Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies Without Nuts
If you want a Classic Chocolate Chip Cookie that’s soft and chewy in the middle, golden around the edges and loaded with chocolate, THIS is the one. These are the classic, old fashioned chocolate chip cookies so many of us grew up on, with one little change that makes all the difference when you leave out the nuts. No fancy ingredients, no special equipment, just good cookies, every single time!
These are my go-to chocolate chip cookies, and I’ve been making them this way for years, since 1994? They start from the classic Toll House recipe, the one on the back of the bag, but I don’t like nuts in my cookies. And every time I baked them they spread across the pan.
Way back when I clipped this recipe off the back of a package Toll House chocolate chips the company STILL TOOK phone calls. So I called looking for support because my cookies kept spreading across the pan. When I explained I was leaving out the nuts because they’re not my favorite in cookies, they told me to add an extra 1/4 cup of flour to the recipe. I was skeptical but I tried it and what a difference that made! That extra 1/4 cup of flour gives the dough just enough body to hold its shape. The cookies bake up perfectly instead of spreading out into thin, flat puddles.
Ingredients For Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies
Everything you need for a batch of classic chocolate chip cookies is probably in your pantry right now. Just good, simple ingredients!
- butter
- white sugar
- brown sugar, REAL brown sugar, white sugar with molasses added back, the ingredients read white sugar and molasses
- vanilla paste
- eggs
- all purpose flour
- baking soda
- salt
- chocolate chips
Cookies Still Spreading Across The Pan?
It’s probably your brown sugar, you need to be sure you’re using REAL brown sugar. Most brown sugar you buy at the store is plain white sugar with molasses added back into it. That’s the kind you need to use. These cookies and the original recipe we’re formulated using real brown sugar.
The molasses in the brown sugar reacts with the baking soda to add height and loft to your cookies. If you use “natural” brown sugar or turbinado or anything other that real brown sugar your cookies will come out flat and puddly on the baking sheet.
How To Measure Flour Correctly
Measuring your flour right is the difference between a soft, chewy cookie and a dry, crumbly one. If you stick your measuring cup straight down into the flour bag and scoop, you’re packing it full of flour. That one scoop can hold up to a quarter more flour than the recipe wants, and too much flour makes thick, dry, cakey cookies that don’t spread at all.
Here’s the fix:
- Loosen the flour up first by running a spoon through it to fluff it up a little
- THEN spoon it into your measuring cup until it’s heaped up over the top
- Level the extra off with the back of a knife
How To Store Chocolate Chip Cookies
Let your cookies cool COMPLETELY on a wire rack before you put them away. Warm cookies trap steam in the container, and that turns them soft and soggy. Once they’re cool, keep them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
To freeze baked cookies, put them in a freezer bag or an airtight container with a piece of parchment between the layers. They’ll keep for up to 3 months. Let them thaw on the counter, or warm one in the microwave for a few seconds or in a 300°F oven for a few minutes for that fresh-baked, melty chocolate feel.
You can freeze the dough too! Scoop it into balls, freeze them on a baking sheet until they’re solid, then put them in a freezer bag. Bake them straight from the freezer whenever you want a few warm cookies, and just add a minute or two to the bake time.
Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies Without Nuts
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened (quantity needs confirmation)
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
- 2 eggs warm if possible
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups chocolate chips
Instructions
Make the Cookie Dough
- Whip the butter until it's soft and fluffy.
- Add the sugars and cream together
- Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl as needed
- Add the first egg and beat it in fully
- Add the vanilla paste
- Repeat with the remaining egg
- Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl as needed
- Add 2 cups of the flour to the mixing bowl
- To the remaining 1/2 cup of flour, add the baking soda and salt and stir to combine
- Sprinkle it over the top of the flour in the bowl
- Stir with the mixer on low just until the flour is incorporated
- Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl as needed
- Add the chocolate chips and stir one more time
- Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl as needed
- Do not overmix the dough or you'll develop the gluten
- Chill the dough for 1 hour
Bake the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 375°F
- Drop the chilled dough onto a baking sheet
- Bake in the preheated oven for 9-11 minutes
- Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely
