Secret Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Satisfy your sweet tooth with this delicious and easy chocolate chip cookie recipe. Perfect for any occasion, these cookies are sure to be a hit with everyone! And you won’t believe what the secret ingredient is!

My darling friend Kim had a nanny helping her out one day and my daughter along with hers made cookies with this sweet nanny. Thankfully, I was the happy recipient of a delicious treat! One secret totally makes these cookies irresistible!!

Do you have a single go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe, or do you have different chocolate chip cookie recipes for different occasions? Sometimes I want thick gourmet chocolate chip cookies, so I go with our Levain bakery copycat recipe. Other times I want that tender, perfectly chewy chocolate chip cookie, so I go with our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. If I have vanilla pudding on hand, I’ll make our chocolate chip pudding cookies. It just depends!

Well, this CCC recipe is super quick and easy, the the surprise ingredient is something you’ll have on hand already, but you’ve probably never thought to add it to a chocolate chip cookie before.

Ingredients for the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here is the list of ingredients you will need to make these delicious cookies including the surprising secret ingredient:

• Light Brown Sugar: adds richness and sweetness
• Granulated White Sugar: adds sweetness
• Butter: adds fat and rich flavor, shortening or a combination of butter and shortening can also be used
• Eggs: gives the cookies structure
• Flour: just regular all-purpose flour works great
• Baking Soda: gives the cookies their rise and fluffiness
• Salt: enhances all the other flavors
• Cinnamon: The secret ingredient!
• Cinnamon Sweet Thins: Just to add some more cinnamon flavor and a little texture! You can use cinnamon graham crackers or our personal favorite Cinnamon Sweet Thins
• Chocolate Chips: We prefer semi-sweet chocolate chips in this recipe. You could use chocolate chunks or any type of chocolate you love.
• Vanilla Extract: adds flavor

All of the measurements for these ingredients can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post. Keep scrolling for the details!

How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies

Making this simple chocolate chip cookie recipe is so easy that my 8yo son actually makes them for us. It’s just your basic cookie instructions…

1. Wet Ingredients: Add the sugars and butter to a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and cream together until fluffy, then add the eggs followed by the vanilla.
2. Dry Ingredients: Add all the dry ingredients (including the crushed cinnamon crackers) to a separate bowl and whisk to combine.
3. Combine: Add the dry ingredients mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Don’t overmix!
4. Fold: Add the chocolate chips and fold them into the cookie dough by hand.
5. Chill: Place plastic wrap onto the bowl and stick the dough in the fridge to chill while the oven preheats.
6. Bake: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Scoop the cookie dough using a cookie scoop onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

These instructions can also be found in the recipe card down below.

Tips for Making the Best CC Cookies

Here are a few tips that I’ve found to making perfectly golden brown, crispy around the edges, chewy in the middle and totally irresistible cookies:

• Don’t overmix the chocolate chip cookie dough! You can beat the sugar and butter until the cows come home, but once you mix the wet and dry ingredients together, just mix it enough so that a few streaks of flour remain.
• Fold in the chocolate chips. I’ve found that if I just the stand mixer to incorporate them, they can get broken up in the dough.
• Let the dough rest in the fridge while the oven heats up. He helps the butter firm up again and will help the cookies be thick and chewy.
• Use a cookie scoop or a scale to get cookies that are the same size.
• Add a few chocolate chips to the top of the cookie dough balls before baking to make the cookies look super pretty after they bake.

Storage Tips

These cookies will freeze very well, either before or after baking. If you want to freeze the dough, scoop the dough into balls and then freeze them on a cookie sheet for an hour or two, then place the dough balls in a ziploc bag. They will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months and can be cooked from frozen. They will just need an extra minute or two to bake.

Baked cookies should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature. They will keep for up to a week.

You’re going to be obsessed with the touch of cinnamon in this easy chocolate chip cookie recipe! I don’t know why we have designated cinnamon to snickerdoodles and cinnamon rolls, because it absolutely dreamy in chocolate chip cookies!

More Cookie Recipes You’ll Love:

Recommended Products