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
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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.
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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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janet
This is the first time making cooking by hand (without my stand mixer) and the dough was very wet. My cookies were flat like pancakes (almost crepes). I put the dough that didn’t fit on the two cookie sheets in the refrigerator while the first batch baked and that helped, but not sure what went wrong here.
Sierra
Is the flakes salt added to the mixture or just for The tops?
david vinh
I love to eat cookies .. You write articles that I look craving too
Shannon
I modified The NY Times recipe to include browned butter. The first try was too dry because of evaporation. I browned 10 T of butter. The second time I added 2 1/2 T of milk to compensate for the evaporation. Perfect!!
Sarah Petersen
Mine are in the oven now and hopefully they come out even half as beautiful as yours! Quick question, if I don’t have flakes salt can I use coarse sea salt for the topping? I need to improvise LOL thank you and good job!!
nichole
Hi,
How many grams of flour did you use for the 1 3/4 c. of flour for this recipe? For Tosi’s recipes I have noticed that the grams per cup differ based on the recipe and are not the King Arthur all purpose flour 120 g. per cup.
Thank you!
Nichole
Hi Nichole, I supplied this measurement for flour in cups since most home bakers use that over ounces.
Josie
Omg, I made these yesterday and I’m secretly dreaming about make them again tomorrow. My kids LOVED them. By far my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes.
melanie e
Hi, i tried to copy this recipe and followed it strictly but why is my batter coming out too sticky and runny? your batter on the pic looks a little drier. is the pic aftee you chilled it? I dont know what Im missing. :(
Alex
Oh these are so good! I made them yesterday and they’re a tad sweet, but I’ll 100% be making them again. I messed up and added 1/2 a teaspoon of baking soda instead of 1/4 (whoops) but you couldn’t tell. I sprinkled the salt on after (it kind of went everywhere) and I also used sea salt instead of flaked… What’s cooking without a little adjustment eh. :)
Nichol
If someone already added this above- I apologize! But if you want to use browned butter, add an ice cube once it in browned. This is about the amount of liquid that evaporates during the browning process.
Vietnamese food
love Momofuku . . and the brilliant Christina Tosi . ..
Bea
Way to salty to add the salt flakes will definitely add less salt to batter. They bake up nice with s good flavor so will make them again and tweak just a tad. Thank you for sharing. I will post for you to see
Bea
Hello Heidi, well it’s to late now since I’m about to put these in the oven so I will put the salt flakes on prior to bake like I do for bread. You still need to fix the recipe so that others know when to add the Maldon salt flakes. Thanks!
nhomnautiec
love Momofuko . . and the brilliant Christina Tossi . . baking these!!!
Chau Taylor
i made these. they are delicious! i didn’t have flaked salt to put on top still tasted good. this beats alton brown chewy chocolate chip cookie :D thanks
Kate
Yep, mine spread all over, too. Really disappointing. I guess I needed more flour than the recommended 1 3/4 cups. Crud. :(
Abby
Just made them for Christmas lunch tomorrow. I already need to make more because my husband won’t stop eating them!
Katherine Yates
I have seen several people inquiring about when to sprinkle on the salt….before baking? Or after baking????? Still haven’t seen the answer to that question!!!
Ttrockwood
Sprinkle on dough just before baking so they stick better to the tops. Be sure to use a flakey salt like Maldon, the recipe here is wrong it’s probably a total of one TB or so needed for all of the cookies
Kathleen D
She clarified that you don’t use the 1/4 but you would take pinches from the cup.
Tricia
Any idea how long you’d bake smaller cookies? Maybe a tablespoon scoop?
liz
when do you sprinkle the salt?
Kelly
I just made these and they are AMAZING. I’m very picky about my chcocolate chip cookies and these are worth every calorie. Love the flaked salt on top and how chocolatey they are!
Allison
That was the fastest I’ve ever made any cookie! I made a dozen baked on a sheet pan and put the rest of the dough into tiny cast iron skillets for a romantic dessert for me and the hubs. They were heavenly! This will forever change the way I bake chocolate chip cookies!
chau taylor
if i do not have milk powder, how do i sub?
I haven’t tried them without the milk powder but here is an article about replacing or not using it http://food52.com/hotline/158-dried-milk-powder-do-you-think-i-can-just-leave-it-out-or-substitute-regular-or-maybe-evaporated-m
sovee
Made these and they were amazing! We also did a batch with half chocolate chip and half caramel bits…SOO GOOD! Thanks for sharing this awesome recipe.
Sara
I made these cookies and they were great. They had tiny white granules from the powdered milk. I could only find instant powdered milk in the store. Did I do something wrong or use the wrong kind of powdered milk?