Get the Recipe: Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies (Only Makes 4-6 Cookies!)
These small batch chocolate chip cookies are chewy in the center, crispy in their edges, and filled with lots of chocolate puddles! The best part? You can customize this small batch recipe to make either 4 large cookies or 6 medium ones!
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
- 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.
- 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!
- 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!
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