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Chocolate Chip Sugar Cookies

up-close image of frosted and unfrosted chocolate chip sugar cookies sitting on a wire rack with parchment paper on top of it

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Soft and chewy, these chocolate chip sugar cookies are a fun twist on classic chocolate chip cookies and traditional cut-out sugar cookies.

Ingredients

Scale

Chocolate Chip Sugar Cookie Dough

  • 12 T butter (170 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 3 cups + 2 T (380 grams) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
  • 2/3 cup (150 grams) white sugar
  • 1/2 cup (90 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 1 T vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 cold, large eggs, straight from the fridge
  • ½ cup (100 grams) mini chocolate chips

Optional Buttercream for Decorating

  • 6 cups (750 grams) powdered sugar
  • 1 1/2 sticks (170 grams) of unsalted butter, room temperature
  • ½ cup (150 grams) heavy cream* (See notes)
  • 4 tsp vanilla extract
  • Pinch of salt
  • Lemon juice to cut sweetness
  • Food gels to dye your frosting

Instructions

Sugar Cookie Dough

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 °F.
  2. Cream butter, vanilla extract, and sugars together in your mixing bowl for 3 minutes.
  3. Stop the mixer and add salt, baking powder, as well as your eggs and flour. Mix for about 1 minute on medium speed before adding chocolate chips to bowl and mixing another minute. Dough will initially look crumbly but pull together. 
  4. Roll the dough into a ball on a clean, flat, floured surface. I like dividing half at a time and rolling it out to about ¼ inch before pressing the cookie cutters into the dough. 
  5. Use a spatula to lift and transfer dough onto ungreased aluminum baking sheets, with about 2 inches between each of them. Bake for 10-14 minutes (longer time for larger cookies, shorter for small ones). Transfer them to cooling racks after they’ve sat on the baking sheets 5 or so minutes outside of the oven and are firm enough to handle. 

Optional Buttercream Frosting

  1. With an electric mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, combine unsalted butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, heavy cream, lemon juice (if using), and salt. Beat for about 3  minutes.
  2. Taste test and then add another splash of lemon juice if too sweet.
  3. Once happy with flavor, drag the spatula from the middle of your bowl to its edges, watching as the tears and bubbles in your buttercream disappear. Spend 3-4 minutes doing these motions to achieve nice, smooth frosting.
  4. If using, add food gel color(s) to bowl(s) of buttercream.

Cookie Assembly

  1. Load buttercream into piping bags, fitted with tips of your choice. 
  2. Create rings or rows of frosting across or around your cookies. Alternatively, use buttercream between cookies to create cookie sandwiches.  
  3. Freeze any excess buttercream for up to three months in an airtight container. 

Notes

Regarding the buttercream: When my kitchen is colder, I add more liquid to my bowl. The moisture helps colder, stiffer ingredients mix together more easily. If your kitchen is humid and/or warm, start with about 1/3 cup (80 grams) of heavy cream and add more from there.