Single serve chocolate chip cookie

This is my Single Serve Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. Whether you make one giant cookie, two large ones or four sensible ones, it is strictly a one-person affair. No sharing!! 😈

This is a recipe that has one goal – to get a warm cookie with puddles of melty chocolate in your hands as quickly as humanly possible. It does not make enough to share or keep for later. It takes barely 10 minutes to get in the oven (you will be surprised how fast you move when working with small quantities of flour, sugar etc).

And when it comes out, it’s everything you dream a chocolate chip cookie to be. Crispy on the edges, soft and gooey in the middle, buttery, with pockets of warm chocolate that floods your mouth, and for one glorious moment while you’re enjoying it, everything just feels right in the world.

Enough chatter from me. Let’s get this cookie in your hands!!

PS. I keep using the word “cookie” throughout this post, but I actually prefer to make two largish cookies rather than one giant one (above), just because the crispy-edge-chewy-centre ratio is more to my liking. But you can actually make one giant cookie or even four smaller ones!

Here’s what you need to make this. Everything you need for regular chocolate chip cookies, on a smaller scale!

Single Serve Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe

Flour – Just plain flour / all-purpose flour. If you use self raising flour with baking powder built in, it will mess with the cookie thickness. I tried, to see if I could skip an ingredient (baking soda or baking powder), and it worked and was still a tasty cookie, but it wasn’t what I was after (it was more cakey).
Brown and white sugar – Brown sugar gives cookies chew and caramel-y tones, whereas white sugar makes the edges crispy. I fiddled with the quantities a fair bit before landing on what I think is the perfect combination!

Note: The recipe uses 1/4 cup in total of sugar, it is sweet, as sweet as the Chocolate Chip Cookie of my Dreams. If you cut back on sugar, you lose the chewiness or crispiness. I have made it with as low as 2 1/2 tbsp, and it still comes out as a cookie, but it’s softer than I wanted.
Egg yolk – Sorry, I show a full egg, but actually you just need the egg yolk! Freeze the egg white – I’ve been fiddling with a recipe that I think is a terrific way quick way to use up egg whites and I’ll share it in a few weeks, promise. If you can’t wait, see here for recipes that call for egg whites or just add it to the egg ribbons for Chinese Corn Soup (egg drop soup), Hot and Sour Soup or toss it into your scrambled eggs.
Baking soda (bi-carbonate) – This is what makes the cookie rise a tiny bit (so it’s not a rock hard disc) and also makes it spread. Baking powder, on the other hand, makes it rise but doesn’t make cookies spread so it makes them more cake-y.
Unsalted butter – Melted, rather than softened. Which means you can make this now!
Salt – A small pinch brings out the flavours. I also like to sprinkle the cookie with salt flakes which gives it a lovely sweet-salty contrast, but this entirely optional.
Chocolate chips! You can use whatever type of chocolate you want – my default is dark chocolate chips (US: semi-sweet chocolate chips) – or you can chop up any chocolate bar you can get your hands on. Just get some chocolate into this cookie!

How to make Single Serve Chocolate Chip Cookies

The first time you make a single serve cookie, you might feel odd measuring out tablespoons of flour and sugar rather than scooping up cups. But once you see how quickly the dough comes together and the cookie goes into the oven, that odd feeling quickly turns into pure satisfaction. Or maybe just smug delight. 😂

Just melted butter – In a heatproof mixing bowl, melt the butter in the microwave just until it is almost melted, then mix to finish melting using the residual heat. The goal here is to have melted butter that is just warm, rather than piping hot, which will make your cookie dough is firm enough to roll into balls and bake without chilling. Because when we need cookies, we need them now! 😅
Wet ingredients – Using a rubber spatula, mix in the sugar, then egg yolk, vanilla and salt.

Add dry – Add the flour and salt, then scatter the baking soda across the flour. This technique removes the need to whisk the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
Choc chips – Mix until the flour is almost incorporated, then add most of the choc chips (reserve some to put on top, it looks nice 🙂 ). Mix until you no longer see flour.

Shape – Divide and roll the cookie into 2 balls and flatten to 1.5cm/0.6″ thick. If your dough is too sticky to handle (was your butter too hot?? 🙂), pop the bowl in the fridge for 5 to 10 minutes to let the cookie dough firm up.

Other size options – You can also make one giant cookie or 3 to 4 smaller cookies. As mentioned above, I like to make 2 large ones as it has the ideal crispy-edge-soft-insides ratio for my taste!
Bake for 13 to 14 minutes or until edges are tinged gold and the centre is pale golden. They will look a little raw in the middle, have faith! They will finish cooking as they cool. (The bake time for one large one is slightly longer, 16 to 18 minutes.)

Decorate with choc chips – Place the reserved choc chips on top, the chocolate will melt and glue them onto the surface.
Cool on the tray for 10 minutes. They will crisp up on the edges and the inside will finish cooking. Then, grab and attack! (Or transfer to rack to fully cool then store in an airtight container).

Even without factoring in the speed, these are very, very good cookies. More bakery-style than my everyday Easiest Chocolate Chip Cookies, they have a chewier centre, richer flavour and deeper golden colour thanks to using egg yolk rather than whole egg. I use whole eggs in my everyday recipe simply because I don’t want five spare egg whites every time I make cookies!

As for how this Single Serve Chocolate Chip Cookie stacks up again the Chocolate Chip Cookies of my Dreams – visually, they are actually quite similar though they don’t have quite the same impressive chew, outstanding crispy edges and exceptional butterscotchy undertones.

But then again, you haven’t had to refrigerate the dough overnight. 🙂

You see, every chocolate chip cookie has its place! And this is the one you make when the craving hits and you want a warm gooey cookie all to yourself ASAP, without ending up with a whole batch of cookies sitting on the counter tempting you for days. 🍪 Hope you love it! – Nagi x

Watch how to make it

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Single serve chocolate chip cookie