom! I used chopped Artisan Kettle semisweet chocolate (58% cacao) for the first round, but it didn’t melt entirely (it’s suggested that you use 60-70% cacao which is what caused this, but I didn’t have). I used Hu Kitchen gems for the second batch and while they look closer to this version, it didn’t puddle up in the same way. Looking forward to testing these again with the recommended chocolate brands soon!!!
I am fully gluten-free and lactose-free, so I made these with King Arthur’s gluten-free measure-for-measure flour and Miyoko’s vegan butter. A++++++ would make again!!!!
This is a great small batch recipe when you just need to have a cookie. It will make 4 nice size cookies. And the chocolate all melted in the dough is devine! Make these, you won’t be sorry ☺️
I followed the recipe to a T and it might be my new favorite. Loved the chewy texture. The only change I would make is I would be more liberal with my application of sea salt at the very end. Thank you HH!
Those are delicious- glad that they are only a small batch 🙂 My scale batteries were dead and I had to eyeball amounts and used dough “feel”. It was likely a trifle more dense than it should be so the cookies were only about 2 inches in diameter. Slightly chewy, not too chewy, and I added a little seasalt flake in the top of each cookie. Reduced cleaning chores by making a dough roll and cutting slices rather then using a scoop. Every little thing helps….
These cookies are delicious! I used Guittard baking discs and did a mixture of milk and dark and they came out really well. I didn’t have time to bring my egg yolk to room temp, but the texture wasn’t affected at all. I found that these made 4 cookies for me — if I’d tried to do 6 they would have been very tiny. Not an issue for me, just something I noted.
I just made these and in my 30 years of baking, this is one of the best chocolate chip cookie recipes I have made. Really outstanding recipe!
Hello! Fellow pdx here. Just whipped these up with my 2 & 5 yo girls who demanded baking for dessert. As mentioned in another comment above these came together just as my over came to temp. The hardest part was waiting for them to cool down.