Mega Vanilla Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies

Mega Vanilla Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookie — scream it from the rooftops because you’re about to fall in love with this cookie. This beauty has it all:

• Heaps of vanilla flavor (check out this ‘how to make homemade bourbon vanilla extract’ post)
• One bowl
• Small batch
• Only ten ingredients
• Ready in under 25 minutes
• This is a zero rest time, DELICIOUS DOUGH

I don’t know what more we could possible want in a chocolate chip cookie. In The Cookie Book, I devoted an entire chapter to chocolate chip cookies (crispy, chewy, brown butter, etc etc etc!) and here on DisplacedHousewife, you can see my blog-specific chocolate chip cookie recipes here!

A Note About DH Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes

Needless to say, I am obsessed with chocolate chip cookies!

While some of the chocolate chip cookies on my site have similar flavor profiles to some of The Cookie Book recipes, they are unique from each other unless specifically stated. An example is this Brown Butter Muscovado Chocolate Chip Bar Cookie recipe that is in both in my cookbook and on the website — it is SO GOOD, btw!

The Baker’s Guide to Measuring Flour

One of the biggest (and most common) mistakes in baking is how we measure flour. If you find yourself without a scale, see my top tips on how to properly measure flour for the perfect amount every time!

My editor will only let me take three or four recipes from my blog and put them in my books. And 99% of the time, even those recipe have some book-specific tweaks.

All this said, this Mega Vanilla Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe can only be found on the blog!

Why Are There So Many Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes?

Many chocolate chip cookie recipes have the same ingredients but there are small details that make each recipe individual in spite of the similarities:

• Quantities of ingredients (more butter, different flours, more leavening, vanilla (!!) etc.)
• Baking Techniques
• Bake Time
• Position of the Oven Rack
• Resting or Not Resting Cookie Dough
• Cookie Baking Temperatures

I think this is what makes it so that I will never tire of coming up with fun, new chocolate chip cookie recipes!! The possibilities are endless and sometimes seemingly little tweaks yield huge (read: delicious) results!

Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookie Ingredients

Brown Sugar

I love how brown sugar really plays up the caramel notes in a chocolate chip cookie. For this cookie, you can use either dark or light brown sugar and they will turn out beautifully; so use what you have on hand.

I tend to use light brown sugar for this one!

Vanilla Extract or Paste

These Small Batch Mega Vanilla Chocolate Chip Cookies were originally created in collaboration with Rodelle (love them!) using their vanilla paste. However, you can use either vanilla paste or real vanilla extract and these cookies will turn out fab either way. Promise.

All About That Chocolate!

Go with milk, semi-sweet, dark or bittersweet chocolate or a combination of all of them…use what you want or have on hand.

I love these Ghirardelli baking chips (that’s the chocolate I used in these photos) and these are my most favorite Callebaut callets. I love chocolate chips for this recipe because THEY’RE SO EASY. And this cookie is all about mega flavor with minimal effort.

HOT TIP

As soon as you decide to bake these cookies place an egg in a bowl of warm water and cut your butter into 16 equal-size pieces. If you have a microwave, you can place the butter on a microwave-safe dish and blitz it for 5 to 10 seconds on high. You don’t want it greasy or melted, just to take the cold edge off. This will bring your ingredients to room temperature as quickly as possible.

Mega Vanilla Chocolate Chip Cookie Tasting Notes & More

This cookie uses a whopping three tablespoons of dough per cookie, so leave ample room for them to spread while baking. You will end up with a large cookie, roughly between 3- to 4-inches (8- to 10-cm) in diameter. This is not an especially thick cookie (but I also won’t call it super thin?)…I think they’re just right!

I prefer the way they look when using a cookie scoop and *not* rolling the dough balls. The cookies bake up prettier this way. If they’re misshapen post bake, use the edge of your spatula to nudge them back into shape.

Watch the video above to see how I place chocolate over the tops of the dough balls to achieve the prettiest cookie.

The recipe calls for an aggressive amount of vanilla (hence the name). That, combined with the brown sugar create a very warm, caramel-y chocolate chip cookie that you are going to love!

Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookie Variations

Don’t limit yourself to just chocolate chips! You can chop up candy bars (I do this every Halloween), add in some puffed rice cereal, dried tart cherries, chopped and toasted hazelnuts…

When customizing your chocolate chip cookie dough, leave out half of the chocolate chips and add in an equal amount of the new add in.

Example: For Cherry Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies you would add in 55g each of dark chocolate chips and dried cherries.

And this, my friends, is exactly why I love chocolate chip cookies. The end.

Cookie Equipment List

Either an Electric Stand Mixer or this is my favorite Hand-Held Mixer (it’s in all of my videos!)

Not necessary with this cookie! But here are my two go-to’s when using.

My favorite extra-large Cookie Sheets

These will let you bake more cookies at a time (make sure they’ll fit in your oven). These are restaurant grade and I love them for everything from cookies to roasting veggies and sheet-pan dinners!

This is the  3-tablespoon scoop I used for these cookies

You can also eyeball the size and use a spoon. I really like using a scoop for these cookies!

The Spatula that I use for literally EVERYTHING

The set of heat-safe Glass Bowls that I use to melt chocolate

My favorite Scale because these cookies thrive with precision

Storing This Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Storing Your Cookie Dough in the Fridge

The dough can be wrapped tightly, chilled in the fridge and used over several days. 

Storing Your Cookie Dough in the Freezer

If you plan on using the dough over several weeks, freeze proportioned dough balls in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet. Once frozen, stash in an airtight container. They can go straight from the freezer to the oven, adding additional bake time to bake thoroughly.

They will turn out puffier than the photos. *IF* you want them to be less puffy, let the dough balls sit on the baking sheet and come closer to room temperature before putting in the oven.

For longer freezer storage, store the dough in a lump, wrapped tightly and stashed in a freezer-safe bag. Bring close to room temperature before scooping and baking.

Mega Vanilla Chocolate Chip Cookie Q & A

Can I use my mixer to make this cookie dough?

The instruction don’t use a mixer, but feel free to get in there with your mixer using the paddle attachment just as you would for any other chocolate chip cookie (if you’re feeling it).

I’ve made these many times both with and without mixer and they turn out great either way. If you don’t use a mixer, make sure you really whip up the butter and sugar until light and super fluffy.

Can I chill this cookie dough?

Yep! See note above chilling your dough in the fridge and storing in the freezer.

More Yummy Cookie Fun

Grab My Favorite Cookies Tips for Perfect Cookies, make these Crinkly, Fudgy Brownie Cookies (they’re so good!) or try my favorite, S’more Cookie Bars! Don’t forget all of my favorite chocolate chip cookies (in addition to these!): Espresso ☕️ Chocolate Chip Cookies, Salted Olive Oil Chocolate Chip, Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, DO NOT sleep on these Small Batch Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, Brown Butter Musovado Bar Cookies and get all the cookie recipes right here!

Mega Vanilla Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies

One bowl, 10 ingredients and ready in under 25 minutes, these mega vanilla, small batch chocolate chip cookies are SO GOOD! You will love the flavor in these easy chocolate chip cookies! Bonus, they need zero rest or chill time prior to baking.

5 from 19 reviews

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Prep Time: 8 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 11 minutes minutes

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Cookies

Keyword: Chocolate Chip Cookies, Small Batch, One Bowl, Vanilla Extract

Servings: 14 Cookies

Author: Rebecca Firth

Ingredients

• 1 cup (210 g) light brown sugar, (packed)
• 8 tablespoons (113 g or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, (room temperature)
• 1 tablespoon (14 g) extra virgin olive oil ((can also use sunflower or grapeseed oil))
• 1 large egg, (room temperature)
• 1 tablespoon (13 g) vanilla paste or real vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon (5 g) baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon (5 g) sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon (3 g) baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups (204 g) all-purpose flour (how to measure flour)
• 3/4 cup (110 g) dark, milk or semi-sweet chocolate, (chips, chunks or coarsely chopped bar)

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 350F (177C) and line several baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a medium bowl add the brown sugar and butter and beat with a spatula until light and fluffy; the mixture should no longer appear dense and the color should have lightened slightly. Add in the olive oil mixing until the oil is completely emulsified into the mixture. Add in the egg, vanilla paste or extract, baking powder, salt and baking soda and mix until no traces of egg are visible, and it has become one cohesive, delicious smelling mixture.
• Gently fold in the flour stopping when there are still traces of flour visible. Add in the chocolate and stir until evenly distributed throughout the dough being careful to use as few strokes as possible so as not to overmix the dough.
  
• Scoop 3 tablespoons of dough (about 42g) onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving 3 inches between cookies to allow for spreading. Bake for 11 minutes in the center of the oven. As soon as they’re out of the oven, use the edge of a spatula to nudge the cookies back into a circle. Let cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes to set and collapse a bit.
  

Video

Notes

*For the photos the cookies are sprinkled with sea salt flakes. Not necessary, but I love sea salt flakes sprinkled over cookies! 

**The amount of oil in this recipe is small, but yields a perfectly soft cookie, so don’t skip it!

***The photo of the cookie dough balls  in the instruction area has chocolate chunks rather than chips; fyi. And the photo of cookie dough without chocolate chips  is from a double batch of cookies (that’s why it looks like so much more than the bowl of cookie dough next to it).

As always, drop your questions/thoughts in the comments section! xo

Thanks for baking with me! Please rate + comment this recipe and tag me on social @displacedhousewife #displacedhousewife so I can see your beautiful treats! xo