This recipe for Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies uses all simple ingredients, no chilling or special techniques involved, and it makes only 9 cookies.
These cookies are soft and chewy and super chocolatey. This recipe is great for when you only want a few cookies or you’re running low on some ingredients in your pantry. It does not require anything fancy, no chilling in the fridge, and it's quick to throw together.
The other upside to making a small batch is that you’re not left with a ton of leftovers that either you end up munching on when you don’t intend to or eventually toss out as they become stale after a few days on the counter. It also saves a little bit of time since you only need to bake one tray of cookies. All 9 cookies will fit on one baking sheet, so you're not making multiple batches.
Ingredient Proportions
The trick with making a small batch of cookies is to be precise when measuring and adding ingredients. Because the total volume of dough is so little, any small measurement difference in any of the ingredients can make a big difference in how the cookie tastes and its texture.
It is very important to evenly distribute the ingredients when mixing the cookie dough, which also mean scraping down the bowl and spoon as you go. I mix this dough by hand (as I do most cookie doughs – personal preference), but in this case because there’s so little dough it may actually be hard to mix this with an electric mixer as the dough might just get all caught up in the beaters.
Egg Yolk Only
Important note: use only the egg yolk. Do NOT include the egg white. There is so little cookie dough to incorporate the egg into. If you were to add the egg white the cookie would be 100% different. It would be cakey and not have that satisfying soft and chewy texture.
Use Lots of Chocolate Chips
This small batch of chocolate chip cookies calls for ½ cup of chocolate chips. This is a lot of chocolate chips for a small batch! This makes the cookies extra chocolatey and indulgent. When shaping the cookies, press any leftover chocolate chips at the bottom of the bowl into each individual ball of cookie dough.
Portion the Dough
Portion out 2 tbsp worth of dough into each cookie. This makes 9 cookies, the perfect small batch. You can either do this with your hands, or using two small spoons – one to scoop and the other to help shape into a round ball, or with a cookie/ice cream scoop.
When are the Cookies Done?
The cookies are done after 9 minutes. They will look slightly underdone in the middle. This is perfect, don’t wait until they look fully cooked to pull them out. They should still be a little soft and look a little underbaked in the middle. They will continue to cook and firm up on the pan when you take them out.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Ingredients
Brown Sugar vs. Granulated Sugar: These cookies call for more brown sugar than granulated sugar. There’s a little bit more flavor and moisture in brown sugar because brown sugar has molasses.
Baking powder and baking soda are both used as leavening agents. Baking soda also helps to give cookie that crinkly look that we associate with delicious gooey cookies.
½ cup + 1 tbsp flour
Half a cup plus one tablespoon may seem like an odd amount of flour to use, however, because it is a small batch and there is so little dough to work with, that 1 extra tablespoon makes a big difference.
Feel free to try it yourself. Bake 1 cookie with only ½ cup of flour, then for the rest of the batch add the extra 1 tbsp. The cookie from the dough with only ½ cup of flour will be pretty flat. The rest of the dough with the added 1 tbsp will be slightly puffy and rounded and just the right amount.
Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookie FAQs:
Cookies flatten because either they do not have enough flour, the butter is too soft or melted, there is not enough leavening agent, or the proportion of sugar is too high compared with the rest of the ingredients.
The biggest reason cookies become poofy is because there is too much flour. In small batch recipes it may be because you added egg white, instead of only egg yolk. Another reason is the butter was too cold and not at room temperature. Not enough baking soda also leads to cookies that are too poofy. The baking soda helps the dough to spread out and gives it that crinkly cookies texture.
9 minutes. They should look slightly underdone in the middle. They will continue to cook on the hot pan after its taken out of the oven.
Looking for more cookie recipes? You may love these:
Small Batch Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Small Batch Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you make this Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe, I'd love to hear from you and learn how it went. Leave a rating and a comment down below and let me know how it turns out. Your feedback means a lot!
Best Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ¼ cup butter, softened
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- ½ tsp vanilla
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup + 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉.
- In a small-medium sized bowl combine the softened butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar.
- Add the egg yolk and vanilla and stir to combine. Add the baking powder, baking soda, and salt and stir to combine. Add the ½ cup plus 1 tbsp flour and stir to combine. Add the chocolate chips and stir to combine.
- Roll the dough into balls, about 2 tbsps of dough each.
- Bake for 9 minutes.
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