These salted chocolate chip cookies are the fastest homemade cookie recipe I’ve ever made, and they come together in just one bowl, no mixer required. They’re loaded with chocolate chips, and the hit of flaky sea salt on top really sends them over the top.
The chocolate chip cookie can be a point of dissension. Everyone has their favorite: their grandmother’s recipe or that one they used to buy in the mall, and let’s not ignore the recipe cited as “the best” from the NY Times.
So while I have my family’s favorite Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie, I’m happy to preheat my oven to try one more (you know, for science). Some stack up, and some don’t. This one though, it’s a keeper.
It comes from Milk Bar Life: Recipes and Stories by Christina Tosi of Momofuku fame. While at the library and leafing through the cookbook, I was immediately drawn to Tosi’s headnote that states, “this cookie is great because you can make it by hand in one bowl, with a wooden spoon, just like the old gals used to do.”
One bowl? No mixer? It truly is as easy as that and the cookie dough is ready to bake in just about 10 minutes flat.
Heidi’s Tips for Recipe Success
- The secret ingredient used in this recipe is powdered nonfat milk. If you don’t use powdered milk often (I know I don’t) Carnation offers it in a small packet that tucks easily into your pantry or drawer.
- Take the cookies out of the oven while the middles still look soft and slightly underbaked. As the cookies cool, the middles will fall a bit, but the residual heat inside the cookies will finish cooking them through.
- Choose flaky sea salt for finishing off these cookies, not table salt. Table salt has finer grains, making it taste much saltier than sea salt.
What’s in This Recipe?
The full recipe, with amounts, can be found in the recipe card below.
- Unsalted butter — If you use salted butter and then also top the chocolate chip cookies with sea salt, you’re going to wind up with super salty cookies. So stick to unsalted.
- Sugar — There’s a full cup of sugar in the cookie dough, most of which is brown sugar which adds lots of moisture as well as a caramely flavor. Round out the cup with a little granulated sugar for pure sweetness.
- Egg — Helps bind the dough together.
- Vanilla extract — 2 teaspoons perfume the cookie dough with a rich vanilla flavor.
- All-purpose flour — Scoop the flour into the measuring cup to avoid packing it.
- Baking powder + baking soda — Use both leavening agents to avoid winding up with hockey pucks.
- Chocolate chips — I used semi-sweet chips, but dark chocolate chips or even chunks would be just as decadent.
- Salt — Kosher salt flavors the cookie dough, while flaky sea salt is sprinkled on top.
How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I am a huge Tossi fan and these are spot on to her flavors. I use this recipe all the time.
~Carlton, FoodieCrush reader
- Combine the wet ingredients. The butter is melted first, then mixed by hand into the sugars. You’ll mix it for a good minute or two, and as Tosi suggests, flex your muscles when mixing to result in a glossy sheen after adding the egg and vanilla.
- Add the dry ingredients. Once your arms have been sufficiently exercised, mix in the dry ingredients followed by the chocolate chips.
- Scoop the cookie dough. Scoop the cookie dough into golf ball-sized balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking tray. Sprinkle the tops of each cookie with some flaky sea salt.
- Bake, baby, bake. Bake the sea salt chocolate chip cookie until the edges are golden brown but the middles are still soft.
FAQs
I’ve only made these salted chocolate chip cookies as written, so I can’t say for sure what a good substitute for the milk powder would be.
The cookie dough is well and truly loaded with chocolate chips (12 full ounces!). If that’s too much chocolate for you, feel free to add less.
Yes, you want to use both types of salt. They have different grain sizes, which gives them a different level of saltiness (table salt, on the other hand, has very fine grains and tastes powerfully of salt).
Storage Tips
Store the Milk Bar cookies in a zip-top bag on the counter for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
You can also freeze the raw cookie dough (after you’ve shaped it into balls). Bake the cookie dough from frozen, noting that you’ll likely need to add an extra minute or two to the total bake time.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I have never commented on a recipe before. But I had to….these cookies are a-mazing. I made a double batch – good thing. Every day for about 5 days now my husband has praised me for this treat. I love to bake but sometimes the recipes are vague or don’t turn out the way it states. This recipe doesn’t disappoint. Easy to follow and addictive!!! The salt – yum. Go big or go home!!!! Delicious – thank you!
~Kerry, FoodieCrush reader
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below, leave a comment to tell us what you think, and tag me on Instagram @foodiecrush.
Milk Bar’s Salted Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and just warm to the touch
- ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons nonfat milk powder
- 1 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips*
- ¼ cup flaky sea salt , for sprinkling on top before baking
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
- With a wooden spoon, mix the sugars together in a large bowl and add the melted butter. Stir vigorously for about a minute or more. Mix the egg and vanilla in the measuring cup you used for the sugar and add to the mixture. Stir until the mix gathers a glossy sheen, about 1 more minute.
- Mix in the flour, milk powder, kosher salt, baking powder, and baking soda until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and mix until evenly distributed.
- Use a #24 squeeze handle scoop to portion the dough (or lightly form it into balls about the size of a golf ball) and place them on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper about 2 to 3 inches apart. Sprinkle the tops of each cookie with some of the flaky sea salt (note that you may not need to use all of the ¼ cup of salt).
- Bake for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown around the edges but still soft in the middle. The cookies will fall as they cool. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
More Easy Cookie Recipes You’ll Love
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Coconut No-Bake Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cookies
- Zucchini Cookies
- Loaded Monster Cookies
- Coconut Lime Cookies
- White Chocolate Snickerdoodles
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nana
This was so good! I toasted the milk powder which gave the cookies a caramel note- delicious! Somehow I ended up baking 24 cookies, far detached from the original yield of 15 cookies… I think I may have underestimated how large a golf ball might be LOL. I also had to bake them a little longer and they were kinda ugly but this was my first time baking cookies so I’ll give myself a little grace. The recipe itself was amazing!
What a great idea to toast the milk powder, I’ll have to try it. And, too many cookies is never a bad thing :)
Beth
FYI if you use the “2x” feature at the top of the recipe to double it, it still says 2 sticks of butter (though it does up the amount to a pound). A pound of butter is 4 sticks, not 2.
Kendra
Perfection! Just make them, trust me.
Happy to hear it Kendra!
Alexa
With a little bit of workshopping this recipe is a hit in my household. My cookies were spreading too much and I like baking by weight for dry ingredients.
My tips: Chill the dough even for 15-30 mins before actually baking and swap between 2 cookie sheets for best results
Light brown sugar = 165g
Granulated sugar = 100g
All-purpose flour = 220g (slightly increased for structure)
milk powder = 12g
Kosher salt = 6g
Baking powder = 2g
Baking soda = 1g
You’re welcome! ;)
Sounds delicious Alexa! I’ glad you all enjoyed!
Grant Wentworth
These cookies have a high ratio of sugar to flour and too much sugar for my taste. I used the technique from milk bars other recipes of mixing the sugar for 7 minutes on med high and resting the dough overnight in the refrigerator. I could still taste too much sugar. I will not be making these again.
Sorry you didn’t like them Grant.
Nic
I love salt but these are disgustingly salty! I followed the recipe to a t. In another comment you replied the salt is to put on top but in the instructions you clearly say to add i to the mixture with the rest of the dry ingredients. Also they came out flat and in another comment yet again you replied that they should check their oven thermometer? Girl, maybe check your instructions
Hayley
Hi Nic. We’re so sorry about this. There is salt listed twice in the ingredients (kosher, for adding to the cooke dough with the other dry ingredients), and flaky salt (for sprinkling on the top). We see that the instructions were not very clear about the use for the flaky sea salt. We reprinted this recipe (with permission) from the Milk Bar cookbook, but we have adjusted the post/recipe card to include a specific note about how/when to use the flaky salt so as not to cause any confusion. We do see how it was originally printed was confusing, and we apologize that these did not turn out well for you! We hope you’ll give the recipe another try some time.
Robyn
Apparently the sea salt needs to be sprinkled on top afterwards, but that’s not listed in your instructions. So, now I’m left with cookies that are WAY too salty. I followed everything exactly. What a waste of ingredients!
Hayley
Hi Robyn. We’re so sorry about this. There is salt listed twice in the ingredients (kosher, for adding to the cooke dough with the other dry ingredients), and flaky salt (for sprinkling on the top). We see that the instructions were not very clear about the use for the flaky sea salt. We reprinted this recipe (with permission) from the Milk Bar cookbook, but we have adjusted the post/recipe card to include a specific note about how/when to use the flaky salt so as not to cause any confusion. We do see how it was originally printed was confusing, and we apologize that these did not turn out well for you! We hope you’ll give the recipe another try some time.
Carlton
I am a huge Tossi fan and these are spot on to her flavors. I use this recipe all the time
Hayley
They’re so good, right?!
Saltbae
Cookies were disgustingly salty. On looking at other websites for the Christina Tosi chocolate chip cookie recipe, none of them have the extra 1/4 cup flaky salt added. You should probably clarify that in your recipe. Very disappointing.
Sorry you didn’t like them Saltbae (looks like you have an affinity for salt?) The flaky salt is used for topping the cookies when they come out of the oven, not directly IN the cookie batter.
Melissa
I dunno what I did wrong but my batter was way too loose and ended up flat and over baked. I measured and followed everything to a T….feels like a waste. I’ll find a more typical cookie recipe next time. I’m heartbroken.
Sorry you’re heartbroken Melissa. Maybe you need to check your oven thermometer?
Sally St Clair
10-11 mins in my gas oven was perfect. I used fresh ground pink Himalayan salt which was on-hand and it was fabulous. Great recipe that I plan to use forever!
So glad to hear they worked great for you Sally! Thanks for the comment and 5 star rating.
Kerry
I have never commented on a recipe before. But I had to….these cookies are a-mazing. I made a double batch – good thing. Every day for about 5 days now my husband has praised me for this treat. I love to bake but sometimes the recipes are vague or don’t turn out the way it states. This recipe doesn’t disappoint. Easy to follow and addictive!!! The salt – yum. Go big or go home!!!! Delicious – thank you!
Happy to hear you enjoyed Kerry!
Shelby Whalen
This is recipe gold, my friends.
I followed the recipe to the and baked for 11 minutes.
Wow – the powdered milk gives a beautiful chewiness/ caramelization
I will be making these a lot!
I’m glad you enjoyed Shelby!
My Linh
For non frequent and new cookie bakers, note that the flaky salt should be sprinkled on after the cookie are baked. It’s not written in the instructions explicitly for when you use the flaky salt. My friend followed the recipe exactly so he add ALL the salt to the batter. Be warned!
Otherwise this is now my go to favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. Consistently perfect. If you add the flaky salt on top at the end