Cream Cheese Can Take Your Chocolate Chip Cookies to the Next Level

For such a simple, classic treat, chocolate chip cookies have a lot of variations— and lots of ways to bake them all! Love thin and crispy? Need nuts in yours? Like ones that are a little cakey? There’s a method to make them out there. At this time of year, though, there’s only one version we really want: soft, rich, moist, and tasting like they just came out of the oven even days later! Thankfully, there’s an easy way to get them, and it involves a crazy, unexpected ingredient.

The idea comes to us from Averie Cooks, and we’re betting you’ll be as excited about it as we are. If you love ooey-gooey melt-in-your-mouth cookies, then this is the recipe you’ve been looking for. Averie Cooks discovered that all you need is an extra ingredient to create soft, moist and tender chocolate chip cookies. The secret ingredient? Cream cheese! Can you believe it? Check out this delicious recipe for when you want an extra special treat.

Soft Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 28 cookies
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 8 minutes

Ingredients

  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
  • ¼ cup cream cheese, softened (don’t use fat-free, light or whipped)
  • ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt, optional and to taste
  • 2 ¼ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks

Want the full delicious recipe? Of course you do! Averie’s sharing the full, printable how-to over on her Averie Cooks site, so be sure to head there for your copy.

So what’s going on here? The cream cheese is simply replacing some of the butter you typically use in a chocolate chip cookie recipe, and that single swap makes a HUGE difference. The cookies that come out are an absolutely perfect “softbatch” style that holds the chewy, rich moisture for days.

Averie elaborates:

They’re so soft, moist, and with a richness to the dough like no other cookies I’ve tried. The dough seems more buttery, which is ironic since there’s actually less butter used, not more. I can’t taste the cream cheese, but it adds depth, density, and richness that my regular chocolate chip cookies don’t have [. . .] The cookies are super soft without being cakey, and remind me of Softbatch cookies. The edges are slightly chewy, and the thick interiors are soft, tender, and moist.

Doesn’t get better than that, now does it?! Do you think you’ll give this secret ingredient a try? Have you ever baked with cream cheese in your cookies before? How do you prefer your cookies? Tell us what you think and how these turn out for you, and of course, be sure to visit the Averie Cooks site for more information and tips!