OMG I must have made (and tasted) a dozen recipes before I discovered THE SECRET to The PERFECT Cookie for One — take advantage of all my ‘research’ and enjoy!
Of all the (many) things I find it hard to resist, a fresh baked homemade chocolate chip cookie is right up there with the big boys. So, sadly, I hardly ever make them. And that’s why I’m so excited to share this recipe for the perfect cookie for one with you…it makes a big beautiful delicious, warm gooey chocolate chip cookie. Just one. So basically — you’re protected from your bad self — how fabulous is that?
You might not realize it, but creating the perfect formula for a single cookie is not easy. You want it to be super delish, quick, and without unnecessary waste (no 1/4 of an egg, thank you.) You should be able to whip it up with a mug and a fork, with ingredients you always have on hand. Sounds simple. Not so much. There are kinks that need to be worked out, and fussy details to get right. But now that I’ve got it — I’m going to share it with you. And if you’re one of those people that needs to be restrained in a straitjacket around a batch of cookies, you’ll appreciate this. You won’t be tempted to sneak another, and another, because, guess what?… you can’t! (Bwahahahahah) It makes a lot of sense. And did I mention this makes one HEFTY cookie? So you won’t go away hungry.
Secret # 1 — Accuracy! This is not the kind of recipe you can fool around with, trust me. All baking depends on accuracy, but with something this small, that’s triple true. Every little discrepancy will be magnified in your final cookie, so take care! Use those handy little markers on the butter wrapper, and if your wrapper has gone wonky, line it back up. Use real honest to goodness measuring spoons, not stuff from the cutlery drawer. Fluff your flour first and level it off when you measure. Your oven needs to be at the correct temperature, I keep an oven thermometer in mine and always check before I put anything inside. Don’t panic, this isn’t hard at all, but it is specific.
Secret # 2 — Make sure you mix your dough well. Everything should be well combined, no dry flour left, so keep at it with the fork, until the butter and flour are one. After mixing, use your hands to compact the dough and roll it into a perfect ball. If you don’t combine the dough well enough your cookie won’t hold together well as it bakes.
Secret # 3 — Use a regular cookie sheet, not a super-duper insulated one; the cookies seem to cook better that way, (non-stick is ok.) Press down just slightly with your fingers on the ball of dough before you put it in the oven.
Secret # 4 — The oats. They add texture, flavor, and structure to the cookie.
Secret # 5 — I like to pop in a few extra chocolate chips once I have formed the ball of dough and set it on the pan. Add them on top, pushing into the dough well, so that when it comes out of the oven you’ll have a few tempting morsels staring up at you.
Truly perfect. And I don’t know about you, but when I see the ingredients laid out for the one cookie they look innocent enough — maybe we’ve hit on solution to the age old dilemma and maybe we can paraphrase Michael Pollen’s wise words…”Eat dessert. Not too much.”
The Secret To The Perfect Cookie For One!
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temp is best but not essential
- 1 Tbsp firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
- 2 Tbsp flour, fluff, scoop, and level
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- pinch salt
- 1 tsp rolled oats, old fashioned or quick cooking
- 1 Tbsp chocolate chips, plus a few extra for the top
Instructions
- Set oven to 350F
- Put the butter, sugar, and vanilla in a small bowl, or mug. Use a fork to blend them together really well.
- Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and oats and continue to mix until everything is well blended and there is no dry flour left.
- Stir in the chocolate chips and bring the dough together with your hands and roll into a smooth round ball.
- Set on a cookie sheet, you can line with a piece of parchment if you want, but it's not necessary. Flatten just slightly with your fingers, and pop in a couple of extra chips on tip. Push them in well but keep that nice round shape.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes
- If you like your cookie soft and gooey, eat it warm from the oven. If you like your cookie with a little bit of crunch, let it cool completely.
Notes
Don’t lose it — pin it!
Sue suggests that room temperature butter isn’t essential, but I disagree. Make sure your butter is soft or else you’ll be on step 1 for a while. I don’t know what went wrong, but my cookie didn’t flatten on its own. I have a feeling I didn’t measure the butter well because the cookie dough barely held together. When it was still mostly round after 15 minutes in the oven, I flattened it using a knife. It was thicker than a normal cookie, but it was still delicious! I’ll definitely be making this again.
If you want it a little more soft and or light, add two tsp. of milk.
This cookie recipe is absolutely getting me through COVID-19 quarantine. I can’t be trusted baking a whole batch of cookies… so this cookie recipe satisfies my sweet tooth without tempting me with the whole dozen. Thank you!
Hi JL.Me too. I can easily eat a whole batch, but less is best for me. I divide this dough into two and just flatten it down a bit so that it looks like I’m getting two cookies.
Great recipe. 🙂
This is heretical, I know, but I have also made this without the chocolate chips and it is still a very satisfying post meal treat.
Definitely going rogue, but to each his own 😉
To Claire Van Allen. You speak of doubling and tripling this recipe. I have successfully halved it as well, so I can have it more often without packing in a load of calories. It still makes a very decent sized cookie which provides a satisfying end to a meal. Also noticed that the results varied when I used a different kind of butter. Organic Valley Salted butter produced a consistently great cookie. I tried another organic butter and the cookie just did not hold together well.
I have tried many chocolate chip cookies to find the perfect one and WHAM this is it. In my opinion, this is the BEST chocolate chip cookie ever. Remember Mrs Fields? Better. I have made a few times now, I have also double it, tripled it. AMAZING No substitution, no changing ingredients. Thank you
Apologies, Sue and readers, for the length of my earlier post. But, in my defense, I must say that (sadly for me) it has been a while since the solution to a desire so utterly satisfied (and even exceeded) my expectation, which was very exciting. Also, there was coffee, which tends to make me go on a bit.
But, take note, dieters. True satisfaction is of great value. Even just the memory of that cookie is oddly satiating in itself.
So happy this made such a difference in your life Laura <3
I really don’t eat sweets. However, I am sometimes afflicted with a craving for a choc. chip cookie. Also, I do not bake.
The co-op where I shop bakes their own vegan (sans egg) cookies, and I will get one of those now and again. The ingredients are pretty healthy, but there is some stuff that isn’t great like canola oil, and some vegan buttery spread. It’s also a little greasy.
I have been thinking, I should just make my own, but I only want one and I lack self-control. And then I found your lovely recipe. I made some substitutions:
sprouted whole wheat flour
organic butter
organic choc chips
organic dark brown sugar (evap cane sugar)
organic rolled oats
organic alcohol free vanilla
To the person below who said that the calories she saved on the single serve cookie were lost in finishing the chips in the bag, my solution was to just buy a very small amount of chips from the bulk bin at my co-op.
The substitutions make for a somewhat healthier cookie…but it is still a cookie. You could, as you indicated below, substitute something gluten free for the flour, and something for the butter, if you wanted it to be vegan. I’m vegetarian, so I am good with the butter, but avoid eggs.
On my way home from the store, I remembered that I have no cookie sheet or metal pans. I baked it in a little low sided corning ware casserole dish.
While baking, i remembered that i have no spatulas, or lifters, or a cooling rack for that matter. I just placed the little casserole on an inverted apple corer (I do have more esoteric cookware items, apparently) on the kitchen sill, with the window open and went for a walk.
Upon my return, I fell upon it. No trouble sliding it out of the pan. It was perfection! Perfectly baked (15 min), crispy, but not hard, or gooey. There were moans of pleasure. It was so damn satisfying. This was cookie nirvana! Not at all greasy. Hopefully i will be good for another week. 🙂 Not keeping chocolate chips in the house should be the key to my success. Many thanks to you for doing the hard work of experimentation, so that I could make a perfect cookie the very first time I tried it. I have stood on your shoulders and nailed it!
What a fun comment, Laura 🙂 And I love all your healthy tweaks and tips…my hubby and I are both on a weight loss journey right now, so it’s super helpful.
hi, i really liked the cookie! Which recipe looks the most like this, but then for a whole batch?
Hey Mona, I would try my Soft Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies
I beat an egg and measured about a tsp and added it after the sugar. Really Improved it. I divided the rest and froze them.
Thanks Roberta 🙂
Oh no thank you! Thks is a perfect recipe. Glad I found it! 🙂