These chocolate chipless cookies are made with the same soft, chewy, buttery cookie dough base as chocolate chip cookies simply without the chocolate! So whether you’re a purist, not a fan of chocolate, or simply ran out of chocolate chips, these soft and chewy chipless chocolate chip cookies are for you!
These chocolate chipless cookies are made with the same soft, chewy, buttery cookie dough base as chocolate chip cookies simply without the chocolate! So whether you’re a purist, not a fan of chocolate, or simply ran out of chocolate chips, these soft and chewy chipless chocolate chip cookies are for you!
Chocolate Chip-less Cookies AKA Chocolate Chip Cookies without the Chocolate
I know what you’re thinking, “a chocolate chip cookie without chocolate?! Are you out of your mind?” And, while I firmly believe that chocolate is always a good idea, these chocolate chip-less cookies are every bit of tasty as your classic chocolate chip cookie. These super soft and chewy cookies are made with the exact same batter as my famous chocolate chip cookies, but simply are made without the chocolate. So whether you’re just out of chocolate, but really love those cookies or if you are seeking a chocolate free treat, these chocolate chip-less cookies are for you. They’re basically a browned butter brown sugar cookie and I have to say…they’re pretty damn amazing.
Ingredients for chip-less chocolate chip cookies
You’ll need all the usual suspects for chocolate chip cookies, to make these bad boys–minus the chocolate, obviously. The good news is that all the ingredients are basic pantry staples you probably already have on hand. Here’s your shopping list:
Unsalted Butter: Using unsalted butter means that you can fully control the amount of salt going into your cookies and also ensures that it browns evenly. You’ll brown the butter for a nutty, toasty deep flavor as the base for your cookies!
Sugar: Chocolate chip cookies (even chipless ones) should always be made with a mixture of brown and white sugar
Eggs: Eggs will bind your cookies together. A single egg and one egg yolk will gives these cookies their soft, chewy, not too cakey texture.
Vanilla Extract: Do NOT leave out the vanilla.
Flour: All purpose flour is our flour of choice for these chewy cookies. It creates a tender but hearty crumb. Make sure when you are measuring your flour you measure it carefully using a spoon to aerate the flour. We recommend adding the first cup in and then adding the remaining 3/4 cup a little at a time. Browned butter evaporates as it browns, meaning that the amount of butter can vary depending on how long you browned it for which can lead to less liquid in your cookie dough. See the directions for more guidance on this!
Salt: Baked goods NEED salt. Without it they’re just cloyingly sweet. Salt adds that perfectly nuanced salty-sweet flavor that pushes a baked good from good to great.
How to make brown butter:
If you haven’t had brown butter yet, you MUST try it. Browning your butter gives it an amazing complexity that enhances so many recipes.
Start by melting your butter over medium heat in a small sauce pan.
Whisk the butter constantly as it melts to ensure it’s evenly heated. As it melts the butter will start to foam. This is the sweet point between boiling the butter (NOT what you want) and not hot enough.
Keep a close eye on the butter. Like DO NOT WALK AWAY. As it transitions from it’s usual yellow color to a deeper golden hue and at last to a beautiful light brown. You’ll know it’s done by the smell: a toasted, nutty, intoxicating scent. It can very quickly go from this light brown to burnt, so make sure you take it off the heat as soon as it makes the turn.
Take it off the heat and transfer to a bowl to allow it to cool before using in your recipe.
Tips for the best chewy chocolate chip-less cookies
As far as baking goes, cookies are one of the more straightforward sweets to make, but a few tips and tricks never hurt anyone. To ensure super soft, chewy on the edges, gooey in the middle cookies every time follow these tricks!
Don’t overmix the dough: Over mixing leads to more gluten developing in your dough which can lead to a tough or dry cookie. Only mix the batter until the flour is just incorporated and no streaks remain!
Go heavy on the vanilla: Since you won’t be adding chocolate to these cookies, you need to really lean into the brown sugar, vanilla, brown butter flavor instead. Make sure you’re using pure vanilla extract (not artificial) and it’s okay to heavy a pretty heavy hand with it. You should be able to smell the vanilla in your dough!
Underbake them slightly: A cookie that comes out of the oven fully done will cool to being overdone. When you take a baked good out of the oven it will continue to cook as it cools down, so be sure to take your cookies out when they’re still a little gooey in the middle to ensure they still say soft and chewy.
These chocolate chipless cookies are made with the same soft, chewy, buttery cookie dough base as chocolate chip cookies simply without the chocolate! So whether you’re a purist, not a fan of chocolate, or simply ran out of chocolate chips, these soft and chewy chipless chocolate chip cookies are for you!
These chocolate chipless cookies are made with the same soft, chewy, buttery cookie dough base as chocolate chip cookies simply without the chocolate! So whether you’re a purist, not a fan of chocolate, or simply ran out of chocolate chips, these soft and chewy chipless chocolate chip cookies are for you!
Brown the butter over medium heat, stirring constantly until the butter begins to foam and turns a golden brown, emitting a nutty aroma. Make sure you only brown the butter lightly. When butter browns the liquid evaporates off which can dry out your dough. As soon as the butter starts to turn brown and smell nutty, take it off the heat to prevent any more liquid from escaping. Take butter off the heat and allow to cool.
In a large mixing bowl combine the cooled brown butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat until mixed together. Add in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Mix well.
In separate bowl mix together the flour, salt and baking soda. Mix half the dry ingredients into the wet until everything comes together. Slowly add in the remaining flour a little bit at a time, stopping if the dough starts to get too dry.
Refrigerate the cookie dough for at least a half hour, or overnight.
When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350°F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Use a 1 ounce cookie scoop to scoop the cookie dough out into balls, placing them 2 inches apart on the prepared sheet. Bake for 11 minutes*, or until the edges are just golden brown and the centers have puffed up but are still gooey.
Allow to cool before eating!
Keywords: chocolate chipless cookies, chipless chocolate chip cookies
(I think I submitted my previous comment without finishing it lol a testament to why I rarely leave comments. My toddler accidentally hit the submit button 🤣 So here it is again and completed)
Ok, I have to preface this with: I NEVER leave reviews on recipes/blogs etc because my busy life usually gets the best of me and I tend to forget. With that said I just HAD TO LEAVE A REVIEW here because these are the BEST COOKIES EVERRRRRRR! Just the other day I got my kids some chocolate chip cookies, I had a bite and while they had all the awesome qualities of what I consider a good cookie, buttery, rich, thick, soft, crispy edged and chewy, ultimately I’m not the biggest fan of chocolate centric treats, I know, *gasp*, so I passed on having more then just a bite. My 10 year old (who is more discerning then my 2 &4 year old) says, “These are good but I wish they made chocolate chip cookies with less chocolate chips or just the cookie and no chocolate chips!” I obviously 100000% agreed and commented how I’ve always felt the same way. So I started googling for a dedicated chocolate chipless recipe and this was the first that popped up. The brown butter intrigued me. I prepared the dough per the recipe with one change, I only had salted butter. So I halved the salt in the recipe.
These cookies are EVERYTHING I imagined they would be. My son LOVED them and my partner took one bite and said “these are one of the best cookies I’ve ever had.” We all agreed. So thanks for posting!
A few notes: there’s a previous commenter that said they just taste like plain sugar cookies 🙄 I’d like to debunk that and mention that they probably didn’t brown the butter enough. These have the deepest and richest flavor that is due to the brown butter. They taste exactly like the chocolate chipless bites in a chocolate chip cookie.
To the other commenter that asked about freezing: I made a double batch and froze 3/4 of it. I just pulled some out to bake more and they came out exactly as the fresh batch.
One more time for the people in the back, if you want amazing, mouth watering, chewy, moist, crispy edged cookies that come straight out of a dream… THESE ARE IT!!!!!!!!
I bake something new every week and these cookies are amazing and a new favorite in my house! Any tips for freezing the dough so I can make fresh cookies anytime?
I made these, pulled them out of the oven a minute early, put chocolate stars in the centers and stuck them back in the oven for a minute or so. At the party that night they disappeared fast! Better than the usual peanut butter cookies with chocolate stars or kisses.
Thank you!
I’m going to try making these today, I love your recipes and am an avid vanilla/caramel flavor girl over chocolate but hear me out – what if we had a similar cookie but added butterscotch or toffee chips
Hi Mallory! You could totally make these with butterscotch and/or toffee chips! That would be DELICIOUS. Especially finished off with some flaky salt on top. I’d do 1 to 2 cups depending on how loaded you want them to be!
Leave a comment and rate this recipe!
(I think I submitted my previous comment without finishing it lol a testament to why I rarely leave comments. My toddler accidentally hit the submit button 🤣 So here it is again and completed)
Ok, I have to preface this with: I NEVER leave reviews on recipes/blogs etc because my busy life usually gets the best of me and I tend to forget. With that said I just HAD TO LEAVE A REVIEW here because these are the BEST COOKIES EVERRRRRRR! Just the other day I got my kids some chocolate chip cookies, I had a bite and while they had all the awesome qualities of what I consider a good cookie, buttery, rich, thick, soft, crispy edged and chewy, ultimately I’m not the biggest fan of chocolate centric treats, I know, *gasp*, so I passed on having more then just a bite. My 10 year old (who is more discerning then my 2 &4 year old) says, “These are good but I wish they made chocolate chip cookies with less chocolate chips or just the cookie and no chocolate chips!” I obviously 100000% agreed and commented how I’ve always felt the same way. So I started googling for a dedicated chocolate chipless recipe and this was the first that popped up. The brown butter intrigued me. I prepared the dough per the recipe with one change, I only had salted butter. So I halved the salt in the recipe.
These cookies are EVERYTHING I imagined they would be. My son LOVED them and my partner took one bite and said “these are one of the best cookies I’ve ever had.” We all agreed. So thanks for posting!
A few notes: there’s a previous commenter that said they just taste like plain sugar cookies 🙄 I’d like to debunk that and mention that they probably didn’t brown the butter enough. These have the deepest and richest flavor that is due to the brown butter. They taste exactly like the chocolate chipless bites in a chocolate chip cookie.
To the other commenter that asked about freezing: I made a double batch and froze 3/4 of it. I just pulled some out to bake more and they came out exactly as the fresh batch.
One more time for the people in the back, if you want amazing, mouth watering, chewy, moist, crispy edged cookies that come straight out of a dream… THESE ARE IT!!!!!!!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR KIND WORDS! This was so sweet and I am so so so so happy to hear it!
I bake something new every week and these cookies are amazing and a new favorite in my house! Any tips for freezing the dough so I can make fresh cookies anytime?
★★★★★
I made these, pulled them out of the oven a minute early, put chocolate stars in the centers and stuck them back in the oven for a minute or so. At the party that night they disappeared fast! Better than the usual peanut butter cookies with chocolate stars or kisses.
Thank you!
★★★★★
I’m going to try making these today, I love your recipes and am an avid vanilla/caramel flavor girl over chocolate but hear me out – what if we had a similar cookie but added butterscotch or toffee chips
Hi Mallory! You could totally make these with butterscotch and/or toffee chips! That would be DELICIOUS. Especially finished off with some flaky salt on top. I’d do 1 to 2 cups depending on how loaded you want them to be!
They just taste like regular sugar cookies to me tbh, they’re pretty good though!
★★★★
Hi Austin! Are you browning your butter? The brown butter and brown sugar should give them a deeper flavor than sugar cookies!