Last Updated on June 18, 2025 by Jennifer Osborn
Milk chocolate chip cookies are soft and oozing with sweet chocolate, perfect for dipping into a glass of milk.
Jump to:
- Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Ingredients
- Cookie Baking Advice
- Cookie Making Instructions
- Variations
- Cookie Baking Tools
- Can I Make These Cookies Ahead?
- Top tip
- What is the secret to making soft chocolate chip cookies?
- How Do I Keep Cookies Soft?
- More Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes
- PIN TO SAVE FOR LATER
- Recipe
- Comments
These chocolate chip cookies stay soft even if it's been a few days since you baked them.
They are like a little hug for your mouth. These cookies remind me of Entenmann's tiny chocolate chip cookies in the white box with the clear plastic window. Remember those?
The recipe is from Vanilla Bean Baking blog author Sarah Kieffer's 100 Cookies.
These cookies would be a perfect bake sale cookie or holiday cookie as would these cookie dough brownies.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
-Produces a soft, milk chocolate laden cookie that stays soft even days after baking--as long as you measure correctly and don't over bake them.
-Customizable—use all milk chocolate chips or a chocolate bar or a combination.
Ingredients
- Flour
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Butter
- Brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Large eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Milk chocolate chips or bars of milk chocolate
See recipe card for quantities.
Cookie Baking Advice
You may find these baking posts helpful: from How to Avoid Flat Cookies How to Freeze Cookie Dough, Room Temperature Butter for Baking to Salted or Unsalted Butter for Cookies? to Do I Need A Cookie Scoop?, Cookie Size Chart to What Should a Beginner Bake? to Where Can I Buy Sprinkles?, Why is my sugar cookie dough too sticky? and Cookie Holidays. What is Sanding Sugar and Do I need Parchment Paper? might also be helpful. This Cuisinart 5-speed is my favorite hand mixer.
Cookie Making Instructions
- Measure dry ingredients—flour through sea salt and whisk together in a medium sized mixing bowl.
- Beat butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until lighter in color and aerated (fluffy.) Time to cream will vary depending on the power of your mixer. A stand mixer may have the butter and sugar creamed thoroughly in four to five minutes but it may take twice as long with a hand mixer.
- Add vanilla and eggs. Mix for a minute or until thoroughly incorporated.--you shouldn't see any streaks of egg white or yolk in the dough.
- Add dry ingredients and mix until you don't see any streaks of flour, but be careful not to overmix, which will toughen your dough.
- Stir in milk chocolate chips or chunks from bars.
- Chill for at least an hour.
- Portion dough using a teaspoon or cookie scoop. I really like this #40 Winco cookie scoop.
- Preheat oven and bake.
Variations
- Chocolate chips - use your favorite milk chocolate chips or milk chocolate bars. Nestle, Hershey, and Ghirardelli are all chocolate brands that are solid choices.
- Or substitute another type of chip like butterscotch or peanut butter or white chocolate.
Cookie Baking Tools
Parchment paper is a must when baking cookies.
You can bake cookies on a silicone mat like a Silpat but really parchment is best.
Parchment keeps cookies from sticking and sliding around.
You can reuse the same piece of parchment numerous times as well as turn it over and use the reverse side.
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
Can I Make These Cookies Ahead?
Store milk chocolate chip cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
Freeze unbaked cookie dough in a freezer-safe container for up to three months. Be sure to wrap in plastic wrap or wax paper before tucking into a freezer safe container or resealable freezer safe bag.
Top tip
Don't over bake these. Remember cookie continue to bake for a minute or two on the sheet pan after you'll pulled them out of the oven.
Make sure you're using fresh ingredients for these cookies.
Check the expiration dates on your baking powder and baking soda, if in doubt, toss and replenish with fresh.
These cookies would be great for Best Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches.
What is the secret to making soft chocolate chip cookies?
- Don't over bake cookies. Over baking dries out cookies and moisture is key for keeping soft cookies soft.
- Use brown sugar in the dough.
- Don't over mix the cookie dough when you're adding the flour. You want it just combined so there aren't any white streaks. But, the longer you beat flour into the butter/sugar mixture of your cookie dough, the more you're developing the gluten, which makes tough cookies.
- Substitute part of the all-purpose flour with cornstarch.
How Do I Keep Cookies Soft?
Store cookies in an airtight container. Tuck a slice of bread or a tortilla in with the cookies.
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Recipe
Soft, Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies
Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies that stay soft are like a little hug for your mouth. Serve to your favorite person with a frosty glass of milk and wait for the compliments.
Ingredients
- 2-½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup (1.5 sticks) room temperature butter
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1-¼ cups milk chocolate or semisweet chips
Instructions
- Measure the dry ingredients from flour to kosher salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
Cream room temperature butter until fluffy. - Creaming the butter will take three minutes or so if using a stand mixer.
However, using a hand mixer to cream butter for up to five to six minutes. - The butter should be paler than when you started beating it and fluff up a bit.
- Add the sugars and continue to beat until well combined.
- Add vanilla and eggs. Mix for a minute or until thoroughly incorporated.
- Add dry ingredients--flour through salt--and mix on low speed until just combined and you don't see any white streaks of dough.
- Don't overmix here, your cookies will be tough. Mix in the chocolate chips.
- Put dough in a resealable bag or cover mixing bowl with plastic wrap and chill dough for at least an hour. You can also scoop your dough into portion sizes and then chill. That way if you've left the dough in the fridge for 24 hours, you don't have to fight to portion cookies out of really cold, hard cookie dough!
- When ready to bake, portion dough into scoops approximately 1-½ Tablespoons in size. I use a #40 scooper.
- Bake 12 cookies at a time on a parchment lined baking sheet, at 350° F for 12 minutes. Oven temperatures vary so baking times are approximate so you may a minute or two more or less.
- Pay attention to how the cookies smell. If you can smell them, most likely they're done baking.
Notes
You’re making a basic drop cookie dough here.
Creaming the butter will take three minutes if using a stand mixer.
Using a hand mixer, be prepared to cream butter for up to five to six minutes.
The butter will become paler in color and fluffy once thoroughly creamed.
Don’t over bake these cookies. .
Pull the baking sheet out when the edges of the cookies have turned slightly golden. The tops of the cookies will still look a bit pale. Cookies will continue baking for a minute or two after you remove the pan from the oven.
Use a cookie scoop. I like a #40 purple scoop, which might be called an ice cream disher, for the majority of my cookies. This will give you a 2.5 inch cookie.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 38 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 99Total Fat 2gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 1gCholesterol 12mgSodium 79mgCarbohydrates 18gFiber 0gSugar 10gProtein 2g
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