Soft and chewy with tender crispy edges, these easy chocolate chip cookies without brown sugar are so good you will be making cookies with white sugar from now on! So simple to make, and ready in under 20 minutes, these homemade cookies will soon become a family favourite.
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Can you make chocolate chip cookies with no brown sugar?
Chocolate chip cookies, that classic cookie flavour loved by millions, are often made with brown sugar. Brown sugar adds colour and a soft moistness to cookie, but what happens when you have no brown sugar? Well, you can still bake a batch of choc chip cookies! This recipe for chocolate chip cookies without brown sugar shows you can bake soft chocolate chip cookies with white sugar!
Why We Love This Recipe
- This easy recipe takes just minutes to prepare and you do not need to rest the dough in the fridge – meaning you can have soft chocolate chip cookies in 20 minutes!
- You will not notice there is no brown sugar in these cookies.
- They keep in an airtight tin for a week, and can be frozen.
Ingredients Notes and Substitutions
- White sugar – granulated sugar.
- Plain flour – or all purpose flour.
- Butter – I like to use unsalted butter and then add a pinch of salt in to the dough, but you can use salted butter and leave out the salt if you prefer.
- Egg – 1 egg, whole.
- Vanilla – vanilla bean paste, or vanilla extract. This adds a lovely rich, bakery style taste to your cookie and extra depth of flavour.
- Chocolate chips – or roughly chopped chocolate. Dark chocolate, semi sweet chocolate, milk chocolate or white chocolate are all delicious in these cookies.
- Baking soda – this makes the cookies less cakey, and gives those crispy melt in the mouth edges.
How To Make This Recipe
- Preheat your oven.
- Line 2 baking trays / baking sheets.
- Using electric beaters or a stand mixer, beat the softened butter and white sugar with vanilla until light and fluffy.
- Add the beaten egg and stir in by hand.
- Stir in the flour, baking soda and salt with a spoon until just combine.
- Gently fold in the chocolate chips/ chopped chocolate.
- Spoon on to lined baking sheet.
- Place in the preheated oven and bake until golden brown.
- Cool on the tray for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.
FAQ
What happens if you use white sugar instead of brown in cookies?
Whilst the level of sweetness will remain the same, if you use white sugar the cookies may be lighter due to the lack of molasses that is in brown sugar, and they can be slightly crisper. Brown sugar makes cookies softer and more moist.
What is the difference between white sugar and brown sugar?
Brown sugar is white sugar with molasses mixed in. The molasses not only adds the brown colour, but raises the moisture content of the sugar.
Can I double this recipe?
Yes you can double this recipe. I would recommend you use a stand mixer to cream the butter and sugar rather than a hand mixer.
My Recipe Tips
- Make sure your butter is softened before you begin to make these cookies.
- Add a pinch of salt and use vanilla for the maximum flavour.
- Use good quality chocolate for the best chocolate flavour. I prefer to chop a block of chocolate for chocolate chunks rather than chocolate chips.
- Measuring flour using kitchen scales is the most accurate way of weighing the flour.
- Don’t over mix the dough – this will make the cookies tough. Only use the mixer for whisking the butter, sugar and vanilla together. Use a spoon or spatula for mixing in the eggs and dry ingredients.
- Make sure your oven is preheated to the temperature required. This can take 10-15 minutes.
- To make sure you have some melted chocolate on the top of the cookies, lightly press extra chocolate chips / chocolate chunks in to the top of the cookies before they go in to the oven. This is purely optional.
Storage
- Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- Freeze: you can freeze the cookies for up to 2 months. They will defrost in a couple of hours.
Variations
- Sprinkle sea salt flakes over the top top of cookies once baked.
- Big chocolate chip cookies: use a large ice cream scoop this recipe makes 12 cookies. Cook for 15 minutes.
- Chocolate chip cookies without baking soda: you can use baking powder, but your cookies will have a cakey texture.
- Add ins: instead of chocolate chips, use the same amount of butterscotch chips or peanut chips or if you want to make Caramilk cookies, add chopped Cadbury’s Caramilk.
- Nuts and seeds: sub half the chocolate for hazelnuts, peanuts or almonds, or pumpkin seeds or coconut flakes.
- Dried fruit: use the same amount of raisins, sultanas, cranberries, dried apricots, or mix half and half with chocolate or nuts.
More chocolate recipes for you
Chocolate Chip Cookies without Brown Sugar
Author: Robyn
Soft and chewy with tender crispy edges, these chocolate chip cookies without brown sugar are so good you will be making cookies with white sugar from now on! So easy to make, and ready in under 20 minutes, these homemade cookies will soon become a family favourite.
Ingredients
- 150g (5.3 oz) unsalted butter softened
- 170g (¾ c) granulated sugar
- 1 egg beaten
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla paste or extract
- 225g (1½c) plain flour AP flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 100g (¾c) chocolate chips or roughly chopped chocolate
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 170˚C fan / 190˚C / 338˚F convection / 374˚F.
- Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
- Beat the softened butter with sugar and vanilla for 3-4 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Stir in the beaten egg.
- Sift in the flour, baking soda and salt, and mix with a spoon to combine.
- When the dough has just come together and all the flour has been incorporated, stir in the chocolate chips.
- Take 2 tablespoons of dough or use an ice cream scoop to scoop dough on to the tray, leaving space in between to allow the cookies to spread slightly.
- Place in the preheated oven and bake for 12 minutes, until the cookies become golden at the edges.
- Leave the cookies to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
White sugar – granulated sugar.
Plain flour – or all purpose flour.
Butter – I like to use unsalted butter and then add a pinch of salt in to the dough, but you can use salted butter and leave out the salt if you prefer. Make sure your butter is softened before you begin to make these cookies.
Egg – 1 egg, whole.
Vanilla – vanilla bean paste, or vanilla extract. This adds a lovely rich, bakery style taste to your cookie and extra depth.
Chocolate chips – or roughly chopped chocolate. Dark chocolate, semi sweet chocolate, milk chocolate or white chocolate are all delicious. Use good quality chocolate for the best chocolate flavour. I prefer to chop a block of chocolate for chocolate chunks rather than chocolate chips.
Baking soda – this makes the cookies less cakey, and gives those crispy melt in the mouth edges.
Add a pinch of salt and use vanilla for the maximum flavour to your cookies.
Measuring flour using kitchen scales is the most accurate way of weighing the flour.
Don’t over mix the dough – this will make the cookies tough. Only use the mixer for whisking the butter, sugar and vanilla together. Use a spoon or spatula for mixing in the eggs and dry ingredients.
To make sure you have some melted chocolate on the top of the cookies, lightly press extra chocolate chips / chocolate chunks in to the top of the cookies before they go in to the oven. This is purely optional.
Nutrition
Calories: 131kcalCarbohydrates: 17gProtein: 1gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 23mgSodium: 56mgPotassium: 15mgFiber: 1gSugar: 9gVitamin A: 181IUCalcium: 4mgIron: 1mg
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