Cookies are the most forgiving thing you can bake and also the easiest to get subtly wrong. The difference between a chewy cookie and a flat, greasy one is usually butter temperature and about two minutes in the oven.
These are 34 of the best cookie and brownie recipes in our archive. Chocolate chip in several forms including a Crumbl copycat, brown butter cookies, sugar cookies for decorating, shortbread, samoas, fudgy brownies, blondies and a few things that are hard to categorise.
Every recipe links through to the full method. The chilling advice at the bottom of this page will improve almost every cookie you bake, including ones that are not on this list.
Our Top Picks at a Glance
- Best overall: Crumbl Chocolate Chip Cookies Copycat Recipe – the thick, soft bakery-style cookie everyone is trying to reproduce.
- Fastest: Honey Butter Cornbread Cookies – 20 minutes, and unlike anything else on the list.
- Fewest ingredients: Chocolate Covered Strawberry Brownies Recipe – four ingredients.
Five Rules for Better Cookies
- Chill the dough. Thirty minutes minimum, overnight if you can. Cold butter spreads more slowly, so the cookie sets before it flattens. This is the single biggest improvement available to most home bakers.
- Brown the butter when a recipe allows it. Five extra minutes on the stove converts plain butter into something nutty and caramel-scented. Let it cool before mixing or it will melt the sugar.
- Underbake by two minutes. Pull cookies when the edges are set and the centres still look slightly wet. They carry on cooking on the hot tray, and that residual heat is what leaves the middle soft.
- Weigh the flour. A cup of flour scooped straight from the bag can be 20 percent heavier than one spooned in level. That difference alone turns a chewy cookie into a dry one.
- Room temperature eggs and butter. Cold ingredients do not emulsify properly, and the batter splits. Take them out an hour before, or warm eggs in a bowl of tepid water for five minutes.
34 Best Cookie and Brownie Recipes
1. Crumbl Chocolate Chip Cookies Copycat Recipe
Ten ingredients, 25 minutes. The thick, soft, oversized bakery cookie that everyone has been trying to reproduce at home. The trick is the size and the underbaking, not any exotic ingredient.
Key ingredients: butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, baking soda
Total time: 25 min | Ingredients: 10
2. Chocolate Chip Birthday Cookies Recipe
Ten ingredients, two and a half hours including the chill. The long rest in the fridge is what gives these a deeper, more caramel flavour than a same-day cookie. Worth planning ahead for.
Key ingredients: butter, sugar, egg, vanilla extract, baking soda, all-purpose flour
Total time: 150 min | Ingredients: 10
3. Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
Eight ingredients, just under an hour. A lighter chocolate chip cookie that does not taste like a compromise, which is rarer than it should be. Short ingredient list and no unusual substitutions.
Key ingredients: butter ), cane sugar, egg, vanilla extract, baking soda, wheat flour or spelt flour
💡 Cook’s tip: I pop the dough into the freezer (or fridge) for 20 minutes — this step is essential.
Total time: 57 min | Ingredients: 8
4. Banana Bread Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
Eleven ingredients, 25 minutes. Over-ripe bananas in a cookie, which keeps them soft for days. The best alternative to banana bread when you cannot face waiting an hour for a loaf.
Key ingredients: all-purpose flour, baking soda, ground cinnamon, butter, brown sugar, banana
💡 Cook’s tip: This step is key to even baking and a clean release.
Total time: 25 min | Serves: 5 | Ingredients: 11 | Calories: 180 kcal
5. Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
Twelve ingredients, 27 minutes. Oats give these a chew that a plain banana cookie does not have. Substantial enough to pass as breakfast, which is an argument some households will find useful.
Key ingredients: egg, bananas, brown sugar, butter, vanilla extract, old-fashioned oats
💡 Cook’s tip: Bananas — the riper the sweeter, but avoid blackened ones for best texture.
Total time: 27 min | Ingredients: 12
6. Caramelized Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
Twelve ingredients, 35 minutes. Caramelising the pumpkin first drives off water and concentrates the flavour, which fixes the usual problem with pumpkin cookies being cakey and bland.
Key ingredients: Pumpkin purée, butter, sugar, Egg yolk, Vanilla extract, All-purpose flour
💡 Cook’s tip: Egg yolk — large using only the yolk keeps the cookies soft and chewy rather than cakey.
Total time: 35 min | Ingredients: 12
7. Brown Butter Matcha Cookies Recipe
Nine ingredients, 23 minutes. Brown butter against matcha – nutty and grassy at the same time. The most interesting cookie here and one of the fastest.
Key ingredients: all-purpose flour, matcha powder, baking soda, butter, white sugar, brown sugar
Total time: 23 min | Ingredients: 9
8. Brown Butter Sticky Toffee Pudding Cookies Recipe
Ten ingredients and a ten-hour rest. Dates and brown butter, which is sticky toffee pudding reduced to a cookie. The best thing on this list and the one that asks the most of you.
Key ingredients: butter, dark brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, baking soda
💡 Cook’s tip: Make sure they’re evenly distributed so every bite is flavorful.
Total time: 600 min | Ingredients: 10
9. Butter Pecan Cookies Recipe
Eleven ingredients, 35 minutes. Toast the pecans before they go in – it takes six minutes and roughly doubles the nuttiness. Skipping that step is the usual reason nut cookies taste flat.
Key ingredients: pecans, butter, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour
💡 Cook’s tip: Pecans — toasted in butter for deep nutty flavor. Make sure your pecans are fresh; stale nuts can taste bitter.
Total time: 35 min | Ingredients: 11
10. Cowboy Cookies Recipe
Fourteen ingredients, 51 minutes. Oats, coconut, pecans and chocolate chips all in one cookie. Substantial, generous and about as far from delicate as baking gets.
Key ingredients: grams unsalted butter, cups, grams granulated sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, baking soda
💡 Cook’s tip: Do not pack the flour; spoon and level it for accurate measurement.
Total time: 51 min | Ingredients: 14
11. Chewy Brown Sugar Toasted Sesame Cookies
Thirteen ingredients, 30 minutes. Toasted sesame gives a savoury edge that cuts the sweetness. Genuinely unusual, and the recipe here most likely to surprise people who think they know cookies.
Key ingredients: all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, butter, dark brown sugar, egg
💡 Cook’s tip: Avoid overmixing, as it can make the cookies dense instead of soft.
Total time: 30 min | Ingredients: 13 | Calories: 170 kcal
12. Fruity Pebbles Cookies Recipe
Eleven ingredients, 25 minutes. Breakfast cereal in a cookie, which is exactly as ridiculous and as popular as it sounds. Children will demand these repeatedly.
Key ingredients: Butter, Cream Cheese, White Sugar, Brown Sugar, Egg, Vanilla Extract
💡 Cook’s tip: This releases the essential oils and amplifies the citrus flavor, giving the cookies a fresh, fruity aroma.
Total time: 25 min | Ingredients: 11 | Calories: 180 kcal
13. Honey Butter Cornbread Cookies
Eleven ingredients, 20 minutes – the fastest recipe on this page. Cornmeal gives a slightly sandy texture and honey butter carries it. Unlike anything else here.
Key ingredients: cornmeal, all-purpose flour, cornstarch, baking powder, butter, honey
💡 Cook’s tip: Avoid overmixing, as this can make the cookies dense instead of soft.
Total time: 20 min | Ingredients: 11 | Calories: 174 kcal
14. Crumbl Cornbread Cookie Recipe
Eighteen ingredients, 55 minutes. The bakery-style version with a proper frosting, and considerably more work than the honey butter one. Worth it if cornbread cookies turn out to be your thing.
Key ingredients: butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, cornmeal
💡 Cook’s tip: The frosting should be thick enough to hold its shape.
Total time: 55 min | Ingredients: 18 | Calories: 551 kcal
15. Chocolate Heart Thumbprint Cookies Recipe
Six ingredients, 29 minutes. Press the wells before baking and fill them after, or the filling burns. Short ingredient list and they look far more considered than they are.
Key ingredients: Butter, Cane Sugar, Vanilla Extract, Egg, All-Purpose Flour, Chocolate Hearts
💡 Cook’s tip: The dough should be soft but hold its shape when rolled.
Total time: 29 min | Ingredients: 6
16. Chocolate Filled Cookies Recipe
Eleven ingredients, 52 minutes. A soft cookie wrapped around a chocolate centre that stays molten if you eat them warm. Chill the filling before wrapping or it escapes in the oven.
Key ingredients: sticks, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, baking soda
💡 Cook’s tip: All-purpose flour — the base of your cookie dough; spoon into your measuring cup instead of scooping to avoid dense cookies.
Total time: 52 min | Ingredients: 11
17. Homemade Samoas Cookies Recipe
Twelve ingredients, 57 minutes. Toasted coconut, caramel and chocolate on a shortbread base. Fiddly in a satisfying way, and much better than the boxed version they are copying.
Key ingredients: butter, sugar, milk, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, baking powder
💡 Cook’s tip: Allow to set completely at room temperature or refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
Total time: 57 min | Ingredients: 12
18. Best Raspberry Sugar Cookies Recipe
Ten ingredients, 35 minutes. Freeze-dried or fresh raspberry against a soft sugar cookie base. The acidity does a lot to stop a sugar cookie tasting one-dimensional.
Key ingredients: all-purpose flour, baking powder, butter, sugar, egg, vanilla extract
💡 Cook’s tip: All-purpose flour — the main structure of the cookie; spoon and level the flour to avoid dense cookies.
Total time: 35 min | Ingredients: 10
19. Blueberry & Candied Thyme Sugar Cookies
Sixteen ingredients, 37 minutes. Candied thyme with blueberry, which sounds like a restaurant dessert and works. The most grown-up cookie on this list.
Key ingredients: wild blueberries, white sugar, pasteurized egg white, butter, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour
💡 Cook’s tip: Instead of mixing it completely, swirl it slightly so streaks of blueberry remain visible throughout the dough.
Total time: 37 min | Ingredients: 16 | Calories: 160 kcal
20. Christmas Sugar Cookies Decorating Recipe
Seven ingredients, 30 minutes. A cut-out dough that holds its shape rather than spreading, which is the entire requirement for a decorating cookie. Chill the cut shapes before baking.
Key ingredients: butter, sugar, egg, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, baking powder
💡 Cook’s tip: Sugar — regular white sugar gives these cookies the right sweetness and texture. Avoid coarse sugar.
Total time: 30 min | Ingredients: 7
21. Conversation Heart Cookies Recipe
Sixteen ingredients, just over two hours. Cut-out hearts with royal icing and lettering. Almost all the time is decorating rather than baking, and it is a good afternoon with children.
Key ingredients: butter, full-fat cream cheese, sugar, egg, almond extract, vanilla extract
💡 Cook’s tip: I always watch closely so the edges never brown — that keeps them soft.
Total time: 133 min | Ingredients: 16
22. Christmas Shortbread Cookies Recipe
Thirteen ingredients, 57 minutes. Shortbread lives on butter quality and not overworking the dough. Handle it as little as possible and the texture stays short and crumbly rather than tough.
Key ingredients: butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, cornstarch, half-and-half
Total time: 57 min | Ingredients: 13
23. Cherry Snowball Cookies Recipe
Eight ingredients, 30 minutes, makes twelve. Rolled in powdered sugar twice – once warm and once cool – which is what gives them the proper thick white coating.
Key ingredients: butter, powdered sugar, all-purpose flour, vanilla extract, maraschino cherries, nuts
💡 Cook’s tip: All-purpose flour — the essential structure of the cookie. Be sure to measure it correctly by spooning it into your measuring cup and leveling it off.
Total time: 30 min | Serves: 12 | Ingredients: 8 | Calories: 120 kcal
24. Blackberry Cream Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies Recipe
Twelve ingredients, 30 minutes. Two oatmeal cookies with a blackberry cream between them. Assemble close to serving or the filling softens the cookies through.
Key ingredients: vegan or plant butter, coconut sugar, gluten-free flour, baking soda, plant milk, gluten-free quick cooking oats
💡 Cook’s tip: Make sure everything is evenly combined so each cookie has the same texture and flavor.
Total time: 30 min | Ingredients: 12 | Calories: 210 kcal
25. Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cream Pie Cookies Recipe
Seventeen ingredients, 40 minutes. Carrot cake spices in a sandwich cookie with cream cheese filling. Ambitious for a cookie and it delivers on the idea.
Key ingredients: butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, baking soda
💡 Cook’s tip: I always make sure the carrots are well-packed in the measuring cup for accurate measurement.
Total time: 40 min | Ingredients: 17
26. Fruit Pizza Cookies Recipe
Fifteen ingredients, 37 minutes. A sugar cookie base with cream cheese and fresh fruit on top. Assembles best on the day, and it is one of the few things here that looks light.
Key ingredients: butter, sugar, egg, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, cream of tartar
💡 Cook’s tip: Let them cool completely before frosting to avoid melting the cream cheese layer.
Total time: 37 min | Ingredients: 15 | Calories: 200 kcal
27. Brown Butter Blueberry Muffin Cookie Skillet Recipe
Fourteen ingredients, 55 minutes, serves eight. One giant cookie baked in a skillet and served with spoons. Less work than portioning individual cookies and considerably more dramatic at the table.
Key ingredients: butter, brown sugar, eggs, heavy cream, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour
💡 Cook’s tip: This step is key because browned butter adds deep flavor to the cookie base.
Total time: 55 min | Serves: 8 | Ingredients: 14 | Calories: 420 kcal
28. Best Fudgy Cocoa Brownies Recipe
Eight ingredients, 35 minutes. Cocoa powder rather than melted chocolate, which gives a denser, fudgier crumb. The benchmark brownie and the shortest ingredient list of the lot.
Key ingredients: butter, cooking oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour
💡 Cook’s tip: Don’t over-mix — stopping when you no longer see dry flour ensures a fudgy, dense brownie instead of a cake-like one.
Total time: 35 min | Ingredients: 8
29. Caramel Swirl Brownies
Twelve ingredients, 40 minutes, serves twelve. Swirl the caramel with a knife rather than stirring it in, so you get distinct ribbons instead of a uniform brown. Feeds a crowd from one tin.
Key ingredients: Brownie Batter, butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour
💡 Cook’s tip: Butter — melted butter creates a soft, fudgy texture instead of cakey brownies.
Total time: 40 min | Serves: 12 | Ingredients: 12 | Calories: 250 kcal
30. Chocolate Mint Brownies Recipe
Ten ingredients, 45 minutes. A mint layer over fudgy brownie. Let each layer set properly before adding the next or they bleed into each other.
Key ingredients: butter, unsweetened baking chocolate, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, grams dark chocolate mint bar
Total time: 45 min | Ingredients: 10
31. Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies Recipe
Ten ingredients, an hour. Cookie dough on top of brownie batter, baked together. Solves the argument about which one to make by refusing to choose.
Key ingredients: butter, white sugar, brown sugar, egg, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour
Total time: 60 min | Ingredients: 10
32. Chocolate Covered Strawberry Brownies Recipe
Four ingredients, 95 minutes. The shortest ingredient list on this page, and most of the time is chilling rather than working. Looks like far more effort than it is.
Key ingredients: brownie mix, strawberries, semi-sweet chocolate chips, heavy cream
Total time: 95 min | Ingredients: 4
33. Caramel Apple Blondies Recipe
Thirteen ingredients, an hour. Apple and caramel in a brown sugar blondie base. Autumn baking, and better warm with ice cream than cold from the tin.
Key ingredients: all-purpose flour, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, butter
💡 Cook’s tip: Add eggs one at a time, mixing gently until just combined to avoid overmixing, which keeps the blondies tender.
Total time: 60 min | Ingredients: 13
34. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles Recipe
Eleven ingredients, 90 minutes. Edible cookie dough rolled and dipped in chocolate. No baking at all, and most of the time is chilling between steps.
Key ingredients: butter, brown sugar, milk, vanilla extract, heat-treated all-purpose flour, mini chocolate chips
💡 Cook’s tip: Mini chocolate chips — mini chips work best because they spread evenly through the dough.
Total time: 90 min | Ingredients: 11
On storage: cookies keep about five days in an airtight tin, and a slice of bread in the tin keeps soft cookies soft. Brownies and blondies keep four days at room temperature – do not refrigerate them, which dries them out. Almost everything here freezes well, and raw cookie dough freezes best of all.
On freezing dough: portion the dough into balls, freeze on a tray until solid, then bag them. They bake straight from frozen with two or three extra minutes. This is the single most useful thing you can do with a batch of cookie dough, because it means fresh cookies whenever you want two rather than twenty-four.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do my cookies spread too much?
Usually butter that was too soft, or dough that was not chilled. If the butter is nearly melted when you cream it, the cookie starts spreading before the structure sets.
Chill the dough for at least thirty minutes – overnight is better – and use a cool baking tray, since placing dough on a hot tray from the previous batch starts the spread immediately.
Should I chill cookie dough before baking?
Yes, for almost every recipe here. Chilling solidifies the fat so the cookie holds its shape, and it also lets the flour hydrate fully, which deepens the flavour noticeably.
Thirty minutes makes a visible difference; twenty-four hours makes a substantial one. Cut-out cookies should be chilled after shaping as well as before rolling.
What is brown butter and is it worth the extra step?
Butter cooked until the milk solids toast and turn golden brown, which gives it a nutty, caramel aroma.
It takes about five minutes in a light-coloured pan so you can see the colour change. It is worth it in any cookie where butter is a main flavour – chocolate chip, toffee, nut cookies. Let it cool to room temperature before creaming or it will melt the sugar.
How do I get fudgy rather than cakey brownies?
More fat and less flour, and do not overbake. Recipes built on melted butter and cocoa powder rather than creamed butter and baking powder give a denser crumb.
Pull them when a skewer comes out with moist crumbs attached rather than clean – clean means you have gone past fudgy into cake. Cooling them fully in the tin also firms up the texture.
Can I freeze cookie dough?
Yes, and it is the best way to store it. Roll the dough into balls, freeze them on a tray until solid, then transfer to a bag – they keep for three months.
Bake straight from frozen with two to three minutes added to the time. Cut-out doughs freeze flat between sheets of parchment. Baked cookies also freeze, though the texture is never quite as good as fresh.