Soft and Chewy Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies

These small batch chocolate chip cookies make exactly eight cookies from one bowl, one egg yolk, and about twenty minutes start to finish. No chilling, no mixer, no half-empty bag of dough in the freezer. They bake up with crisp edges and a soft, bendable center that stays that way for days, and the whole thing fits on one baking sheet. If eight is still more than you want, I have a single serve chocolate chip cookie and a 60 second chocolate chip mug cookie for when it’s just you.

Why These Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies Work

Most small batch cookie recipes are a full recipe cut in half, and that’s exactly why they don’t always workout! You can halve flour and sugar cleanly. You cannot halve an egg. People end up whisking a whole egg and pouring in “about half,” and the dough comes out either too wet or too dry if not done exactly right. This recipe was built at this size instead of scaled down to it, which changes three things. It’s the same approach behind my small batch snickerdoodle cookies, reworked from scratch for eight, not divided down from twenty-four.

• One egg yolk instead of a whole egg. The yolk carries the fat and the emulsifiers. The white is mostly water and protein, and protein is what makes a cookie set up dry and cakey. Taking it out entirely means the dough gets richness and binding without the extra moisture that would need more flour to balance.
• A tablespoon of cornstarch in two-thirds of a cup of flour. That’s a high ratio on purpose. Cornstarch has no gluten-forming protein, so replacing part of the flour with it means less gluten develops when you stir. Less gluten means a more tender crumb that’s still soft on day three instead of turning to sand. This is the ingredient doing the most work here, and it’s why these stay soft when other small batch cookies don’t.
• Twice as much brown sugar as white. Brown sugar pulls moisture out of the air and holds onto it, which is what keeps the centers chewy. The granulated sugar is there in a smaller amount to encourage spread and crisp the edges. Flip the ratio and you get a flatter, crunchier, sweeter cookie. what happens when you make chocolate chip cookies without brown sugar.

Key Ingredients

Full measurements are in the recipe card. These are the five where the choice actually changes the result.

• Butter, slightly softened. This is the ingredient most likely to ruin the batch, and temperature is the reason. You want it around 65°F, it should dent when you press it but still hold its shape. Too cold and it won’t cream, so the sugar never cuts air into it and the cookies stay in domes instead of spreading. Too warm and it’s already half-melted, and they spread into thin greasy discs. If you want melted butter on purpose, that’s a different recipe, see my brown butter scoopable chocolate chip cookies. If you forgot to take it out, cut it into small cubes and leave them on the counter for 15-20 minutes. Don’t microwave it.
• One egg yolk. Save the white, it keeps in the fridge for a few days and folds into scrambled eggs or these meringue cookies using leftover egg whites. And no, don’t use the whole egg. It’s too much liquid for this amount of flour and you’ll get a cakey cookie.
• Cornstarch. The secret to the texture and not optional if you want these soft. If you genuinely don’t have any, swap in an equal amount of flour, the cookies will still be good, just noticeably less tender.
• Light brown sugar. Light, not dark. Dark brown sugar has more molasses, which will overpower the butter and vanilla at this small a volume. In a full batch you’d barely notice; in eight cookies you will.
• Semi-sweet chocolate chips. Chips hold their shape and give you defined pockets of chocolate. A chopped chocolate bar melts into streaks and puddles instead, which is a different and also excellent cookie, just know which one you’re making before you start.

Substitutions and Additions

• No cornstarch? Use an equal amount of all-purpose flour. Slightly less tender, still very good.
• No eggs? Half a flax egg works, or a tablespoon of softened cream cheese. If you’d rather use a recipe built without eggs from the start, make my eggless chocolate chip cookies instead. For the full breakdown of which substitute suits which recipe see the 7 best egg substitutes for baking.
• Adding nuts. Fold in a quarter to a third of a cup of finely chopped walnuts or pecans along with the chocolate chips. You can drop the chips slightly to compensate, but you don’t have to.
• Other mix-ins. White chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, peanut butter chips, or toffee bits all work at the same half-cup volume. A teaspoon of espresso powder added with the vanilla deepens the chocolate without tasting like coffee.
• Doubling it. Use one whole egg instead of two yolks. Bake time doesn’t change, but you’ll need a second sheet.
• Don’t want to scoop. Same dough, pressed into a pan, see my small batch chocolate chip cookie bars.
• Gluten free. Not a 1:1 swap here, but I have a separate almond flour chocolate chip cookie recipe built for it.

how to make small batch of chocolate chip cookies

1. Cream the butter and both sugars, then add the yolk and vanilla. Beat the softened butter with the brown and granulated sugars until the mixture lightens in color and looks fluffy rather than grainy, about a minute with a mixer, or two with a sturdy spatula, which is how I usually do it. Then add the egg yolk and vanilla and mix until it’s smooth and uniform with no streaks of yolk.

2. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until the flour disappears. Add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt on top of the wet mixture. Stir only until you can no longer see dry flour. Every extra stir past that point develops more gluten, and gluten is what makes a cookie tough, this is where a soft cookie gets ruined. The dough will look slightly underdeveloped and that’s fine.

3. Fold in the chocolate chips. Add the chips and fold them through with a few passes of the spatula. Same rule as above: minimum handling

4. Scoop eight dough balls onto the sheet. Use a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop for eight standard cookies, or a quarter-cup scoop for four large ones. For a much smaller scoop, I have a dedicated mini chocolate chip cookies recipe, the bake time changes. Space them at least two inches apart, they spread more than you expect once they cool down. Don’t flatten them.

5. Bake 8 minutes, then let them sit on the hot sheet. Bake for 8 minutes for the small size, or 11 to 12 for the large. They will look underdone and puffy when you pull them out. That is what you want. The tops deflate as they cool and the residual heat from the sheet finishes the centers. Press a few extra chocolate chips into the tops now if you want them photogenic.
6. Leave them on the sheet for 5 minutes before moving them to a wire rack. Pulling them off too early is how you get cookies that fall apart; leaving them in the oven until they look done is how you get cookies that are hard the next morning.

Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies FAQs

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If you made this small batch cookie recipe, leave a star rating 🌟 and tell me how they turned out in the comments. I read every one, and the questions you leave there are usually what I end up adding to the post! ◡̈ Cookies are usually where I start, but when the craving is specifically chocolate I go straight to my small batch brownies that make eight squares in a loaf pan. Same amount of effort, one bowl either way.

5 from 23 votes

Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies (Makes 8)

By Chahinez Tabet Aoul

These are the best and softest small batch chocolate chip cookies. This is a one-bowl recipe which makes it super fast and easy!

Prep: 5 minutes mins

Cook: 10 minutes mins

Total: 20 minutes mins

Servings: 8 cookies

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Ingredients 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 4 tbsp butter Slightly softened
• ▢ 1/4 cup brown sugar
• ▢ 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 yolk
• ▢ 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ▢ 2/3 cup flour
• ▢ 1 tbsp corn starch *read notes
• ▢ 1/4 tsp baking soda
• ▢ 1/4 tsp salt
• ▢ 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Instructions 

• Preheat the oven to 350F, then line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat.
• In a medium bowl, cream the butter and both sugars together. I did so using my spatula.
  4 tbsp butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• Add in the vanilla and egg yolk and mix everything is smooth and well incorporated.
  1 yolk, 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Add in the dry ingredients over the wet ingredient mixture, starting with the flour, corn starch, baking soda, and salt. Stir just until combined.
  2/3 cup flour, 1 tbsp corn starch, 1/4 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt
• Fold in the chocolate chips, then using a medium cookie scoop, scoop out the cookie dough into 8 2-tablespoon cookie dough balls and place on the prepared baking sheet. ( READ NOTES FOR LARGER COOKIES)
  1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• Place them on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 8 minutes. Don't worry if they look underdone or gooey in the middle. That's what we want, they will continue to bake even after you pull them out of the oven to cool.
• Top the cookies with extra chocolate chips as soon as they come out of the oven, cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

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Video

Notes

• To measure out the flour, use the spoon and sweet method. Spoon the flour into the measuring cup and sweep the excess off with a flat knife or spatula. This will give you a more accurate measurement next to weightings. (USE A KITCHEN SCALE IF YOU HAVE)
• The tops will be puffy when you pull these cookies out of the oven but it’s okay because they will deflate as they rest and cook a little longer on the baking sheet while cooling.

Making the four large cookies? Use ½ tablespoon of cornstarch instead of a full tablespoon. A bigger cookie holds more moisture on its own, and the full amount makes the centers too soft to set properly at this size.

They’ll come out puffy, and that’s normal, they settle as they cool. If you want them flatter, press the tops gently with your hand right after they come out, or press a few extra chocolate chips into the top. That downward pressure spreads them a little more and makes them look better too.

Bake 4 larger cookies

1. scoop out the cookie dough using a 1/4 cup large cookie scooper. 
2. Bake for 11-12 minutes.
3. Cool down before enjoying.

Nutrition

Calories: 201Calories | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 32mg | Sodium: 125mg | Potassium: 82mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 170IU | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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