Basic Cookie Dough For Mix-ins
Next up in my basic dough series is this basic cookie dough for mix-ins. This is a reliable dough that produces a soft, but thicker cookie. It’s the perfect cookie dough for chocolate chips or chunks, nuts, M&M candies, dried fruit, or even by itself as a “chipless” cookie.
Why I love this dough so much
This is one of those recipes that never lets you down. The dough has primarily brown sugar, so the cookies are perfectly chewy and dense, which makes it a great dough for chocolate chip/chunk cookies, chocolate nut cookies, or even M&M monster cookies. It’s very versatile and can handle all kinds of mix-ins.
This cookie dough is also made with common ingredients that most bakers have in their kitchen at all times, so it’s one you can whip up without a ton of planning or preparation (a huge plus).
Let’s break down how to make this dough
- Start by creaming room temperature butter, brown sugar, and sugar together with an electric mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract and continue mixing for another minute.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and sea salt together.
- Then, add the flour to the wet ingredients and mix with the mixer until mostly combined. Finish mixing with a rubber spatula.
- Once dough is made, you can add the mix-ins and bake the cookies right away or freeze the plain dough for baking at a later time. If you freeze the dough, allow it to thaw in the refrigerator overnight, let it come up to room temperature, and then add mix-ins.
TOOLS YOU’LL NEED
To make chipless cookies
If you’re a purist and are looking to make chipless cookies (yes, that’s a thing), this is a great dough for that. Just scoop the cookies as you normally would, but sprinkle the tops of them with sugar just before baking. This will give them a little extra sweetness and crunch after they cool.
Chipless cookies are actually one of my personal favorites. I really appreciate being able to taste the dough, which is often lost or overpowered by mix-ins.
Questions about this recipe
Whether you make this dough as cookies with a mix-in or as chipless cookies, this basic dough will be your new go-to. Whip up a batch and let me know what you think.
Other basic cookie dough recipes for you
Basic Cookie Dough For Mix-ins
ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, unsalted ((room temperature))
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1½ cup flour ((unbleached))
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line three baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium size bowl, cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar together with an electric mixer for 1-2 minutes, until light and fluffy.1/2 cup butter, unsalted, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup sugar
- Beat in egg and vanilla extract and mix for another minute.1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Whisk flour, baking soda, and sea salt together in a separate bowl.1½ cup flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp sea salt
- Add flour to wet ingredients, half at a time, mixing with a rubber spatula until just combined.
- Using a 1.5 TBS cookie scoop, scoop dough onto lined baking sheets.
- Bake for 9-10 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through.
- Let cookies cool on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store in airtight container for up to 1 week or freeze.
This is the best cookie base recipe ever! I love using it for kitchen sink cookies, so delicious!
Thank you so much Caitlin! That is a brilliant idea. I love, love, love it!
I’ve been looking for a great cookie dough and this is it. I added some chocolate chunks and pecans. Delish!
Gah! I love that idea Gina, sounds delicious! Thank you so much.
I made this dough and it turned out perfect. My daughter picked m and ms to add and the cookies were fantastic.
That’s one of our favorites over here too. My daughters are both huge M&M lovers. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment.
This is a perfect cookie dough. Love that I can divide it up and put what I want in each section.
That’s so smart! It’s like making a bunch of different cookies all at once. Brilliant.
Great base cookie recipe. I used this a few times and they all came out perfectly
Thank you so much Nancy. This makes me so happy!
My all time favorite cookie recipe for family and coworkers! Thank you :).
You bet! It’s mine too-it’s so easy. Thanks so much for the kind words.