These chocolate chip cookies without brown sugar are just what you need when you're craving cookies, but you don't have brown sugar on hand!

These chocolate chip cookies without brown sugar bake up with soft centers, crisp, buttery edges, and gooey, melty chocolate in each bite! Whenever you're out of brown sugar, but craving a freshly baked cookie RIGHT NOW, this recipe is just what you need! Without the brown sugar, these cookies lack that classic chewy texture, but still have every other quality of a perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. And sometimes the craving outweighs the desire for that chewy texture! If you do have brown sugar on hand and want a cookie recipe that truly checks all of the boxes, I highly recommend these small batch chocolate chip cookies!
Ingredients
- All-Purpose Flour: You'll need about 1 ½ cups of high-quality unbleached flour.
- Leavener: Most cookies use baking soda (and sometimes cornstarch as well) for the leavener, but after lots of research and testing, it turns out baking powder creates cookies with soft & thick centers and crisp edges!
- Butter: You'll need about 1 ½ sticks of room temperature butter.
- Sugar: Though most cookie recipes call for both granulated and brown sugar, this recipe calls for just granulated sugar. So if you're out of brown sugar, you can still get your cookie fix!
- Vanilla: You can't make a good chocolate chip cookie recipe without vanilla!
- Egg: You'll need just one egg for this recipe.
- Chocolate: Use your favorite semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate!
Instructions
This is a simple cookie recipe of creaming together the butter & sugar, mixing in the egg & vanilla, adding the dry ingredients, and lastly folding in the chocolate. Chill them for just 30 minutes, and bake! You'll have warm, gooey chocolate chip cookies on your kitchen counter in no time.
FAQ
Do not skip the freeze time! It is essential to achieve a thicker cookie with crisp, golden edges and soft centers.
-Â Electric mixer:Â Use either a stand mixer or hand-held mixer to beat the butter and sugar.
-Â Parchment paper:Â Line your baking sheets with parchment paper to ensure your cookies do not stick and for easy clean-up!
-Â Kitchen scale:Â You'll need a kitchen scale to weigh all of your ingredients (read why below)!
Store these cookies in an air-tight container for up to 3 days. Alternatively, you can freeze the portioned cookie dough or the baked cookies for up to three months.
Other cookie recipes you'll love
Baking in grams
All of the recipes on this blog are carefully developed to create incredibly delicious baked goods that you can easily recreate in your own kitchen with success. The only way this is possible is to standardize the way ingredients are measured - by weight. Volume measurements are extremely inaccurate and leave room for significant errors. Not all measuring cups are made equally, so your one cup of flour will be different from my one cup of flour. By providing precise measurements in grams (aside from minor ingredients, which are given in tsp/tbsp), I can ensure that you can make the recipe accurately and with less cleanup! All you need is this kitchen scale.
If this still isn't enough to convince you, I have provided volume measurements in the recipe card. If you are interested in understanding the conversions, this is the best conversion chart.
But trust me, once you try baking in grams you'll never turn back!
Happy baking! x
Chocolate Chip Cookies without Brown Sugar
Ingredients
- 180 g 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 135 g â…” cup granulated sugar
- 170 g 1 ½ sticks; ¾ cup unsalted butter (room temp)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg, room temp
- 113 g 4 oz roughly chopped chocolate (+ more for topping)
- flaky sea salt
Instructions
- In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar on high speed for 2-3 minutes.
- Mix in the egg and vanilla until fully combined.
- Scrape down the bowl, then add in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined.
- Lastly, fold in the chocolate.
- Portion the cookie dough with a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop and place them on one small baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Freeze the cookie dough for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place the frozen cookie dough on a parchment lined baking sheet spaced about 2 inches apart. Top each with more chocolate.
- Bake the cookies for about 12-14 minutes until the edges are golden.
- Once the cookies are done baking, immediately use a large cookie cutter to push the edges in and shape the cookies into perfect circles.
- Allow them to cool completely on the baking sheet.
- Top with flaky sea salt and enjoy!
Notes
- Do not skip the freeze time! It is essential to achieve a thicker cookie with crisp, golden edges and soft centers.
- Store these cookies in an air-tight container for up to 3 days. Alternatively, you can freeze the portioned cookie dough or the baked cookies for up to three months.
Clare says
Could these be made gluten free by substituting the flour for gluten free?
Sloane says
Yes, you could use 1:1 gluten free flour, or check out my gluten free chocolate chip cookie recipe! https://atsloanestable.com/gluten-free-chocolate-chip-cookies/