I accidentally went down a rabbit hole a few weeks back.ย One afternoon, in a sweet tooth induced mania, I made a small batch of truly giant chocolate chip cookies. The cookie dough came together in a small saucepan, the chocolate almost too melty, and the cookies about the size of my literal face. They were truly unhinged for small batch baking so, of course, I must now share these cookies with all of you.ย Here is the small batch chocolate chip cookie, the afternoon pick-me-up, the midnight snack, the stress bake of the year.ย You’ll want to commit this recipe to memory.ย With cookies this good, the recipe list will be engraved in your mind in no time.
Catch me and my small batch recipes on Instagram: making two (and just two) giant cookies, making one single cinnamon roll, and making two (and just two) lemon poppy seed muffins.
What’s next in Small Batch Land, friends?ย Do we need a single scone recipe? Do we need a double chocolate muffin recipe? Oh wait – a single pop tart? A single crostata? I’ll never stop – this is just too good.
Okay, first things first – GET THIS COOKIE.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need for this small batch chocolate chip cookie recipe:
โขย half a stick of unsalted butter (4 tablespoons), melted
โขย brown sugar
โขย powdered sugar
โขย one large egg yolk
โขย vanilla extract
โขย all-purpose flour
โขย baking soda
โขย kosher salt or sea salt to finish the cookies if you have it!
โขย chocolate chips or big chocolate chunks
โขย optitonal: nuts, M&M candies, walnuts, white chocolate chips, toasted pecans, macadamia nuts, peanut butter cups.
Choose your vessel.ย You can make this easy cookie dough in a small bowl, melting the butter in the microwave, or in a small saucepan, melting the butter over the stovetop.ย I chose a small saucepan because my microwave is notorious for exploding butter but that’s more of a personal problem than anything.
Whisk brown sugar and powdered sugar into the melted butter.ย This might feel grainy and like the fat is separating from the sugar, but just keep whisking.ย I like to use powdered sugar as opposed to granulated sugar for this recipe to create a crackled cookie top and chewy edges.
Once the butter and sugar mixture is cool to the touch, whisk in the egg yolk and vanilla extract.ย If your butter and sugar mixture was at all grainy, the egg yolk should help emulsify the mixture to glossy and smooth.
Stir in the dry ingredients until well combined, making sure no dry patches have stuck to the bottom or sides of the pan.ย Use a rubber spatula to fold chocolate chunks into the batter.ย If the saucepan is a touch warm, the chocolate pieces might melt into streaks, but the cookies will be just as tasty as ever.
Because this is a cookie emergency, there’s no chill time required for this recipe.ย We’re scooping straight from pot to pan!
Spoon the soft cookie dough onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.ย It’s okay if the dough sags a bit – it’ll all get a good spread.ย Top with extra chocolate chips and a good sprinkle of sea salt.
Bake in the upper third of the oven until golden brown around the edges.ย You’ll gasp when you open the oven door.ย You’ll think you could have made four reasonably sized cookies instead of two giant cookies, but what fun would that be?
This is taking a cookie craving all the way home.ย I fully expect you to wait three minutes before eating an entire cookie off the sheet pan.ย That would be doing it right.
If you like this small batch chocolate chip cookie you’ll also love:
โข ย Dad’s Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies – they are perfect and make over a dozen cookies. They’re lovely to share but the cookie dough balls hold up well in the freezer for after dinner munchies.
โขย A Single Molten Chocolate Cake – it’s hot lava inside. Hot chocolate lava.
Print
A Recipe For Just Two Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 22 minutes
- Yield: 2 big cookies 1x
- Category: dessert
Description
You’ll want to commit this recipe to memory stat – gooey in the center, crisp around the edges, melty chocolate and a salty top.ย Go from zero to GIANT COOKIES with one pot in 20 minutes flat.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar*
- 1 large egg yolk
- Splash of vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- Pinch of sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- A handful of chocolate chips + more to smash on top
Instructions
- Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it to the side.
- In a small saucepan, melt butter until bubbling. Remove from the heat and whisk in the brown sugar until it feels like the sugar has started to dissolve in the butter. If it feels like the butter is separating from the sugar, thatโs ok – keep going. Whisk in the powdered sugar. This might feel like a clumpy mess, but I promise the lumps will whisk out.
- Whisk in the egg yolk and splash of vanilla until emulsified, smooth and glossy.
- Add flour, salt, and baking soda and stir with a spatula until no dry bits remain. Add the chocolate pieces and work quickly, because the chocolate will start to melt in the warm pan but honestly thatโs alright because the melted chocolate makes for chocolate striped cookies. Fold the chocolate pieces throughout the dough and quickly dollop in two globs (of course you could do three or four globs) on the prepared baking sheet. Dot with a few more chocolate pieces and sprinkle with extra sea salt if youโre into that sort of thing.ย No need to chill in the fridge – that would defeat the purpose of having cookies right the heck NOW.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes until golden around the edges and still slightly soft in the center. Remove from the oven and see how long you can let them cook before eating them straight off the baking sheet. Enjoy now and do it again tomorrow! Xo
Notes
*powdered sugar gives these cookies a crackly top and chewy edges. If you donโt have any on hand, you can substitute with granulated sugar or brown sugar in the same amount.
60 Responses
These are good, I refrigerated the leftovers and when I tried to cook the leftover dough, it hardly rose or spread. Anyone have this problem?
You might check the freshness of your baking soda. Also these cookies are best baked when the dough is at room temp.
Can you please an exact amount for the chocolate chips, and vanilla please. I made these tonight, and oh my goodness they were good and they were so beautiful and crackly and shiny. I’ve been looking for this recipe you wouldn’t believe probably over 15 years. I wasn’t hopeful when I first saw it because I’ve seen so many crackles recipes and they end up being duds. This one actually works. Thank you so much. Just one more quick question. It was a tad too sweet for me. What would you suggest as a way to make it a little less sweet, but I still want my crackles?
arriving so late, but not too late, to this cookie party, joy. these two cookies are brilliant. i nearly browned the butter and used milk chocolate chips, as that’s what was in my pantry. the sea salt on top was indeed perfection, as others have said. i ate them both! yup! i did. many thanks.
Yum! My husband said I never make him chocolate chip cookies anymore (how I won his heart), so he got these for our 30th anniversary. So simple and so good! Although we are cutting back on sugar, he will now get an occasional treat!
Iโve made these 3 times now! Very nice to have a recipe for a small batch of cookies! I made 15 small cookies instead of 2 big ones.
So there I was. 11 PM at night and 6 months pregnant. I was craving cookies but lacking the energy to do a full batch bake. Then I stumbled on this recipe. And it baked perfectly. Thank you for so easily fulfilling my (near) midnight cravings
I (un)fortunately stumbled upon this recipe a couple of weeks ago and Iโve now memorized it as recommended. We really can make all our dreams come true!
Perfect! I was craving a cookie. Whipped these up easily as written.
These are AMAZING. Breakfast craving thoroughly satisfied thanks to this recipe and I had quite a laugh reading the instructionsโฆ thank youu <3
Breakfast, yes!
Incredible!!! On my third or fourth go around I wanted to make them monster style, so I added 2T or so of peanut butter (and then realized I was out of oats :( ). Threw in chocolate chips and Reeceโs pieces and they are incredible as always. Looking forward to trying with oats too!
Joy is absolutely correct – you must memorize this recipe immediately! These cookies are ready so fast that it truly feels like a magic trick, and boy are they delicious.
These cookies are absolutely perfect. I added nuts to mine and I was in heaven!
These cookies were AMAZING. I made 4 beautiful chocolate stripe cookies. The perfect mix of crispy chewy.
Definitely needed them as a reward for parenting a 3 month old and a 3 year old.
Another amazing recipe! We donโt deserve you Joy ?
Brilliant treat! We loved them and it was nice to just make a couple! Thank you!
Those chocolate chip cookies look irresistible even if they are large. I just made chocolate chip cookies and they didnโt last even a day. I added an extra ingredient as cinnamon to change the taste a bit. Still chocolate goodness though. Thank you for this recipe.
This was the late night indulgence I needed after a ridiculous day at work. So simple and quick to whip up! And the sprinkle of sea salt before baking was *chefโs kiss*.
As always, thank you for sharing genius with the rest of us!! ?
Any substitutions if you canโt use eggs?
Iโve made this recipe over 10 times now and it comes out amazing every single time! Sometimes Iโm a little chaotic with my measuring and I find this recipe very forgiving. Thank you for the incredible recipe, Joy!
These are so great for a controlled cookie craving! I browned the butter and they were top notch!! Thanks Joy!!
Was craving chocolate chip cookies but wanted a small batch. Found your Web site and recipe for 2 large cookies. Perfect! Followed the recipe to the T. Absolutely hit the spot! Easy, no piles of bowls, they came out perfectly, as pictured. Didn’t last 10 minutes. My husband and I gobbled them down.
Can’t wait to have them again tomorrow. Looking forward to more small batch baking!
Just made this for the first time! I had no chocolate chips available, so I substituted the last of the leftover Cocoa powder. I posted a picture on my Instagram. These really would be better with actual chocolate chips. Very easy recipe to make
Wow!!!
Wow!!
I doubled the recipe so I would have enough for my office mates. Iโm a frequent baker but this recipe made my colleagues think I was a baking genius. Itโs deceptively simple, comes together so quickly and the results are a delicious perfect chocolate chip cookie.