These chocolate chip cookies without brown sugar are soft and chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside.
If you ever wanted to make chocolate chip cookies but ran out of brown sugar, make these! They are super delish and use simple ingredients.
This recipe shows that you can still make delicious cookies without brown sugar.
Most chewy chocolate chip cookies require brown sugar to make the cookies soft, moist, and chewy. The molasses in the brown sugar gives the cookies the moisture and chewiness that we love about chocolate chip cookies.
These cookies use granulated sugar only. We manipulated the fat content and other ingredients in this recipe to make these cookies delicious using granulated sugar only!
We love making chocolate chip cookies with different flavors, you should try our brown butter pecan cookies, biscoff butter cookies, brookies cookies, chewy chocolate cookies, and our brown butter chocolate chunk cookies.
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Why this recipe works
- One bowl- the cookie dough comes together in one bowl! So there are little dishes to wash!
- Simple- this recipe uses super basic and simple ingredients that most of you can find in your kitchen or in your nearest grocery store.
- Texture- these cookies are chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside like perfect cookies.
- Freezer friendly- the cookie dough freezes great so you can place cookie dough balls in the freezer and bake it whenever!
- Chocolate loaded- these homemade chocolate chip cookies are loaded with lots of melty chocolate.
Ingredients
Before you start to make this recipe, measure and prepare your ingredients so the cooking process will go smoothly and easily.
Full measurements are in the recipe card below.
Butter- use unsalted butter for this recipe. Only butter will work for this recipe, no margarine, and no coconut oil. Margarine has a weird taste and can ruin the flavor of these delicious cookies.
Flour– we used all-purpose flour for this recipe. cake flour will work great as well.
Cornstarch- cornstarch helps to create a tender texture for these cookies, plus, it keeps the cookie soft.
Baking soda and baking powder – baking soda and baking powder help the cookies rise and spread. Make sure that your leveners aren't expired.
Sugar- we used granulated sugar for this recipe. You can use caster sugar as well.
Eggs- you will need 1 large egg for this recipe. Make sure that your egg is at room temperature.
Egg yolk- egg yolk gives this cookie a chewier texture.
Vanilla extract- adds extra flavor.
Kosher salt- you will need about ½ teaspoon of kosher salt for this recipe.
Chocolate chips- you can use any kind of chocolate chips for these cookies, we like to use either dark chocolate chips or semisweet chocolate chips.
Instructions
Into a large mixing bowl, add the room temperature butter, vanilla extract, and granulated sugar, and cream it with an electric hand mixer for 2-3 minutes or until it's creamy and light in color.
Add the egg, egg yolk, and kosher salt. Mix until well combined.
Add the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and baking soda, and mix until almost combined.
Add the chocolate chips or chocolate chunks, and mix until just combined. Do not overmix the dough.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest in the fridge for at least an hour. We let the dough rest in the fridge overnight.
Use a large cookie scooper to scoop out the cookies or scoop the cookies with a regular tablespoon, 3 tablespoons at a time.
Place the cookie dough balls onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Do not overbake these cookies, they get crispy very quickly.
Immediately top them with extra chocolate chips. Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes, and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Expert Tips
- Use room temperature ingredients. It is important that you use room-temperature ingredients like eggs and butter. This step ensures that your mixture mixes into a homogenous mixture and bakes perfectly.
- Don’t overmix the batter, you don’t want to develop the gluten in the flour. This step ensures you have moist cookies and not dense and dry cookies.
- Make sure that your butter is at room temperature. An hour or two before making these cookies, take the butter out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature. The butter should be soft to the touch. If your butter is too cold, it will be harder to mix and there will be lumps of butter in the dough.
- Measure your flour correctly! When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it with a measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour with a spoon to create as many air pockets as possible, and spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level it with a back of a knife.
- Line your sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone mat! This step helps the cookies to bake evenly, and it makes sure that your cookies release easily from the pan.
- Use a cookies scoop to scoop out the cookies, that way you will have even-sized cookies, plus it ensures that your cookies bake evenly.
- Chill the dough! This step is crucial and prevents the cookies from spreading out too much. After making the cookie dough, cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a clean towel, and chill the dough in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
- Be patient! I know it’s extremely tempting to eat these cookies as they are pulled out of the oven, but let these cookies cool for at least 15 minutes so they will be firmer and won’t crumble up.
- We suggest letting these cookies cool for 5 minutes and then transferring them to a wire rack to cool for at least 10 more minutes. This step ensures that the bottom of your cookies will not be soggy from the steam.
Faq's
Yes! You can double or triple this recipe. There is an option to automatically double, half, or triple this recipe in the recipe card below!
Yes! We love using chocolate bars, chopping them, and adding them to the cookie dough. Use your favorite type of chocolate for these.
We use all-purpose flour for these cookies. Cake flour will work great as well.
Yes! We played with the ingredients in this recipe to make these cookies delicious, chewy, and soft, without using brown sugar, only using granulated sugar.
Storing
Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. I love microwaving the cookies for 10 seconds to get them moist and fresher!
Freezing
Follow the instructions as written and make the dough balls, then transfer the dough balls into a freezer-friendly airtight ziplock bag, and freeze the cookie dough ball for up to 3 months.
When ready to bake the cookies, bake the frozen cookie dough balls right away, no need to thaw them. Add an extra minute or so for the baking time.
Substitutions
Dairy-free- to make these cookie dairy free, swap the butter with vegan dairy-free butter, and ensure that you are using dairy-free chocolate chips. Also, use dairy-free m&m's.
Gluten-free- to make these cookies dairy free, swap the all-purpose flour with gluten-free flour.
What are good brown sugar substitutes?
Granulated sugar- we used granulated sugar for this recipe, and the cookies still turned out super chewy and delicious!
Demerara sugar- I use demerara sugar all the time. It's very similar to brown sugar and will give your cookies the same benefits as brown sugar does.
Homemade brown sugar- you can make your homemade brown sugar by mixing granulated sugar and dark molasses together. There are a lot of tutorials on the internet, it's super simple!
Coconut sugar- coconut sugar is very similar to brown sugar and will give your cookies a similar deep flavor as brown sugar does.
Variations
Mix-ins- you can add your favorite mix-ins like white chocolate chips, toffee, pretzels, chocolate chunks (milk or dark chocolate), mini chocolate chips, etc.
Cinnamon- add ½ teaspoon of cinnamon to the cookie dough to add a delicious cinnamon flavor.
More cookie recipes
No butter chocolate chip cookies- These no butter chocolate chip cookies are the easiest choc chip cookies ever! They are made with oil instead of butter and are so delicious, crispy on the edges, and perfectly chewy in the middle.
Turtle cookies- These turtle cookies are made with fudgy chocolate cookie dough that is filled with chopped pecans, stuffed with caramel, and topped with chocolate drizzle.
Chewy monster cookies- These chewy monster cookies are filled with chocolate chips and M&M's, oats, and peanut butter. They are soft on the inside and crispy on the edges and full of peanut butter flavor.
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📖 Recipe
Chocolate Chip Cookies Without Brown Sugar
Ingredients
- 170 g Butter softened
- 1 ¼ cups Granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 Egg
- 1 Egg yolk
- 2 tablespoon Cornstarch
- 1 ½ cups Flour
- ¾ teaspoon Baking powder
- â…“ teaspoon Baking soda
- 1 ½ cups Chocolate chips or chocolate chunks
Instructions
- Into a big mixing bowl, add the room temperature butter, vanilla extract, and granulated sugar, and cream it with an electric hand mixer for 2-3 minutes or until it's creamy and light in color.
- Add the egg, egg yolk, and kosher salt. Mix until well combined.
- Add the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and baking soda, and mix until almost combined.
- Add the chocolate chips or chocolate chunks, and mix until just combined. Do not overmix the dough.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest in the fridge for at least an hour. We let the dough rest in the fridge overnight.
- Use a large cookie scooper to scoop out the cookies or scoop the cookies with a regular tablespoon, 3 tablespoons at a time.
- Place the cookie dough balls onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Do not overbake these cookies, they get crispy very quickly.
- Immediately top them with more chocolate chips. Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes, and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Use room temperature ingredients. It is important that you use room-temperature ingredients like eggs and butter. This step ensures that your mixture mixes into a homogenous mixture and bakes perfectly.
- Don’t overmix the batter, you don’t want to develop the gluten in the flour. This step ensures you have moist cookies and not dense and dry cookies.
- Make sure that your butter is at room temperature. An hour or two before making these cookies, take the butter out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature. The butter should be soft to the touch. If your butter is too cold, it will be harder to mix and there will be lumps of butter in the dough.
- Measure your flour correctly! When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it with a measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour with a spoon to create as many air pockets as possible, and spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level it with a back of a knife.
- Line your sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone mat! This step helps the cookies to bake evenly, and it makes sure that your cookies release easily from the pan.
- Use a cookies scoop to scoop out the cookies, that way you will have even-sized cookies, plus it ensures that your cookies bake evenly.
- Chill the dough! This step is crucial and prevents the cookies from spreading out too much. After making the cookie dough, cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a clean towel, and chill the dough in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
- Be patient! I know it’s extremely tempting to eat these cookies as they are pulled out of the oven, but let these cookies cool for at least 15 minutes so they will be more firm and won’t crumble up.
- We suggest letting these cookies cool for 5 minutes and then transferring them to a wire rack to cool for at least 10 more minutes. This step ensures that the bottom of your cookies will not be soggy from the steam.
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