It seems like there are as many variations to chocolate chip cookies as there are stars in the universe. Many bakers pride themselves on being ‘known’ for their chocolate chip cookie recipes. Most recipes include the basics: butter (or some other fat), sugar, brown sugar, egg, flour and a leavener, what does differ is the ratio of each ingredient used.
Despite all of the recipes to choose from, I rarely make plain chocolate chip cookies and when I do I usually just use the same recipe over and over again (like my mom always says “if it’s not broke, why fix it?”). Well, it may not be ‘broke’ but I was in the mood to bake chocolate chip cookies and wanted to try a new recipe. I was looking for a recipe a little different from my ‘go-to’ one but didn’t require any fancy ingredients or techniques.
I dug out a cookbook I had bought at a church bakesale last summer and the title of these cookies caught my eye. They are a basic chocolate chip cookie but what makes these cookies different from most is the omission of white sugar. The use of only brown sugar gives these cookies a slightly deeper flavor than most and produces a cookie with a chewy texture.
I don’t know if these will replace my ‘go-to’ recipe (that I am known for) but these were very very good. The dough tasted phenomenal (thanks to that brown sugar and vanilla!). The cookies were soft right out of the oven and needed to cool on the sheet for 5-7 minutes on the baking sheet until I could transfer them (without them falling apart) to a cooling rack to finsh cooling. The texture of these cookies is chewy but not thick and the brown sugar and vanilla give these cookies a flavor that is a little ‘deeper’ than most. These were easy to make and did not last long around the house (a sign that this recipe is a keeper)
Next time I will add some toasted walnuts or pecans because I think they would pair nicely with the flavor of these cookies.
I rate these cookies an 8
Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup semisweet or milk chocolate chips (I used half semisweet and half milk chocolate)
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.
Beat the butter and brown sugar until thoroughly blended. Add eggs, and vanilla and mix to combine. Add dry ingredients and mix just to blend. Gently fold in chips.
Place dough onto parchment paper-lined cookie sheet using a scooper.
Bake 10-12 minutes (depending on the size of your cookies and your oven) or until cookies are pale brown.
Cool cookies on cookie sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer to cooling rack until cooled completly. Serve or store in airtight container.
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I think most of my chocolate chip cookie recipes are brown sugar based.
Do i need a mixer?
Those look wicked good, I love chewy cookies. I will have to toss this one my brothers way, he can’t get enough brown sugar.
Mmmm I’m always down for new chocolate chip recipes! 🙂
Your cookie looks just like the perfect chocolate chip cookie that iv`e been looking for! I must try this recipe. thanks! )
The next time you want to make a slightly “different” chocolate chip cookie, check this one out at my blog….. I made them last week for the first time (I had never heard of the technique) and they are really, really, good.
http://themerlinmenu.blogspot.com/2008/09/cookie-in-cookie.html
Made them today – mine didn’t come out as flat as yours, but they’re still delicious!
Yum, I haven’t had chocoalte chip cookies in FOREVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER! I’ve been wrapped up trying new things, thinking that I can have chocolate chip cookies anyday. It just might be anyday – soon. I preferbrown sugar over white so these seem right up my alley.
~ingrid
YUMMMMY! I seriously LOVE brown sugar in most every baked good. it gives SUCH depth of flavor. Perfect for fall too! 🙂
I am definitely “known” for my cookies, but I’m going to have to try these. They look and sound awesome.
I am always up for a new cookie, esp. one with lots of brown sugar!
mmm, i love leaving white sugar out sometimes — i agree, brown sugar does really change the flavor — i think for the best!
Sure looks like a great perfectly round cookie! I LOVE ccc’s, and seem to keep sticking by my favorite, but really need to try new recipes. This one looks really good!
those look like a winner!
i must try someday 🙂
What kind of brown sugar did you use in these? Somehow I have 3 kinds in the house: light, dark and brownulated.
Maris:
I used light brown sugar, but dark would be great.
I used dark. It gave the cookies this lovely, almost-burnt, caramel flavor.
Made these tonight with my 3 yr old. Substitued M&Ms for the chips. Nice mild sweetness. Turned out fluffier than the photo.
I will try them again. Thanks.
I just made these and they are TERRIFIC!! They are super chewy and such a pretty caramel color. I used the dark brown sugar and it turned out super rich and delicious. i also used white choc chips mixed with semi-sweet and that was a really nice mix too! I hope you keep blogging, this is my new favorite site!
Why the importance of parchment paper though??
I made these cookies tonight, I did not have vanilla on hand & only found this out after I told my whole family Id make them. SOOO I put Almond extract instead and let me tell you!!!! they came out AWESOME! Had that nutty flavor that I LOVE chocolate & nuts how can you go wrong??? My kids arent the biggest nut fans so we both got what we wanted 🙂 I could NOT stop eating the dough haha
Naomi, SO glad your family enjoyed them, they are so yummy!
Just a great recipe. very nice.
just want to bathe in the batter
and eat it
Great flavored Cookie. But dough was a little dry and crumbly. Next time I will decrease the flour to 2 1/2 cups. That should help.
I found the same problem with mine. I think I’ll do the same
Wow! Very Yummy 🙂 Just had a warm cookie and my little one is gobbling them up! We used organic ingredients 🙂
I made them last night. They taste great but they didn’t flatten or spread out at all. So they came out of the oven the same shape they went in? Not sure if I did something wrong but they do taste wonderful!
I made these cookies last night and my family loved them. My siblings could not stop eating the dough. I used dark brown sugar and added walnuts. I swear these are the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever tasted. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
My dear blonde friend,
What a delicious recipe. Most chocolate chip cookie recipes are small and fall into the category of chewy or cripsy. This recipe lends itself beautifully to being the kind of chocolate chip cookie i like – a big, dense cookie that would find itself in a pastry shop instead of in a chips ahoy box.
As its holiday season and I have many wonderful coworkers (and a boyfriend whose out of town), I’ve made this recipe 3 times each a bit differently. The first time I followed it to a tee and obviously liked it enough to have another go.
The second time I made a fortunate mistake that resulted in the chocolate chips being macerated in the beaten egg (don’t ask… I’m a rookie baker). Well, the whole dough turned chocolatey and so i rolled this very sticky dough in brown sugar. Though drastically different than the original version, it’s more chocolatey and rich. I wouldnt say i prefer it to the original, its just a different experience.
Lastly, I take version 2 and add in some spice – nutmeg, cinnamon and sub vanilla extract for almond extract per another reader’s recommendation.
As you can see my favorite part of baking is playing with a good recipe that is traditional with a twist. Thank you for the inspiration to become an enthusiastic and generous baker
I was bored at home and in the mood to make cookies, but I realized we didn’t have any white sugar in the house. I googled ‘chocolate chip cookies with brown sugar only’ and this was the first site to pop up. They looked extremely delicious in the photo so I decided to give them a go. My family loved them and so did I! I think next time I make cookies I’m going to use this recipe. (:
Erica,
They are good aren’t they? If you wanted to, you could always substitute brown sugar for the white sugar in your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. They flavor and color may be a tad deeper and the texture a bit more chewy but overall it should work (this may not work for some sugar cookies and other more fragile types)
OK here I am doing the same thing as Erica just above….in the middle of making cookies and finding out I have no white sugar…=) Wondering if anyone has tried using this recipe as a pan cookie?
It works wonderfully as a pan cookie. It works even better if you spread the dough on the bottom of a pan and pour brownie batter on top!
I just made cookies with brownsugar, and I think i added extra eggs. My cookies have come out too fluffy, like a ball. how do i fix it?
Divya,
Follow the recipe and let me know if you have any issues, the extra eggs could make them more cake like and ‘eggy’ if you added more eggs than called for it will change the results.
Let me know and we can go from there.
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Hey, bakingblonde fellow wordpresser. My kids wanted some chocolate chip cookies, and the stores I stopped at only had really grainy white sugar. Brown sugar here is expensive to buy (we live in Amman, Jordan, anything imported is way expensive) so I make it with date syrup and have plenty. Google was my friend and led me to you, thanks so much for this!
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Thanks for the recipe! They turned out fantastic. I tweaked mine a little bit and added 2 tbsp of orange zest to the butter/brown sugar mixture before adding the rest of the ingredients. The combination of orange and chocolate is excellent for a little summer time treat!
Yum, that sounds like the perfect ingredient to add to these cookies. I will try this next time I make them.
just made these cookies as i had extra brown sugar in an open pack YUMMMMMMMY will use again thanx
,
I used white chocolate chips and chopped pecans….very good. Love a cookie with lots of vanilla!!
these cookies kept me from cutting thankyou my wrists thankyou
These are divine. I made these for myself and my fiancé. I had a huge plate of them and a few of his friends came over and finished them all! They wouldn’t stop telling me how delicious they were. My mom and little cousin were obsessed with them too. I must admit that I didn’t have enough brown sugar(I only had a cup) so I used half a cup of dark brown sugar. I’m about to make them again but I have enough brown sugar this time,so hopefully they’re still as magnificent. Wonderful recipe 🙂
Thanks! So glad you enjoyed them!
Hi! Gonna try this sometime soon. If I have salted butter, (it doesn’t call itself ‘salted butter’ but there’s salt in the ingredients) should i still use the kosher salt in the recipe?
I always use salted butter and add a little salt to the recipe, around 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon (depending on the recipe, i sometimes add more). I am a dough taster so i add a little salt, taste and then add a bit more if I feel it tastes “flat” or is missing something. just be sure to mix well so you dont’ get one cookie that is super salty!
IT WAS TERRIBLE! They came out looking like how I put them in, but hard. So disappointed and upset. Never using it again.
Alex,
Not sure what went wrong with the recipe for you, sorry you had such bad results, I have never had an issue with the recipe before, hope you find one that works for you.
Each time I make these cookies, they come out perfect. I love this recipe.
The dough tastes delicious, I’m still waiting for them to bake. This was perfect since I ran out of white sugar and had a bunch of brown sugar.
Made these today and they turned out perfect!!! Wonderful recipe!!!!
i made this at school today and all my friends liked it!
Wondeful Recipe Loved it!
Googled Chocolate chip cookies w/o white sugar and tried these with some Christmas chocolate chips that were in the pantry. Amazingly good. I only had salted butter so I omitted the salt. Glad the kids aren’t home from school yet. I still have time to make another batch!
I just baked a batch of these and they didn’t turn out as described at all! They’re “okay” but I prefer my other recipes opposed to this one. Not chewy but rather dry.
I agree with some of the above responses. I had to flatten them myself part way through or they would have remained as little balls. Definitely would cut the flour next time. Still yummy though and a great choice if you are out of white sugar!
I make these cookies because I didn’t have any regular sugar in the house and let me just say, I was beyond impressed! I have never strayed much from my basic recipe, but I am so glad I found this recipe that day. As for how good they are? Lets just say I brought 20 cookies over for a few of my guy friends… 3 of them ate 17 within 10 minuets and asked when I could make these again. AMAZING!
Wow that was strange. I just wrote an really long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again.
Anyways, just wanted to say excellent blog!
I just made these cookies. I ate probably half a dozen or so just in raw batter:). I used double strength vanilla…. Amazing! A note to the people above who have claimed the cookies to hold their shap and be tough… I remember hearing on a good eats or America’s test kitchen episode that is a sign of a cookie being over mixed and it is the gluten that makes it tough. If you believe the dough has been over mixed, you can let it “rest”. To prevent this from happening, I add my chocolate chips just before the batter is totally mixed (just a few streaks of flour remain) hope this helps 🙂
Just made these cookies.. used mini chocolate chips for some, then added bigger chocolate chips. Batter tasted good, final product tastes even better!
(Oh, and I added 1/2 tsp of baking powder in mine… to make sure they were extra fluffy…)
`char<3
These cookies are awesome. This is my go to recipe. They are extra good with mini chocolate chips.
These were delicious, thank you!
Just made these and they turned out AMAZING! I substituted baking soda for powder (doubling the amount), and had to add a tad more flour. They are so soft without falling apart throughout the whole cookie. I also added green dye for St. Paddy’s day 🍀
How many cookies does this make? I only need about 20 so I should I adjust the ingredients? Help please! 😁 thanks
You should get a few dozen but you could always make them larger so you won’t have left over dough or extra cookies. Or you could freeze the left over balls and bake at a later date.
I was about to start baking when I realized I had no white sugar so I googled chocolate chip cookies w/o white sugar and this was the first recipe to come up. I’m excited to try it but don’t have any parchment paper. Is it absolutely necessary?
Nope, I just like using it to keep cookies from sticking to the sheet. You could easily use foil or spray on your pan!
I love this recipe. It’s been my go to for the last year, every time I want chocolate chip cookies. If you rate this an 8, what is your 10? Because this is definitely a 10 as far as I’m concerned. Thank you for sharing it! The only change I’ve ever made is I use mini chocolate chip, it spreads the chocolate throughout!
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So i dont need a mixer?
A mixer will speed things up and make the job easier, but you can mix by hand.
Will try them for a family occasion this Wednesday. Wish me luck!
I had no white sugar and this turned out perfectly! Be careful not to overcook them, having them a bit undercooked is Ok, because they will cool later and become delicious and chewy. The only thing I changed is the amount of flour, I used whole wheat flour. So for every cup of white flour I used 3/4 a cup of whole wheat flour.
I just made these… However, I don’t think I packed in the brown sugar enough. So unfortunately all I could taste was flour. But I’ll try again later tonight!